Blog written by The Bride of the day Lisa-Marie Musgrave
We both wanted a church wedding and it was always going to be at St Michael and All Angels church in Runcorn. It’s such a beautiful church. Many years ago, before we’d seriously thought about getting married, Paul had said to me “we’ll get married at that church” as it was his family church and so from that date our venue was set.
Finding a reception venue was our first challenge. Food was the centre of our focus, we are big foodies and wanted good quality food. In addition to that, we wanted a venue that was unique and had character but also had an intimate feel. It was Paul who suggested that we visit Adlington Hall and Hunting Lodge. As soon as we went for a look around, we both fell in love with it. We continued to look at other venues but none of them met the standards of Adlington Hall and we found ourselves comparing other venues to it. Adlington Hall ticked all the boxes and it was going to be our reception venue.
Neither of us wanted a summer wedding, we both liked the idea of autumn or winter. I very much enjoyed planning and surprisingly Paul was keen to be involved in all the decisions .
It took me a while to find my perfect dress. I narrowed down the shape of dress that I wanted very quickly but I must have tried on about 40 dresses before I found the one. My Jasmine dress with its figure hugging shape, shaped back and buttons that ran down the train, was a perfect fit. I’d always envisaged myself wearing a shrug and so after I’d chosen my dress, this was one of my first purchases for the wedding. Along my travels of trying on many dresses I came across an artificial bouquet which was like nothing I’d seen before; it had brooches, pieces of lace and small crystals. It had a vintage feel about it and it went perfectly with my shrug. I had to have one! I had my bouquet made by Pearl & Co and within it I incorporated a brooch from my mum, my nan, my grandma and Paul’s mum. This gave the bouquet extra sentimental value. This was my favourite wedding purchase.
We had an intimate family day reception with only 50 guests and a big party in the evening. We wanted our day guests to be thoroughly looked after; to be well fed and watered. Adlington Hall delivered it all and more. We had our drinks reception and photographs taken with the stunning back drop of the Great Hall, a must for anyone who has a reception at Adlington Hall. This was followed by a 4 course meal in the hunting lodge- the food was exquisite. The speeches were short but entertaining. We opted not to give our parents the usual thank you gifts and got them something more personal including a signed welsh rugby shirt for my dad and arranging for Paul’s dad to have a personal tour of the Queen Mary.
We were very lucky to have family and friends help with our day. My nan made our wedding cake, Shane (a family friend) arranged our stationery, Sue provided our flowers and Paul’s auntie Elaine did the hair of all of the bridal party and remained on standby all day. This made our day much more personal.
We had a perfect day, it couldn’t have gone better. We want to do it all again but I guess we’ll settle for the memories that were made and our stunning pictures.
Written by Mrs Lisa-Marie Musgrave
Also thanks to Guy Porteus on piano who added real atmosphere to the wedding reception
