Looking Back At Our Wedding, One Year On

Looking Back At Our Wedding, One Year On

I can’t believe that a whole year has passed since our magical wedding day; how time flies! On our anniversary, I released a Q&A video over on YouTube, with Charlie & I answering many of your questions about our incredible wedding day. We didn’t have time to answer all of your fabulous questions within the video, so read on for answers to more of your questions!

 

How was the garden after the wedding?

We were extremely fortunate with the weather for our wedding; it was sunny and warm in the lead up and during the wedding, and then it rained just after our wedding, meaning that the grass under the marquees, which had gone a bit yellow, was able to bounce back to normal within a couple of weeks! We had also put a lot of extra care into the garden to ensure it was looking it’s best and it would recover well from any damage; we fed and watered the lawn more than usual, and we left the grass slightly longer where the marquees were to be placed, to protect the grass further. If you’re getting married at home, I’d definitely recommend leaving the sprinklers on your lawn after the marquee has been taken down – to encourage the lawn to bounce back!

What was your wedding menu?

As we’ve mentioned, the food was a key part of our wedding and we chose Quince & Clover as our wedding caterer, with all ingredients sourced as locally and seasonally as possible. We started off the food with afternoon tea in the garden, which consisted of a range of sweet and savoury canapés, such as Rollright cheese scones served with golden beetroot, tarragon & hazelnut; and a delicious orange polenta cake with pistachio, honey and rosemary.

Next was the wedding breakfast in the dining marquee, which began with a kitchen garden risotto, containing spinach, charred asparagus, peas and lovage. The main course was a lamb rump with heritage carrots, lentils and minted béarnaise. For the vegetarians we served coal roasted heritage carrots and squash with feta, cavolo nero, puy lentils and romanesco. The dessert was a passionfruit tart served with mini espresso martinis! And finally, later in the evening we had mac & cheese (obviously!!), as well as grilled sourdough toasties. The food was everything we hoped for, so a massive thank you to Quince & Clover!

If you’d like to know which companies we used to supply our wedding, check out this post!

What happened to all of the flowers after the wedding day?

We tried to source our flowers and plants as sustainably as possible for our wedding. We used many plants in pots and even a few trees which could be replanted after the wedding, such as lavender – some of which was replanted in the border at Strawtop Cottage after the wedding! The 6 silver birch trees were loaned from Nicholson’s Garden Centre, and we decided to keep one, which we planted in our garden. The remaining trees were sent back to Nicholson’s and sold. We placed some plants in pots in the border to add extra colour and fullness to the border; and these were also loaned from Nicholson’s. In terms of cut flowers, these were supplied by Floward, and were gifted to vendors and guests at the end of the celebrations.

If you were to ever renew your vows in the future, where would it be & what would it be like?

This is difficult to answer as we’ve only been married for one year, but we absolutely loved having all of our favourite people in our own garden to celebrate – it was such a magical day. Therefore, I think we would love to one day do it all again, but on a slightly smaller scale. There was nothing we’d change about our wedding, so we would love to experience it all again one day in the future, perhaps for our 20th or 30th wedding anniversary.

What flavour was your wedding cake?

Our wedding cake was made by a local company called Barefoot Bakery, based in Oxford, and we chose different flavours for the various tiers. One tier was rhubarb, raspberry and rose, we also had a courgette and lime flavour, and of course a carrot and walnut layer – my favourite!

Here are 5 ways to make your wedding more sustainable

What is the dreamiest proposal spot in the Cotswolds?

There are many amazing places to get engaged in the Cotswolds, however we personally think it’s important to choose a place that’s meaningful to the two of you, rather than just prioritising the beauty of the place. We were very fortunate to get engaged in the Maldives, and that was chosen as that was where we’d met, but equally had we met in Clapham, Charlie would have taken me for dinner somewhere special in Clapham and proposed there due to the sentimental value. If you are set on getting engaged in the Cotswolds, Cotswold Lavender would be a spectacular place (season dependant), as would Broadway Tower! For sunset views, Edge Hill would be a magical spot, and I also think a peaceful spot under the trees during a beautiful walk would be a very romantic spot!

 

What is your favourite thing you’ve done as Mr & Mrs Irons within the last year?

We have been together for over 12 years now so nothing has really changed since getting married – tying the knot just solidified our relationship. However, having a belated honeymoon in the Maldives in January was really lovely, and that trip felt extra special due to being newlyweds. The whole year has been fantastic, but nothing has really changed since getting married as we expected.

What was a tiny detail that you ended up really loving?

I absolutely loved having the live music at our wedding, and particularly Okiem, the pianist. The musicians all blew me away even more than I was expecting, and it’s a detail that in hindsight, I couldn’t imagine not being part of our special day. For Charlie, the attention to detail within the dining marquee was an unexpected surprise. We of course were involved in the design of the marquee, but Jen, our wedding planner did such a fantastic job at bringing it all together. Seeing it all in real life for the first time from the chandeliers to the tablescape, took our breath away.