Will & Hayley had their wedding ceremony in a beautiful church in Sunningdale, Berkshire then onto the stunning traditional country house located on the outskirts of Ascot, The Royal Berkshire Hotel. We asked Hayley a bit about their journey from the proposal to the honeymoon….
How did Will propose?
We planned a holiday to New Zealand at Christmas in December 2019. We were going to be doing a road trip there in a small van we had decided to open our Christmas the evening before we left. We had opened what I thought was the last of our presents (which must have felt a painfully slow process for an anxious Will who was waiting for the following moment…), at which point Will said “I have just one more present for you, I’ll just pop to get it”. When he came back he said “now close your eyes” and when I opened them there he was on one knee holding the ring box in his hand and asked me to marry him! It truly felt like a dream, I was absolutely over the moon and, of course, said yes right away!
Did you have a vision for the wedding or was it something that just developed?
We just wanted our day to be memorable, great fun and to have our nearest and dearest there to celebrate with us. We also wanted to include all the more traditional aspects of a wedding.
Do you have any particular memorable moments from your wedding day?
It is difficult to choose just the most memorable bit! For me, I absolutely loved Will’s speech where he read out an incredibly special poem he wrote just for me! I’m so glad it was captured on video so I can listen to it again in the future.
What were the main reasons for choosing to book a wedding videographer?
All our married friends had said to us how the day goes by in a flash (and I can now confirm that really is the case!) and so we wanted a videographer to capture our day for us so we’d be able to re-live all the special moments through that.
Who was your photographer?
Denise Winters Photography – Anneka & Denise worked well together and we hardly noticed them!
How did you both feel on the morning of the wedding?
We both felt very excited and also ready for the big day! After a lot of preparation so that helped calm the nerves – it felt like we were ready! We had also rescheduled twice so were so relieved our day was finally here and could go ahead and without any restrictions really in place.
Where did you find your wedding dress?
My dress was by Maggie Sottero and I found it at Abbey Bridal – a wedding dress shop in Sydney, Australia (where I was living at the time). The decision was made by a video call with my mum and sister (both overseas) who agreed it was the dress for me!
Where did you get the flowers?
The flowers were made by Longacres nursery in Bagshot and I was thrilled with how they turned out. They were everything I’d hoped for and more. I wanted to have a few proteas in the arrangements as a reference to South Africa where I grew up (it is the national flower). As far as the dusty rose colour scheme – my sister absolutely loves pink and that is my favourite shade of pink so that informed my decision on that (since she was my Maid of Honour I wanted her to be in a colour she’d like). The rest of the bouquets were built around matching the dusty rose colour scheme as well as bringing in some ivory to match my dress.
Who made your cake and how did you decide on how you wanted it to look?
The cake was made by Lizzi at Loaded Cakes. I wanted quite a traditional- looking cake but with a twist – I prefer the taste of buttercream so wanted that icing and also for the cake to have at least one layer of dusty pink to bring in the colour scheme. Pinterest was my source of inspiration!
Who provided the food and how did you choose the menu?
The food was provided by the Royal Berkshire and we chose our menu at a wonderful tasting lunch they included as part of the package.
Did you have any entertainment?
During the reception we had a saxophonist (Nick Lipton) – we loved how he played and our interactions with him in the lead up were so positive. And then later in the evening had what we thought was an excellent band called The Vinyls to provide music for the dance floor (they played a great mix of retro and more modern music).
What were the best bits from your wedding video?
Again, it is very hard to choose best bits as we absolutely adore our video. We love how well it captured the whole day and all the special moments from beginning to end. We love the pause in music to hear our vows, and some key parts of Will’s speech. We love that Anneka captured us walking just the two of us at different times – arriving in the wedding car then walking into the reception venue, walking back to the reception after photos, the little kiss at the end of the film when we were on the dance floor. We also loved the scenes with our friends and family – seeing them enjoying chatting at reception drinks, watching the speeches, on the dance floor. Overall rather than the best bit being one part of the film, we would say the best bit is how it captured everything from our big day!
Do you have any advice for couples who are at the start of the wedding planning process?
Start early and get everything as organised as you can (I had a number of spreadsheets with timings, supplier details, etc.) so you can relax as much as possible (easier said than done!) on the big day when it arrives. At the same time, know that the day will inevitably fly by much too quickly, so make sure to book an excellent Videographer (like Anneka!) and Photographer to make sure you can look back and remember your day forever! We truly love looking back at our video and pictures and are so grateful we can re-live our day this way.
Will & Hayley choose our cinematography edit so they received a longer feature film but here are their highlights so you can see a snippet of their special day!
