A little interview with the fabulous Jessica about her Lumley Castle Wedding
We chose Lumley Castle for our wedding venue as it’s always been a family joke that I get called ‘Princess Jessica’ so getting married in a castle seemed appropriate! We had looked at a few venues and none for us had the wow factor we wanted.
They all seemed to be too far away or generic venues. Having all of our family attend was one of the major factors in choosing a venue so it had to be close to home for us. Having worked in the area for a couple of years and admiring the castle from afar I knew we had to go and look. We walked into the Barrons Hall bar area and I knew instantly I loved it. We got to the main room and I got the butterfly feeling which confirmed the decision it was for us.
Are you happy with your Lumley Castle Wedding? Did it live up to your expectations? Was it your dream wedding?
We couldn’t have been happier with our decision. We had a few meetings prior to the day for final arrangements and our last meeting with Keith (the fantastic wedding operations coordinator!) ensured we had our tables all correct, we had all of our tiny details such as the favours in the correct place, the position of the cake all in place and he really put us at ease for the logistics of the day. When we arrived following our church ceremony on the day I’m blown away.
The bar had twinkly lights candles, we had our doughnut wall in the dungeon. The main Barrons Hall where we had our reception could not have been more perfect. The tables had tall candelabras with fresh ivy entwined. The top table had a burgundy skirt to match the chair bows of the other guests and we were both seated at thrones! It was obvious that a lot of effort had gone into making sure it all flowed for us. A particular highlight was that Keith ensured we had food for a midnight snack. The evening buffet opened and we were still full of our main meal. So he put aside a hot pork sandwich and some wedges for us to have in our room once the party had finished. They arrived hot and delicious! Much needed after all the dancing and socialising!
Did you have a theme for your Lumley Castle Wedding? Is so what was it?
My vision was to have a traditional wedding with hints of a musical theme. It was perfect. We spend a lot of time going to music gigs and festivals and it is something we love so I knew this had to be incorporated somehow. The company who designed all of our stationary got my vision spot on. We had a cream and silver damask print with burgundy ribbons throughout. Our table plan, table names favours and cake all had a musical element with this colour and pattern.
I chose to have our table plan made with 7” vinyl records and have each table named after songs that both meant something special to us both. I carried this theme through with the table names. We had small icing records with songs hidden on the back of our cake. For our favours we made ourselves. They were CD’s that looked like vinyl records. We had a playlist made up of songs that our guests requested when we sent out our invitations. Wendy, our cake maker, is a genius. She has always made our family cakes so we already knew our flavours before our meeting. When we met with her we discussed our thoughts and just let her run with it. The cake was incredible! Not only did it taste amazing but it looked fantastic with handmade flowers and our handmade records.
Tell me about the food at your Lumley Castle Wedding? was it yummy? Why?
The food was a big deal! We love to go out and eat nice food so we knew when we picked the food that it had to be good. We chose to go with something a little different to a roast dinner but still traditional so that everyone would enjoy it. For starters we had a roast red pepper and tomato soup – I love soup. There was no question on the starter option! Followed by Cumberland sausage and scallion mash. We had red wine gravy and crispy onions… when we had our tasting night this blew me away. It was so tasty and on the day was equally as amazing!
The weather on the wedding day started to get a bit windy and cold so this was perfect to warm people up too. The dessert was Lumley Castle’s signature sticky toffee pudding. We asked it to be served with their incredible Malteser ice cream! It was amazing! We had lots of compliments. The evening food we decided to have a choice of hot beef or hot pork sandwiches with salad and potato wedges – another hearty meal to soak up the alcohol haha! Our Lumley castle wedding cake flavours – lemon drizzle, chocolate orange and toffee with a salted caramel buttercream with a false top tier for me to keep. We asked for half of each tier to be served with the evening food. Half of each we froze to share with friends and family after our honeymoon. I wish the cake could have lasted forever, it was incredible!!
What was the funniest thing that happened?
The funniest thing had to be when the best man unveiled the life-sized cardboard cutout of the groom dressed as Geri Halliwell from the stag do! That was certainly a surprise and got a laugh from everyone. The photo booth was also hilarious – everyone found that a laugh with the props and set up from the encouraging staff.
Did anything surprise you at your Lumley Castle Wedding?
I don’t think anything surprised me. The speeches, an element that I didn’t know about but they were perfect. So much thought and effort had gone into each one with them being so personal and emotional. I think I had every emotion during the speeches!
It was a fantastic wedding, tell me about your first dance.
The first dance at my Lumley Castle Wedding was ‘Toothpaste Kisses’ by The Maccabees. We always knew it was going to be the first dance song. It’s a song that we have both loved for a long time. We have seen the band perform it live numerous times and each time we hear the words of it sung it’s just perfect for us. I felt like when we had the first dance it was just us two there, dancing to ‘our song’ in our own little bubble. It was magical.
If you were planning your wedding day other again what would you change?
I wish I had thought to put a mirror behind the cake so our guests could see our ‘secret’ addition of the records on the back. Other than that I would not have changed a thing, it was perfect in every way.