We meet Amy and Ginny who fell in love with The Coach House for an exclusive intimate wedding at Chilston Park Hotel.
"We visited several venues before booking Chilston Park. Unlike the others, Chilston had such a wonderful atmosphere. We fell in love with the Coach House and, in particular, the courtyard. We imagined our guests mingling outside between the ceremony and the breakfast, then later into the evening - and we weren’t disappointed. It made the wedding feel intimate yet so special. The surroundings were gorgeous and that is reflected in our photos. The staff were welcoming, informative and knowledgeable. The package was competitively priced and included special extras such as the ability for our guests to choose their own menu for the breakfast. The guest bedrooms helped so much with the logistics of planning the day. We set the price for the rooms for our guests and as a result many more stayed overnight than we were expecting. Consequently, the party didn’t fizzle out like other weddings we’ve been to in the past. Further, as a same sex couple we didn’t want a generic ‘hotel’ wedding. We wanted something that reflected our personality and the Coach House provided this for us – quirky and fun but with a serious tone to the ceremony, just as we’d wanted.
Our theme - where to start… we got a bit carried away! For the ceremony, we had turquoise sashes (ordered through the venue) matching the bridesmaid’s dresses and gentleman’s cravats. Between the ceremony and breakfast, we had a traditional garden party with lawn games and picnic hampers full of flowers – the courtyard lent itself perfectly to this. During the breakfast, we had a Monopoly theme, then in the evening we kept things simple(ish!) with silver balloons, an LED dancefloor and uplighters. We brought our own props for our photobooth, which made for hilarious dancing and photos later. I also insisted (to my wife’s initial reluctance but later unstoppable enthusiasm) to buy more flashing LED paraphernalia than you can shake a glow-stick at.
Our photographs were taken by Bay Images Photography. Stuart and Nicola were fantastic – attentive yet non-intrusive all day and they had a drone! Our hair and makeup was done by Katie Hawkins of Pretty Please by Katie – she was fantastic and we cannot recommend her highly enough. She was generous with her time, calming yet fun and the end result was stunning. Our sweet cart came from the Sweet Cart Company, we were really pleased, as were we with our ‘surgeon’ themed cake from ‘Creative Cakes’ – the topper is still proudly displayed in our home. ‘Gold Beat Band’ from Alive Network kept us dancing all night on the LED dancefloor supplied by Dancefactors Ltd. We were thrilled with all of these people, they added to our day enormously."
What was the best part of your day? "The first dance. We had lessons with ‘Start The Dance’ to choreograph a fun dance which became an extra feature of the day. The staff at Chilston helped us keep this a surprise and ensure everyone was there to watch. We will never forget it, so so much fun. Note to future couples, however, big dresses and fast dances don’t always go so well!! Happy memories.
Overall we were absolutely delighted with the service from Chilston Park Hotel. The feedback from our guests about the quality of the food was excellent and, since everyone chose their own menu, people ate what they really wanted, rather than a ‘safe’ choice suitable for all guests. The waiting staff were polite, attentive and well trained. The little touches of a sorbet course, upgraded wines and a dessert wine made the meal extra special and memorable for our guests.
We were thrilled with Chilston Park and would book again, though my wife tells me I’m not allowed to get married for a second time! We tried not to be divas but the requests we made were accommodated without any stress or compromise. Thanks Chilston, we have memories to last a lifetime."
