Hannah & Faren’s Marleybrook House Wedding

Where did you get married?

We got married at Marleybrook House in Preston, we chose this venue because it was so unique. There are so many aspects to the venue that we felt could be used to make our day amazing from the walled garden where we held our ceremony to the fairground with vintage rides.

This venue had everything and more, there were three choices of ceremony areas (barn, walled garden and bandstand area) which was important to us to have options that we could work with in any weather. The beautiful backdrop of the thatched cottage which was the first thing guests saw as they arrived and walked down the path to the bar.

The Marquee for the wedding breakfast and reception was big enough to have all of our friends and family there from the day through to the evening with the capacity for more evening guests too! The Wedding suite where we were able to stay the night of the wedding which was so beautifully decorated and a special way to end the wedding.

The bridal suites which enabled myself and my bridal party to begin preparations at the venue from 8am until we were ready. The unique bar and cosy area which created another area off of the marquee for guests to go to in the evening. The gypsy caravan renovated into a place to stay for guests with a double bedroom, living area and bathroom.

The children’s play area to keep the little ones entertained. The barn enabled us to have another area in use for the reception where guests could go and have photos taken with the selfie mirror. Even the quirky signs at the venue, giant chessboard, swing in the tree, huskies living outside and the toilet in the telephone box.

Not only this but the owners and wedding coordinators at the venue were amazing from the moment we booked in February 2017 to getting married on the 10th August 2019, they made the whole process so easy and enjoyable and couldn’t have done any more.

Did you have any type of theme to your day?

Due to the venue being set amongst a thatched cottage in a rural area our theme was quite rustic but also having the funfair there and it being such a unique type of venue we decided to try and keep the theme fun and unique too. We continued the funfair theme into the food with mini hot dogs, burgers , pizzas, popcorn and churros for guests as they enjoyed the rides at the fair and a donut wall and sweet cart in the marquee for the reception.

Our colour scheme was a dusky pink and we wanted everything to be bright and light due to the time of year being summer and fitting with the styling of the venue. Dusky pink table runners and chair sashes which complimented the rustic wooden floors and chairs in the marquee.

We had an around the world theme for our tables and decided to have each table as a place we had visited together, we then placed a photo of ourselves in that place on each table and matched the favours according to the place. We had Las vegas, Los Angeles, Dubai, Oslo, Rome, Paris, Ibiza, Marbella, Canada and La clusaz where we got engaged. Each table had a miniature alcoholic drink from that place and a favour from the place too.

Which flowers did you choose?

We chose to have dusky pink flowers to fit in with the colour scheme, I originally wanted peonies as they are my favourite flowers but due to the time of the year it may not have been possible to source these so we went with David Austin roses and garden roses with silvery foliage for my bouquet, the buttonholes, corsages, table flowers and the archway in the ceremony area. Fitting in with the rustic theme the bridesmaids flowers and the row ends in the ceremony area were bunches of gypsophilia which is another favourite flower of mine. On the day I was surprised by Rachel and her team at contemporary flowers with peonies in my bouquet which I was over the moon with! The flowers on the day were absolutely amazing and exactly how I imagined them looking at the venue!

Which style was the brides dress?

I had always known what style of dress I wanted, even before I got engaged. I had always wanted and dreamed of having a lace fitted fishtail style gown with sleeves and a lace train, when I went shopping I tried on a range of different styles to make sure that was what I wanted and what suited my figure but quickly ruled any other styles out. I went dress shopping two years before the wedding and tried on a number of dresses that matched what I was looking for but as soon as I tried my dress on I knew it was the one and didn’t try any more on after wearing the gown I chose.

I didn’t want to take it off and it made my mum cry straight away. I knew it was the one! My mum was nervous about me buying the dress as it was so far away from the wedding. She thought I might change my mind but after having my dress at my Nan’s house for two years, I didn’t even look at another dress for myself. I tried it on a few times just to make sure and fell in love with it even more every time I wore it. I loved the layers of lace in the train, the way that the beads sparkled when the light hit the bodice of the dress, the fishtail fitted style, The sheer mesh over the sweetheart neckline underneath leading to the lace sleeves, the lace back with buttons all the way down and the jewelled belt that pulled it in at the waist. I just loved everything about it!

How did you have your hair?

I decided to have my hair up as I wanted to show off the lace back on my dress. After deciding that I was going to have my hair up I looked at so many different ways to have it up , curled, sleek, loose, half up half down etc but after the trial with Shay I decided to have it sleek with a round low barrel bun as I felt that style complimented the style of my dress and also the headpiece and veil I was wearing. Shay was amazing from the trial to the day she made sure everyone loved their hair and that everyone looked perfect, she was calm and quick and knew how to keep us all relaxed and on time. She stayed right until the moment I left to walk down the aisle to add finishing touches and make sure it was still set in the 50mph winds we had on the day. I wanted my make up quite natural and when I went for my trial I asked for ‘natural but the best version of me’ which I’m sure everyone asks for. I wanted it to be natural enough that it was still me but I wanted to look as amazing as I could and Georgia definitely made me feel amazing on the day. I asked to have neutral dusky pink tones on my eyes and lips to fit in with the colour scheme and to keep it natural and a set of lashes to add that bit of glam on the day, Georgia and Lacey made myself, bridesmaids and mum look and feel amazing and they really put us at ease in the morning, they were relaxed and made the morning a really lovely experience!

Which colour did the groomsmen bridesmaids wear?

Groom and Groomsmen wore light blue checked three piece suits. We wanted to have a light bright colour to fit in with the theme, venue and the time of year our wedding was. We added dusky pink ties and pocket squares that matched the bridesmaids dresses to their suits. The bridesmaids had a tight fitting dusky pink multiway dress that they all wore different ways to compliment their own style.They all looked amazing in their dresses!

How did you feel the day went as a whole?

The day was perfect, it could not have gone any better, it was just amazing from start to finish and went by so quickly we wish we could do it all over again. Even with the 50 mph winds we still wouldn’t change a thing, it made a cracking confetti shot! Any worries we had disappeared and didn’t even cross our minds on the day as we were in our own little bubble and nothing could take the smile off of our faces. The most important thing to us was that our guests enjoyed our day as much as we did and everyone we spoke to said they had a brilliant day and loved being a part of it which was so important to us! There are so many special and favourite moments but a few that stuck out for us were the morning of the wedding getting ready and being so excited to finally marry each other, seeing each other for the first time on the day, the funfair and seeing our guests have so much fun, the speeches and our amazing photographer climbing onto a tree stump and hanging onto a branch to get the perfect shot!