Pentney Abbey Wedding - Fiona & Carsons Amazing Day

We booked our venue in March 2020 for our wedding on 27 November, 2020, but had to reschedule due to Covid. This was actually a blessing, as it allowed us more time to plan our big day.

I visited Pentney Abbey years ago for work, before I'd even met Carson. The Gatehouse was still being restored, but I fell in love with the venue straight away and knew it was where I wanted to get married. The whole place is just stunning and was perfect for our day.

The first dress I tried on was one I'd had my eye on for about a year, but when I put it on, I really wasn't keen on the open back. I then tried on a similar dress with a more detailed back and fell in love with this straight away. My mum and sister both cried when they saw me, so we knew this was the one. All the staff at La Belle Angèle were so helpful; nothing was too much trouble and they made us feel really relaxed throughout.

I wanted my hair and make-up to be quite natural. I changed make-up artists a few weeks before the wedding, and I can't recommend Emma Burgess of Brunetti Artistry enough. She reallv took the time to listen to what I wanted and understood the look I was after straight away. Emma turned out to be much more than a make-up artist and really looked after the bridal party the whole morning, steaming and helping us into our dresses.

I didn't shed a single tear on the day. I think I was so caught up in everything that was going on and was just happy to be there and marrying Carson, that I kept it all together well. My mum gave me away and our niece. Ellie Mae. who is six-years-old, gave a reading.

We wanted to keep the styling very simple as Pentnev Abbev is such a beautiful venue anyway. Carson does a lot of clay pigeon shooting, so we named our tables after different makes of guns and had shotgun cartridges with our flowers in as our place names, which we made ourselves.

We chose to have the speeches before dinner, as Carson and his best man were both nervous. My step-dad, Mo, also gave a speech. They were all brilliant.

Our first dance was performed to I'm Yours by Jason Mraz, followed by Shut Up and Dance by Walk the Moon, which got everyone up and dancing with us until the end of the night.