Where/how did you meet?
Believe or not, we met on Tinder! We were both living in East London at the time (me Hackney, Martin Stratford) so we 'matched' on proximity. After a few weeks chatting on the app and then WhatsApp, we met up at a pub in Victoria Park and the rest is history!
Where are you both from? If you aren’t a local then why choose Lancashire?
I was born and raised in Bolton, and so know the Lancashire area very well. Martin was born in Luton but his family moved to York when he was still quite young. We chose Lancashire for our venue mainly in-keeping with the tradition of marrying in the bride's locality. And because we had already decided that we were going to leave London to shack up back in the North.
What made you pick Samlesbury for your wedding venue?
We had already visited a number of venues in Lancashire - those that I had already attending weddings or functions previously, or those recommended by others or websites. However, we came away from all of them not satisfied, whether it be due to the layout, the options or the price.
Martin found Samlesbury per chance (he can't even remember how - somewhere online!) and so we agreed to visit it during our first house hunt. And we were blown away. Neither myself or my family had heard of it, so it was like a secret find. I loved the historical nature of the venue, being a History graduate myself. But the main catch for us was the venue layout. We loved the options of having two rooms to hold the ceremony, and that there is so much space inside the venue, which is always handy in rainy Lancashire! We booked the Whittaker Room for our wedding, so loved the smooth transitioning across all the rooms in the venue.
Additionally, we loved working with Angela. Her enthusiasm and passion was clear from our very first visit. She had loads of ideas and expertise to share with us, but she was also more than willing to adapt to and include our own quirky ideas. We really looked forward to each planning meeting leading up to the day.
What did you eat for your wedding breakfast?
We had tomato soup for the starter (to keep everyone warm - it was April shower time after all!), followed by a choice of Chicken or Lamb Shank, followed by fruit crumble (I think?! - I was too buzzing to eat dessert on the day!) I personally chose the lamb for my main as we had visited Samlesbury for lunch multiple times after discovering it and every time the red meat options were hugely enjoyed (along with everything else of course!)
What was the very best part of your day?
Martin says "seeing (me) walk down the aisle". Awww. I can't say the same as I cried, haha! So the photos of that moment show me biting my lip as i tried to stop!! My very best part of the day was during the breakfast. Many people had told me to take some moments during the day to step out and savour the moment, so it wasn't all completely a blur afterwards. So, in between the starter and main course, I took a moment to look out from our top table across the gorgeous room; its warm and beautiful layout, all my favourite people buzzing away happily, and just how amazing it was and how lucky I was.
Anything else you would like to add?
Just that Samlesbury Hall was THE perfect venue for our wedding. We couldn't have wished for anything better, even if we were millionaires and could have married anywhere! EVERYONE loved the venue, and its really nice that its somewhere so easy to come back and visit casually to visit the grounds or for lunch; its not exclusive and closed off like others.
Photographs by Lawson Photography
Flowers by Flower Design
Video by Toast of Leeds (take a look!)
With TV Presenter Jason Karl
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