Grace and Conor tied the knot on 7th August 2023 at the very beautiful Hedsor House in Maidenhead.
The couple wanted an intimate wedding at a luxurious venue that would provide exclusive use and an elegant ‘downtown abbey’ vibe wedding. Grace wore a beautiful modern gown by Pronovias and a classic pair of heels by Manolo Blahnik.
This very elegant summer wedding was captured beautifully by photographer Ellie Mac and film makers, Epic Love Films. Enjoy
The Groom
We both love timeless elegance, we wanted a very classic wedding that defined us perfectly. Some of our friends joke that we are ‘Lord & Lady Pearson’. We went for black tie as this tied in with the elegance for us.
Our wedding was simple so we could keep our core values of our wedding there, for us it was about having our favourite people in one place to share our love with.
We wanted Conor to stand out as the groom – when he tried on a black tux jacket, he didn’t feel that special groom feeling, so we explored the white tux. As soon as he put it on, he felt special. His look was from Gieves and Hawkes on Savile Row, London.
Conor’s accessories shirt and socks were bought from Montague Jeffery, a family owned suit/gentleman’s clothing store in Northampton. We have known them for years and always get suits from them. I bought Conor a pair of cufflinks with our cats, Lily and Phoebe on them, as they are a massive part of our lives.
Bridal Beauty & Accessories
I wore my late grandmother’s aquamarine ring as another of my something blue, Conor gifted me aquamarine and pearl drop earrings which matched perfectly. I also had her lace handkerchief to wipe away my happy tears.
My perfume was Maison Francis – 724. I love fresh smells so this one was perfect not to sweet but feminine.
I wore a pair of blue Hangisi by Manolo Blahnik – these have been my dream shoes and as I can’t see me wearing my wedding dress again I wanted to have other items that I could wear again & know they were part of my wedding day. I also wore a long, plain veil, from the same boutique I got my dress.
Maddie at Seckingtons, my normal hairdresser, did my hair. Bijou beauty, my eyebrow lady, did my makeup. Having a team I already knew around me on the day gave me familiarity on a crazy emotional morning. It really helped ground and calm me in the lead up.
The Dress
My dress was by Pronovias and from the Natalya James boutique in Wellingborough, North Northamptonshire. I knew of this boutique when my sister got married as she carried out the bridesmaid dress alterations.
On the day of visiting Natalya, we were made to feel so welcome – there was no rush in us browsing through dresses to try them on. My dress was the typical ‘didn’t like it on the hanger’ but it felt perfect once on.
Because Natalya and her team design and make dresses in house, they have a wealth of knowledge, so it was very reassuring when it came to alterations.
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The Bridal Team
I gave my bridesmaids the theme ‘pink, girly and feminine’. I wanted them to wear mis-matched dresses that they felt good in. With one living in Australia, another Cornwall it wasn’t possible for them to all be together at the same time, so a lot of ‘photoshop’ collage skills were used to see how they would pair together.
The dresses were from Needle & Thread London – these dresses were one of the first bought in their sale. The girls looked gorgeous in them and the touch of pink tied in well with the bridesmaids.
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The Ceremony
My dad walked me down the aisle to the sound of ‘She’, by Elvis Costello.
My Grandad read ‘What Is A Soulmate’, by Emily Matthew’s, and Byron, Graces close friend, read ‘Look To This Day’, by Kalidasa. We loved the meaning and words of them. They felt perfect for the day and our love for one another.
We had a wedding kneeler featured as part of our day, this was made by my late grandmother in 1995 and has been featured at all the grandchildren’s wedding.
Having her kneeler, ring & handkerchief made her presence very strong on the day.
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Photography
Our photographer was Ellie Mac. We met ELlie through our friends on their wedding day and we loved her light fresh editing and how her photographs look so natural and capture everyones emotions perfectly.
Ellie helped our day run so smoothly with briefing us before on suggested timings and group shots.
It meant we could relax and spend time with guests as it wasn’t unexpected when we were taken away for couple and group shots. As we had our engagement shoot with Ellie, we felt comfortable around her.
We would definitely recommend Ellie, investing in a photographer who produces high quality photos is a priority as we will continue to look back on these photos in years to come
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How They Met
We met through mutual friends at a beer festival in our hometown, Northampton, in 2018. Four years later, Conor took me away to Lucknam Park in July 2022, one of our favourite english hotels. He proposed the day before our anniversary on 24th July – we’d gone for a bike ride around the grounds finishing coming up the drive with the gorgeous hotel in site at the nd. We had stopped to take it all in and with just the two of us around he got down on one knee.
Conor said he wanted to get married sooner rather than later so when looking at venues we had initially been looking at 2024 due to availability of dates, however we lucked out that Hedsor had a date that suited us in 2023 so we were engaged for 54 weeks before saying ‘I do’.
The Reception
We hired The Lincoln Noel Jazz Trio to add some elegance and timelessness to our wedding. Lincoln is my old piano teacher who has been a part of my family’s lives for nearly 20 years. He is a massive character so was also our MC throughout the day and added lots of personality.
Half Pint Print provided our place cards and seating plan and signs. We designed and printed all our invites ourselves to help save money which was a big help.
Our caterers were Goose & Berry. As I am vegan, the majority of our day was vegan food.
Our cake was by Le Papillon. We had vegan chocolate, carrots cake and lemon.
Evening & Dancing
Our first dance was to Eric Clapton’s ‘Wonderful Tonight’. We had dance lessons to do a choreographed first dance- Conor would sing this to me as I would get ready, on our first time at Lucknam Park it came on and I heard the original for the first time. On the engagement trip to Lucknam it came on as we arrived near the hotel – so it felt the perfect song.
Our first dance was so much fun – we forgot everyone was around us.
Words of Wedded Wisdom
Remember the day is about the two of you keep that at the front of your mind when making decisions.
Things will go wrong on the day but they will be meaningless and just add to the memories of the day. Remember to enjoy every moment, relax, have fun and love one another.
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Additional Credits
The below suppliers and venues are featured in this article, but are not part of the Love My Dress Wedding Directory.
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.
