A Marriage of Romance and History
The wedding of Lauran and Oliver Thorpe took place at Staffordshire’s magnificent Grade II listed stately home, Hoar Cross Hall. Here’s Lauran and Oliver’s wedding story;
“When we began searching for our wedding venue, our goal was to find a countryside retreat that had a nearby church and plentiful accommodation, so our guests could spend as much of the day with us as possible. The minute we approached Hoar Cross Hall, we knew it was ‘the one’. Lauran is an architect, so she was immediately struck by its grand period features, and we both fell in love with the beautiful Church of the Holy Angels, which sits just outside the grounds of Hoar Cross Hall. We loved the romance of knowing that both our ceremony and reception would take place in buildings with centuries of stories to tell.
We were blown away by the splendour of the Ballroom – the setting for our wedding breakfast – and in particular, its striking William Morris wallpaper. We decided to incorporate its bold blues into our colour scheme, choosing navy blue stationery, bridesmaid’s dresses, ties and pocket squares, and introducing thistles into our flower arrangements. Lauran had read about the ancient Japanese legend that promises long life and good luck to the bride who hand-folds 1,000 origami cranes, so she took on this challenge and the finished pieces were used as place settings and suspended above our dance floor.
The sun shone long enough after the ceremony for our guests to play traditional games on the lawn, while we explored the grounds with our friend and photographer, Samuel Docker. I’ll never forget the moment when the Ballroom doors opened and we walked in as Mr and Mrs Thorpe. It really was the perfect setting for creating memories we’ll treasure forever.”
Images courtesy of Sam Docker Photography
