Super Elegant & Pretty Leeds Castle Wedding: Heather & Jay

I never get tired of sharing real weddings. It’s such an honour. I almost feel like I’m a part of the journey. It’s so intimate to scroll through pretty images of a couples big day and it’s incredibly emotional reading all about the brides and grooms experiences and big day. So I’d just like to say a big thank you to all the Want That Wedding brides and grooms, past, present and future.

And today’s real wedding is certainly no exception! A rather elegant and super pretty wedding in a glorious castle. Leeds Castle no less. Fiona Kelly captured Heather & Jay’s summer wedding day beautifully with her gorgeous light filled images!

Heather looks completely serene and elegant in her Suzanne Neville gown and delicate lace bolero, and I particularly love the Hunter Green colour scheme…

Words by Heather. Images by Fiona Kelly Photography

Jay was keen from the outset to have our wedding at a castle. We are lucky in Kent to have a number of beautiful castles, but Leeds Castle with it’s moat and 1930s style and the diverse rooms we used throughout the day had the perfect feel for us.

We stayed in the castle grounds the night before the wedding and we stayed with family and guests in the castle bedrooms overnight. This really made us feel like the castle was our home for the weekend, especially as we welcomed guests in the library and later relaxed in the lounges in the evening.

Super Elegant & Pretty Leeds Castle Wedding: Heather & Jay

We took some inspiration for the styling of our day from the 1930s style interior of Leeds Castle but mainly chose what we felt was right and went for a classic and timeless style.

I wanted a dress that was understated and delicate. I adored the French lace on my dress and bolero and having them made-to-measure meant that the fitted shape was just right for me. When I tried this dress on for the first time I could imagine walking through the Castle on a warm summer’s evening feeling confident and comfortable, which is exactly how I felt on the day.

For my bridesmaids I chose Hunter Green Dessy gowns – these dresses were the perfect colour and the style worked with the subtle 1930s feel we wanted. The bridesmaids accessorised with bronze sparkly ballet pumps and ivory spray roses in their hair.

My gold heels from Carvella, Kurt Geiger were my bit of wedding sparkle.

I considered different length veils and at first thought the full length was too much, but my bridesmaids and mum encouraged me saying this was my only opportunity and to go for it. In the end I loved it! My veil was also made by the talented Suzanne Neville team.

Louise and her team, Leeds Castle Florists, provided flowers throughout the Castle and for bouquets and buttonholes. Louise totally understood the delicate look we hoped for and we were so happy with the flowers and table decorations.

As a gift to the groom’s party I ordered personalised hip-flasks in hunter green leather from RSVP Handcrafted. Daniel did a gorgeous job and helped me achieve exactly what I wanted.

Jay wanted a traditional morning suit and we both really liked the mid grey colour combined with ivory and grey waistcoats and hunter green cravats that we hired for the entire groom’s party from Austin Reed.

My Dad walked me down the beautiful staircase at Leeds Castle and down the aisle to Hoppipola, Sigur Ros played by the amazing string duo Rachel and Martin, Premiere String Quartet. It was very emotional and the entire family get teary when we hear it now!

Jay and I have been together since we were both 15, and he genuinely surprised me when he proposed during a romantic spa break on our 10-year anniversary.

Given that Leeds Castle is such a beautiful venue we added very little. Flowers and table decorations for the meal were provided by Louise and her team, Leeds Castle Florists.

We gave our guests ‘tokens’ to use at the evening bar. We made these with stickers that we designed ourselves and ordered at printed.com.

We also used these suppliers for all our self-designed stationery.

We had a delicious three-tiered mixed flavour cake from Fiona Cairns at Waitrose, John Lewis.

We met Fiona Kelly, at a wedding fair and immediately loved her light and relaxed style of photography. She is incredibly talented and was very supportive to us in the planning stages and reassuring on the wedding day. We had an engagement shoot at Leeds Castle, which was great fun and really helped with our nerves. We couldn’t be happier with the photos we have of our special day.

Going out into the Castle grounds with Fiona our photographer was amazing as we got to spend some time with each other and take in the excitement and joy of the day. We also snuck out of the meal before dessert and had fun dancing and taking in the view as the sun set.

Having our wedding on mid-summer’s day really made the evening light beautiful.

Our first dance was to ‘Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes’ by Paul Simon.

As we met through Jay playing music, we used a guitar case for guests to leave cards and asked them to write messages on vinyl records of our first dance and walking down the aisle songs. We have since framed these as an alternative guestbook.

If you could impart any words of wisdom to future brides planning their wedding days, what would they be?

Try not to get caught up with little details, enjoy the planning but remember what it is all about; you and your partner and creating memories of an amazing day to share together forever.

Oh, I love this wedding so much. I’m getting really emotional editing it! Massive thanks to Fiona Kelly Photography for sharing the wedding pretty, and a huge congrats to our lovely couple Heather & Jay.

Ladies and gents, please do leave some love.

wedding credits / photographer: fiona kelly wedding photography / wedding venue: leeds castle / brides dress: suzanne neville / brides veil: suzanne neville / grooms suit: austin reed / brides shoes: kurt geiger / bridesmaid dresses: dessy / bridesmaid shoes: high street / hair: alexandra hill, make me sparkle / makeup: katy angelidi, make up by katy / florist: leeds castle floristry / wedding cake: waitrose / stationery: printed.com