Théa and Fi’s delightful summer wedding was held on 24th June at Broadfield Court in the heart of the Herefordshire countryside.
The couple hired West Country Marquees to create a space within the grounds of this splendid country house estate, to celebrate with their friends and loved ones. They wanted a relaxed and colourful day that could be mainly spent outdoors and was reflective of their values. Fi wore a modern bridal jumpsuit by Catherine Deane, whilst Thea wore a feminine silk halterneck by Pronovias.
Fi’s words follow.
Broadfield Court
Venue & Location
We were initially planning on having a wedding in the field just next to where Fi’s parents live. We were looking for suppliers and saw that Broadfield Court offered an open day at which many local suppliers would be present, so we decided to pop by – but the moment we set foot in the venue we completely fell in love.
We chose it for the warmth and ease of its staff – Fran was absolutely fantastic in everyway – for the natural beauty of the building and surroundings, for the gorgeous outdoor space it boasted, for the fabulous accommodation options, for the freedom it offered in terms of suppliers, self-catering, and timings, and for the amazing value.
Broadfield Court
My jumpsuit was by Catherine Deane.
I wanted something simple in which I felt myself – something natural but with a bit of a twist.
I was keen on a jumpsuit, and when I found the cape that could go with it, it was an easy decision!
I loved how easy and comfortable it felt to wear, great for dancing and fun to have the cape as an accessory to wear for the ceremony and then take off for the dancing.
The Ceremony
We asked our best friend to marry us in the woodland at Broadfield, and a few of our guests very kindly contributed to the ceremony with singing, guitar playing and poetry reading.
May Rose Floral provided absolutely gorgeous flowers, and we particularly loved the large churns of flowers we had below the ceremony tree in the woodland.
We each wrote our own vows and we had a combination of songs and readings throughout our ceremony, that included ‘Amazing Grace’, ‘River’, by Carol Ann Duffy, ‘You Look Wonderful Tonight’, by Eric Clapton, ‘A Red Red Rose’, by Robbie Burns and ‘Jerusalem’, by Hubert Parry.
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Photography
Our photographer was David Liebst, who was utterly phenomenal – and wonderfully recommended by Broadfield. Right from the start, he was kind, fun, open and engaging, always curious to understand what we wanted out of the photographs on the day.
He made us feel so at ease, his photographs were so natural and he really captured the joy we felt on the day, from every angle! He seemed to be able to be everywhere at once, and was so friendly with guests. We couldn’t recommend David enough!
How They Met
We met rowing at University, and rowed in the 2016 Cambridge-Oxford Boat Race together, and it became quite quickly apparent that we were both interested in being more than just friends (even though we were each our first female partner).
We actually got engaged the weekend of the Boat Race six years later – Fi proposed in Holland Park over a (freezing!) picnic, after which we went to celebrate with our old crew mates and other friends over the weekend. It was April Fools day, so I was unsure whether to believe the proposal for a few seconds.
The Reception
Our caterers were A to Zest – everyone commented on how good the food was! It was absolutely delicious, and exactly the style we wanted: simple, local and seasonal sharing platters with outstanding flavours.
My mum made the cake.
Words of Wedded Wisdom
Don’t fall into a trap of endlessly trying to replicate what others have done for their weddings.
This is your day, and you should make it reflective of who you are and what you enjoy. To achieve this, a key bit of advice would be to always enjoy the planning rather than getting stressed by it. It truly is the best day of your life, but it will be whatever happens, so just relax and enjoy the process!
The only thing would be try to have more time to get around talking to more guests! The day just seem to trickle away blissfully but there’s never enough time to spend with each and all of the guests!
Broadfield Court
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The below suppliers and venues featured in this article are part of the Love My Dress Wedding Directory.
Broadfield
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.
