A modern folk wedding at an English country manor house

Hannah and Gregg’s modern folk wedding at an English manor house with an elegant two piece wedding dress

Samantha

Today’s couple Hannah and Gregg are so effortlessly cool and their beautiful modern folk wedding perfectly reflects this. Their stunningly simple style truly allows the emotion and enjoyment of all involved to shine through from the brides’s two piece and flower crown to the radiant smiles beaming across everyone’s faces.

Not only do the photos of their day showcase that it really isn’t always the little decor details that count but they are testament to the importance of finding yourself a brilliant photographer. Hannah and Gregg’s big day was shot by one of our recommended suppliers, the lovely Oxi Photography. Oxana has a real talent for perfectly capturing the essence and emotion of people, which on your wedding day when you are surrounded by all your loved ones, is one of the most important things.

We will now pass you over to the bride Hannah to share with you the finer details about their big day…

A modern folk wedding

I guess you could call our wedding a DIY wedding but really, we had an awful lot of help, so it was more like a Do It Together wedding. I’d been to a lot of weddings before we were engaged and so I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted and what I didn’t want. We were also very very lucky to have some friends who just recently moved into the breathtaking Lingholm Estate in the Lake District and wanted to start doing weddings.

The property itself was a big inspiration as to be honest we didn’t have to do much to make it look beautiful. I guess we really wanted to keep things as simple as possible but still look great. Somewhere between classic and folksy but with our own slant on it. And the venue made that really easy.

A heartfelt ceremony

The ceremony was so much fun. We sang power ballads instead of hymns and our old friend from home married us. We had a few readings from various authors and poets that we love and my nephew was our ring bearer. I absolutely loved every minute of it. Everyone left holding hands with the person both in front and behind them. Everyone! I couldn’t believe they did it.

All hands on deck

There are lots of amazing apartments in Lingholm Estate and we were able to get our whole wedding party and close friends into these for the days surrounding the wedding itself. This was brilliant as we had so much help to set everything up which we really needed. We were decorating the room that we were to be married in but which we would also later be eating in so we needed to have everything ready for a quick turn around for the caterers after the service.

I grew lots of spider plants for the tables and we actually got the flowers from Aldi the day before: they cost £100. I’d also been collecting glass jars for the last 10 months. We hung balloons from the windows upstairs and had made our own bunting to hang around the room.

A modern folk two piece wedding dress

I had the most amazing designer who based my wedding dress on one that I loved but could not afford. Danielle Windsor and her fantastic seamstress made it for me and I have never felt more glamorous and comfortable at the same time. It was heaven to wear.

The boy’s ties were designed by Albert Hammond Jr from the Strokes; our first dance was not coincidentally one of their songs.

Outdoor garden games to entertain guests

We brought games for the outside area (badminton, boules and croquet) which worked out well because the weather was absolutely amazing. Jenny from Lingholm also set up a little gazebo outside to serve our dessert and teas and coffees from. It was so nice to be able to spend so much of the day outside. The estate lies on the edge of Derwent water and so people were able to gander down to the water throughout the day. I have a huge family and have 9 nieces and nephews so this was great for them too.

The love story

Gregg and I met through my brother really, when we were about 18. He was playing at a little music festival in Enniskillen in Northern Ireland a few years later and I told him I liked his songs. He kissed me on the cheek and then a week later we went on a date. My sister, who I was living with at the time, was moving out of her house that day and so we have literally lived with each other since our first date which was nearly 10 years ago now. Coincidentally, our grandfathers played football together in the Post Office, so maybe it we were destined to be together? That’s also just an example of how small Northern Ireland is.

Gregg asked me to marry him in San Francisco in August of 2014. We’d been together 8 years but I still didn’t expect it. I kind of liked the idea of not getting married and just having a really old boyfriend but I was so happy when he proposed and planning the wedding was so much fun. We were so lucky in so many ways and the day was perfect.

Words of advice for other couples

I think the main thing is to do exactly what you want. Our wedding had the capacity to be a very sad day. I am from an enormous family but sadly Gregg is an only child and both his parents passed away nearly 10 years ago now. It was really, really, really important to us to have all our friends at the wedding, which meant that we had to organise it in a way that meant everyone could come and everyone could eat and that is not always an easy thing to do.

We made certain decisions based on that as our priority, which meant not including certain things that people can often make you think you need to have a good wedding. And we asked for help from anyone and everyone who offered and it made the day so much more special, not just for us but for all those people. I think for everyone really. Gregg’s auntie likes to say it was a love-fest, which perhaps paints a different picture but it really was just a day of love.