Rosamond and Richard’s Real Life Rowton Castle Wedding

When was your wedding?

25 October 2007

How and when did you meet?

We met in 42nd Street, a local nightclub. Not the most romantic of locations and neither of us were exactly sober but we managed to swap numbers and he texted me the next day to ask me out for a drink

How old are you both?

I’m 25 and Rich is my toyboy at 24

Where, when and how did he (or you!) propose?

It was a Saturday and Rich had been behaving strangely all day. He persuaded me not to go into work for some overtime then promptly left me sat on my own in the pub for 45 minutes whilst "he went to get some cash from the Bank." Then we went to see both sets of parents, went food shopping then he offered to cook dinner when we eventually got home. I was sat watching a film when he walked into the living room, pulled me to my feet and got down on one knee. He told me he loved me and wanted to spend the rest of his life with me and asked me to marry him. I don’t think he was quite expecting me to burst into tears before saying yes then we rang our parents and close family to let them know. We ended up having an impromptu engagement party at my parents house with lots of champagne and stories from when we were little.

Did you have hen and stag celebrations? If so, what did you do?

Rich went on a pub crawl around Telford and got so drunk he ended up back home tucked up in bed by 11pm! I had a butler in the buff come to my mums house which was loads of fun for me and about 10 of my closest friends

How did your groom help with the wedding planning?

Rich picked the colour scheme of burgundy cream and gold and then kind of had to go along with the rest of my ideas

Did you use confetti to plan your wedding? If so, how did the website help you?

I used the forums a lot as the ladies on there were so helpful. Also used the table planner and budget planner tools

Did you buy any confetti products for your wedding? If so, did you visit a store, buy online or by mail order?

I bought burgundy favour bags, table trivia, presents for my dad and bridesmaids and the candles used on the tables

Tell us about your outfit, and where you bought it

I had a two piece princess style dress by Forever Yours. It was the fourth dress I tried on and I fell in love with it the second I saw it. It was very sparkly with a huge skirt and train and I had loads of comments on it throughout the day. It was bought from Wedding World in Ketley along with my cathedral length veil with sparkly bits and bouquet and tiara both by John Frost.

Did you have bridesmaids? If so, who did you choose and what did they wear?

I had three bridesmaids and two flower girls. The bridesmaids were my sister, niece and best friend and they wore burgundy ball gown style dresses from Debenhams. The flower girls were my god daughter who had a cream dress from Debenhams with a cream cardigan from BHS and the daughter of another close friend who wore a burgundy dress from Asda and a cream cardigan from Debenhams. They all carried little cream dolly bags with gold butterflys on them also from BHS

Who did your groom choose for his best man and ushers, and what did they wear?

Rich didn’t have any ushers and chose his dad as his best man

Did you have a civil or religious ceremony?

We had a civil ceremony as neither of us are religious

Where did you hold your ceremony?

Rowton Castle near Shrewsbury

Where did you hold your reception?

Rowton Castle

Did you have any special wedding transport?

No as we had exclusive use of our venue so we both got changed there

How many guests did you invite to your wedding, and did you have a separate evening guest list?

We had about 50 in total

Did your reception have a particular theme in terms of colour or style?

Our theme was burgundy, cream and gold. The tables had ivory linen and I used the favours and candles to add splashes of burgundy.

How did you incorporate this in to your table settings?

I used burgundy favour bags and had cream and burgundy candles on the tables with burgundy table diamonds scattered around them and the table trivia. I had a burgundy and gold beaded ribbon to go round the cake

Did you give your guests favours?

Yes. We had retro sweets such as drumstick lollipops and refreshers in burgundy favour bags

Describe your flowers (bouquets and table decorations). Who was your florist?

My flowers were done by Poppys in Newport and I had two very simple displays of silk flowers including roses and lillies with foliage and berries decorating the Cardeston Suite. I carried a bouquet by John Frost which was a cream and gold orchid with sparkly crystals and feathers and my bridesmaids had simple burgundy and cream roses tied with gold ribbon

What did you choose to have on your menu? Did you have an outside caterer or did your venue handle the catering?

The venue did all our catering. We had roasted tomato and red onion soup to start followed by chicken with a herb stuffing and brandy sauce. Dessert was a strawberry roulade with grand marnier sauce followed by tea and coffee. We had champagne for the toast and a choice of red or white wine or soft drinks during the meal. We had a buffet during the reception again done by the venue

What did you choose for your wedding cake, and who made it?

We chose the chocloate roses cake from Marks and Spencers with a maderia cake filling. It looked and tasted amazing and nobody believed me when I said it was from good old M&S!

Did you have any entertainment during the day or evening?

We had a disco in the evening by DJ Will Tudor who is the resident DJ at Rowton. He was fab

Did you have a gift list? If so, who did you have your list with?

No, we asked for money instead

Where did you spend your first night and honeymoon? Who did you book your honeymoon with?

We spent our first night as man and wife in the honeymoon suite at Rowton. We had a huge four poster bed and jacuzzi bath. We had a long weekend in Dublin for our honeymoon, it was so nice to get away and relax!

What was your most memorable moment of the day?

During the ceremony my god daughter whos three asked her mum what we were doing and then asked if she could get married too. Rich’s most memorable part of the day was when we went for a walk outside during the reception for a chance to reflect and it suddenly occured to him that we were married! My most memorable moments include being announced as man and wife, dancing with my dad at the reception which was very special as I had promised him that dance when he was in hospital the year before and waiting to walk down the aisle as I suddenly realised all eyes would be on me and I got a bit scared. I pulled myself together and then cried as soon as I saw Rich standing at the top with his dad and the bridesmaids

Did you experience any "nightmare" moments in the run up to your wedding or on the day?

Errr we had a few! My sister threw a strop over her dress two days before the wedding and one of the flower girls cried her way down the aisle. There were no major nightmares though

Is there anything you would do differently, or any advice you would give to other brides?

Go with the flow and try not to stress over anything that goes wrong during the day