Gorgeous Autumn vibes this time for Olivia & Lloyd’s big day at The Ashbourne Hotel! What an absolutely cracking couple, and cracking families too! You can also see their highlight video further down this article.
The Beginning
“I still don’t quite know how we came to know each other! My earliest memory of us is being in year 8 at secondary school and this tall boy with glasses and spiky hair in year 10 would always say hello to me and ask how I was, but I never really knew how he knew me, Lloyd says through mutual friends but to this day I’m still not quite sure! Life goes on again and many years later I’m now 20 and Lloyd is 22, I had recently become single and Lloyd seized his opportunity, the first message was sent and the rest is history!”
“We got engaged 13th February 2023 at the Hutong restaurant in The Shard, London. Ahead of our trip to London and very rarely organised meal by Lloyd, taking me to a local jewelry shop to get my ring finger sized, gives it away a little doesn’t it! Nonetheless it was a very private and intimate engagement, just the way we wanted.”
Top tip from the newlyweds
“Our top tip is getting started early on with all the “big stuff” so we could enjoy the lead up to our wedding, and sort out the finer details as we go rather than panicking and having to make quick last minute decisions.”
The Wedding
Meet Lloyd
Lloyd and the boys got ready at The Kingsway Hotel in Cleethorpes, a surprise booking from Lloyd’s Mum as a gift! How sweet?! My assistant photographer David stayed with them to get the energy of the morning on their side! David tells me the boys were really excited to get photos with the Mini!
If you’ve seen any of my previous Real Wedding Stories; you’ll know I always start with the guys first because they get ready a lot quicker (sorry girls, it’s true!) and it’s much easier for them to take their jacket off again and relax if they want to!
When you add a second shooter to your booking, it means one of us can stay with one of you at all times; double the coverage!
Suit boutique: Brides and Maids
Meet Olivia
Olivia spent the morning in The Ashbourne Hotel‘s bridal suite (and several other hotel rooms!) so Olivia and her bride tribe could get ready at a really relaxed pace with plenty of space! We got ready with plenty of time to spare and had a lovely bridal reveal with Dad right before the wedding! This was a friend-of-a-friend wedding; as our lovely bride Olivia’s sister is good friends with my sister!
Dress boutique: Proposals
The Ceremony
“We are most excited for seeing each other at the end of the aisle, I know both of our nerves will settle once we’re together.”
Olivia and Lloyd had their wedding ceremony at St Michaels Church, Great Coates – I was very surprised to realise that I went to primary school with some of the groomsmen!
“Lloyd has gone to St Michael’s church throughout his life and the people there have seen him grow to this day, it was important to him that we marry there.”
Cocktail hour
“My sister got married at The Ashbourne Hotel 10 years ago, I loved the venue then and have ever since. Our master of ceremonies Rob is amazing at what he does as well and makes you feel so at ease with everything.“
Never have I ever seen a flurry of confetti with such volume! It looked absolutely stunning in the photos and the video! The energy was right up there and everyone enjoyed some social time with the newlyweds before we moved onto the family portraits.
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Family Photos
We made full use of The Ashbourne Hotel’s secret garden for the family photos and even squeezed in a group photo with my assistant David’s drone!
Newlywed Photoshoot
Due to the lighting this time of year, we had our newlywed photoshoot before the wedding breakfast. It’s always nice for the couple to have these few minutes together half way through the day!
Wedding breakfast
The newlyweds were flooded with love and applause as they entered The Ashbourne Hotel’s stunningly decorated function room! The room looked absolutely gorgeous with Autumnal décor wherever you looked.
“We have chosen a whimsical and romantic Autumnal rustic theme, very fitting for the time of year with colours of burnt orange and emerald green. We said at the very start of our relationship we would love an autumn or winter wedding, to complement our mutual need to stay cool!”
Venue dressing: Fairytales
Cake cut & first dance
Cake maker: Olivia’s Nana!
“Our first dance is going to be to ‘Friday Night’ by The Darkness. In January 2018 we were driving around on our second date and Lloyd asked me to put some music on, I chose this song and Lloyd’s face lit up “you know the Darkness?!”. Lloyd’s says from that moment he knew I was a keeper.”
Reception
We did some night shots, enjoyed some sparklers and had a dance!
Why choose The Ashbourne Hotel for your big day?
As a wedding photographer I have the privilege of spending my days exploring some of the most gorgeous venues with the most amazing teams of wedding staff. Rob (aka ‘The Wedding Guy’ and his infamous wedding selfies & hilarious wedding content are very well known in the local wedding industry; plus he’s a very experienced and talented wedding coordinator!
★ Aimee is one of The Ashbourne Hotel’s officially recommended wedding photographers ★
The Ashbourne Hotel is located in North Killingholme in Lincolnshire; and I’ll never deny having a soft spot for it as this is the one venue out of all of the ones I recommend; that I can provide a perspective on as a bride, a wedding guest and as a wedding photographer. Yep! My husband and I had our wedding here back in 2019 and our experience there was absolutely flawless.
Perspective: The Bride
I’d been to a wedding at The Ashbourne before, and it was the first venue that came to mind when my husband and I got engaged. I remembered feeling impressed at how cosy yet classy it was for a hotel, and then when we were ushered into the reception room, I fell completely in love with the grandeur and the aesthetic from the rustic wooden beams to the beautiful chandelier.
My husband and I attended a meeting with the coordinator at the time (Mark) and I felt like I was seeing it through different eyes now, and I was even more impressed! As I looked around the room, I could just picture us there for our day. I loved that everything was neutral so it would go with the ‘Elegant Beauty and the Beast’ theme we had our hearts set on.
We booked our date then and there, because when Mark opened the diary, the exact date we wanted was the only Saturday they had left they had left the next year! I couldn’t believe it but he flicked through and showed us. “It was fate” we thought.
The staff couldn’t do enough for us during the run up to our wedding, I won’t include the sob story details but they went to the extremes to give us the day of our dreams.
We had dinner in The Fork & Spoon the night before the wedding and went to our separate rooms; me to the bridal suite, and he to the opposite end of the hotel. We had some last minute cancellations that caused me to panic, they reassured me and sorted everything out; (and then did it all again once these guests decided they were in fact coming after all on the wedding morning!)
I was so excited the night before that I couldn’t sleep, I just laid there staring at my dress hanging in the corner of the gorgeous bridal suite; so I went for a walk around outside. This must have been around 1am, but there the staff were, setting everything up for our wedding the next morning. I even offered them some help! But the lady I spoke to insisted I get some rest and even offered me a drink!
The day itself was perfect from start to finish, they gave us separate breakfast time slots so we wouldn’t run into each other by accident! The room looked a vision and they all really understood what I wanted to go for with my décor. They checked in regularly to make sure everything was ok and even gave one of our guests a quiet place to sit when he struggled with his anxiety. They took care of all our gifts and packaged everything up for us so it was ready to take home the next morning and they were endlessly patient while my husband and I had ‘just one more dance.’
So after that essay, if you made it to the bottom, well done, but also thank you! It’s not very often I get to write about my own wedding after all! But in case you couldn’t tell, I can’t recommend The Ashbourne Hotel enough for your entire day or reception.
Perspective: Wedding Photographer
The Ashbourne team are absolutely amazing, they’re so knowledgeable, helpful and cannot do enough for you and your guests. The décor is the perfect blend between classy and rustic. The private bar area has a dark, glossy wooden vibe that adds so much to your wedding; and the ceremony/reception hall is huge, light, bright, rustic and radiates elegance. It’s a great room to photograph!
Outdoors there’s lots of flower bushes so when you’re outside for your confetti or enjoying the summer sun, there’s always a beautiful floral background. There’s a secret garden so you can sneak off for your newlywed portraits and enjoy some peace and time together; it’s also adorned with fairy lights for some beautiful romantic night time wedding photos.
There’s a church just across the road if a religious ceremony is on the cards for you and it’s accessible through a gate at the back of the patio, so there’s no need to walk all the way around if we pop back later for some photos!
It’s a fantastic venue and I really encourage you to take a look as I know your day will be as magical as mine was!
