Zoe & James 24/11/23
What made you choose Iscoyd Park for your wedding venue?
My bridesmaid had gone to a wedding at Iscoyd and she told me how amazing it was. So after we got engaged, it was the first venue we booked to see. The rest is history! They say you know when you know and we knew instantly that Iscoyd would be the place we’d get married. We didn’t think we’d be able to get married there but I just looked at James and said ‘oh no, I really love it,’ and he said ‘me too!’ We booked it that day.
We were shown around by Ffion and her gorgeous little puppy, the smell of the neom candles, the decor albeit it modern but in keeping with the age of the house made it feel timeless in style. There was a homely, welcoming yet electric atmosphere, you can feel all the happy memories that have been made there. The staff cannot do enough for you. Liv was our wedding coordinator and our wedding ran like clockwork. The whole process felt lighter having Liv’s help and I’ll just never forget the amazing journey I went on with her and the Iscoyd team to create our day. It was magical.
What was your favourite part of your wedding day?
Mine was walking down the aisle without a shadow of a doubt. Seeing all my friends and family as I walked out with big smiles, walking with my Dad, taking it all in to a song I’d listened to all year and finally living that moment, to then seeing James’ face at the top of the aisle truly was the happiest moment of my life.
James told me that his favourite moment was ‘seeing you walk down the aisle.’
It’s a moment a lot of people dread, but until you’ve done it, you can’t explain what a moment it is. It’s beyond anything I ever imagined.
Tell us a little bit about your wedding theme.
The theme I went for was minimalist, frosted, timeless, winter wedding. I wanted to look back at my photos and for it to still look like the theme could be used in years to come.
The Outfits; Who did you wear? What did your bridal party wear?
I wore the Amber dress by Suzanne Neville. A dress that I will never ever get over, I loved everything about it. The bridesmaids wore an oyster coloured dress off ASOS. The Groomsmen wore suits from a local tailors called Blooms.
The Flowers; Tell us some more about your blooms.
As beautiful as our flowers were, they were not what I expected. The centre piece twigs were supposed to be bare trees and the flowers were all supposed to be completely white, they had too much green in them and out of everything that was the thing that didn’t quite fit my vision unfortunately. I hate to be even slightly negative about anything to do with our wedding but I do like to be honest and show other brides that not everything goes to plan and not everything is exactly as you want it but most importantly, did it make any impact on the fun we had and the memories we made that day, absolutely not!
The Photography; Who were your photographers and why did you choose them?
Barbara Markiewicz!! The photos of our day are my favourite thing ever. They are so so special. I had my eye on her from the start and she delivered everything we wanted and more. She was so kind, made us feel at ease and she knew exactly what she was doing. She really is an artist and her work speaks for itself.
The Evening; Give us the lowdown on entertainment.
Our goal for our day was to have amazing music all day and get the dance floor going as soon as we could and for as long as we could. James is a DJ so he made a playlist for the wedding breakfast of lots of upbeat songs we love. Then for the evening we had Word of Mouths Stu Ojelay DJ for us. James did a DJ set and a couple of his mates joined it too and it was just amazing! James’ friend David Siddley played the bongos and we had Callum on the Sax for the entertainment!
Words of Wedding Wisdom?
Tips for the actual day are:
Send everyone involved in the bridal party a timeline for getting ready on the day, from bridesmaids to mother-in-laws. Send it to everyone, so they all know where they need to be at what time. I did separate ones for bridesmaids, groomsmen, Mums, Dads, make up artists, hair stylists etc. This included times, postcodes, contact numbers etc. As a bride, on that morning you do not want millions of calls asking where other people need to be. Concentrate on you and having the best morning.
Have a ceremony seating plan, it’s worth it! Seat all the people you adore in aisle as well so they are the first people you see when you walk out. Then all your close family and friends are at the front too on all your pictures. It’s controversial I know but I don’t regret it.
Entertainment, you do not need an all singing, all dancing band, singer, choir, magician, the list goes on. If you can afford it, great, if not, then do not worry, we had literally just music and the party started itself.
Bridesmaid reveal, although it was amazing to do, you end up spending a lot of time on your own in the room waiting for people to come in. Just have them get ready with you.
The aisle, trust me when I say, this is the best moment of your life. It’s normal to be nervous but look up at your guests, smile, walk slow, look at your dad, look at your groom, take as much in as possible, it’s your moment, you’ll never get it back and it’s truly amazing.
We didn’t have an unplugged ceremony and I personally think it was a great decision. There are so many videos and photos I’ve and off guests and family which I wouldn’t have otherwise had.
We had a content creator as well as a photographer and a videographer. She was worth her weight in gold! Manj and her husband followed me and James around all day as if we had our own phones and the pictures and videos she got are priceless. There are things that she captured that we just wouldn’t have seen so I highly recommend Paparazzigram.
For those spray tan brides, use talc.
I did my bridesmaid gifts the night before. It free’d up lots of time the next day and they got to wear their pjs twice.
The run up to your wedding can feel quite daunting, there’s so much out there to compare to which makes the feeling of planning a wedding quite overwhelming so my advice here is, stop looking at what everyone else has done and focus on what you want and your own style. You want your wedding to reflect you both.
The wedding blues are a real thing so enjoy the process and all the lead up to it because believe it or not, you will miss it.
Most importantly take it all in as much as you can. You will feel like you’re floating most of the day, so if you can steal moments by yourself where you just look around and take it in and realise that there probably won’t be another time in your life where everyone you love will be all together in the same room like this again.
Lastly, you’ve worked hard for this day, so enjoy everything about it.
Find out more about Weddings at Iscoyd Park
Photography by Barbara Markiewicz