Holly + Matthew by Samantha Heather - Together Journal

The historic walled garden, with its intimate arbours, climbing roses and clever mix of formality and wildness, felt at once completely timeless yet modern.

Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…

We’re Holly and Matthew; we love wandering and dancing around the kitchen, a decent pub and our dog child Milo! We’re both originally from the North West of England but have made our home in London over the last ten years. I work in fashion, managing Marketing & Events, and Matthew works in Operations for a marketing agency.

How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?

In the glamorous setting of the college canteen, aged 16… I was deep in my indie phase, and Matthew liked pop punk, which was not exactly my cup of tea… Despite these (at the time significant!) teenage differences, we very quickly became inseparable, and we’ve been together ever since.

When did you first realise that this was someone you’d like to spend the rest of your life with?

I couldn’t say there was one defining moment, but it was always somewhat inevitable in the best possible way. I joked in my wedding speech that ‘when you know, you know, and if you think you know, spend 12 years with them before you fully commit…’ We’re best friends, each other’s balance, and despite being opposites in many ways, we manage to maintain an equilibrium that’s built on ever-evolving love and always making each other laugh.

Was there a proposal? Tell us a little about it…

Yes, at the top of Monte Solaro on the Italian island of Capri. We got a little boat from Sorrento to Capri on our 10th anniversary, headed up the hill on the tiny bus, a chairlift ride later, and sat down for a picnic. Matthew was visibly fidgety and uncomfortable, and I (having the time of my life on our Italian adventure) kept asking what could possibly be wrong… 3 attempts later, following interruptions by fellow tourists and tears from the both of us, Matthew proposed with the sweetest speech about our lives together this far, and his hopes for our future. The ring is always referred to by anyone who knows me as ‘very me’ and is a radiant cut diamond with an art-deco-inspired bezel that Matthew designed.

Tell us about the vision you had for the mood or style of your wedding.

The setting dictated most of the feel of the day. We fell in love with the gardens at Middleton when we saw them in full bloom in the Summer of 2022. The historic walled garden, with its intimate arbours, climbing roses and clever mix of formality and wildness, felt at once completely timeless yet modern. It was important to us that the day reflected us and our personal styles – keeping it relatively simple and minimal and injecting elements of tradition without it feeling overly designed or contrived. Our main focus was on ensuring everyone, ourselves included, had a lovely time in a lovely setting.

What was one element you were happy to splurge on?

I don’t think we could select just one element. I’d say prioritise what matters to you, and I don’t feel like you have to have everything to the highest degree!

Photography and videography, for the memory capturing as much as anything, as it’s true that it’s one of few things (outside of the rings and the marriage itself!!) that you have once the day is done. The moments we missed and the memories we will never forget were all beautifully captured by our amazing team. Samantha and Lauren were not only a wonderful photography duo, but they were also just brilliant energy sources to have around on the day. Samantha is actually my second cousin, and I always had it in the back of my mind that if I ever got married, I would love for her to shoot it.. never thinking in a million years that she would travel across the world to do so; so this was another dream come true, in the midst of the dreamiest day.

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We both love music (and actually played in the same brass band as children! Very meet-cute.. ), so it was really important for us to get this right. We didn’t have an unlimited budget and were struggling to find options that weren’t horridly cheesy or bank-breaking. We found a wonderful pianist for the ceremony, James Breckon, through a previous wedding at the venue and then stumbled upon an amazing local band after a long and occasionally painful YouTube search of woeful wedding bands. Dae La Roux brought amazing energy, played the right mix of singalongs and personal favourites, and kept the dancefloor full and joy-filled for a full 5 hours!

Food! Food is important to both of us and often dictates our weekend and holiday plans. The gardens at Middleton are also kitchen gardens, and there’s a real focus on seasonality and local ingredients, which we loved.

And finally, the details – although they are far from essential, the little touches made the day ours. Our stationary, napkins, place setting fans, and confetti packs were all designed around the personalised motifs and illustrations we created with @tenstorystationery.

Did anything happen on your wedding day that you laugh about in hindsight (even if it was stressful at the time)?

As an event planner and an operations specialist, we were hideously organised in the two years of our engagement proceeding the wedding… one thing you, of course, cannot control is the weather. After the wettest June on record, a week of rain ahead of the big day and a direly damp morning, our dreams of an outdoor ceremony and a good old British garden party were looking slim. At the 11th hour everything was moved inside until with less than 5 minutes to go I practically begged Middleton’s coordinator and the registrar to let us hold it in the rain. After a mass scramble to move the ceremony set-up back outside, there was a romantic light drop of drizzle as I walked down the aisle. The heavens opened momentarily (we’re talking seconds) as the rings were exchanged and the register was signed, and then as the recessional started, the sun broke through, and the rest of the day was glorious. They say rain on your wedding day is good luck, so we’ll call it the best of both worlds…

Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, is there a story?

I really struggled to find a dress I loved and kept coming back to elements of dresses that I had tried on, but my dream dress just didn’t seem to exist as a whole. I didn’t want to go down the route of buying a dress and then having major alterations, so I found Emma Beaumont – a bespoke dress designer who handmakes everything with her skilled team in her studio in Cheshire, England. My brief was historic but modern, detailed but minimal, textured and structured, with a nod to both the 60’s and Victoriana.. a detachable sleeve, a chiffon neck scarf and at least two looks in one.. a mad mix of ideas and a task for anyone, but Emma and her team took it on and delivered a dress that will always be the favourite thing I’ve worn. I studied fashion history, and some of my earliest memories are of clothes, of the joy I found in dressing myself, so designing the dress and seeing it come to life from a simple sketch was the most glorious full-circle moment.

Matthew knew exactly what he wanted from the outset: a dark green double-breasted suit with a wide lapel. He was fitted at Suitsupply, worked with the team in Mayfair to confirm fabrics and details, and ended up with a bespoke suit that he loves and can’t wait to wear again.