Join me for the enchanting autumn wedding of Madalena and Alexander, which was set in the stunning backdrop of The Matara Centre in Gloucestershire on none other than bonfire night.
Their celebrations began early at 11am and was filled to the brim with surprises and touches that made it a day to remember. From a super fun murder mystery game during the meal to a hot chocolate and s’mores bar, every part of their day was filled with warmth and joy.
Madalena and Alexander’s impeccable style was evident in their gorgeous outfits, complete with Madalena’s show-stopping bridal cape. The personal ceremony was a real reflection of their love, featuring a candle lighting, hand-tying, and a broom jump to end. Following the ceremony guests dined in the reception room which was adorned with autumn flowers and personal handmade stationery. As the night drew to a close, fireworks lit up the sky and sparklers danced in the air around Madalena and Alexander.
Thanks ever so much to Amy Woodham Photography for kindly sharing with us these sensational images. Enjoy every capture below.
The Matara Centre Wedding
The Proposal
We love games and puzzles, so on my birthday trip to York, Alexander had planned for us to do a treasure hunt. The first clue (engineered by him!), led to the ancient ruins in the Yorkshire Museum grounds just as they opened, so we had the whole place to ourselves.
Then, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him!
The Vision
We’d both never been to a wedding as adults before, so we had a blank slate when it came to ideas and expectations. We wanted the wedding to represent us and to bring our families and friends together.
In the end, the 5th of November was a happy coincidence – but now we love it as it means we’ll have fireworks celebrating our anniversary every year, wherever we are in the UK.
A lot of our friends and family had never met before, so we wanted the day to break down nerves and barriers and bring people together. Equally, we don’t drink, so we didn’t want alcohol to be the only way to achieve that! So, we approached planning as though we were planning the best party, ever – that we would want to go to, wedding or not!
In practice, this meant,
- A super personal ceremony with guest involvement – plus little hand warmers on each seat so that nobody got too chilly.
- A big emphasis on food and non-alcoholic drinks (though alcohol was plentiful too!). We spent a lot of time concocting our own mocktails – a warming spiced apple, non-alcoholic mulled wine, and a refreshing cranberry-based fizz. These were hugely popular. We had canapés making the rounds after the ceremony, a three-course meal for lunch (Peach and pecan salad, option of Duck with Potato and Beetroot Gratin or Mushroom and Tarragon Pappardelle, and Bread and Butter pudding with clotted cream for dessert), a s’mores bar and a hot chocolate for afters, and cheese toasties for guests to take home. Let’s just say, nobody went hungry.
- Entertainment to get people talking! During canapés and cocktails, we had Silhouette Sarah come and cut out all of our guests’ silhouettes, on the spot! She was quite incredible and gave us copies of everyone’s silhouettes, which therefore made for a beautiful, timeless keepsake for both guests and us.Â
- Then, during dinner, came the most unorthodox of the entertainment – we had paid actors come in from Blackwatch Entertainment to run a murder mystery with the whole wedding, featuring a number of friends and family who we roped in to play scripted characters! And you bet they went all in – Madalena’s mum came prepared with a maid outfit, her dad with a German hat and flag, her cousin with a chauffeur’s get-up… we have never laughed so hard and it certainly broke the ice for everyone!
- Finally, we had to have fireworks and sparklers – it was bonfire night, after all! This was actually my (Madalena) only demand for the wedding – fireworks at my wedding had been a dream I’d had since I was a child. We played ‘God Only Knows’, ‘Somewhere Only We Know’, ‘Flightless Bird, American Mouth’, and then, ‘Kiss Me’, as we all stared into the stars and ooh-ed and ahh-ed – a perfect end to a perfect day.
Best of all, we started the day early at 11am, and were in bed by 9pm, gorging on cheese toasties and leftover cake, already reminiscing over the day – exactly as our perfect day for us would look like. Plus, guests got to either tuck into bed nice and early too, or go out for more celebrations and drinks after – so everyone was looked after and happy.
The Venue
We spent months even before the proposal researching venues, so in the end, we viewed The Matara Centre just one week after! It was perfect on first sight and we didn’t end up viewing any other places at all.
The venue was beautiful, firstly – we read our vows underneath a flower-wound arch on a Japanese-inspired courtyard, with koi carp and burgundy and claret Japanese maple trees all around us. Further afield, we were surrounded by the lush greenness of the Cotswolds and Gloucestershire fields, creating a slow unfolding of nature and magic for our guests as they travelled to us.
Most of all though, we loved that the venue was so open to all our ideas. We had quite an eccentric list of suppliers, and they literally didn’t bat an eye – so we really got to make our day our own, which is exactly what we wanted.
The Ceremony & Music
We had our ceremony in two parts.
Two weeks before the wedding, we had our ‘legal’ ceremony, at Greenwich registry office. We had a simple 2+2 guest ceremony, party poppers out on the street, and a big pasta lunch afterwards. It was perfect.
On the day of the wedding, we wanted it to be even more personal. We had an amazing celebrant, Jacqui, who poured her life and soul into prepping for our ceremony – she guided us through every step and absolutely loaded it with funny anecdotes, readings, hand-tying, candle lighting – the works! In the hand-tying, we asked some of our closest friends to come up and be involved, as a symbol that sometimes our most treasured family is the family that we choose.
Our live guitarist, David, set the scene as Madalena walked in, playing ‘I can’t help falling in love with you’. He played ‘A thousand years’ as Jacqui read a poem about eternal love, ‘She’s so high’ as we did the hand tying, and ‘Le Festin’ (from ratatouille) as we walked out. Most of those were little personal jokes between us, but also beautiful.
Madalena’s mum read a poem that she had written herself, and we read our own vows out too, which was important to us. As we left, we jumped over the broom, and all of our guests followed doing the same!
Budget
Much more than we expected…
Your Outfits
Alexander wore a black tuxedo, tailored from Charles Tyrwhitt, and a bow-tie. I wanted something traditional and timeless, that I could wear again. I also wanted something that didn’t draw too much attention away from Madalena.
Madalena wore an A-line white dress from Wed2B, a sheer cape, a faux-fur stole (from Liberty in Love) for when it got cold in the evening, and cream boots underneath from Toms (practical due to the mud!). Plus, a necklace, earrings (from Liberty in Love), and tiara for good measure.
We both tried to spend minimally on our outfits too (though inevitably, that budget was stretched too!), as we wanted our funds to go towards the entertainment and food as much as possible.
The Styling & Decor
Our decoration was simple, as the venue did much of the heavy lifting. We approached a local florist for our flowers and some decoration, Scentiments, and they could not have done a better job. We had autumn leaves, little pumpkins and gourds, pinecones, and deep purples, reds, greens and white for the flowers.
The cake, by Katherine from Cherish Cakes, was a gorgeous three-tier, hand-painted piece of art – finished with little pumpkins and blackberries and rosemary on each layer. We chose Biscoff, Vanilla and Passion Fruit, and Orange and Poppyseed for the flavours. This made for an excellent breakfast the next day too, though there wasn’t nearly as much left as we would have liked… unsurprisingly.
Madalena hand painted memorable locations in our relationship to represent each table, Alexander’s sister designed the seating plan board, and Madalena’s friend dried and threaded orange slices and did the place name calligraphy by hand.
Your Photographer & Filmmaker
We absolutely hit the jackpot with our photographer, Amy, and our filmmaker, Mike.
We spent hours and hours and hours scouring the internet for people with the same vision as us, and we’re very pleased to say we achieved it!
Amy (Amy Woodham Photography) did our engagement shoot as well as the wedding, which we ended up doing just after our ‘state’ ceremony a fortnight before the wedding. Despite both being rather camera shy, she made us feel super at ease and on both occasions we were absolutely over the moon going through the photos. They capture the fun, the sweetness, and the incredible colours of the autumn around us perfectly. We’re trying to work out which ones to print for an album, but struggling to whittle it down – out of 800 or so photos, 700 are probably our favourites. Tough job.
Our videographer Mike, from TooMoo Films, created a film that never fails to make us cry when we watch it (in a good way) – inevitable, since all the films on his web page made us cry before we booked him. He ended up winning an award from our venue for our wedding film, and it’s not hard to see why.
The Honeymoon
We stayed in the area for a few, slow days, then jumped on a plane to Japan!
Memorable Moments
One memorable moment was during our murder mystery, when our friend executed the most incredible, dramatic, over-the-top fake-death in front of the entire wedding. Then, of course, he needed to get back to his seat for the rest of the murder mystery – so a newly zombified friend arose from the ground (arms outstretched accordingly) and took his place.
We chose to have our first dance privately, under the multi-coloured lanterns in The Palm House, to the sound of tumbling water and ‘Our House’ by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Tears were shed all around (including from our lovely photographer and videographer!)
I (Madalena) realized at 11pm the night before the wedding, that I had forgotten half my wedding dress at home… whoops! Alexander, my actual hero, drove for 2 hours there and 2 hours back to fetch it for me, getting into his bed at around 3am (whilst I slept soundly throughout). Is it any wonder I married him?
Advice For Other Couples
Don’t be afraid to throw out traditions that aren’t yours, and start new ones. If you design a day that represents you, people who love you (aka your guests!), will love it too.
What a gorgeous day.
Thanks ever so much to Madalena and Alexander for sharing with us their super special The Matara Centre wedding story.
Further Reading
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