Hello, I'm Rosie. My husband Michael & I tied the knot here at Low Hall in July 2023 and we had the most incredible day, here's a bit about it... and 10 points if you can guess what my job is now!
I’ve been obsessed with weddings for a LONG time. So I’m not going to pretend that I didn’t know exactly where we were going to get married before we got engaged. Michael proposed to me on top of Hopegill Head on what he’d hoped would be a clear November Day, because the view from the top would be of Low Hall the Lakes, my dream venue & the place I’d set my heart on holding our wedding. Unfortunately, a blizzard set in as we set off that morning and we could hardly see our feet at the top, let alone the view! Nevertheless, I obviously said yes and after a little while of enjoying engagement, I launched into my dream job… planning our wedding.
I’d dreamt of planning a wedding since I can remember. A film had to revolve around weddings for me to watch it; The Wedding Planner, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Runaway Bride… you name it, I love it. Inspired by a fave, The Parent Trap, for years I harboured a dream of becoming a wedding dress designer who married a vineyard owner. Every one of my childhood notebooks contains reams of wedding dress designs and I studied Italian (not solely) with the hopes of finding that handsome vineyard owner.
All of that is to say, I was excited when it was finally my time to get married. We first visited Low Hall on a fresh but beautiful Cumbrian morning and instantly knew it was perfect. We were welcomed by the fabulous, friendly and warm owners, Ben & Francesca and we loved everything about it. Looking at where we could have our ceremony, in the beautiful gardens with a view of Hopegill Head, we were instantly in love.
Other details were more difficult, but no less exciting for this wedding enthusiast. We wanted a laid back, garden party vibe with modern touches and loads of flowers. Having gotten very into growing flowers during lockdown, I decided to grow and arrange the flowers myself but also enlisted the professional help of Harriet at The Cumberland Flower Farm, who provided her gorgeous Cumbrian grown flowers in DIY buckets. The day before the wedding, we were so lucky to have so many friends volunteer to help out and happily discovered that some of them had excellent floristry skills… others were redeployed! The flowers came together a treat and I was especially thrilled with our ‘altar’ arrangement, a meadow of flowers to create the illusion of them growing from the ground to create a focal point without distracting from the view.
We're big foodies, and we knew we wanted a vegetarian centred sharing feast. When we met with Iain from Bespoke Catering and he asked us to share favourite recipes to cook at home, we were thrilled. Iain gave us the opportunity to create a meal that had the informal, familial vibe we were looking for whilst still being so delicious. For pud, we used Hardy Peddling, who served delicious ice creams with all the trimming from his bike and wore a charming straw boater, which we couldn’t have been happier with. For evening food, Dhanell at Love Pizza Land Rover parked up outside the barn and served a variety of insanely good pizzas which our guests raved about. Kelly at Wren created our beautiful wedding cake, a three tier showstopper which tasted as good as it looked. We chose Sticky Toffee, Limoncello & Blueberry and Champagne, Elderflower & Rhubarb, as well as a bonus Vegan cake which was Salted Caramel, Whisky and Pecan. They were as good as they sound and we were so disappointed that there weren’t more leftovers for us to gorge on!
We really wanted our guests to have an absolute blast at our wedding, so entertainment was super important to us. We had live music for as much of the day as we could, with Alex Hulme singing and playing the guitar through our reception drinks and dinner, to my parents friend Guy on the Sax after dinner and the incredible Jive Doctors filling the dance floor through the night. The Jive Doctors were absolutely brilliant, such high energy and so talented, we were thrilled we chose them and would recommend them to anyone. I love a drinks reception, so we chose to have quite a long one, meaning that although Michael and I would spend a small portion of it having photos taken, we’d still have plenty of time to see our guests too. We brought along our table tennis table from home, had a mini golf course from The Allhire Company and loads of other garden games so there was loads for everyone to see and do and we also served canapes, Aperol spritz’ and shed loads of fizz as well personalised beers from Crooked River which were designed by my brother. Luckily, aside from a couple of showers, the rain held off for us and we were able to spend loads of time in Low Hall’s glorious garden, chatting to our favourite people and watching as the kids darted back and forth and everyone enjoyed all that we had on offer. We wanted to do speeches early in the day and did these outside too, it felt much less formal and more us and meant we used our gorgeous ceremony setting twice, which we loved.
For hair there really was only one person I wanted to be there, my hairdresser since forever, Mini. Having someone I knew there and who knew and understood my masses of hair made me feel so much more comfortable on the morning of the wedding. I went for loose curls and I felt completely myself, just on a really good day! I chose to do my makeup myself as I wanted to have a chilled morning with my closest friends, like getting ready for a night out. I loved it and whilst I understand lots of people want a professional there, it was the right choice for me. We sipped on champagne and chatted and it made me so much more relaxed in the run up to the ceremony.
Having doodled various wedding dresses for years, I think I had overwhelmed myself before I even began looking. Mum and I went on a couple of shopping trips and I tried on loads of beautiful dresses, but I just couldn’t find ‘the one’. Lucky for me, I’ve got an incredible Mum who said, “well if you show me what you think you want, I’ll see if I can make it”. And make it she did. It really was exactly what I wanted and made me feel amazing, she did an amazing job and I am totally awestruck by her talent. We had so much fun making it together and I’ll forever be amazed that she turned a tiny sketch in my diary into my dream dress.
I cannot rave highly enough about our photographer, Joe Mather. He captured the essence of the day so perfectly and was just so fab to have around. We were beyond chuffed that we chose him.
Both mine and Michael’s favourite part of the day was the ceremony, which bizarrely I can’t really remember, but being in such a special setting with my favourite person and surrounded by all our favourite people was the most insane feeling. The sun was shining, there were flowers everywhere and everything was as we had planned, it was perfect.
We had a short mini moon at Askham Hall where we began to take in all the magic of our special day and talked vaguely about the possibility of a career in weddings for me.
On returning home, the wedding blues really set in as I realised I’d never plan another wedding, but we began to plan our honeymoon and life went on. We got our photos and the video Joe made us back and re-lived it on repeat. Then one day in October, Ben and Francesca at Low Hall got in touch about a job…
Fast forward to March and here I am, just back from our honeymoon and ready to start my first full season as Wedding and Events Manager at Low Hall the Lakes (10 points to anyone who guessed!). Gone are the fears of never planning a wedding again, that’s for sure. I’m absolutely loving my dream job and looking forward to seeing many more couples experience the magic of Low Hall the Lakes.
It’s taken a while but maybe my Parent Trap inspired dream has come true. I’m a Wedding Planner married to a wine buff… it’s not bang on but it’s good enough for me!
Our Amazing Supplier Crew
Venue: Low Hall the Lakes
Photographer: Joe Mather
Caterer: Bespoke Catering
DIY Flower Buckets: Cumberland Flower Farm
Cake: Wren Cake Design
Band: The Jive Doctors
Ice Cream: Hardy Peddler
Personalised Beers: Crooked River
Music: Alexander Hulme
Crazy Golf: The Allhire Company