Afternoon lovelies! This wedding must have been amongst the very final few that took place in 2011, for it occurred on new years eve! Nick & Stacey opted to tie the knot on New Years Eve 2011 at Prestwold Hall in Leicestershire.
Stacey wore Olivia Couture, from Blackburn Bridal Couture in Blackheath and lovely headpiece from Chez Bec that complimented the overall black tie theme so beautiful…
"I originally wanted quite a slinky dress similar to a Jenny Packham design, but being a little curvy and having a bust meant that they didn’t quite suit me. So I moved my search on and took a Tuesday off work to visit Blackburn Bridal, which I had seen on a walk with some friends.
They were absolutely fantastic. They matched my budget and even suggested this dress to me…"
Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2012, S6 photography
"We had an old vintage bus to take me and my family all to the church together. It was nice to share a glass of fizz on the way…."
"My wedding dress is more bridal than I had expected that I would go for, but I felt so feminine and loved the shape it gave me. Plus, I knew I could accessorise it with a different belt for the evening – a white belt for the ceremony and wedding breakfast, and a black one for the evening to fit-in with the black-tie theme…"
"Prestwold Hall introduced us to a local lady, Sue Eggleston, who was a part-time florist, and who had also done her own daughter’s wedding at the venue. Sue knew how to maximise every part of the church and the venue, and we were able to catch-up with her all the time because she attended church on the same Sundays that we did. S
he truly was amazing. From meeting her each time you could tell that she really cared about every detail. She went over and above for us, emailing us photos and materials all the time, and one time she even got back to us within 2 hours of us expressing a new idea. I think she even emailed us on Christmas Day. Incredible!"
"We really love to party and so having a wedding on New Year’s Eve seemed to be the perfect date for us. We had all the excitement of the ceremony, dinner and speeches, and then had all of the fun of New Year. Just perfect.
The weather was also spot on. My sister got married the week before Christmas last year and guests couldn’t come because of the snow. For ours, the weather was beautiful – chilly but dry. I never expected to have outside photos or even confetti, but we got both!"
"We met at school. As Nick continues to tell me, I asked him out on a school trip to Holland aged about 11 years old, but he said no. On my 18th birthday we had a cheeky kiss and that was it. We were together 8 years before we got engaged and 10 years before we got married. We had never really spoken about marriage, as we were happy as we were just living together in our tiny flat in London, so it was a big surprise when he did propose with a beautiful Tiffany ring…"
"Nick had planned to propose a few times, but the first time I crashed my car on the day that he had planned a romantic Sunday afternoon together. The next time he thought of trying was at home, but in the process of putting up a curtain rail up he accidentally hit me in the mouth with it – not a good time to pop the question! He managed at the third attempt – it was a cold and snowy night just before Christmas near Primrose Hill in London, on a deserted bridge near London Zoo. Just perfect.
The honeymoon was something Nick planned and was a total surprise to me…"
"Both Nick and I grew up in Leicestershire and because our families and many of friends still live there, it just felt right to find somewhere within the county to get married. We went from venue to venue, but none ever gave us that special excited feeling – that was, until Prestwold Hall came along. From the beautiful church within the grounds of the estate, to the utterly stunning hall itself – we just knew it was where we wanted to get married. And it just started from there.
We saw roaring fires and we thought “maybe a winter wedding?”. Then we saw the grand dining room with its spectacular chandelier and ornate gold furnishings and it just hit us “let’s get married New Year’s Eve!”. We could just picture a whole room full of candles, illuminating the room, and everyone dressed to the nines in black tie.
Thankfully it was within budget, and the people were really lovely too – it just felt brilliant…."
"We gave everyone shortbread biscuits with an N and S. We bought lots of candles to keep the mood romantic and the atmosphere cosy. It was dark by the time we sat down so it was lovely to have such an intimate room to share the meal together.
We used champagne corks as place name holders. And we named the tables after different breeds of fox – the iconic symbol of Leicestershire…"
"We hired Maverick Venue Management, who manage the day-to-day running of Prestwold Hall. We had Bangers and Mash for main, because we figured everyone would be sick of turkey and sliced meat…."
"We had no great plans for our cake, so Nick’s mum volunteered to take charge. She got someone that she knew from the local village to make it and we were taken aback by how thoughtful the design was. It looked great – themed in black and white to match the day, and with Mr and Mrs Penguins on top. All very cute."
"DJ Odk was fantastic – he pitched the cheesy wedding tunes just right! Take That’s ‘Never Forget’ was an awesome last tune!
We danced to Paulo Nutini's 'Candy'. We chose it because we argue a lot in the car, but every time this song came on in the car, we’d always seemed to stop…."
"We hired the band The Twentysomethings and Nick got the band to play’ New York, New York’ as the last song before the year end. They announced beforehand that it was a clue as to where we were going on the first part of our honeymoon. The minute it started up, I burst into tears – I’d always wanted to go. Nick says the best part of his night was seeing all our guests kicking their legs to the song…."
Words of Wedded Wisdom…
"Enjoy it. We each had the best day of our lives! There is nothing we would have changed at all. But more than anything, it was the people there on the day, all wanting to share the moment with us, that made it perfect. Make sure the ones you love are there, because they make the day.
Have a little faith too, we had only met some of the suppliers once, and a couple not at all, but they were all very good – especially our band and photographer!"
Oh wow, what an amazing way to spend New Year!
Congratulations Nick and Stacey! And thanks as always to Jon at S6 Photography for sharing his work.
You can see more fab weddings from S6 on Love My Dress here.
Anyone else planning a New Year wedding?!?
Annabel
♥
Photographer – S6 photography
Venue – Prestwold Hall in Leicestershire
Brides dress – Olivia Couture via Blackburn Bridal
Brides veil – belonged to the bride's sister
Brides shoes – Rainbow
Brides Hair Accessories – Chez Bec
Grooms Suit – Next
Bridesmaids Dresses – Made by Edith Cattell, Leicestershire
Florist - Eggleston Cakes and Flowers
Entertaiment -DJ Odk + The Twentysomethings + Andy Johnson Pianist
Hair Stylist – Hair by Eve
Make-up Artist – Elizabeth Claire
Catering Company – Maverick Venue Management
Annabel View all Annabel's articles
Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Editor. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and star gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she's not working on Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip in the running of the family's sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers. In 2013, she became a published author.
