Courtney & Lanre’s Elegant October Wedding at Northbrook Park, Surrey

Courtney and Lanre’s October wedding at Northbrook Park in Surrey was actually the third of three ceremonies, following a legal wedding at Danson House in Bexley in July and a Nigerian Traditional wedding honouring Lanre’s heritage. By the time their black tie celebration came around, they had a very clear picture of what the day should look like, and they built it with real care and intention.

Courtney had her heart set on a manor house and the moment she walked into Northbrook Park’s Vine Room and saw that enormous fireplace, the search was over. Paloma Violet Weddings planned and styled the day, building it around organic pale tones, woven linen, candlelight and the most beautiful arrangement of white roses, green hydrangeas and orchids by It’s O Creative. Working with as many Black and female-owned suppliers as possible was a priority for the couple, and that intention shaped the whole supplier team.

Courtney also made the brilliant and considered decision to rent her gown, choosing W Wedding in London where she found both her dress and her long veil. She is emphatic that every bride should at least consider renting as an option, and honestly, when you see how she looks, it is hard to argue with her! James Richard Photography captured the whole day beautifully. Enjoy!

Our venue was Northbrook Park in Surrey. I really wanted that manor house vibe for my wedding. I already saw the grounds from photos and thought it was stunning, however the moment I walked into the room they call the Vine Room with the huge fireplace I fell in love.

I could see myself walking down the aisle there and no other venue that we went to made me feel like the Vine Room made me feel.

We had three weddings in total: the first was our legal wedding in July at Danson House in Bexley; we then had a Nigerian Traditional wedding as Lanre is Nigerian; and then the wedding at Northbrook Park in October.

We arrived at the ceremony to the sounds of ‘A Thousand Years’ by Christina Perri, played by saxophonist, The Sax Life Of Mikes.

My ring was from Channings and Lanre’s plain gold band was from Tigerstone. I knew I wanted a ring stack so was adamant on at least 2 rings to join my engagement ring.

We went to try on wedding rings about three times until I came to a decision of what looked good as a stack alongside my engagement ring.

I LOVE how our photographer, James Richard, captured moments; you can feel the emotions through his photography. Our wedding planner found him and we looked at his Instagram, which we were impressed with.

Then once we had a consultation call with him, it was like we clicked, like he had been our friend for many many years. I have recommended James to anyone that would listen; that is how impressed we were with his photography and how he was on the day.

Many guests complimented our photographer and my bridesmaids also mentioned how polite and helpful he was.

Depending on if you ask the bride or the groom you may get different versions of the same event of how we met. We first laid eyes on each other at Goals – a place that has lots and lots of football pitches that people can hire out – but neither spoke to the other.

I don’t even recall making eye contact, I was way too shy.

However, as fate would have it, we met at a university event a couple of weeks after and it was there he spoke to me and got my number. I think we have spoken every single day since that day in 2015.

We got engaged in Barbados. Lanre had arranged a dinner and pretended the dinner table wasn’t ready yet so we took a stroll on the beach where he popped the question. This was in July 2023 and we got married in October 2024.

We made our menus, table plans, place cards and order of the day ourselves. I was super proud of the table plan which was on a linen sheet with the names in a football team formation. We both love football – Lanre plays it and I have grown up watching it and loving it – so we wanted to incorporate it somewhere.

Our florist was It’s O Creative. Before wedding planning I had recently received hydrangeas and fell in love with them, so I knew I wanted them as many places as possible. The theme was green/sage so I thought a white bouquet with green foliage fit in well.

Catering was provided by Burrell Catering and our cake was provided by Marfo Bakes.

I LOVE cupcakes so we were originally going to do a cupcake tower, however we opted for cupcakes as favours and a smaller cake that had ‘forever then’ on the top – a private joke between us that we thought made total sense to include.

Our cupcakes made by a good friend. I wanted things that will not be left on the tables at the end of the night that people forget about. Fair to say there were no cupcakes left on the tables and everyone loved them.

Courtney and Lanre’s wedding was an absolute joy to work on. The design of the day focused on organic, light tones, with green hydrangeas, white roses and white orchids complimented by thick woven pale oat linens and freshly cut green fruits that also created a light, fresh scent. We added twinkling candlelight for romance and atmosphere.

We added personalised touches such as football-themed order of day and seating signage, making it stylish on flowing linens accented with sage green ribbons, and their beloved dog Woody acting as ring bearer in his own little tuxedo. One of my favourite moments was the bridesmaids walking down the aisle to surprise personalised messages for each one of them, recorded by the bride and played alongside soft music.

We worked with a team of some really incredible suppliers who made the whole day very special.

It will all be OK on your wedding day. Before the day there is so much overthinking that goes into it that you work yourself up for no reason – it will all work out. Also trust yourself and your judgement. Pinterest and social media can make you go in a spiral; it’s good for the starting stages but once you know what you like, stick with it.

I promise it will be lovely.

Pictures also make things look so much better (social media is a highlight reel after all), so don’t let someone’s wedding online sway your decision – in real life it may not look like that.

We are that couple that barely budgets for things – we go with the flow and hope for the best, like we had done with our renovation. So we had no budget and were none the wiser to how much weddings cost; we decided on what we were willing to spend on a particular vendor as we went along. In total the wedding was £23k, but some of our family and friends did help with paying for vendors which we are so fortunate for.

And finally – I would have gone bigger on the flowers, especially by the fireplace in the Vine Room where our ceremony was.

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