Peach passion Francesca and Ross styled their day in a modern autumnal palette of orange hues from peach to terracotta Images courtesy of Danielle Victoria Photography Ross proposed to Francesca in 2023. He told her they’d be stopping for lunch on their way to see Fall Out Boy in Cardiff and took her to Grittleton House in Chippenham. He’d rented their Orangery, which was decked out in its Bridgerton-esque finery with oodles of flowers and pictures of the couple, with the romantic ambience set by a harpist. How could Francesca refuse?! Francesca had been following Thorpe Garden on Instagram for a while. But wanting to make sure they’d covered all bases they decided to visit a further 10 venues. “We found ourselves comparing them all to Thorpe Garden, so we decided to commit,” Francesca says. “We loved its vibe and the pavilion is a completely different setting to the yurt, so you get different experiences throughout the day.” The couple were completely sold by the yurt with its warm, romantic lighting. It felt like the perfect place to dance the night away with friends and family. As an autumn-loving couple, they decided to set the date for October and leaned into the season for their theme. They had a vision that would take them away from the traditional burnt orange palette and settled on an array of orange hues from peach to terracotta. The couple gave a lot of attention to detail. Save-the-dates were biscuits with the wedding date and Francesca designed their invites including a drawing of Thorpe Garden for the envelope lining. Silk and Wild took care of the fresh flowers for the centrepieces, bouquets and buttonholes, and bud vases for the aisle. Meanwhile, Fox & Faux created the faux floral arrangements in the shape of floor meadows at the aisle ends and by the reception tables. This helped to make sure everything was brought in on budget. “We wish we could relive our room reveal. We got to see the yurt all set up and our band sang Dive by Olivia Dean, so we had a moment to dance and be together straight after getting married, just the two of us,” Francesca remembers. The bride looked stunning in Derrick by Maggie Sottero, which she had altered with extra lace in the centre and sleeves from a different designer. Later into the evening she changed into Ophelia by Rosie Etienne. Ross wore a three-piece tuxedo, and his party dressed in two-piece versions. The bridesmaids all wore different styles in varying hues of orange and champagne bringing the whole look beautifully together. Before and during the ceremony, then into cocktail hour, a string quartet played lending celebrations the Bridgerton vibe Francesca loves so much. The bride made a wedding newspaper full of fun activities including guest awards, a crossword and the couple’s love story. A friend also created a super-fun giant ‘Guess Who’ of guests’ dogs. There was a first dance sweepstake board too, where guests could guess the first dance song and win a tab behind the bar. A live band played throughout the wedding breakfast with an R&B set to get people dancing between courses. When the day moved into evening, a larger version of the band packed the dance floor into the night. REAL WEDDINGS 29
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTA0NTE=