Wedding Ideas

Mark & Lee

The happy couple fell in love with the country setting and rustic style of Gaynes Park from the moment they set eyes on it.

Mark and Lee were great friends for years before they became a couple and, after Lee proposed on their fifth anniversary, it was time to plan the big day that they wanted. With Mark and Lee in charge, this was always going to be a wedding with the wow factor.

The entrance to the Orangery at the Essex wedding venue looked stunning decorated with white wedding flowers — © Ilaria Petrucci Photography

The Wedding & Reception Venue

As soon as the couple started searching online for their wedding venue, Gaynes Park immediately stood out. Beautiful images and wonderful, positive reviews from previous couples made a big difference and Gaynes Park instantly made Mark and Lee’s shortlist.

“As soon as we drove up the country lane into the venue, we were already wowed and were feeling excited. As we were shown around the venue, we fell in love with the place more and more by the minute and, by the end of the viewing, we knew this was the one.”

The light filled Orangery at Gaynes Park was set up with rows of Chiavari chairs for the wedding ceremony — © Ilaria Petrucci Photography

Mark and Lee returned for a second visit with their parents, who adored Gaynes Park as soon as they visited. With the decision made, the only thing to do was pick the date and that was special too.

“My parents had got married in October and, looking at their wedding photos, it was a glorious sunny day. We hoped our day would be similar and lo and behold, our wedding took place on a beautifully sunny October day!”

Wedding guests enjoyed wedding reception drinks outside the Orangery at Gaynes Park in Essex — © Ilaria Petrucci Photography

“We really wanted a venue that would make us proud for years to come to call ‘our wedding venue’. We wanted something different, with the wow factor – and Gaynes Park fitted that vision perfectly.”

Wedding Planning

Mark and Lee had a rustic chic vision for their barn wedding and Gaynes Park did not disappoint.

“It’s a huge credit to the venue that we didn’t need to amplify it with our décor. It’s such a beautiful place, we only needed touches here and there to finish off our vision.”

The couple worked with Beyond Vintage to create the perfect rustic look with just a touch of boho. The colour scheme included blush pink, rose gold and gold and there were candelabras, tea lights, terrariums, photo frames and endless cute little touches throughout.

The couple decorated the Essex wedding venue with geometric candle holders and pink roses for their wedding reception — © Ilaria Petrucci Photography

The newlyweds used glass bottles as table numbers for this rustic wedding at Gaynes Park — © Ilaria Petrucci Photography

Geometric candle holders and planters made perfect wedding table centrepieces for the wedding reception at Gaynes Park — © Ilaria Petrucci Photography

Pictures of the couple were displayed in apple crates for a rustic wedding look — © Ilaria Petrucci Photography

Mark also used Pinterest quite extensively to plan the wedding and says that this really helped them piece together the vision for their day. This paid dividends, especially on the day itself, because his meticulous planning coupled with the Gaynes Park staff’s attention to detail meant that the wedding itself was flawless.

The groom and his mum walk down the Long Walk at Gaynes Park towards the wedding ceremony — © Ilaria Petrucci Photography

“We bought silver lanterns to line up throughout the garden aisle and then gave these away to close family members as a memento of the day.”

The Bridesmaid & Attendants

Lee’s twin sister, Lauren, was the couple’s very special bridesmaid and her two children also had a starring role in the big day.

“We wanted Lauren, who’s a huge part of our lives, to play a big part in the day as she means so much to us. Lauren’s gorgeous children also had roles too as flower girl and pageboy and they looked too cute for words in their outfits.”

The bridesmaid wears a blush pink bridesmaid dress as she walks down the Long Walk at Gaynes Park in Essex — © Ilaria Petrucci Photography

The pretty flowergirl’s dress was from Monsoon whilst the page boy’s suit came from Roco Clothing.

The flower girl and page boy walk hand down the Long Walk towards the wedding ceremony at Gaynes Park — © Ilaria Petrucci Photography

The Best Women

Instead of having best men, Mark and Lee opted for best women – their best friends Hannah and Anna.

For the wedding day at Gaynes Park the grooms wear navy suits with their best women in blush pink bridesmaid dresses — © Ilaria Petrucci Photography

“The four of us have been best friends for years so there was no question that we wanted these amazing ladies to be our best women. Their dresses, and Lauren’s too, came from David’s Bridal in Stratford.”

“Right from the off, our best women really lived up to their titles and were a huge support to us throughout the planning process.”

The Grooms Outfits

Lee and Mark both knew straight away what colour they wanted to wear on their big day – royal blue. With this in mind, they set about finding the perfect suits for their perfect day.

The grooms look happy in navy wedding suits in the gardens at the Essex wedding venue — © Ilaria Petrucci Photography

“After trawling through many suit stores to find the perfect shade that we had in mind, we found our dream suits in a place that you might not think of for groomswear – ASOS! The shade was just what we were looking for and, after tailoring, the fit was fantastic too.”

The Decorative Touches

On the day of the wedding, the Beyond Vintage team worked their magic right through Gaynes Park and the results were superb.

“Our tables in the Mill Barn were decorated with terrarium centrepieces designed by Lou at Beyond Vintage. For the place cards, we had miniature bottles of Limoncello for each guest with tags, one side giving the guest’s name and the other saying ‘we tied the knot, now let’s take a shot’. It was a great way to double up the place card and wedding favour.”

Mark and Lee also chose a wedding cake with the wow factor and Crumbs & Doilies made a delicious and impressive cake featuring different flavoured layers.

The couple chose three wedding cakes that were displayed on logs and topped with pink icing flowers for their wedding at Gaynes Park — © Ilaria Petrucci Photography

Bottles of limoncello decorated with gift tags were used as wedding favours – wedding ideas — © Ilaria Petrucci Photography

“We loved the idea of there being a variety of yummy flavours for guests to choose from so we had lemon meringue, salted caramel, raspberry ripple and red velvet volcano and I can confirm they were all AMAZING! Even the cake was decorated to match our theme and it was placed on a table decorated with foliage and blush pink flowers to finish the look.”

Mark is a talented graphic designer so created all the couple’s fabulous stationery, including the invitations, table plan, menus and thank you cards.

Apple crates were used to display the wedding table plan at this autumn wedding at Gaynes Park – wedding ideas — © Ilaria Petrucci Photography

The couples wedding stationary was printed on natural board for that rustic wedding look – wedding ideas — © Ilaria Petrucci Photography

“It was great fun being able to design something so close to my heart and having input and control on the design aspects of our wedding was great!”

The Wedding Day

Mark and Lee held their ceremony in The Orangery, surrounded by the stunning gardens and all their friends and family. Their mothers walked them down the aisle and there were quite a few tears from everyone involved.

The grooms enjoy their wedding ceremony in the Orangery at Gaynes Park wedding venue in Essex — © Ilaria Petrucci Photography

A drinks reception followed and the couple treated all their guests to a delightful selection of drinks and canapes.

“We had Strawberry & Mint Pimm’s and Sangria Flora – both of which went down a real treat with our guests and the canapes were unbelievable too.”

Jam jars filled with Pimms were served to wedding guests during the wedding reception at Gaynes Park — © Ilaria Petrucci Photography

Sangria flora were served at the wedding drinks reception at this autumn wedding at Gaynes Park — © Ilaria Petrucci Photography

The party moved to the Mill Barn for their wedding breakfast and enjoyed a memorable feast that included smoked bacon Scotch egg to start, fillet of beef for main course and a glazed lemon tart for dessert.

“Every aspect of each course was exceptional, truly restaurant quality food. It was all absolutely delicious and the service from the waiters was impeccable.”

The Mill Barn at Gaynes Park looked elegant decorated with geometric candle holders and planters — © Ilaria Petrucci Photography

Mark and Lee made speeches as did their fathers and the best women. There were lots of funny anecdotes and heartfelt moments shared in all of the speeches and the couple definitely felt the love and laughter in the room.

The newlyweds and their wedding guests enjoy the wedding speeches in the Mill Barn at Gaynes Park in Essex — © Ilaria Petrucci Photography

After another fifty guests had arrived to enjoy the evening festivities, the party started with Mark and Lee’s first dance to ‘The One’ by Kodaline, a song they just love. From there, everyone hit the dancefloor and partied to a great selection of tunes played by the couple’s DJ.

For additional evening entertainment, there was a superb magician and a photo booth – this was another highlight as guests added their photos to the guest book.

As a last treat for all their guests, Mark and Lee served wood fired pizza and enjoyed every minute of their day with those closest to them in the world. It really was the wow-factor day that they hoped for.

“Our biggest splurge of the day was the food and wow; did they deliver! Every aspect of the food was outstanding and we had so many guests come up to us and say that it was the best food they’ve ever had at a wedding.”

Wedding Reflections

“We have so many amazing memories from our day – from walking down the aisle with our mothers, to saying ‘I do’, mingling with our guests and getting confetti bombed! We loved our amazing wedding breakfast and being with all of our guests, dancing off all those calories we’d consumed. It was all just perfect.”

The wedding guests shower the grooms in wedding confetti after the wedding ceremony at Gaynes Park in Essex — © Ilaria Petrucci Photography

“We honestly can’t think of anything that would have made our day better. From the early days of consulting about our wedding day with the lovely Yvonne right up to the big day, everyone at Gaynes Park, from the event planners to the catering staff, waiters and coordinators, all did such an amazing job.”

To find out more about having your special day at this stunning wedding venue in Essex, take a look at our handy infographic, Everything You Need To Know About A Gaynes Park Wedding.

Suppliers

Photography :	Ilaria Petrucci Photography
Flowers :	Stock Florist
Bridesmaids Dresses :	David’s Bridal
Groom’s Suit :	Asos
Venue Stylist :	Beyond Vintage
Disco/DJ :	Dave Fox
Cake :	Crumbs & Doilies
Stationery :	The Groom
Rings :	H.Samuel

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