Chilston Park wedding
I first met Cleo and Matt when Cleo was bridesmaid at her friend Courtenay and Tom’s wedding at Fanhams Hall. Then I got to photograph their friends Zoe and Danny at Hatfield Place. So I was over the moon she got in touch to say she was engaged, it was extra special as they hadnt booked their venue but she said she knew she wanted me so wanted to check before they confirmed somewhere that I was free. Thats always the biggest compliment! After some back and firth with dates and venue changes I am so pleased they picked Chilston Park Hotel. It was perfect for them. I had been to Chilston Park before for a wedding, but with Cleo and Matts stunning florals and styling for the day, they transformed it!
Over to them to tell you all about their day
Favourite parts of our Chilston Park wedding
For our wedding it was really important to us that everything was really personal to us, after all it is the most special day of your life! Our theme was Romantic floral with a Parisian twist. We got engaged in Paris, it’s where we went on one of our first trips together and since then it’s always been our special place. My now father in law is an artist and he made individual paintings of iconic landmarks or places in Paris as our table names, we gave him artistic license to choose the style he wanted and he did not disappoint!
We had one of our groomsmen who is a very talented wedding singer perform for our guests during cocktail hour. I’m obsessed with flowers and one of our friends is a florist, her work is unbelievably stunning – focusing on big bold 3D roses in gorgeous neutral tones – I was in love! She even wrapped flowers from the arrangements up the next day for guests to take home. Our videographer was someone who used to work with Matt, and one of my friends even helped us choreograph our first dance! So everything was really personal to us. Last but not least – the venue! We had exclusive use of the hotel so only our guests were at the venue.
So we used different rooms for the ceremony, wedding breakfast, disco and evening buffet plus the grounds are absolutely stunning and the weather was on our side so we had cocktail hour on the lawn. We had use of all the individually decorated hotel rooms on site for our guests to stay, we love to make the most of an occasion and it was so great that we could catch up with our guests at breakfast the following day! The staff at Chilston Park were incredible – nothing was too much trouble, they really seemed to enjoy hosting our wedding too! We now have somewhere great to celebrate anniversaries!
What we loved about working with you at our Chilston Park wedding
Booking Julia & You was the best decision we could have made for our wedding. I was a bridesmaid for my friend who booked Julia & You for her wedding so I already knew the quality of her work was incredible. But beyond that, Julia basically ran the day! She was the maid of honour I didn’t know I needed! I am extremely organised and planning the wedding was the biggest and most important project I have ever had to execute and Julia made my plans a reality. She kept track of all the timings of the day which immediately took any stress away so I could fully enjoy the day. She was telling my bridesmaids when they needed to be in their dresses, co ordinating with the grooms party and making sure everyone was where they needed to be.
Our registrar was late and she managed that seamlessly so what could have been potentially a super stressful moment wasn’t an issue at all. She worked with our videographer so he got all the footage he needed too. As we had both Julia and Michelle photographing our day it meant that we got photos of the grooms party getting ready and some great shots of them around the grounds at the same time as Julia was shooting the bridal party getting ready, catching cute moments with our flower girls, the bridesmaid reveal and father of the bride reveal.
While Julia was sorting the bridal party, Michelle was helping the groomsmen with their buttonholes and getting great shots of our pageboy being cheeky! We were also able to get close up shots of special moments in the ceremony as well as the longer shots too and Julia and Michelle worked together to make some amazing effects with their cameras later in the day too!
While Julia was focusing on me and Matt, Michelle was able to get some great snaps of our wedding guests. They are the perfect team – no moment is missed. Even after the wedding Julia was still working hard, she got the highlight photos to us 2 days after the wedding! And the full album less than a month following the wedding. I feel unbelievably lucky that we were able to book Julia & You to capture best day of our lives.
Cleo left me this amazing review on google too…
Booking Julia & You was the BEST decision we made for our wedding! Julia isn’t just a photographer, she basically acted as a wedding planner/Maid of honour for us! She was the person keeping timings all day, she was telling my bridesmaids how long they had to get ready etc, she was extremely hands on, sorting all little details for me on the day, even passed messages to the groomsmen to save enough seats at the front of the ceremony for bridesmaids, flower girls and father of the bride, got my present delivered to my husband the morning of the wedding, any little niggles she was there! Julia took away any stress for me! And she kept me calm! I like everything to be organised and if it isn’t this can really stress me out, and things are going to happen that throw you off, it’s a wedding! For us, our registrar was late due to traffic, I am so so grateful I had her there! It was one less thing for me to worry about as I knew Julia was on it! I don’t know what I would have done without her!
Now the photos…
It was so lovely to have both photos of the bridal party in the morning which Julia took and Michelle took photos of the grooms party getting ready. This is something I wouldn’t have wanted to compromise on, with just one photographer you wouldn’t be able to capture all these moments. Me and my new husband can both be a little bit awkward having our photo taken – you would not know from these photos!!!! We look so relaxed and natural and Julia and Michelle were able to catch all the lovely natural moments and it really shows how comfortable we felt with them.
We had been to 2 weddings
where Julia & You had been the photographer, I was a bridesmaid at one of these weddings so I had seen all the photos from this wedding, they were STUNNING and I wondered if the photos were so good because the other couples were naturally photogenic, but after seeing our photos I can tell you Julia & You made the photos so easy and they are so gorgeous! I couldnt be happier with our photos they are so lovely!! Julia sent us highlights so quickly after our big day and it didn’t take long to get the full album either. We could not be happier with our photos and the service that Julia & You provided. If I could give engaged couples any advice it would be to book Julia & You for their wedding. I know I will be recommending them to all my friends. So thrilled!!
Cleo and Matt’s suppliers instagrams
Venue @chilstonparkhotel
Florist @minouxflowers
Hair and makeup @faiarcher
Dress shop @dressdreamsbridal
Dress designer @elysianbridal.australia
Shoes @jimmychoo
Jewellery – bride’s rings – @artemer
groom’s ring @frederick.grove
Bridesmaids dresses @theprettyinfinity
flower girl dresses @monsoon
Cake @bethscakedesigns
Band @indieherts
Sax player @otissax
DJ @elementweddingdjs
Nails @halo_beautyaesthetics
Hair colour @the.hair.boudoir