More is More! - Amy, Adam and baby Nancy!

Earlier this year in June when the weather was absolute perfection, The Oaks hosted a beautiful wedding day for Amy, Adam . . . and baby Nancy!

We talk to Amy about how they planned their special day. The main décor theme being ‘More is More’ in Amy’s own words!

So, obviously The Oaks was up there with venues we wanted to consider because we’re family friends so it was always a firm fave, but I was wary that it would feel like work to me having done a few shifts there. After visiting other venues we knew it HAD to be The Oaks for our wedding venue. It is such a beautiful space, the grounds and woodlands are what sold it to Adam. I wanted a space where the bar was in the same room as the dance floor. I knew most of my friends would spend most of their time at the bar! But I also wanted a space that was big enough for all our guests while also not feeling lost in an enormous room. It also had to have nice toilets (not even kidding on that one) and The Oaks ticked all those boxes.

We came to the ‘Rustic Farm’ wedding fayre in March ’23 to show Adam’s parents the venue and to check out/meet some suppliers. I think we’d already booked Wildings & Aster as our florist but it’s much nicer to put a face to a name. We came to the ‘Colours of Autumn’ fayre in October ’23 too and had some time with Julie and Rianna to go through decoration ideas and to get a better idea of what our day might look like.

All we wanted to do was make the wedding pretty, which sounds really silly, but that was the main focus! Then we tried to tie in some bits of us and our personalities or interests. The process was wild and ad hock! We knew that the flowers were going to be seasonal, British grown, wild flowers for a summer meadow vibe, super colourful.

We had also begun to dry petals from our own flowers (some from the garden and some that Adam had bought for me over the years) a very personal touch to our day. (side note, I dried the petals of the first bunch of flowers Adam ever got me which was about 6-8 weeks in to our relationship, little did he know when he bought them that they’d be used as our confetti on our wedding day! Some call it crazy, some call it cute!)

Then we went with flower names for the tables that we either have in the garden or were in the bouquet. The bridesmaids were meant to be colourful initially but then I fell in love with a duskypink/mauve dress as it has a bow on the back that was beautiful.

That’s where the bows came in, I found matching ribbon and tied hundreds of mini bows on our menus and all over the décor! We then added disco balls for a hint of sparkle. We definitely went for the ‘More is More’ vibe!

We used The Oaks packages throughout our wedding day. We had the Seasonal Blooms (tables and arch) package, the candle and lanterns and the Decadent Tipple drinks package.

What I loved about the decoration packages was seeing them come together the day before when we were all there setting up. It felt more personal, to have an input and be able to see what was happening. Some people would love the surprise element on the morning of the wedding but I’m too nosey for that.

We decided on a celebrant purely because of nerves and added pressure on the day before the ceremony. I have been a bridesmaid at a few weddings when the registrar comes and does the interview with the Bride and Groom before the ceremony and it always feels rushed and panicky and a bit chaotic. Plus you never know who you’re getting. Now I’m sure most registrars are lovely (the ladies who did our legal ceremony were great and the lady who officially married us was the lady who registered Nancy’s birth so that was cute) but you could get a miserable grumpy registrar and that would have annoyed me.

When we enquired with Jayne I got a nice feeling chatting to her so we went to meet her and we just clicked. She was a teacher who had left the profession so instantly we had loads to chat about (with me being a teacher)and she was so warm and friendly. Over the 18 months from booking to the wedding we chatted loads, she sent cards when Nancy was born along with a Christmas and new house card.

She came over to the house to get to know us more and asked us all sort of questions about our lives and how we met. The ceremony felt really personal and intimate. At the end of the ceremony we had a toast, just me and Adam. We must have mentioned to her or she’d seen us do it, that we always ‘cheers’ everything - drinks, snacks, ice creams, whatever, just silly things. So Jayne suggested we do a cheers at the end of the ceremony with a glass of prosecco each, it was so cute!

We had a string quartet play before and during the ceremony and through most of the drinks reception. I had been to a wedding a few years before that had a small string ensemble, as a guest it was so magical and fun so that was really important to me. Plus we got to choose loads of pop songs for them to play so it felt very Bridgerton (handy that the new series came out the week before our wedding).

My dad is in a band and the female singer is also one of my work colleagues and a friend. So naturally Dad and Selina played an acoustic set, at the end of the drinks reception.

We had the BBQ option from The Oaks in-house caterers Ridgway. We knew the food was delicious having tried it before, but we just fancied having a more relaxed feel to the day and a three course sit down meal doesn’t really say relaxed to us.

Honestly so much of it flies by so quickly it’s hard to pin point a particular stand out moment but having chatted to Adam we both remember the ceremony the most, walking down the aisle and being stood together at the front looking round at all the people we love. One thing we made sure we did was stick together throughout the day and night, so all our memories are the same which I love.

Cake || friends mum made it (the Prosecco and elderflower layer was sensational)

Dress|| Serendipity Bridal

Shoes || Charlotte Mills

Suit || Marc Darcy

DJ || family friend - Paul Hazelby

Entertainment || Dad and Selina and Sekine Quartet

Florist || Wildlings & Aster

Bridesmaid dresses || ASOS

Photographer || Sophie Bagnall

Hair & Make up || Derbyshire Bride

Photo Booth || That Prop Guy

Bridal hair bow || Little Fashion Finds