Emily and Ben met on a night out 10 years ago. "We were instantly attracted to each other and went on a date the following week," Emily tells us. "We became engaged in December 2019 during a romantic winter proposal in Switzerland.
We stayed in Geneva and had arranged to go on a bus tour for a day to Chamonix-Mont-Blanc in France to explore the snow up in the mountains but almost didn't make it because there was a high risk of an avalanche that day. It was magical and a wonderful surprise when Ben asked me to marry him against the scenic snowy backdrop."
The couple chose to get married at Elmore Court in Gloucestershire. "From the moment we visited, we both knew it was the venue for us," Emily says. "It offered an exclusive-use, private location and the house is so grand and beautiful. We loved the ceremony room with the option to have the fires lit. The Gillyflower event space, that's purpose-built for celebrations, really wowed our guests."
The couple chose magnificent flower displays filled with white varieties mixed with plenty of foliage. "We wanted the rooms to feel like there had been a flower explosion!" Emily tells us.
"I booked a surprise VW Campervan to collect the groomsmen from their location and drive them to Elmore Court." - Emily
"We chose aisle meadows and a flower-filled arch for the ceremony room that were transferred to the Gillyflower after the ceremony which was important to us to be sustainable and re-use them. We filled small glass bottles and vases with white blooms and foliage for our centrepieces and displayed these with plenty of candles and mini white pumpkins.
Our table plan was hand-written on pumpkins by our wedding stylist, Lauradana. The names were based on our favourite films and television shows, including The Addams Family, and she presented the pumpkins in crates which looked fantastic. Our place names were beautifully written on mini white pumpkins that looked so cute - most of our guests took them home." Emily and Ben also had a flower wall placed against a neon sign which read 'til death do us party' and a wooden guest board for everyone to write on instead of a traditional guest book.
Emily's dad owns a local bakery so the choice of cake was important to the couple. "We wanted a wow-factor design so chose a five-tier green and white marble cake decorated with mini white pumpkins, flowers and foliage. It stood on a cake swing surrounded by a 7ft balloon hoop which amazed our guests.
My dad didn’t make it because he said it was too much pressure but we did convince him to create our heart-shaped green iced shortbread biscuit favours with Mr and Mrs stamped on them in gold.”
To entertain their guests, the couple had a string quartet performing during the ceremony and drinks reception. "My Dad surprised us with singing waiters just after the dessert!" Emily says. "This was the best part of the day, they got everyone up dancing and brought the party come to life! We were all doing the conga around the room before 7 pm, it was fabulous!" For their evening food, the couple hired a pizza truck and had a hog roast and they rounded off the night with a surprise firework display for everyone.
Emily wore a satin dress by Justin Alexander accessorised with a veil while Ben and his groomsmen chose dark-grey three-piece suits teamed with dark green ties. "Our bridesmaids coordinated by wearing dark-green gowns," Emily says.
Top tip: "Ask your make-up and hair stylists to start as early as possible. We thought that we had, but almost ran out of time! You want to enjoy having a few photographs taken together and a drink to calm the nerves before walking down the aisle."
