Real Wedding: Nichola and Charles

January 4, 2019 | Weddings and celebrations | 6 minute read

Nichola says:

I had always wanted to get married in North Norfolk and especially at Holkham. I have been coming to Blakeney and Holkham all my life and it always seemed so special. When I was a teenager, my cousin got married in a marquee in The Walled Gardens, which was amazing and had a huge impact on me. I tried to consider other venues but I always found myself coming back to my first choice, Holkham. It had the ‘wow’ factor. Charles also loved it there after he was introduced to North Norfolk when we met and we have spent many days cycling, boating, walking and having picnics within the grounds.

My parents have a small cottage in Blakeney, where Charles and I spend weekends so there really wasn’t anywhere more sentimental for us to say our vows than at St Nicholas Church in the village.

Our wedding day was better than I could have imagined – the weather was perfect – 24 degrees and sunny. Holkham always looks beautiful but in the sun it looked even more stunning. Nothing went wrong, but the day went by so quickly I want to live it again and again.

The day started with me, my Mum, Grandma and two sisters at The Victoria Inn on Holkham’s estate. We had breakfast delivered to our room and spent the morning laughing and drinking Mimosas while we had our hair and make-up done. It was actually very relaxing for a wedding morning!

I found my Sassi Holford dress at a sample sale at The Bride in St Albans. It was the first bridal shop that I visited and after trying on a few different designs I knew that it was ‘the one’ as my Mum and sister Helena were welling up, while my other sister Julia – who is basically my personal shopper – also knew, so I bought it then and there.

My bridesmaids – my sisters – wore floor-length dresses by Adrianna Papell from House of Fraser, which matched the lilac and lavender colours that I chose for our bouquets and as a theme throughout the wedding – inspired by Norfolk Lavender.

Our florist, Katherine Brown from Ivy Floral Events, created a romantic posy of lilac grey and Norfolk lavender-coloured flowers, along with pinks, blues and ivories. The bouquets included roses, sweet peas, gypsophila, dried lavender and eucalyptus.

When I first stepped into St Nicholas Church I was absolutely terrified but excited at the same time. I remember waiting at the entrance of the church, for Pachelbel’s Canon to start and seeing the church absolutely full. I felt very emotional seeing everyone I loved in one place and then walking down the aisle with my Dad to see my husband-to-be.

Our wedding reception was held in the Lady Elizabeth Wing, it had everything we needed for our wedding. It is such a beautiful space and the courtyard was stunning on such a hot summer’s day. It is a large space but the decorations made it personal. We served very British, seasonal food at the wedding breakfast, including sharing desserts on tiered, glass stands. Then we took to the dancefloor for our first dance, Lucky Man by The Verve, chosen by Charles because it is one of his favourite songs, sung live by our band, Number 7.

One of the ‘stand out’ moments from the wedding was slightly unfortunate and actually left me bruised the next day! Our guests were in a circle on the dance floor dancing to Don’t Look Back in Anger by Oasis. My sisters and I were dancing in the middle when Charles joined in and started swinging me around and leaning me down, when, towards the end, he dropped me and fell on top of me! Some of my friends have excellent video footage of this and it has become a top moment for guests at the wedding!

In all seriousness, however, walking down the aisle with my absolutely, wonderful Dad at my side and staring into the face of my new, gorgeous husband-to-be, while being in my favourite place will always stay with me. As well as the drive through the South Gate of Holkham Hall in the Jaguar. I will always remember taking a few moments for the photos around the estate and as we walked towards Holkham’s Obelisk – especially next time we pass it on Holkham’s Park Run.