Andreea and Lucas tied the knot on 4th September this year at Nonsuch Mansion in Sutton, Surrey.
This elegant late summer wedding was full of elegant and pretty detail, including the softest pink hues, elegant seasonal blooms and stationery.
The couple found their wedding photographer, the talented and lovely Kent based Shelby Ellis, through the Love My Dress wedding directory – through which they also discovered their celebrant, Tamryn Settle of Wild & Oak, and their confetti supplier, The Real Flower Petal Confetti Company. They further discovered their stationer through our real weddings.
Nonsuch Manor Wedding Venue, Surrey
At the beginning of 2020 we were in the very early stages of wedding planning and were envisioning having a destination wedding in either Italy or France.
However, once the pandemic hit we decided to stick closer to home in the UK (at the time we didn’t know just how close to home we would be, as Nonsuch isn’t very far from our home at all!) and we began our venue search shortly after the first lockdown eased.
Living in southwest London we were familiar with Nonsuch Park, but we hadn’t realised that it had a wedding venue until we stumbled across it one evening. We booked a viewing with an attitude of ‘Why not? Let’s just go see it’, and the rest, as they say, is history!
Nonsuch Mansion ticked all of our boxes. We chose it for its stunning interiors, bright and spacious bridal suite and gorgeous formal lawns. We had exclusive use for the day, and the location was a bonus as it was easy for our international and other out-of-town guests to reach. It had a good energy and vibe to it – it felt like we were opening up our own home to our friends and family. Our venue coordinator and the rest of the team were wonderful to work with; nothing was ever too much trouble.
Blush & Ivory Wedding Flowers
Yoko from Yoko Blooms did our wedding flowers and we could not have been happier! We went with a blush and ivory colour palette with lots of greenery (including olive leaves) and an added touch of blue for the floral arrangements and centrepieces. The flowers absolutely blew us away; they looked so ethereal and complemented the mansion beautifully.
I was stunned when I saw my bouquet, it was prettier than I ever could have imagined and I did not want to put it down! I’m a very sentimental person, so I sent it off to be preserved, along with the groom’s buttonhole, a few flowers from our centrepieces and some leftover confetti. We are so excited that we will have these mementos to keep in our home forever.
An Essense of Australia Wedding Dress
I wore an Essense of Australia dress from Aurora Bride boutique. Aurora Bride is such a lovely wedding dress shop. All of the ladies there are so friendly, knowledgeable, professional and kind. The shop is so gorgeous, it has such a lovely feel to it and they even have their own bar so you can make a celebration out of it and enjoy a glass of bubbly whilst trying on dresses!
I went on quite the wedding dress shopping journey that eventually led me to this one. I spent years and years (over a decade, perhaps) imagining that I would wear an A-line dress – I didn’t think that the more fitted ones would suit me and even all of the pins on my Pinterest board were of A-line silhouettes! – so when I decided to try this one on, it caught me by surprise.
I loved the way the dress made me feel – feminine and pretty and it hugged my curves in all of the right places. The train is a showstopper, and all of the lace detailing on the dress is just stunning. After saying yes to the dress I had a little wobble as I was so surprised that I hadn’t chosen an A-line dress and wasn’t sure if I had made the right choice, I even went back to try it on again.
I fell in love with it all over again. My seamstress worked her magic and I felt absolutely amazing on the day.
Shoes, Veil, Accessories & Beauty
I wore a single layer, chapel length veil in pale ivory from The Wedding Veil Shop. It was made of gorgeous Italian tulle; I loved the softness of the tulle and how it captured the light in the sunshine. I absolutely loved wearing it.
My shoes ere the Imogen Pearl heels by Charlotte Mills. I loved the block heel and crushed pearl glitter; they were so comfortable to wear I almost forgot that I was wearing heels. My pearl hair clips were from Clover Company Bridal on Etsy. I also wore simple pearl studded earrings from Olivia and Pearl.
We did Jo Malone’s ‘Scent Your Wedding’ experience together and we had such a lovely time choosing our scents. I ended up choosing the Peony & Blush Suede cologne and layered it over the Orange Blossom Body Créme, and he wore Silver Birch and Lavender. Both of our cologne bottles were engraved – mine with ‘bride’ and his with our wedding date.
Neither of us had worn these scents before so smelling them now takes us straight back to our wedding day. We also purchased a Peony and Blush Suede Diffuser that I brought with me to the bridal suite to set out whilst getting ready.
Amanda of Amanda Roberts Hair & Makeup did my hair and makeup, and the bridal party’s hair.
Amanda is fantastic; I loved my hair and makeup and it lasted all through the day and night! She has such a calm energy about her and it was great to having her around on the wedding morning. Amanda’s assistant did the bridal party’s makeup.
The Ceremony
My dad accompanied me down the aisle. We walked down to Brooklyn Duo’s rendition of Pachelbel’s Canon in D. When thinking about the day I had always wondered if, and at what point, I would cry and this was the moment. Once I heard the music in the background and saw Lucas standing at the end of the aisle, that’s when I started to tear up.
The one and only Tamryn Settle of Wild & Oak officiated over our ceremony. We first heard of Tamryn through Love My Dress and later, What About Weddings.
We were over the moon to have her as our officiant as she is such an inspiration and who better to have officiate over your ceremony than someone who fought so hard for the wedding industry. She created such a beautiful ceremony for us; it reflected who we are as a couple and it truly was so, so special.
Tamryn included in a bit where the audience had to repeat ‘WE DO’ which so many guests told us they loved; “And to you all, family and friends gathered here today, do you all promise to support Andreea and Lucas in their future lives together, offering them love and friendship throughout all the years that follow?” We turned to look at them as they said “WE DO!” – it and it was such a beautiful moment.
One of my bridesmaids did our reading – we chose Union by Robert Fulghum.
We both got our rings from independent jewellers – I wanted something dainty that would complement my engagement ring, and he opted for a titanium band as it’s lightweight and sturdy.
Photography by Shelby Ellis
Our photographer Shelby Ellis is amazing and we cannot recommend her more if we tried. When we first found Shelby, we were instantly attracted to her style of photos – the colours in them are just so stunning and there’s something about them that just made us feel so happy; she captures moments so brilliantly that you can feel the emotion through her photos. We actually did two couples’ shoots with her before our day – we had so much fun and it helped make us feel more comfortable in front of the camera.
She was fantastic on the day, a true professional and it was like having a bonus bridesmaid! She brought the rings to our best man, fluffed my train when needed, she even bustled my dress in record time! She captured the day beautifully and was so discreet, we barely even noticed she was there snapping away.
How They Met
We met back in 2014 in Geneva through a mutual friend. He proposed in Hyde Park in December 2019 – the winter sunshine was beaming down on us and the proposal was recorded so we can relive the moment again and again which is so special. Due to postponing, our engagement lasted almost three years.
We met back in 2014 in Geneva through a mutual friend.
He proposed in Hyde Park in December 2019 – the winter sunshine was beaming down on us and the proposal was recorded so we can relive the moment again and again which is so special. Due to postponing, our engagement lasted almost three years.
Lucas wore a suit from Moss Bros. He and the groomsmen wore matching cufflinks with their initials engraved on them. He gifted the cufflinks to them on the morning of the wedding, the groomsmen ended up cutting holes in their shirts so they could all wear them as most of them didn’t have shirts with the holes in them!
Bridesmaids in Pink
My bridesmaids wore different style dresses from Azazie and JJs House in ‘Blushing Pink’.
Reception, Detail & Decor
A great thing about Nonsuch is that all of its rooms are already styled so nicely so we didn’t need to go overboard on the décor and instead focused on enhancing the space. The floral arrangements were the focal point, and we included our personalised touches throughout the mansion through our signage and photo frames that featured photos from our pre-wedding couples shoot.
We booked a flower wall with a neon sign that read ‘All you need is love.’ We chose this sign as it speaks for itself and reminded us all of why we were all there – to celebrate love. It served as the perfect backdrop to our photobooth.
As a nod to Lucas’ Dutch roots we gave out stroopwafels as favours. We added a few personal touches to the food & drink throughout the day too; Lucas sourced Lambrusco, a sparkling red wine from the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy where he is from, for our drinks reception. He also sourced the white wine that was served during our wedding breakfast – a Chardonnay that originated from the region in France that he grew up in.
We also hired the Buttercup Bus ice cream cart to serve ice cream during our drinks reception. The hardest part was narrowing down which flavours we wanted to be served on the day! We opted for double chocolate, vanilla, straccitella, chocolate chip cookie dough, mango sorbet and lemon sorbet. It was absolutely delicious and went down a treat!
Cake & Stationery
We commissioned Abbie Worton Design to do our on the day stationery and signage and we could not have been happier. We wanted something elegant and timeless and everything looked amazing on the day.
We made a few signs ourselves with templates that we purchased off of Etsy: one that detailed our story, our cake sign, the bar menu, welcome sign for the wedding breakfast, hydration station sign We opted for escort cards by KNDesignStudios via Etsy, instead of a table plan.
We included a personalised note inside them for each guest, it was so lovely hearing how much our guests loved this personal touch.
Our cake was made by Chelsea Buns Cake Design. We wanted to somehow incorporate all of our nationalities into an element of the wedding, and our wedding cake was the perfect opportunity to do so. Each sugar flower reflected one of our nationalities; American Rose, Romanian Peony, Dutch Tulip and Italian White Lily. The olive leaves represented peace and friendship and the gold leaves represented rebirth, fertility and growth.
We opted for one flavour per tier: lemon drizzle, white chocolate and raspberry, and carrot cake. The cake tasting and design consultation was one of our favourite parts of the wedding planning process.
Evening & Dancing
We went back and forth between whether to have a first dance or not, and then whether to take first dance lessons or not. In the end we decided yes to both and are so happy that we did.
We danced to ‘Ti Amo’ by Umberto Tozzi – it’s a classic and we loved that it was in Italian, one of the groom’s native languages.
We had so much fun during our dance lessons, they helped boost our confidence and now we know some steps that we can use in the future.
We booked Phil to play during our drinks reception. It was so lovely – there was a moment during our couples’ portraits where we paused to take it all in and we could hear him singing and our guests mingling in the background.\
Words of Wedded Wisdom
At the start of your wedding planning journey, make a list of your ‘must haves’ and ‘desirables’. In doing so we were able to lead with our priorities, which helped keep us from getting overwhelmed in a world with seemingly endless options. It’s also important to keep in mind that every couple is different and your must haves might be different to others and that’s okay! Don’t feel pressured to spend extra money and time on the things that are not at the top of your list.
If the budget allows, hire an on the day coordinator! Having a coordinator meant that we didn’t have to worry about things like supplier set up, timings, setting things up ourselves, etc. We were able to fully enjoy just being the bride and the groom and relish in that ‘just married’ feeling.
Take some time out to yourselves during the day to take it all in and let it sink in that you are now married! We did this after getting a sneak peek of our wedding breakfast set-up and while the guests were taking their seats before our grand entrance.
We planned our wedding ourselves, however we booked Georgina Alexander for our on the day coordination. She was a dream to work with. She made the run up to the wedding a lot less stressful as she took care of liaising with all of our suppliers and all of the final details. On the day itself we were able to focus on just being the bride and groom and we didn’t have to worry about a thing.
Our budget was £35k, and we went just a little bit over that.
Discover More from Shelby Ellis
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.
