A winter Stamford School Chapel Wedding.
A ceremony venue rich in history, a surprisingly warm marquee on the cricket field and a good old-fashioned knees-up to a ceilidh band to end a great day!
Back in the time machine we go again to last December, for Oliver and Marianne’s Stamford School Chapel Wedding. My first time at this venue and hopefully not my last as it’s a really quaint little chapel steeped in history. Built in the mid 10th century, it was restored in 1929-30 and was granted grade II listed status in 1954.
More info about the chapel can be found here.
I covered some miles on foot at this wedding I must say. My day started with the girls at a holiday cottage at the other side of town with the giving of presents (onesies for all of the girls) before heading off into town for the girls’ hair & make-up & a 30-minute break-off to document the boys’ getting ready at the George Hotel.
I then made my way back to finish off coverage of the girls’ prep before heading back to the cottage for Marianne’s fitting of the dress and her converse trainers – love her style!
On foot again, I made my way back into the centre of town for the ceremony at the school chapel, the first time I’ve ever witnessed someone watching the whole of the ceremony on FaceTime on an iPad. Marianne’s grandmother was unable to make it to the ceremony, so the wonderful world of technology solved that problem.
We then all made our way back through town on foot again to the cricket club at the Burghley Estate where Oliver & Marianne had organised a marquee reception for their guests.
I’ll let the bride & groom carry on the story of their day in their own words below.
Our venues and why we chose them.
“We got married at Marianne’s old school chapel and held the reception at a marquee in the grounds of Burghley Estate at the cricket pitch. Marianne grew up in Stamford and it was halfway between London where we live and Oliver’s hometown of Sheffield. Additionally, it is a lovely picturesque place that would provide a great Christmas weekend away for all our guests.
The School Chapel was a natural choice as it was where Marianne was confirmed and is beautiful old building whilst being a little quirky.
We were keen to have the reception somewhere within walking distance and Burghley Park fits the bill and is an idyllic setting. We had a marquee on the grounds which some thought was a little crazy in winter but it was well heated and meant we could decorate it how we liked.”
Our wedding theme.
The theme was wintery and Christmassy with a touch of Scotland. We both love Christmas and were in fact engaged the weekend before Christmas, so decided we’d stick with that theme and got married the same Saturday a year later.
We had carols in the church instead of traditional hymns and a Christmas tree in the marquee with all our guests each bringing an ornament to decorate it.
In the evening we held a Ceilidh which was a great way of getting everyone on the dance floor.”
Our photographer.
“We actually found Ian mentioned on a blog whilst researching a caterer (that we didn’t use!). We’d had a recommendation from a friend who had recently married in the area but thought the photos were a little staged and were after something a bit more natural and less intrusive on the day.
When we looked at Ian’s website and portfolio, it was exactly what we were looking for and he was also very inconspicuous on the day.
When we got our photos, we were naturally very excited and overwhelmed with them as it brought the whole day back to us again.”
Other suppliers we used.
“We went down the traditional route for the Invitations and Order of Service and it was done by a company that we found on the internet.
We used Baileys caterers based in Peterborough and had a main of Venison which was delicious and great for a winter wedding. The caterers overall were fantastic and organized for us to have bubbly served halfway at the pretty bridge on the walk from the chapel to the marquee.
We had a cheese tower in the evening and it went down very well. It was supplied by the Stamford Cheese Cellar and the owner was great and set it up herself on the day whilst we were in the chapel.
As mentioned before, we had a Ceilidh in the evening which all the guests loved and it got everyone on the dance floor from the minute they started playing. The band is called Govanann and is based near Leicester.”
Any advice for couples planning their own weddings?
- “Always start the day with a glass of bubbly!”
- “Decide what is important to you before spending money on things just because the industry tells you that you need to. Neither of us were bothered about cars so we decided to save the money and walk. The walk actually ended up being one of our favourite parts of the day and we got some great photos from it too.”
- “It is also a good idea to use local suppliers as they are best placed to deal with things if there are any issues during the day (thankfully we had none).”
- “Don’t get too hung up on minor details, as only you will notice them on the day.”
Vendor Links.
- Dress: Tantrums and Tiaras
- Suits: David Saxby
- Hair & Make Up: Gerards Hair & Beauty
- Flowers: Stamford Flowers
- Marquee Hire: Stamford Marquees
- Caterers: Baileys Caterers
- Cheese Wedding Cake: Stamford Cheese
- Celeidh Band: Govannen