Our Wedding 10.10.25

I got married recently, and there’s so much to share from our big day, I thought it deserved a blog post all of its own.

Venue

When Rich and I were talking about what we wanted out of the day, the recurring theme was that everyone should feel relaxed and for it to be enjoyable for everyone. We wanted the day to not just be a celebration of us, but a celebration of all our friends and family too. We had guests coming from all over the country (and even some from Dubai and Switzerland) so choosing somewhere that could act as a base for people, with good transport links was really important.

Holmes Mill absolutely nailed it for us in terms of the relaxed quirky vibe, and as Rich is a craft beer lover, being able to have his face on a hand pull pump sealed the deal (insert joke about organizing a knees up in a brewery). With 39 bedrooms onsite, there were plenty of rooms for our guests to stay for a night or two, with loads to keep them entertained, from the onsite coffee shop, beer hall, bowling alley and cinema, to the super cute market town of Clitheroe on the doorstep.

We made the most of what the venue had to offer. I stayed the night before with my family ready to be pampered the next morning, and Rich arrived to greet guests in the Beer Hall, with the ceremony taking place upstairs in the Cotton Room, overlooking the brewery. We had drinks reception and canapes in the Bowling Alley, and then used the art deco bistro for the dinner and party. The beauty of this space being that the bedrooms were just a lift ride away upstairs.

Outfits

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE wedding dresses. I am always the first person to coo over how dreamy they are, but equally I always admire anyone that can wear a white item of clothing for any amount of time and not destroy it within 5 minutes of having it on. It’s not a colour I ever wear, it’s rare to see me in a paler colour or solid colour, I much prefer dark colours, and patterns and…. sequins. If you ever see me at a ceremony check out what I have got on my feet, because I can pretty much guarantee that there will be rhinestones, sequins or glitter somewhere on my shoes!

So, when it came to my wedding dress, I wanted something that felt very me, and so sequins it was.

Of course, I’m EXTRA, so I didn't just have one dress, I had two, and changed into the second one when I wanted to go wild on the dance floor.

My main dress was by Phase Eight, and my evening dress was Maya Deluxe. I had both of these tailored to my specifications by the lovely Molly Haydock Fashions. From the minute I tried them both on, they took my breath away, as they are so very me!

Of course there were rhinestones on my pink velvet shoes too.

For the Groom, Best Man and Father of the Bride, velvet jackets and bowties were the order of the day. Each choosing their own colour to complete the look.

Flowers & Decor

I love Autumnal colours and the deep plums, peach, coral,  pinks and oranges that are around this time of year, and we tied these colours into everything from the table centres and the ribbons on the reserved seat signs, to the tambourines (more on that later). We opted for pocket squares for the key bridal party, corsages for the Mums and Bridesmaid, and the most incredible bouquet for me. It was absolutely stunning and was put together by the insanely talented Milly Davey Flowers in Crawshawbooth. Milly’s distinctive wild style was absolutely spot on and the flowers were an absolute show stopper. I was also incredibly proud to have grown a few dahlias myself which we used around the welcome sign which looked really beautiful alongside the disco ball styling. I’ve loved disco balls for forever, and I know they are on trend at the moment, but that's not why I chose them. As my friends can testify the disco balls have been dotted around our house for years, it’s definitely not just a fad for us.

Ceremony

Of course we had a fabulous Celebrant lead our ceremony, and the whole experience of working with Miranda to bring it to life was wonderful. She put us both at ease and spoke so authentically in the ceremony, we had so many comments about how lovely it was.

The ceremony started with a recorded message from my niece (and Flower Girl) who welcomed guests before requesting ‘Alexa, play Pink Pony Club’ to a ripple of laughter from my friends, and the unsuspecting groom. My niece, bridesmaid and best man all entered to this beautiful  version by Midnite String Quartet.

The music changed for me, and I chose this Bailey Rushlow version of Teenage Dream. I met Rich in my thirties and despite my age I felt very much like a teenager, so this song just fitted.

The ceremony had some more surprises in store (even for me). As soon as I walked in I spotted that our dog Hetti had come to the ceremony, despite not being supposed to be there, and she ended up being a very enthusiastic ring bearer. Click here for the cutest video

We passed the rings round all our guests to hold for a few seconds so by the time they came up for the ring exchange they were full of everyone’s love.

The second surprise came in the form of a mid ceremony flash mob, which saw my friends burst into ‘Say A Little Prayer’ like the scene from ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’ which coincidentally I’d watched with my best friend the night before the wedding.

We included a certificate signing with our parents as witnesses and we stole back out to this funky brass band version version of Never Gonna Give You Up.

Confetti 

After the ceremony it was confetti time. And WHAT A MOMENT that was. I encourage my couples to go for Flutter Darlings confetti as it just stays in the air longer than petals and looks incredible. I loved that I could pick my own colours, so we went for corals, pinks and ivory with red hearts to tie in with the colour scheme. We didn't bother with little packets for it to go in, instead encouraging everyone to grab handfuls (supplemented with a couple of canons). 

The pictures and video (click here) speak for themselves about just how awesome this moment of pure joy was.

Photos

Now seems like the right time to talk about the photography, I’ve worked on weddings and from a corporate perspective many times with Kirsty from Alfred & Co and love her relaxed style. She has such a brilliant eye and always gets the best out of a location and setting, so she was an absolute non-negotiable in our wedding plans, as I knew she’d get the best out of us effortlessly, and she absolutely nailed the brief, we look like film stars

We also worked with Nathan from New Moon Productions from a content perspective as his cinematic style is so beautiful, and I think I have already watched the reel of the confetti about 5,000 times myself, and I kid you not when I say that we have hundreds of snippets of the day and the people to look back at. He absolutely nailed the brief.

Glam Squad

I had a dream team duo of Ashlieigh Lauren MUA and lovely Sarah from Ribble Valley Bridal taking care of makeup and hair. Both are suppliers that I have admired their effortless style, each making their brides look naturally beautiful, which is just what I wanted to be, just an airbrushed version of myself.

Sarah and Ashleigh are both so calming to be around too, it was a really lovely environment to get ready in, and my little flower girl loved having a little bit of ‘make up’ on too.

Entertainment

We wanted the day to flow without being forced so keeping the guests entertained was important. After the ceremony the drinks reception was in the Holmes Mill bowling alley, which was a great icebreaker for those that wanted to get involved with the bowling, and for those choosing to watch from the sidelines, they were being wowed by our incredible magician Andrew Tunney the Magical Emcee. Every single guest was blind sided by just how brilliant Andrew’s tricks were. Andrew is so personable and likeable, and his magic was absolutely fantastic. Every trick left us all completely baffled,  and he brought so much fun, energy, and wonder to the day.

Our host and DJ was lovely Adam from DFC who kept the day moving along so smoothly, from warmly welcoming and directing guests to being our hype man for that incredible confetti moment and when we were introduced into the wedding breakfast room. He introduced the speeches, milled around over dinner keeping the playlist chilled and then kept us dancing until midnight.

We were also joined by Amanda from Reflections who encouraged guests to use the photobooth and collated the very best images into a guestbook for us, which is just the loveliest alternative to a photo album and a great addition to our memories of the day. All the guests loved Amanda’s energy and enthusiasm.

Personalisation

We really wanted the day to reflect us, so there were ‘easter eggs’ from our everyday lives throughout. Here’s just a few:

Beer - an obvious one as Holmes Mill is home to a brewery, but we also put Rich’s face on a beer font, and gave all our guests a beer mat of the same.

Hetti the Sprocker Spaniel - she wasn't supposed to be at the wedding, but was sneaked in by a friend and stole the show. As she wasn't supposed to be there we had some drinks stirrers made for the drinks reception with her face on and also had a poem in the ceremony told from the dogs POV

Disco Balls - Our mantle piece is covered in disco balls year round so all of these were transported to Holmes Mill for the day

Colin & Connie Caterpillar Cake - a household birthday favourite we had these instead of a wedding cake, and so we didn't have to decapitate them with a knife we instead blew candles out on them. We instead cut a ceremonial pork pie to signal the evening buffet being ready.

Dancefloor props - a few branded tambourines, silver cheer leading pom poms and heart shaped sunglasses made for some excellent selfies on the dance floor

Mixtape - Rich is an avid record collector so we gave our overnight guests a goody bag with a mix tape in (postcard with a QR code on to a spotify playlist of our wedding soundtrack)

It really was an incredible day, surrounded by love. I don't think I’ve stopped smiling about it since.

I'll be posting about this on my socials for a long time to come so for the latest head to : https://www.instagram.com/vikkiharriscelebrant/

Huge shout out to our awesome suppliers who helped bring it all to life:

Venue: @holmesmill_

Photographer: @alfredandcophotography

Flowers: @millydaveyflowers

Celebrant: @mirandathecelebrant

Host: @addybodfc @dfcexperience

Magic: @mystiquemagic1

Photobooth: @reflectionsbeautymirror

Confetti: @flutterdarlings

Dress: @phaseeight

Makeup: @ashleighlmua

Hair: @ribblevalleybridalhair

Cake: @marksandspencer

Content Creator: @New_moon_productions