Great Gatsby lovers with swoon for this luxurious British winter wedding

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A luxurious British wedding, sparkling with jewels & styled to impress even The Great Gatsby – AND planned in three months? You don’t say!

John & Rebecca nearly married in Italy, but when the couple found Hedsor House, something just felt right, and we can see why. A royal looking estate with a grand staircase, manicured lawns, romantic cypress trees, dramatic ballrooms and enchanting bridal suite, this estate has it all.

The aristocratic look was coupled with sparkling fashions – Rebecca wore a unique art-deco inspired headpiece, stunning off-the-shoulder lace gown, blue sparkling shoes and a luxurious fur shawl – can you blame us for getting “Gatsby vibes?” Her groom matched well in dapper black-tie attire.

But perhaps our favorite detail was rather a moment – music taking a major role in this beautiful day, the couple had a choir singing atop the mezzanine at their ceremony, how magical!

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Photo by Jacob & Pauline via Bridal Musings

Our Love Story

John and I like to think of ourselves as being fairly ‘21st century’. Our meeting was thanks to us both swiping right on the well known app ‘Tinder’. John was a professional rugby player at the time and found that he wasn’t really meeting anyone and I just couldn’t seem to find the right guy!

Our first date was organised in Reigate (halfway between us) and as we were both driving we bonded over a pot of tea and some Italian food! We seemed to hit it off as before we knew it we were seeing each other multiple times a week and after just three months I moved in with John…or perhaps as he would tell the story “more and more of my things started appearing in his flat until one day they were all there and I never left!”

It was two and a half years later that John got down on one knee in the pouring rain and asked me to marry him! In true ‘John fashion’ it was completely out-of-the-blue and unexpected however my answer was obviously “YES YES YES!”  John was then offered a job in Singapore and left two weeks later – cleverly leaving me behind to plan the wedding!

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Photo by Jacob & Pauline via Bridal Musings

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The Planning

My dream and our plan had always been to get married in Italy and so I planned a trip to visit and view venues with both our Mums. The trip was successful and we found the venue – however, out of the blue John rang me one day from Singapore and told me that he had found a venue in England and that I MUST go and look that evening as they had an open evening.

So off I went to visit Hedsor House in Buckinghamshire with both his family and mine and we all fell in love with the place. It was perfect. It wasn’t Italy, but somehow it seemed right!  So, Italy plans swiftly went out the window and as I was moving to Singapore to join John in just three months we had the wedding planned and I had found my dress and had it fitted!  I moved to Singapore in November and then we were back in England two weeks before the wedding for Christmas, our Hen and Stag do’s, New Years and the wedding!

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Favorite Moments

I think that what makes a wedding special is when it’s personalised and really fits the personalities of the people getting married. I think that following the wedding “requirements” or copying styles from Pinterest don’t make it special. It’s finding what fits you both! For us, the wedding was about having our closest friends and family there and we managed to speak to every guest that came and thank each person individually before they left. This was very special for us!

We wanted to bring all our guests together and what better way to connect people that through music! Music was a hugely significant part of our day and much the topic of conversation. We also had a magician! (I couldn’t recommend him more!) The guests loved him and it was great to have him mingling with the guests during Canapees and this certainly brought everyone together.

We also attended wedding dance lessons in Singapore. Neither of us are natural dancers – however, our teachers were incredibly patient and we absolutely loved it!

Finally, what else brings people together more than good food! Our caterer went above and beyond and even got a standing ovation!

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“For us, it was the simple things – the people, the music, good food and laughter.”

– Bride Rebecca

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The Photography

Photography and videography were always going to be an important part of our wedding day. Being a photographer myself (Rebecca) I was naturally “picky’ (as John likes to point out!) To me, the photos and the video are there to turn your day into memories that you can continually look at and one day share with your children.

I have followed Jacob and Pauline‘s work for a long time and I was just lucky that they were both available to capture our special day! Their style is soft, romantic and natural; away from posed photos and both were advocates of capturing the moments, rather than creating them!

Advice to Other Couples

If you’re old-fashioned like me you only plan on doing this once! So, make sure you do it the way YOU want to. You will be given advice from friends and family but remember that at the end of the day its YOUR wedding!

We planned the wedding in just three months! Which seems completely bonkers, however, it worked for us! From speaking to various vendors they commented that couples who would spend large amounts of time planning were often more stressed and more prone to changing their minds. Whereas, due to our timing, decisions were made quickly and smoothly! What can I say, it just worked for us!

My final piece of advice would be: move with the changes and don’t be too precious over things changing. Growing up, my ONE dream was to get married in Italy or on a beach, and our wedding was in many ways the exact opposite! The wedding is about the people and for us this meant moving with the changes but truly looking back now; there isn’t a single thing I would have changed!