Sophia and Jake

We met as teenagers at our first proper part time job. Jake surprised Sophia with a trip to Rome to celebrate 9 years together and popped the question!

We knew we wanted to get married outside whilst staying in the UK if we could and we fell in love with the pagoda and the grounds at Pennyhill Park.

We decided to stay overnight at the hotel as part of our venue selection process and was absolutely blown away by the staff, service and food. Compared with other venues that just churn out weddings each day (and have horrible carpets), we came away from our overnight stay feeling like we would have such a special and high-end experience.

We were truly impressed with how exceptional Lizzie, our amazing wedding coordinator, was at the open day and we felt she would do such a fab job, and she really did! 

We didn’t really have a set theme when we started the planning process, but noting we wanted to get married outside, we wanted everything to feel like the English countryside (with an Italian twist to play homage to our engagement). Think light greens and baby pink flowers, with a hint of Tirimasu!

Sophia’s dress was Milla Nova, purchased from the amazing Aurora Bride bridal store. Her second outfit was from Rosie Etienne, and shoes were Rainbow Club (which she surprisingly lasted in all night!)

Jake’s suit was black tie from Moss Bros, finished with a white bow tie and pocket square. We loved seeing all of our loved ones dress up in the most beautiful colours, complemented by the gorgeous backdrop of Pennyhill Park. 

How fun it was. Waking up in an amazing Pennyhill Park's hotel room, getting ready with our best friends and our wonderful suppliers and then spending the day eating, drinking and dancing with our nearest and dearest was truly magical. We danced so much and didn’t have a single worry on the day. 

The day before the wedding we hosted a welcome dinner and the day after we hosted a private breakfast for our loved ones and went to the spa. All in all it was so much fun and we had the most magical and tranquil weekend.

We chose not to have a traditional wedding cake and asked Pennyhill if they could instead make us a giant Tirimasu. Their amazingly talented pastry team executed it perfectly and everyone loved it. We also decided to have a string quartet for our cocktails and canapés, which fit so well against the lily pond terrace backdrop.

During the planning process, one of our highlights was our food tasting at Pennyhill Park. It isn’t every day that you get to eat so much amazing food and drink lots of good wine whilst chatting to the talented chefs, and we enjoyed the experience so much. After the wedding we had such good feedback on the food, which is such a focus area at weddings, so seeing it all be executed so well was such a plus for us. People still talk to us about the cheesecake!

Enjoy every part, really take in each moment during the planning phase as it is such a special process.

Learning about flowers with our amazing florist at her studio (Steph Lovell, we love you!), doing food and drink tastings, trying on a variety of dresses/ suits and choosing our music was so fun, the day itself goes so fast but it is such a special feeling seeing it all come together. Also really take your time choosing your suppliers, I couldn’t have asked for a better team on the day so it is worth doing your research and meeting with suppliers before making any final decisions. 

Ignore everyone else’s opinions and do what feels right for the two of you, and everything will fall into place and feel so personal for the both of you. It also really helps when you have an amazing coordinator to tie everything together, we really can’t thank Lizzie enough for everything and going so above and beyond for us!