Behind the scenes of an elegant wedding at Sudeley Castle

Samantha and Roberto were married in St Mary’s Chapel, within the stunning surroundings of Sudelely Castle, with plenty of personal touches. Here’s their story...

Great British Life: Samantha & Roberto's wedding at Sudeley Castle (c) Adam Johnson (ARJ Photography) Samantha & Roberto's wedding at Sudeley Castle (c) Adam Johnson (ARJ Photography) (Image: © Adam Johnson (ARJ Photography) http://www.arj-photo.co.uk)

The wedding story

Roberto and I met at a music festival in 2011. We hit it off straight away and have never looked back. He always remembers my cowboy boots I wore that day.

We were in Rome for the weekend when Roberto proposed. After a beautiful meal, we walked to the Trevi Fountain late in the evening. He told me to close my eyes, throw a coin behind my back into the water and make a wish. When I turned around he was on one knee with the ring. I took the ring out of the box before he had a chance to put it on my finger! Everyone was clapping and cheering it was really lovely. He looked so happy and relieved!

It was only ten months later when we got married. We hired Krissy at Sweetpea & Blossom to help with the planning of the wedding which was amazing, she took most of the stress away and knew a lot of the local suppliers as we didn’t live nearby.

Sudeley Castle was the first venue we looked at and fell in love with it. We really wanted a church service in the same place as the wedding breakfast.

St Mary’s Chapel is so beautiful. The grounds are stunning all year round, with lots of private areas that ended up being perfect for photos.

I tried on hundreds of dresses I just couldn’t find ‘the one’ until I went to Suzanne Neville at the Knightsbridge store and everything suited my style and shape perfectly! It had the Italian feel to it but also being sophisticated and elegant.

We were both really keen to ensure we had our own personal touches to our wedding day. Our wedding favours were jars of honey from my dad’s bees and we had grappa and wine from a village in Italy near where Roberto’s family were from.

The caterer sourced polish vodka for us to Toast to represent part of my family history.

Our wedding cake was an unusual one; we went for the Pia Cato from the Vanilla Pod and it was amazing! She made last minute changes and it really was a beautiful cake.

Samantha’s top tips for future brides:

• Make sure someone films the speeches! This is probably our biggest regret, as everyone said they were great but we didn’t get anyone to catch them.

• Consider every purchase carefully and don’t rush into buying. Think about your style and how you want the overall look to be. Ask if it’s going to make a real difference to the day or whether the money can be spent elsewhere.

• Give yourself a few weeks after the wedding before going on your honeymoon. It will give you something else to look forward to!

Did anything go wrong on the day?

• The morning of the wedding, Roberto realised he had forgotten his shirt! His best men had to drive him into Cheltenham in the morning in order to get a spare, luckily it was all fine.

• Our family started the Italian tradition of clinking glasses until we kissed. They got a bit carried away and we ended up running around the tables to kiss each time.

Suppliers

Wedding Planner:

Krissy Murphy

Sweetpea & Blossom Weddings and Events

www.sweetpeaandblossom.com

07814004108

Photography:

Adam at ARJ Photography

www.arj-photo.co.uk

07810851315

Ceremony Venue:

St Marys Sudeley