Gamekeeper's Wedding - Amy & Richard

We're always delighted to host your weddings at The Gamekeeper's Inn and bring the perfect day you've always imagined to life. We caught up with some of our happy couples to reminisce about their special day with us, so we could share their story with you.

Please tell us your and your husband's names Amy & Richard

The date of your wedding with us? 23rd July 2022

How did you meet?
We met in year 7 at secondary school. Our school always did the seating plans in register order and our surnames both began with H, so we sat together in a few classes and became good friends in year 10 and 11. Our friendship blossomed into romance in 2012 when we were 18 and had both started university.

How did he propose?
Richard proposed in the back garden of our first house. This was meant to be a family party for Richard’s 24th birthday, but at the beginning of the party Richard got down on one knee! The party then became an engagement party! It was important for us that all our family were there to celebrate as well, so this was perfect.

Tell us about your stag and hen celebrations!
I went to York in June 2022 with my family and friends for my hen party. Celebrations started with a party bus to York and then an Abba themed dance class. I was then treated to my hair and makeup being done, then a meal out and karaoke night! We also stayed in an apartment together. I also had a bridal shower in March 2022 a bar in Bingley, this was all ‘Amy’ themed, with personalized cocktails and games.

Richard went to Amsterdam with family and friends for his stag do. This involved a beer boat and lots of drinking. Richard only drinks cider, which was very limited in Amsterdam, so he spent most of his stag weekend drinking Rose! This provided lots of laughs over the weekend.

What was your wedding theme?
We chose white florals, eucalyptus and sage green.

Tell us about your wedding looks!
I wore a Justin Alexander Satin ball gown (style 9904) from The Harrogate Wedding Lounge, and my shoes were the 'Henri' from Charlotte Mills. The veil was also from The Harrogate Wedding Lounge and in the style ‘Paradis’ which had intricate petals all over it. Later in the evening I swapped my veil for the ‘Cassia’ Bobby pin headband. I also wore Swarovski earrings and a Tiffany bracelet that Richard got for me on the morning of the wedding.

I wore hair in a relaxed, loose ponytail, done by Laura Smith from Coden Hair Technicians, and my makeup was done by Nicole Shaw Makeup and Lashes. I knew Laura and Nicole really well before the wedding, and it felt like having two extra friends on the wedding morning which was so lovely. We could not recommend them enough!

Richard’s suit, groomsmen, father of bride and father of groom suits were from Marc Darcy. These were navy blue. All wore matching navy ties, and Richard wearing a stone-colored waist coat.

Tell us about your wedding rings!
Our rings are all from Diamond Heaven. My engagement ring is white gold with a halo style diamond, Richard’s wedding ring is a platinum ring and my wedding ring is a white gold wedding band lined with diamonds.

Who were your bridesmaids?
My bridesmaids included my friend Lauren as maid of honor, my friend Jenny as chief bridesmaid, my sister in law Carly as bridesmaid and my younger cousin Millie as bridesmaid.

All bridesmaids wore a sage green bridesmaid dress from Reiss. They also had fresh flowers in their hair which was the perfect touch.

Who were your groomsmen?
Richard’s friend, Richard F was his best man. Richard then had 6 other groomsmen, which included his two brothers, my brother and our friends. Noah, my nephew who was six at the time, was page boy.

All wore matching navy ties, with the groomsmen wearing a navy waist coat, and all were teamed with a personalized pocket watch that Richard gave them all as a wedding morning gift.

Tell us all about your flower arrangements!
Our florist was Vanessa at Wildflowers based in Ilkley. We had white roses and lots of eucalyptus. Vanessa also created flower arrangements on pedestals for outside the church, and gorgeous displays inside the church.

My bouquet was a large posy style bouquet with white roses and eucalyptus, and the bridesmaids had smaller versions of this. Richard, groomsmen, and dads had matching button holes and our mums had matching corsages.

How did you travel to the wedding?
For transport to the church, my dad and I travelled in a cream 1957 rag top vintage VW Beetle, and the bridesmaids travelled in a vintage cream VW camper van.

On the way back from the church, we had to swap vehicles and the bridesmaids went in the VW Beetle instead, as we underestimated how big my dress was! The camper van provided that extra bit of room that was needed for the dress!

Tell us about your decorations!
Our room was beautifully decorated by Creative Venue Styling. Wherever you turned there were white, large flower bombs, floating candles, twinkling lights and eucalyptus. Each table was full of florals and candles. The room took our breath away when we first walked in on our wedding day.

What did you have for wedding favours?
We based our favors on charity donations and we chose charities which resonated with us and our guests who were present. Each table had a chosen charity with a card with a pin badge. The charities included Prostate Cancer, Cancer Research, British Heart Foundation, Dogs Trust, NSPCC, Mind and Breast Cancer.

Tell us about your wedding cake!
Our cake was made by The Pretty Sugar Cake Company. This was a 4 tier round stacked cake: 4” bakewell, 6” vanilla salted caramel, 8” lemon and 10” chocolate orange. It tasted incredible!

This was a white iced cake with white sugar pearl bead detail on top tier and white pearl shimmer finish on the third tier. Top tier was ‘floating’ and the second tier had our initials ‘A and R’ in a circle with small shimmer heart in centre. There were three clusters of white sugar roses and eucalyptus style foliage offset on alternate sides of the cake.

As part of Richard’s wedding morning gift I also got a mini cake made by The Pretty Sugar Cake company. This was a one tier cake, in bakewell flavour and was designed based on Richard’s suit.

Did you have canapes, and what did you choose?
All of our food and drinks for the day were provided by The Gamekeeper's Inn. For our canapés we had mini toad in the hole with caramelised onion, fish goujons with tartare sauce, and halloumi and red pepper skewers. We also had prosecco and Peroni as our welcome drinks.

What did you have for your wedding breakfast?
For our starter we had a choice of prawn and bloody mary cocktail, dressed leaves and brown bread, or smooth chicken liver pate and fruit chutney served on a brioche croute.

Our main was a choice of oven baked cod loin and wild mushroom risotto drizzled with white truffle oil and parmesan, or roast sirloin of beef, Yorkshire pudding and duck fat roast potatoes.

For dessert we had sticky toffee pudding, or a dessert assietee of chocolate brownie, lemon tart and strawberry pavlova.

What was your first dance song?
Our first dance was The Wonder of You by The Villagers, a cover of the original Elvis song.

What entertainment did you provide?
For the evening we hired a band called The Party Nuts, who also DJ’d. They were fantastic and we didn’t stop dancing!

Who was your photographer and videographer?
Our photographer was Charlotte White Weddings, she was like a 5th bridesmaid to me. She was incredible.

Our videographer was Harrison Fletcher at Fletcher Films. We cannot recommend him enough! His videography is like no other. We are so thankful we had him.

Where did you go for your honeymoon?
We spent our Honeymoon in Dubai and the Maldives over Christmas time 2022. It was like a dream!

Amy & Richard's Suppliers

Wedding dress: The Harrogate Wedding Lounge | info@theharrogateweddinglounge.com | 01423 202029

Hair: Coden Hair Technicians | | 01535 605461

Makeup: Nicole Shaw Makeup and Lashes | nicoleshaw3011@gmail.com | 07414 561083

Groom & Groomsmen's Suits: Marc Darcy | retail@marcdarcy.co.uk

Rings: Diamond Heaven | leeds@diamond-heaven.co.uk | 011 38244228

Flowers: Wildflowers | vanessa@wildflowersuk.co.uk | 07740 514424

Wedding Cake: The Pretty Sugar Cake Company | hello@theprettysugarcakecompany.co.uk | 07957 991552

Decorations: Creative Venue Styling | info@creativevenuestyling.co.uk | 01282 476592

Entertainment: The Party Nuts | info@thepartynuts.co.uk | 0845 226 8591

Photographer: Charlotte White Weddings

Videographer: Fletcher Films