A Lake District Wedding With A Golf Theme
Karen and Maxine… how did you two love birds first meet?
We met at Ellesmere Golf Club where we are both members, eventually we got together.
Who proposed and how did you pop the question?
Both of us proposed on the same night in Tenerife, without the other one knowing it was going to happen. We discussed not wanting engagement rings because we wanted to have diamond wedding rings instead. 3 years before, I bought a pandora bracelet with an engagement ring charm inside, which travelled the world with me… for one reason and another I never managed to pop the question. Karen had also bought a bracelet for her planned proposal gift to me about 6 weeks before our trip.
When we were on holiday in Tenerife, we had unknowingly planned to pop the question to each other on the same night. While Karen was having a shower, I got the champagne poured and displayed the bracelet on the balcony table. When Karen had finished getting ready she walked straight out onto the balcony, quickly running off when she saw the bracelet and fizz… I thought,
“this is not going according to plan!”
She came running back with her bracelet and got down on one knee to propose. She beat me to it, but we both said “Yes!”
How did you decide upon your wedding venue and why did you choose them?
We wanted to get married in the Lake District and liked the area around Ullswater. We researched venues big enough to hold all of our guests and then visited 5. We fell in love with the Inn On The Lake and the GM, Gary, during our first meeting.
The whole team made us feel so relaxed and the venue is in such a spectacular setting that it was a real talking point for our guests for months afterwards.
We visited quite a few times and got to know the staff… nothing was too much trouble and on the big day, they just had it down to a tee [sorry, us golfers love a pun]!
I would recommend this hotel and the team to anyone.
Which wedding suppliers did you choose?
Photographer – Jason Chambers
We met Jason at the Inn On The Lake and then spoke to him quite a lot, exchanging emails with our thoughts on what we wanted. What we really liked about his work was his relaxed style…
and his emphasis on trying to get natural photos of the guests when they were unaware of him doing it.
The photos are amazing and really captured the day, even things we didn’t know happened, like an impromptu football match with the ring bearers and some of the adults on the lawn.
Florist- Flowers by Lisa:
We met Lisa over coffee and I don’t know how she did it, but she got the picture I had in my head and turned it into my bouquet… we gave her samples of our colour scheme and some examples from the internet of designs we quite liked, but in the end she captured our idea.
Bridal Hair:
We used our own hairdresser from Manchester. He has done my hair for over 20 years and Karen’s for the last 8. He was my first call when we found the Inn On The Lake, to see if he was free on the day he. Barry and his husband Kevin (who made Karen’s outfit), came up the night before and had dinner with us, our witnesses and somehow convinced me that gluing crystals in my hair was a good idea.
He was right as usual and it’s amazing what eye lash glue, tweezers and individual crystals can do to transform your hair style.
Bridal Makeup – Keseme Bridal Makeup:
What can I say, she was amazing! She turned two brides around (one who doesn’t do a lot of make-up) and our make-up was flawless all day through into the evening.
Oh, and she made us laugh all morning, which really helped us to relax… along with a glass of fizz of course!
As well as sharing a great tip with us on how to smile on command for photos, “just say shit!” It worked well all day, with Karen and I being heard to mutter “shit” for every photo. Even Jason had to stop taking pictures at one point when he realised what we were doing and burst out laughing.
Top tip from us – have a makeup trial, taking your usual makeup and your dress colours with you. Also, if you are having your hair coloured, make sure it’s done before the trial!
Bridalwear:
My dress was from John Lewis and Karen’s was made to measure… we didn’t want white being slightly ‘more mature brides’, but we wanted to complement each other. In fact, my dress as well as Karen’s trousers and top ended up being from the same designer, although Karen did have her long jacket and scarf made.
Cake Maker:
We planned to have 2, one baked cake and one made of cheese. A friend of ours made the cake, so we gave her all our wedding colours and also requested she use flowers that we had incorporated into the day. She made calla lilies to decorate the cake, using the same colour ribbon that we had on our invitations and for our place settings, seating plan, etc.
As for the cake made of cheese, we selected one from Costco. We had a sleepless night when it didn’t turn up the day before our wedding, when we were needing to leave home and head up to the lakes. Thankfully, Costco’s supplier came through… we picked the missing one up at royal mail in Preston where it was stuck, but as Costco weren’t sure it would be ok they sent us another one straight to the venue as well. So, 20kg of cheese later, 2 cakes turned into 3 but as a cheese lover I was very happy and our guests did an amazing job of eating it all!
Entertainment [DJ, singer, etc] – Glen Anderson:
We listened to Glen on his website samples, then spoke to him on the phone and booked him straight away. We then met him at the venue’s wedding fair for the first time and we felt at ease with him. We booked Glen to sing during our wedding breakfast and for the evening reception too. This turned out to be a great move, as he got all the guests dancing and singing after the meal and set-up the evening really well.
He actually did a duet with our 6-year-old ring bearer, realising while he was singing “I’ll be riding shotgun underneath the hot sun” that Oliver knew the words very well… everyone in the room loved it, clapping and singing along.
Glen carried the fabulous atmosphere on into the evening with the dance floor full all night, managing to keep everyone from 6 to 94 year olds happy and dancing.
Top tip from us – I spent absolutely ages listening to songs I felt our guest would dance to and gave Glen a list of about 50 songs. We chatted over which ones we really wanted and he had a good feel for our requirements. He added in loads of his own, so we got a perfect mix and nothing beats a live singer who knows his stuff!
Wedding Stationery & Venue Styling – The Memory Knot Company:
We actually met Jaimie and Andrew when we first visited the Inn On The Lake, as they were dressing the venue for another wedding. We arranged a meeting to discuss our requirements and what they could do and went from there. I think Jaimie wondered what had hit her when we turned up to their showroom with a spreadsheet detailing a huge list of requirements and an idea of our wedding colours. We had done our research at a couple of wedding fairs in Manchester and of course via the internet.
The great thing was that Jaimie and Andrew knew the venue and what worked well there, so between us we got an amazing package from our invitations right through to the cherry blossom trees.
We hired their canopy blossom trees for our outdoor ceremony and apparently Jaimie had to get Andrew quite drunk to agree to buy this pricey venue décor, especially for our wedding day… thankfully it was a glorious sunny day which enabled us to have these impressive trees in in outdoor ceremony at the gazebo down by the lake!
For our wedding breakfast, we chose their matching cherry blossom trees as table centrepieces for half of our tables.
We had our own creative décor ideas and our golf buddies wanted to play a part in our wedding too, so we did our own centrepieces on the other tables with log slices and candle holders from The Memory Knot to finish things off
Everything was styled to complement our green and white wedding colour scheme,
with chair covers and bows provided by Jaimie and Andrew’s other business, Simply Bows And Chair Covers…
“Jaimie and Andrew were a great help when we wanted tweaks and more things adding. I honestly don’t know how they got everything ready and perfect, but they did and they certainly created an extra wow factor to our day.”
Top Tip from us – it really helps if you do your research and get organised with your thoughts before you meet your suppliers, as they can advise much easier and quicker if you have done a bit of pre-planning. Yes, we did change some things around and added in extras that Jaimie talked to us about. We still set her a few challenges, like trying to incorporate a golf ball and tee into our wedding stationery…
Jaimie ‘pulled it off’ and those bespoke details really represented us as a couple.
Other Suppliers (someone you’d like to give a shout out to) – Ullswater Steamers:
We actually took our guests on the boat the day after our wedding, which was a great way of making our wedding day into a weekend celebration. It also gave us the chance to speak to everyone properly and spend more time with them. We also ate more of the cheese afterwards!!
What was the most memorable moment of your big day?
The vows having to be stopped as a pair of jets flew over was certainly one of them,
but honestly there were a lot on the day and we took 5 minutes out on our own just for things to sink in.
Would you change anything or do somethings differently?
No nothing, it went to plan and even beat our expectations, but we were organised… knowing what we wanted and working with everyone in advance ensured it went smoothly.
Do you have any top tips or wedding planning advice for other engaged couples?
Get your spreadsheets together, planning and doing as much as possible as soon as possible. Visit the venue as much as you can to get a real feel for the place and the layout. Work with your suppliers, as they’re not mind readers although I think sometimes they can be! Most importantly, enjoy your day and try to speak with as many of your guests as you can.
Where did you go on your honeymoon [we’re just jealous and like to be nosey]?
We planned to go the year after the wedding, but COVID-19 happened and lockdown hit, so looks like it will be on hold until 2021… Hawaii, San Francisco, and Florida are the likely destinations, with golf tournaments and courses to play.
Supplier Shout Out:
Wedding Venue | Inn On The Lake, Lake District Hotels
Photographer | Jason Chambers Photography
Florist | Flowers By Lisa
Bridal Makeup | Keseme Bridal Makeup
Wedding Stationery & Venue Styling | The Memory Knot Company
Chair Covers & Chair Décor | Simply Bows And Chair Covers – Cumbria
Entertainment | Glen Anderson Wedding Singer
