Real Wedding | Georgia and Jonny

July 22, 2019 | Weddings and celebrations | 10 minute read

Georgia and Jonny met when they were at school and after a proposal on Holkham Beach got married at Holkham in September 2018.

Georgia says:

Jonny and I were at school together – funnily enough, he showed my parents around the school when they went for the Open Day, so technically they met him first. It wasn’t until he left school and I was in Year 11 that he asked me on a date. That was over 10 years ago now, but it feels like yesterday.

Jonny proposed on the 29^th October 2016, on the stretch of beach between Holkham and Wells. He got down on one knee, while we were walking my parent’s dog, Pudge, after we’d had fish and chips from French’s. I was so shocked. I just thought we were having a lovely day out in my favourite place.

The first thing I said was “shut up” because I was just in shock! I think I may have repeated that a few times. Then the emotion hit me and I looked at him and said, “oh my goodness, is that my ring?” Which obviously it was. By this point he stood up and said jokingly, “so are you saying yes” and of course I said, “yes.” Then we realised Pudge was in the distance playing with another dog so the romantic moment was soon brought back to reality!

After Jonny proposed, I immediately suggested Holkham as the wedding venue. And when Jonny asked my Dad for his permission to marry me, he also suggested Holkham as the venue. We visited one other venue but knew it wasn’t right for us. Everything about Holkham was just what we wanted – it ticked every box and more. Holkham meant something to us which was important, I’ve been coming to the area since I was younger and Jonny and I had been coming for a number of years together by then, so Holkham had lots of lovely memories, plus our engagement on the beach.

We are not religious so didn’t want a church wedding but we wanted a beautiful place to get married in. The beauty of the Marble Hall and the amount of choice we had to get married in at Holkham made it felt like we were creating a bespoke day. So many other venues have the feeling of being on a conveyer belt of weddings. Holkham is just stunning. It has beautiful parkland, architecture, friendly and helpful staff. What’s not to love?

Having The Victoria Inn as an accommodation option was also perfect as we wanted to stay with our closest friends and family, to make the wedding a weekend event. Holkham was the perfect ‘English country wedding’ location. So many of our guests said it was the best wedding they had ever been to and loved the location just as much as we do.

I wanted a relaxed wedding, with lots of great food, drink and entertainment. I would describe it as a white country wedding and slightly rustic.

Celebrations began on Friday night. Our closest friends and family were staying with us at The Victoria Inn, so we had the place to ourselves and started the wedding weekend with drinks and a lovely meal altogether in the evening.

Our wedding ceremony wasn’t until 3pm, so I had a leisurely morning getting ready with all my bridesmaids. I wore a fitted ivory satin dress, which was plain at the front but had lace cap sleeves that dropped down passed my shoulders. The lace continued around the back of the dress, which had a little line of buttons and a small train. Both my wedding dress and veil were from Burr Bridal in Cambridge.

My hair is quite long so I wanted to wear it down. My florist made a lovely fresh, white flower crown, mainly made up of roses and gypsophila (my favourites) to complement my bridesmaids and flower girls who all had gypsophila flower crowns. I wore shoes by Jenny Packham for LK Bennett bridal, which had a slight sparkle to them.

My Dad drove me to The Marble Hall for our wedding ceremony. Afterwards, we had the reception in the Lady Elizabeth Wing and filled it with entertainment for our guests. Outside we had garden games – mainly for the children but the adults definitely got involved. Food was featured quite highly, with sweets, popcorn and candyfloss stands and a “cheese” cake for guests to enjoy, on top of the canapés.

We decided to do our speeches before the wedding breakfast, so everyone could enjoy their meal. We started with individually baked camembert with a bacon crisp, bread and olives. Main was beef wellington with dauphinoise potatoes, seasonal vegetables and a red wine jus, followed by sticky toffee pudding. Delicious!

Later in the evening, we had a hog roast for evening guests and anyone else who was peckish. Our band was a recommendation from a friend, not knowing anything about them, this was the one thing I was worried about, but they were absolutely brilliant. They played Use Somebody, a cover version by Lusaint, for our first dance.

I loved the whole day but a few moments to do stick out. The first is going from the rush of getting ready and having photographs to driving to The Marble Hall with my Dad. I wanted it to just be us in the car, which was one of the best decisions, we had a lovely chat on the way to The Marble Hall, laughed and joked, when we got to the Obelisk, he joked saying, “it’s not too late you know, we can turn around now.” So special driving down the long drive and being hit with the amazing view of Holkham Hall in front of you, knowing that your husband to be is waiting with all your friends and family was highlight number one.

The second was walking into the Hall, I was worried about everyone looking at me, but in the moment, I didn’t think about anything other than walking down the aisle. I was so happy and proud to see Jonny standing at the front looking round at me. Finally, the moment we shared just the two of us after getting married, we walked hand in hand, discussing what had just happened, from The Marble Hall to The Lady Elizabeth Wing, I don’t think we stopped smiling, the Champagne was also a welcome sight when we entered the Courtyard!

Suppliers:

Wedding Dress & Veil: Burr Bridal

Wedding Shoes: LK Bennett

Bridesmaid Dresses: KF Bridal

Hair: Victoria Ralph Hair

Make-up: Victoria Reynolds

Florist: Fairy Nuff Flowers

Photographer: Tom Calton

Videographer: Josh Parker

Catering: Julie Abbs Catering

Accommodation – The Victoria Inn & The Triumphal Arch