After a two year relationship and realising that they were perfect for each other, Anthony proposed at sunset on a beach in Mallorca, on Tracy’s birthday; a double celebration was in order! The couple had all of their rings designed by a jeweller in London’s Hatton Garden; they were created using platinum – and diamonds of course.
Notley Abbey was the only wedding venue that Tracy and Anthony looked at when they started to plan their special day. It was SO perfect that they had no need to look any further. They loved the fact that they could hire Notley Abbey exclusively for 24 hours, and felt that it had the perfect, intimate atmosphere that they’d been hoping for. The couple filled all nine bedrooms with members of the wedding party, so for their family, Notley Abbey was a perfect fit. Tracy and Anthony also found the use of the online wedding planner provided by Harper Wedding Venues ‘BRILLIANT’; they used it to organise and plan their wedding at Notley Abbey with ease.
When choosing her wedding dress, Tracy shopped around and tried on three different gowns, but after having tried on ‘Rachel’ designed by Sassi Holford, she fell instantly in love. Her aim was to look sophisticated yet elegant on her wedding day and ‘Rachel’ ticked all the boxes. The dreamy wedding gown was also named after one of Tracy’s new step-daughters, so it really was a must-have dress. Tracy teamed her wedding gown up with a pair of ivory satin shoes featuring a sparkly diamante trim.
When it came to her bridal look, Tracy opted to have her hair curled by her regular hair dresser and had a pearl and silver comb on the side to complete her glamorous style. She hired Make-up by Jodie to give her a beautiful bridal make-over.
Tracy and Anthony said their ‘I dos’ in the Abbot’s Hall at Notley Abbey and the bride walked down the aisle to Pachelbel’s Canon in D, performed by Vaults String Quartet. Tracy’s two sons walked her down the aisle and two readings were performed throughout the ceremony. They were ‘Us Two’ by AA Milne read by Tracy’s son and Anthony’s daughter.
Tracy hired Gail at Forever Green florist in Beaconsfield, Thame to design the wedding flowers for her special day. The bride chose to have dusky pink, Memory Lane roses, Baccara roses which were plum in colour and cream avalanche roses, along with lisianthus and silver season foliage. Tracy and Anthony ordered their wedding cake through Harper and it was a three tier iced design in a colour that matched the bridesmaids dresses. The wedding cake featured pretty tumbling geranium petals and included three different flavours of cake within each tier; red velvet, lemon and chocolate!
After their romantic wedding ceremony, Tracy and Anthony invited their 105 wedding guests into The Monks’ Refectory where they had a delicious wedding breakfast. There wasn’t a dry eye in The Monks’ Refectory when the speeches were being given and the couple are just so grateful that they’ve managed to bring two incredible families together.
Tracy and Anthony danced their first dance to ‘I don’t want to miss a thing’ by Aerosmith and their wedding guests filled the dance floor as the resident DJ at Notley Abbey played awesome tunes throughout the night.
If they could give advice to future wedding planning couples, Tracy and Anthony said “Make sure you LOVE your wedding venue and trust your wedding planners. The online tool provided by Harper was superb. Keep your guest list manageable so that you have time to see and talk to everyone; the time flies so enjoy every second!”
Suppliers
Photographer: Wendy Aldiss | Florist: Forever Green | Wedding Cake: Le Papillon | Wedding Dress: Sassi Holford | Hair and make-up: Make-up by Jodie | String Quartet: Vaults String Quartet
