Sarah and Neil's Wedding at Hornington Manor

25th August 2017

Love Stories

Sarah’s family descend from Scotland originally, but Sarah has always lived in England. Sarah and Neil met in sixth form and have been together ever since; ten years together and two years engaged, true childhood sweethearts!

Decorating the barn proved to be a real family team effort. Sarah’s mum, Anne, handmade all the bunting and even had enough spare to do another lap of the barn! Anne had also made blackcurrant jam for all the ladies as favours, while the groom’s family provided home-made cider for the gents, with labels designed by the groom’s father.

The beautiful flowers were provided by a family friend – a combination of calla lilies and barley creating a glamourous country feel which was mirrored through the bunting and jam jars and bridesmaids’ attire, beautiful powder blue dresses with delicate floral designs.

Florist’s displays were accompanied by vases of beautiful pink carnations picked from Sarah’s mum’s garden – these were Sarah’s grandmother’s favourite flowers. Sarah and her grandmother were extremely close before she sadly passed away and having the carnations around the room made Sarah feel as though her grandmother was there, and part of her special day.

Sarah and Neil had 10 guest tables, one for each year they have been together and each table had a photo of the couple from that specific year – a lovely idea and it was great to see how the bride and groom had changed since their high school days!

The stationary and menus were designed by one of the lovely bridesmaids Megan along with Pretty Neat Studios. Each place setting had a little fill in the blanks card designed by the Best Man Ian – an example of them read – ‘Neil is so ……………. And Sarah, well she is so………………… Together they are……….!’

Sarah’s brother is a brewer at local Yorkshire brewery Northern Monk and provided a cask of hand-pull IPA behind the bar which went down extremely well with the guests!

The weather was forecasted to be terrible on the day and with a civil ceremony planned under the Lytch gate, we all had our fingers and toes crossed the rain would dry up… And miraculously it did -the sun even came out just in time for the nuptials! Sarah walked down the aisle to Elton John’s ‘Can You Feel the Love Tonight’ and looked absolutely stunning in her lace gown from Scarlet Poppy.

A particularly funny reading was ready by Sarah’s brother during the service: Pam Ayres ‘Yes I’ll Marry You My Dear’ and he had adapted it for Sarah and Neil.

Guests enjoyed reception drinks of Pimm’s and mixed beers on the front lawn in the glorious sunshine and were led into the barn for the speeches later in the afternoon. The bride and groom were whisked off for their photos by their wonderful photographer Richard Perry Photography in the fields and around the grounds.

During the speeches, Neil professed his watery eyes were purely due to hay fever and he definitely wasn’t crying! He thanked the bridesmaids for all their help and congratulated them on managing to keep Sarah calm through it all, which became a running joke throughout the speeches, much to Sarah’s amusement!

He thanked Sarah for all her hard work organising the day and confessed his only input was the jukebox on the dancefloor- supplied by Specialty Music, but credit to Neil as this was a fab idea and all the guests loved being DJ for the evening!

The Best Man, Ian, explained that having been best friends with Neil for 20 years, people constantly get their names mixed up, even the registrar got them mixed up today and joked how it could have been a very different day! Neil compared Hornington to the bride and groom’s relationship – calm, friendly and laid back. You are surrounded by the people you love, and the sheep and alpacas!

The wedding breakfast and evening buffet was provided by the fabulous Hog and Apple, with guests enjoying stunning antipasti sharing platters for starters, followed by a trio of pulled pork, pork belly and pork loin and finished with a trio of delicious puds – Eton mess, lemon posset and banoffee parfait!

The day was absolutely wonderful and we think the best man Ian spoke for us all when he said that Sarah and Neil are perfect for each other and he knows their marriage is going to be a long and lovely one. We wish them all the happiness for the future.