Sarah & Sam

Sarah got ready at the hotel with her bridesmaids, still in matching pyjamas under a Bride To Be banner while hair and make-up got going by the leaded windows. Her dress hung in the window waiting. Outside, Sam and his groomsmen found the shade of a huge cedar tree to get their buttonholes on, before the bridesmaids helped Sarah into her lace dress and veil.

The ceremony was outside, in the white gazebo dressed with roses and trailing white flowers, with rows of white chairs set out on the sun-baked lawn. Sarah walked up the aisle on her grandad’s arm while Sam waited at the front, looking slightly nervous. There was plenty of laughter through the vows, then the rings, the first kiss, signing the register among the roses, and a walk back up the aisle through a shower of confetti.

Drinks were served in the gardens, with strawberries in the fizz and ice-cold Peroni for anyone who needed cooling down. We gathered everyone on the lawn for one big group photo, then spent some time with family and friends while the guests made the most of the shade.

Ivory and blush roses with gypsophila and eucalyptus, an acrylic cards and gifts sign, and round tables dressed in white with dark runners and blush chair covers. Instead of a big tiered cake, a single white tier with a navy ribbon sat on top of a tower of cupcakes.

We started back at the gazebo, then went looking for shade under the old trees at the edge of the grounds, where the long grass had turned gold in the heat. We finished at the front of the house, with the ivy walls and the old stone doorway, which are some of my favourite backdrops at Quorn Grange.

Speeches full of laughter (and at least one framed prop), glasses raised for a toast, cutting the cake, and a first dance on the light-up dancefloor. A last few minutes outside as the light softened finished the day off.