Our simple wedding in a countryside manor house – part 2

Hopefully you will have caught part one of our simple wedding on the blog yesterday? Now it’s time for part two – our relaxed wedding reception at a charming countryside manor house in Surrey. This was one of my favourite bits of the wedding to plan because it meant I got to flex all my styling muscles!! I’d been pinning inspiration for months beforehand and obsessing over all the little details, so it was such a joy to see my vision for an elegant, contemporary take on English countryside wedding come to life.

All imagery Tania Joy Gault

After our intimate church wedding, we made our way to West Horsley Place just outside Guildford in Surrey. We had visited a number of venues in the area but none had really connected with us until we came across this magical manor house. We had seen so many wedding venues churning out weddings day after day in soulless corporate style rooms with dodgy carpets…

West Horsley Place is a little different. To start with they’re a charity – the Mary Roxburghe Trust – which means the venue hire fee goes towards the restoration of this crumbling old Grade 1 listed house and 380-acre estate. As a former architectural history student, it was particularly important that we could help support the estate, rather than a big profit-driven venue with no soul, as the estate was added to the English Heritage ‘At Risk’ Register last year. With every visit to the house, it was fascinating to see them peeling back the layers of history to take the house back to its former glory. The charity have built an opera house in the vein of Glyndebourne so it’s lovely to know that we will be able to go back there and relive the memories.

West Horsley Place dates back to the 15th century and was adapted in the 17th century with its grand red brick facade. Henry VIII and Elizabeth 1 were said to have visited and at one time, in a serendipitous connection to the French half of the wedding party, the French ambassador lived in the house. Later it was home to Duchess of Roxburghe until she died in 2014 and TV presenter and author Bamber Gascoigne inherited the mammoth task of restoring it.

When we first visited the venue, West Horsley Place was being used by the BBC to film the tv series Ghosts – picture the dramatic set of a haunted mansion… I don’t think Olivier could quite see the potential with (very convincing) peeling wallpaper and cobwebs everywhere, but luckily I persuaded him that this place was the one!

West Horsley Place had previously only held weddings outside in marquees, but I thought it was a shame not to bring life to those beautiful historic rooms, so we were the first wedding to host a reception inside. What was lovely was that it felt like you were having a party in a (albeit grand) home – we were able to use a series of small, intimate rooms throughout the day, including a cosy Sherlock Holmes style library where we served some of the estate’s homemade sloe gin.

With fingers and toes crossed for sunny weather in September, we used the gardens for the drinks reception. We hired some wooden crates to create some seating areas on the lawn and brought some of our own garden furniture down from London and from my mum’s house. We had a croquet set (only the French ended up playing…) and people could explore the gardens as they pleased. The sun managed to make an appearance and we were so lucky to just about avoid the rain.

I really think the type of food you choose for a wedding helps set the mood and the ambience for the reception. We didn’t want things to be too formal or pretentious, rather relaxed and carefree so people could feel instantly at ease, like they really were being hosted at someone’s home. Instead of canapés and a starter we decided to combine the two and have a big, beautiful grazing table with charcuterie, mezze style dips and flatbreads. It also helped us cut some costs slightly and we could provide our own drinks with no corkage fee. We had champagne (of course, it’s a French wedding!) and white port and tonic, one of my favourite summer drinks. For people not drinking alcohol, we served a summery elderflower spritz and Seedlip and tonic.

Later, as the sun was slowly going down, we moved into the atmospheric stone hall for dinner. I’ll talk in more detail about the styling of the tables tomorrow, but the idea again, was to create a relaxed, cosy setting. I knew from the beginning that I wanted long, narrow, tablecloth-free wooden tables (rather than round) to prevent it feeling too traditional. For dinner we enjoyed pescatarian, Ottolenghi style sharing plates by our caterer Rhubarb. I really think it helped break the ice between people, with everyone digging in and helping themselves.

The menu comprised roast cod in a beurre noisette or an Italian roasted aubergine for vegetarians, with fresh, vibrant salads: grilled asparagus, quinoa salad with pomegranate and fennel, new potatoes and a simple green salad. For dessert we enjoyed large tarte au citrons that guests could cut and serve themselves, together with big bowls of red berries. We had so many compliments about the delicious food and I think everyone went back for at least seconds or even thirds. You know its a good tarte au citron when it gets the French seal of approval!

Then it was time to let our hair down and party! We got the mood going by entering the stone hall before dinner was served to a remix of Thinking of You by Sister Sledge (every French wedding I’ve been to, the bride and groom have danced around the tables to get to their place and I’ve loved the feel-good vibe it set). Everyone started waving the striped napkins that I had made and it created such a fun, happy ambience. I dare you to the listen to this song and not tap your feet and have a smile on your face.

Our first dance in the morning room overlooking the estate’s fields was to September by Earth, Wind, Fire. We chose the song, not only for the reference to the month of the wedding, but because we wanted to get everyone up on their feet and in the mood for dancing. We both hate being the centre of attention so we did a little shimmy down the dance floor then got everyone to join in for a boogie!

The day went so quickly I could hardly believe we’d got to the end of the evening. I wish I could go back and experience it again as a guest, to take it all in without all the planning that went beforehand. I couldn’t sleep that night or the night after because I was still buzzing with love and adrenaline.

It really was a magical day – now it all feels like a bit of a dream and I can’t quite believe it happened! Come back tomorrow when I’ll be sharing all the styling details, from the table settings to the printed signs.

Supplier details:

Reception venue: West Horsley Place
Photographer: Tania Joy Gault
Bride’s dress: Bon Bride
Bride’s shoes: Charles & Keith
Groom’s Suit: Burberry
Bridesmaid dresses: Sézane
Flowers: Worm London
Caterer: Rhubarb
Table hire: Virginias Vintage Hire
Prop hire: Classic Crockery