The Real Wedding of Jen & Dan

Jen & Dan's Wedding Story

Dan and I met in 2011, we had both been invited on a night out by mutual friends and we hit it off straight away. We still are not really sure whether it had been their intention to set us up but, we clicked from the moment we met, danced the night away and were pretty much inseparable after that!

After being together for 6 years, Dan finally popped the question. We had planned to go for a meal on Saturday evening but as it was a bit last minute and we had not even booked a table until the night before, I didn’t really think anything of it. When we walked into the restaurant, one of our favourite songs, At Last by Etta James was playing, I joked to Dan that this would be a great time to propose! After a gorgeous meal where we had definitely eaten far too much, Dan insisted we ordered desert. As the waiter was bringing over our final course, At Last started to play again and when I looked down at my desert plate, written in very smudged chocolate sauce was “Will you M me” and Dan was down on one knee (in between two close tables!) To say I was shocked would be an understatement! He pulled out the most gorgeous ring, the exact one I had spotted on a shopping trip to Manchester and it fitted perfectly, of course I said “yes” straight away!

After a few weeks of celebration, we got down to the important business; when, and more importantly, where were we going to get married? We decided on some key criteria, we wanted somewhere that was close to our family homes, somewhere that would work well despite the weather and most importantly somewhere with the wow factor. On paper, Knowsley Hall seemed like the perfect venue. We decided we would attend the next open day at Knowsley Hall and eagerly counted down the days. We visited the hall on a dark winter’s evening and the minute we turned the corner and saw the hall we knew it was the place for us without even stepping in. One of the things that stuck out to us both was the butterflies we got as we walked into the ceremony with Leos Strings playing in the background. We were blown away by everything we saw, tasted and experienced on that first visit and knew we didn’t need to continue our search! We couldn’t believe our luck when the exact date we wanted was available, within a few days our wedding was booked for 16th February 2019. The countdown was on!

From the moment we first visited Knowsley Hall, the service we received from every single member of staff was amazing, no question was too silly or request too unreasonable. We do feel that we got off very lightly as we didn’t find our wedding planning stressful at all, we are sure that was down to the great suppliers we worked with! We didn’t really have any particular theme in mind, we just wanted all of our guests to have a really good time, so we were pretty flexible when it came to things like flowers, colour schemes and bridesmaids dresses. I also couldn’t believe it when, from the moment I tried on the first dress, I knew I had found my dress, the first dress, in the first shop, I couldn’t believe it! I chose an off white, lace, mermaid Pronovias dress from Brides of Chester with a matching cathedral length veil, not at all what I had imagined but it was perfect.

Finally, after what seemed like the longest wait in the world, it was the day of our wedding! I had decided to get ready at the hall and Dan was going to get ready at home. I arrived at the hall with the obvious wedding morning nerves, just hoping everything was going to go the way we had planned! From the moment we stepped foot back into the hall all of my nerves disappeared. We were greeted by Wayne, who whisked us up to the bridal suite which was set out with everything we could need. The morning was so relaxed and our fabulous hair and makeup team, Savannah and Jess worked their magic and made us all picture perfect. Both Matthew, our photographer and Craig, our videographer introduced themselves to the bridal party which made us feel so at ease as they were capturing our special day. One of the highlights of the morning for me was when the team from Joseph Massie brought in our bouquets, they were a million times more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. The only direction that we had given Joseph was that we wanted jewel themed, how he had managed to understand exactly what we wanted from that is beyond me, he is a genius!

A final mad dash and last minute touch up of lipstick it was finally time to get married! Seeing the ceremony room for the first time took my breath away and all of our guests agreed it was the most beautiful venue they had ever seen. I don’t think I have ever walked so quickly as I did when I walked up the aisle, I couldn’t wait to get to Dan, both of us had the biggest smiles ever throughout the ceremony even though Dan did get choked up on more than one occasion! It was everything we could have wished for and more.

After the ceremony we spent some time with our guests before getting some pictures taken outside. We were so lucky that in the middle of February the sun was shining, the same time last year it was snowing, so walking around the grounds was a lovely way to spend our first few hours as husband and wife. One of the things that was really important to us was that we had some time to soak up the day and take everything in, so when Wayne took us to a private room with a glass of champagne and one of each of our gorgeous canapes, we were delighted! It was these small touches that really made the day so special for us.

Walking into the dining room as a married couple, with our family and friends all waiting for us was a moment that will stick with us forever. Again, Joseph Massie had worked his magic in the beautiful room and created some of the most sensational flower arrangements we had ever seen with unique touches like figs and pomegranates intertwined with branches and foliage. It really was out of this world! Everybody at the wedding agreed, they had never tasted such fabulous food, everything was prepared and presented with such precision and even months after the wedding people are still commenting on how delicious the beef was! After a game of bingo and lots more drinks, it was time to cut the cake and have our first dance. The cake matched the colours of the wedding perfectly and tasted even better! We decided we wanted an upbeat first dance, so we went for “You’ve Got The Love” by Candi Staton just as the song finished we were joined on the dancefloor by Mike Sax, our guests was so surprised and he kept the dancefloor full all night!

Our day really was perfect and without a doubt the happiest day of both of our lives. The team at Knowsley Hall worked seamlessly with our suppliers to create something that was truly magical, such a fabulous way to start our life as a married couple!

Wedding Details

Venue Details
Knowsley Hall, Prescot Merseyside
Photographer
Matthew Rycraft
Season
Winter
Colour Scheme
Whites
Style
Traditional
Uploaded By
Knowsley Hall

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