ISCOYD OPEN DAY
Sunshine and Pumpkins
Whilst our August Open Day was a phenomenal success, we knew that the timing of the event was likely to coincide with many couples’ summer holidays. With this in mind we hosted another Open Day event last month on Sunday 8th October with the idea of showing couples who missed our summer event, the house and the gardens in their Autumnal garb.
We anticipated a cold start and perhaps even grey skies but Mother Nature decided to show up to the party and bless us with sunshine and blue skies. What a treat!
Photographer Helen Baly was on hand to snap all of the action – from the wonderful set ups in the Garden Room, Pigeon House and the Coach House to the fabulous cakes on display. Our trusty Pizza van was parked up in the garden next to Birdie’s Photo Booth and they made quite the perfect pair.
The sun shone and the flowers in the gardens positively glowed and it felt like it was the last hurrah of the season before the colder days arrive. For those of you who weren’t able to join us this time round we thought we would share some of the highlights in this recap post.
Where to begin? Let’s start with the wonderful Matt from RedFloral for creating magic in our marquee. Matt never fails to amaze us with the showstopper arrangements that he creates for us and each time he manages to produce something completely different. Using orange, peach and coral tones, Matt took inspiration from an Autumn colour palette with a smattering of Halloween along with the tallest candlesticks we’ve ever seen, the most mesmerising collection of gourds and beautiful sage toned glassware. In amongst the place settings were the odd pumpkin or two which harmonised perfectly with the naked hurricane lamps and the soft green linens. Matt truly knows how to do ‘Autumn’ the right way!
Keeping Matt company in the marquee was the fabulous Capture It! Photo Booth who entertained Iscoyd staff along with all of our guests. Capture It! are regular visitors to Iscoyd and we love catching up with them whenever there’s a wedding here at the house. Below you can see some folks having fun with the cowboys hats and we recommend you look them up if you’re looking for a Photo Booth for your special event. They manage to snap the very essence of any party!
Heather from TSP Cakes wowed us with her artisan patisserie skills producing not one but five exquisitely decorated cakes which we proudly displayed in the Coach House. Each cake was decorated in a soft off-white hue, with differing numbers of tiers, ribbons, real flowers and the most beautiful sugar florals. They looked breathtaking.
Accompanying Heather was Katie from Unique Your Wedding who styled not only the Coach House but also the Pigeon House as well. Katie complemented the rustic vibe of the Coach House with soft chiffon drapery on the tables and lots of differently shaped bud vases filled with flowers in peachy pink tones accessorised with burnished metallic accents.
The Pigeon House looked rather romantic too with gauzy drapes from the ceiling around the vintage Italian chandelier and the antique mirror. Katie carefully mixed rustic crates, candles in hurricane lamps and lots of Autumnal foliage to create an eye-catching centrepiece in our outside ceremony area.
Ivy Pip & Rose continued the styling by beautifying the Garden Room and the Iscoyd stairs for us with sculptural Chrysanthemums in salmon pink hues. In fact we were so inspired by all of the stylists that helped to decorate the house on the Open Day that we had a go at creating some backdrops of our own. We opted for a champagne tower accessorised by a bottle of Iscoyd champagne and a neon ‘Let’s Party’ sign which so many visitors commented on much to our delight. Outside we thought slightly outside of the box and parked up a vintage tractor complete with grass covered ‘BBQ’ initials in the gardens near the Pigeon House. Possibly the first time a tractor has appeared on a Open Day!
Our kitchen team also worked very hard to create the perfect canapés that tantalised the tastebuds and were beautifully presented on gilded quartz serving platters and Iscoyd themed trays; they almost looked too good to eat! We say ‘almost’ since all of our lovely visitors tucked in with gusto along with pizza slices served fresh from our familiar minty green pizza van Philomena that was parked up next to the house alongside the wonderful Birdie’s Photo Booth in the form of a marshmallow pink VW camper van! Owner Kitty is a walking, talking ray of sunshine and never fails to put a smile on our faces!
Thanks also go to The Wedding Club for coming along with oodles of pretty dresses for us to gawp at who took up their position situated on the Armorial Landing just outside the Bridal Suite. There were slinky numbers, dresses with sleeves and those without, frocks dripping with sequins and others crafted from intricate lacy material. Empire waists and sweetheart necklines – we were absolutely spoilt for choice!
The soundtrack to the day was provided by the talented ladies at Nero String Quartet who serenaded us all with lilting harmonic melodies that had us gliding as if we were Sleeping Beauty dancing with Prince Charming.
Huge thanks to all of the wonderful suppliers who took time to make our Open Day a truly special event.
Special thanks go to Helen Baly for all the images used in this post, without whom we wouldn’t be able to share these memories with those of you who were unable to attend. For newly engaged couples or those of you still looking for your dream wedding venue, keep an ey on our Events Page for future Open Days coming up in 2024.
All our Iscoyd love
xxx