Grove House: On their seven year anniversary during a celebratory holiday in Budapest, Niall took Annabelle for a walk after dinner up a hill ‘to find a nice view’ (or so he said!). He got down on one knee at the top of the hill and Annabelle was so blindsided that she froze for a whole minute before saying ‘yes’ to the big ‘will you marry me’ question.
The wedding ceremony itself was held at St Mary’s Church in Wimbledon Village. St Mary’s has a very close parish community and some of their regular flower arrangers put together Niall and Annabel’s wedding floral arrangements based on their chosen colour palette. The church is an important part of this couples life and in fact, Annabelle sings there as part of the parish choir.
‘Gardenia did an incredible job and my flowers were more beautiful than I could imagine. I didn’t know a lot about flowers before wedding planning, but I knew I wanted roses (as is my middle name), and soft, feminine pastel colours. The church also did their own beautiful flowers in similar colours. We reused some of the church ad bridesmaid flowers to decorate the venue as well as extras for the tables’.
‘The ceremony was my favourite part of the day and was perfect. I sing in the church choir so they were there supporting us and they sang two of our favourite anthems during the signing of the register, which was beautiful. During this time my husband and I had a private and quiet prayer with the vicar for our daughter who was sadly stillborn last year. Although a moment of sadness at her absence it helped us to remember and acknowledge her and we felt happier afterwards’.
Niall and Annabelle wanted a relaxed yet sophisticated wedding. They knew they would need a large venue to host their 150 plus guests but also wanted beautiful outside space that their guests to relax and mingle in. Grove House ticked all their boxes. We were totally blessed with the weather and couldn’t have asked for a better day.
‘We looked round a few places and it was my mum who found Grove House in Roehampton. The rooms in the mansion and the beautiful grounds had a really magical feel and it just felt right for our wedding. We had quite a large wedding and the space at Grove House worked perfectly’.
‘Having 8 bridesmaids and all different shapes, I decided to go with 2 different muted pastel shades and I asked them to choose their own styles they would feel the most comfortable in from Maids to Measure, which was perfect as they do a variety of styles and shades. I took my gorgeous flower girl shopping to Debenhams where we found her dress and Gardenia made the beautiful flower crown’.
‘Most of Niall’s clothes are blue and this didn’t change for our wedding- Niall chose his and his ushers’ three piece navy tails and tie from Moss Bros. He wore his favourite dinosaur cufflinks, a gift from his brother and best man.’
Annabelle wore a stunning preconceived gown that showed off her slender figure and oozed soft, romantic elegance. She wore a matching cathedral vale that she wore draped over her shoulders during the wedding ceremony.
‘I didn’t have many preconceived ideas before trying on dresses and after trying about 30 I fell in love with a lacy, romantic A-line gown by Paranoias along with a long but simple veil. Being quite straight-up-and-down it seemed to give me a bit more of an hourglass shape, and felt covered enough for church. I’m only an inch or two shy of my husband so decided to go with flats (much more comfortable anyway!). I actually got them from amazon for around £20, and they were perfect! I kept jewellery simply and went for fresh flowers for my hair which lasted well.’
‘Originally I didn’t really want a ‘colour scheme’ and just planned to pick fairly neutral ‘inoffensive’ colours that wouldn’t clash. However I ended up gravitating towards a pink, blue and white flowers and everything else ended up fitting in with that. Likewise for the stationary we didn’t really have a ‘theme’; the only addition I made was to add a few little penguins here and there as I am constantly teased for my obsession with them!’
Annabelle and Niall had a wonderful pianist for the drinks reception that created a lovely relaxed ambiance. In the evening they had the most amazing band that literally got everyone dancing (including me!)
I hope you enjoyed looking at some of Naill and Annabelle’s wedding photos. Big thanks goes out to Gyan Gurung who second shot for me at this wedding.
Much Love
x
