Real Weddings: Madison and Harry

November 5, 2018 | Weddings and celebrations | 7 minute read

Madison Bird married Harry Thimont on 2nd September 2017, exactly 5 years after the date they first met. Their destination wedding at Holkham was a happy day full of friends, family and some lovely personal touches.

She says:

“I grew up in Suffolk and spent many happy days with my parents in north Norfolk. By coincidence Harry visited the area a lot as a child too, he used to spend every New Year’s Eve at Cley Windmill. We visited Holkham together the summer before our wedding and just fell in love with the venue. We love nature, the deer (we live very close to Richmond Park in London), the beach and The Victoria Inn. Everything about it was just perfect.

As we didn’t get married until 3pm we had relaxed mornings spent with those close to us. The weather was amazing so I went for a walk with my Dad on Holkham beach, before getting ready with my Mum and bridesmaids at The Victoria Inn – where the whole wedding party stayed. I couldn’t stop dancing around – much to the annoyance/amusement of my hairdresser. To say thank you to our bridesmaids and maid of honour I gave them friendship bracelets from Monica Vinader (whose workshop is on the Holkham Estate) and Harry gave his ushers oak bottle openers and a bottle of local wine.

Harry finalised the set up at The Lady Elizabeth Wing with his ushers, some Champagne and sausage rolls, while I got into my Alberta Ferretti Italian lace dress. My Mum, maid of honour Dayna and I had been on a marathon wedding shopping experience – three appointments on the Friday and two on the Saturday. I found my dress on the Saturday morning and we all just fell in love with it. It was a very special weekend.

My shoes were also from Alberta Ferretti, while my jewellery was a collection of something old, new and borrowed. I wore my Nanny Joan’s ring (who sadly couldn’t be there), my earrings were a present from my parents and Harry gave me a bracelet. I tried to wear a blue garter that my bridesmaid Sammie lent me but it was too obvious underneath the white dress!

Irene’s House of Flowers put together a beautiful bouquet of roses, spray roses, anemones, astrantia, scabiosa, eucalyptus greenery, dahlia, tulips, antirrhinum and hydrangeas. The theme was natural, white and blush so my bridesmaids wore blush pink dresses from Ghost and my flower girl, our niece Aurora, wore a grey/silver dress from Monsoon.

We chose the Statue Gallery for our civil ceremony, we were both so excited to see each other for the first time. I did get the giggles when all I had to say was the relatively short Madison Bird compared to Harry’s full name Henry Marc Napoleon Thimont! After the ceremony, we had drinks in the Saloon, plus a second drinks reception on the lawn outside The Lady Elizabeth Wing before supper because the weather was so wonderful.

We sat down to a smoked mackerel starter, duck for main, and passionfruit, coconut and lime wedding cake for pudding. We also had local bacon butties later on in the evening. Harry loves wine and our courses were paired with wines from The Wine Society’s own collection; Saumur Rose Brut, Falanghina, and the Rioja Crianza.

The speeches were between the main course and the dessert – I actually surprised everyone by doing one myself. The speeches were very special; one of the highlights of the day for me.

At the end of the meal, the band kicked off the music with our first dance to Young and Beautiful by Lana del Rey. This song holds special memories for us – we watched the Great Gatsby together as one of our first dates. We even had a choreographed dance that I made Harry practice on Highbury Fields in Islington, London!

Immediately after our wedding, we went on a minimoon to Puglia for a week, and then to Hong Kong (which has a special place in our hearts) and Myanmar for two and a half weeks the following February.

My vision for the day was for it to be filled with love, happiness and all our friends and family. While we put a lot of effort into the attention to detail and military organisation of the day (we are both corporate lawyers!), we wanted it to feel relaxed and effortless. Nerida and Miranda at Holkham helped this to happen (despite my probably quite annoying late night/early morning “follow-up” emails!). I would love to do it all again and in fact, did when we visited Holkham on our first wedding anniversary – much to Harry’s embarrassment.”

Suppliers:
Caterer: Tris Abbs
Cake: Vanilla Patisserie
Photographer: Kathy Ashdown
Norfolk Deli: Norfolk Deli
Flowers: Irene’s House of Flowers