It’s always lovely to see when couples and their guests travel to Pynes House from overseas and Chrissie and Brandon’s UK destination wedding was absolutely no exception. Travelling from Colorado, they celebrated the most beautiful quintessentially English wedding at Pynes House last September. Their classically elegant day showcased an all-white colour scheme for the bridesmaids, set against a backdrop of décor and flowers in a warm pastel colour palette. From the bespoke stationery to their sparkler send-off and marquee reception following an outdoor cocktail hour, this destination wedding has some awe-inducing wedding planning inspiration for anyone who loves an English country house wedding – read on for more on Chrissie and Brandon’s UK destination wedding.
Colour Scheme: Warm Pastels – Light Pinks, Purples, Yellows
Style: Classic, Elegant, Colourful
Season: Autumn
Ceremony Location: Drawing Room at Pynes House
Reception Location: Marquee on Pynes House Lawn
Entertainment: Evening DJ
Extra Touches: Outdoor Cocktail Hour, Marquee Reception, Sparkler Send-Off, Bespoke Navy Wedding Stationery, UK Destination Wedding
Number of Guests: 66
Chrissie & Brandon on Their Quintessentially English UK Destination Wedding…
Once we decided we wanted to do a UK destination wedding in England, we had a couple of requirements in mind when searching for a wedding venue. We wanted a venue that would be exclusively ours for the weekend and we wanted one that would be able to sleep our entire wedding party and immediate family. Most importantly, since it’s why we decided to have a destination wedding in England, we wanted a venue that embodied that quintessential English charm that you just can’t find in our hometown of Denver, Colorado. The moment we found Pynes House, we knew that it fitted all those requirements. It’s a grand house, but what we most loved was that it struck a perfect balance with its quaint and cosy qualities as well. We were so confident that Pynes House was the right place for us that we ended up booking the venue without having visited in person – and we’re so happy we did!
The Outfits…
I wore a dress by Vera Wang Bride with a veil by Toni Federici. Our dog’s name is Emmie, so when I stumbled upon the shoe designer, Emmy London, I knew I had to complete my outfit with a pair of their heels! My bridesmaids all wore long white dresses of their choice, and all of the groomsmen wore black tuxedos. Brandon also wore a black tuxedo from Indochino.
The Look for the UK Destination Wedding…
We wanted to incorporate colour into our wedding day without it being over-the-top and distracting. Once we decided on white dresses for the bridesmaids, we knew we would use the flowers to bring in the colour. We ended up going with a warm pastel colour palette (light pinks, purples, yellows, etc.) for all of our flower arrangements to keep everything soft and romantic – Emma, our florist, absolutely nailed it.
To balance the pastels from the flowers, we worked with Charlotte at Mirabelle Makery to keep all of our stationery and paper products simple and classic – white with navy calligraphy. She immediately saw our vision and created so many beautiful pieces from our invitations, to our welcome sign, to our menus and table numbers!
We were so confident that Pynes House was the right place for us that we ended up booking the venue without having visited in person – and we’re so happy we did!
Read more: Wedding floristry at Pynes House with Emma Hewlett Floral Design
The Day…
We decided to have a later ceremony time, so our wedding morning was spent hanging out, getting ready, and (for the groomsmen) playing croquet in the yard. We held our ceremony in the Drawing Room, where we didn’t have to add much for decorations because the room itself was already breath-taking with the large windows, intricate ceiling, and the beautiful wallpaper. We had some bud vases left over from the rehearsal dinner the night before that we reused on the mantle of the fireplace. We didn’t do a first look, so the first time we saw each other was during the ceremony. Brandon’s sister-in-law, Molly, was the celebrant for our ceremony, and she did an amazing job of keeping the ceremony short but meaningful.
After the ceremony, we moved to the ballroom for cocktail hour – featuring delicious Pimm’s Cups and Lavender Lemonade cocktails courtesy of Jay, the Pynes House bartender. Cocktail hour led to dinner in a marquee out on the lawn where we ate dinner, listened to speeches and cut our cake before spending the remainder of the night on the dance floor with our closest family and friends. In the marquee, each table had a centrepiece, and the head table was scattered with bud vases, with some additional floor arrangements. It was important to us to have the clear tops and sidings on the marquee to allow our guests to view the amazing house and gardens throughout the evening. We ended the night with a sparkler send-off that led us back through the entrance of Pynes House.
See more: The Pynes House Gallery
The Food…
To start the wedding breakfast, everyone had a smoked cheddar and parsley croquette. For the entree, we worked with Pickle Shack to offer our guests a choice of three options: a Char Sui beef brisket, a crispy chicken with katsu curry, and teriyaki glazed aubergine with tofu.
For dessert, we collaborated with Pickle Shack to come up with a creative way to incorporate our two cats, Biscuit and Peaches, into our wedding day. We landed on a delicious roasted peach and ginger biscuit cobbler, which was a highlight course of the weekend!
Near the end of the night, we served our vanilla blueberry and carrot cake from Very Vanilla, and Pickle Shack provided loaded BBQ chips for guests to snack on when taking a break from dancing.
Read more: FAQs with our exclusive award-winning caterers, Pickle Shack
The UK Destination Wedding Entertainment…
Our family and friends are big dancers, so having enough time in the evening for dancing was important to us. Our DJ, Jake, from Bespoke Disco kept the party going all night with great music and lighting. He even picked up on various musical references in the wedding toasts and adjusted his song selections accordingly!
Most Memorable Moment…
It’s hard to pick a most memorable part of the wedding day, when the entire weekend felt like a dream. Since our guests travelled from all over to celebrate us, we wanted to spend as much time with them as possible, so between mornings in the kitchen eating breakfast with our wedding party, Friday evening drinks in the garden, our Saturday wedding ceremony in the Drawing Room and dancing in the marquee late into the night, we could not have imagined a more memorable weekend.
Something to Add…
We would recommend taking the time to find the suppliers that fit your vision for the day. We knew that we were in great hands with our suppliers, which made for a stress-free weekend. One of the biggest perks of Pynes House is that they provide a day-of wedding coordinator. Having Natalie, our Pynes House on-site coordinator, there all weekend to assist with the setup and scheduling made our weekend so much more enjoyable and relaxing!
It’s been a pleasure to write about Chrissie and Brandon’s romantic UK destination wedding and we hope that you’ve enjoyed reading over it. If you’re after some more wedding features, head over to the blog here or click here for a recent beautiful Monet inspired wedding editorial. We’ve also got plenty of wedding planning guides on our blog, click here for our recent post on 5 of our favourite wedding readings from children’s books. For anything else, please do get in contact with us on our website or via Instagram or Facebook, we’d love to hear from you!