A very warm welcome to Gruff and Nia and their gorgeous Henblas County Park wedding held in North Wales. They had a real rollercoaster when it came to planning their day.
They had to change their wedding plans twice, once due to the pandemic and then due to their original venue cancelling their booking. So within 7 days, they rearranged their day to be held at Henblas County Park. Wow! What troopers. I love their laid back attitude and positive approach to the challenges they faced.
And, let’s face it, their day was all just beautiful too! With a burnt orange colour scheme complete with gorgeous blooms, velvet bridesmaid dresses and an epic confetti moment. Not forgetting that Gruff and Nia both looked totally stunning too!
Love Luella thank you so much for sharing these simply splendid images with us. Enjoy every single capture below.
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Henblas Country Park Wedding
The Proposal
Gruff proposed last February, after 4 and a half years together.
We went for a lovely meal to Plas Dinas, a luxury Country House (which was a little out of character for Gruff – I should have realised something was up!) before coming home, where we changed into our PJ’s and settled in front of the fire where he got down on one knee.
We had recently moved into our home after a big renovation project, so it was the perfect spot! I had also been for a spa day with the girls that day, and had some Prosecco brought to our table by a mystery man on the phone!
What Gruff hadn’t realised was that we were at the Spa celebrating my friend Annie’s birthday, and we’d had quite the laugh wondering who was Annie’s mystery man! Oops! The proposal was perfect, and we left the following day on a road trip to South Wales, the Cotswolds and London – to find the perfect ring!
The Vision
Well, the initial vision and reality were two very different things – but we wouldn’t have it any other way!
When we got engaged last February, I went full steam ahead to arrange a wonderful ceremony in an ancient church with no electricity, and a silk cloth marquee on Gruff’s home farm for 160 people in August 2021.
However, as Covid took hold, the big wedding felt so far away, and we both felt constantly disheartened that it wasn’t going to be the “dream wedding” that we had imagined.
One evening in October, we got this crazy idea of embracing the Covid constrictions, and get married in 6 weeks time! We didn’t want to wait the whole 15 months, to get married in a half-empty marquee – so, we went for it! The not knowing and the uncertainty was too much – we just wanted to get married, with our closest friends and family, and not let Covid ruin our wedding!
…however, the saga continues – a week prior to the wedding, our venue cancelled, but having organised the wedding in 6 weeks – we weren’t going to let that ruin it! That night, we rang Heather at Henblas, and she and her husband Matt made our dreams come true – in 7 days!!!
Budget
Our “original wedding” was heading towards the £25k mark, but our micro wedding was around £16k, and that was including a wonderful weekend stay for our guests at the amazing Henblas, which is something that we would have never been able to do for our original wedding.
The Venue
Henblas Country Park, an absolute dream location, and dream owners!
Your Outfits
I wore the Cavanagh dress by Wtoo by Watters, it was the first dress that I tried, and the first shop I went into which was the wonderful Silk Loft, in Y Felinheli, North Wales.
I did shop around, mostly for the experience, but my mind kept going back to that very first dress, and so I thought – she must be the one! When I got back to the Silk Loft I had all the feels, and she was just as wonderful as I remembered, and said yes to the dress!
To be honest, our wonderful Plan C wedding would never have happened without Katie, Silk Loft’s Owner – she was my first port of call once we had the mad idea of cancelling the big wedding, as there was no way I was compromising on the dress – and she made it happen!
Gruff’s suit was a Next 3 piece, he was adamant in finding a very deep dark blue suit (that looks black in nearly all of the photos!), and it was a bonus finding it in Next as there were plenty of options for all the best men too! He wore a beige polka dot tie, which tied in lovely with the bridesmaid’s burnt orange dresses.
The Ceremony & Music
I walked into a song called “Mynyddoedd” (Mountains in Welsh) by Lleuwen Steffan, it’s both Gruff and I’s favourite song as the mountains of Eryri are where we spent many dates (including getting a bit lost in a blizzard on our second date – that was an intense second date!), and also where we said “Dw i’n caru chdi!” for the first time.
We also played many songs from Lleuwen during the ceremony and whilst signing the register, her music is heavenly. Angharad the bridesmaid also did a reading which was very special to us. I took my mother’s arm on our way in and having 28 of our closest friends and family there to witness our wedding was a truly special moment.
Your Photographer & Filmmaker
Tash Jones – @loveluella – Even though Tash wasn’t our original photographer, for many adequate reasons our original photographer couldn’t make the new date and suggested that we might like Tash’s work!
And right she was! We instantly loved Tash’s work and were delighted that she was available on the day, and we couldn’t be happier with the outcome. Having a micro wedding also meant that we had a little bit of extra time to let it all sink in, and Tash caught it all in her photos. When we had our first glimpse of the photos – we were in awe.
The Styling & Decor
Flowers and decorations were the handy work of Rebecca from Ivy Pip and Rose who helped us coordinate all the colours for the displays and the candles with my bouquet.
I love Rebecca’s style, and she helped us with our decision making as we could trust her knowledge and insight into getting everything perfect.
The cake was made by Maria Jones, a lady from my hometown who my Mam recommended and it was lovely.
All signs and table decorations were made by myself using Papier – as well as a few handwritten scribbles on the Order of Service as we had to change venue, and the registrar that week!
The Honeymoon
Honeymoon pending…! Due to Covid, we’re yet to have a honeymoon, however, we will be combing our honeymoon with a babymoon as a few weeks after the wedding, I fell pregnant! We’re expecting our little bambino in October and couldn’t be happier.
Memorable Moments
- Getting ready with the girls in the morning, and not having an empty glass of prosecco as the staff at Henblas were so attentive.
- Walking in alongside my Mam, and seeing Gruff and all our closest friends and family.
- The ceremony, even though it was a short 20-minute ceremony, was a real highlight, and unexpectedly so – I think the ceremony itself often gets overlooked when planning your big day, but saying our vows was the most exciting and lovely part.
- Our Mr & Mrs shoot with Tash.
- Speeches – numerous ones, including my grandfather, and of course, Gruff, who cried…a lot!!!!
Advice For Other Couples
You will enjoy and love every moment, don’t let the little things stress you out and allow yourself to follow your instincts, not feeling that big wedding? That’s okay, run with it.
Having been able to rearrange our wedding in 7 days, we wouldn’t change a single thing about it. Embrace the changes and the challenges, as it will all work out – and you’ll never wake up the next day regretting a second of it because you will be the happiest of married couples.
What a treat and a huge congratulations to Gruff and Nia on their exciting news!
Gruff and Nia thank you so much for sharing your gorgeous Henblas County Park wedding story.
Further Reading
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