How did you meet?

Me and Russell met at work back in March 2017, we would like to say it was love at first sight but I actually thought he was rude on our first meeting (turns out he just had a low social battery that day!). I supported him for a couple of days of interviews and my opinions changed very quickly, and I ended up inviting myself on his team night out to a Derby County match. A Derby match and a bottle of rose a later, I realised that Russell was the person I was meant to end up with. We spent the next few months getting to know each other and went on our first proper date in September 2017 and became 'official' in November 2017. We then brought our first house together in May 2021 and in August 2021 we got engaged at High Clere Castle. We were meant to get engaged the new years before in Edinburgh but due to covid it got postponed (not that I had any idea!).

What made you choose Haarlem as your wedding venue?

Me and Russell both agreed after getting engaged we didn't want a long engagement so we booked to look at a couple of venues and whilst they were lovely, they just didn't feel like 'us'. We carried on looking online and came across Haarlem Mill and did the virtual tour first on their website and liked the look of it, along with the menu! A couple of weeks later we had our in person viewing at Haarlem Mill for the previous viewings we had just gone alone but decided to take both our mums to this one as we just had a good feeling. The second we walked up the stairs to the first floor I fell in love with the venue, this was on a Monday night and we had another viewing at another venue on the Friday which we decided to go to just in case. On the Friday we left the other venue, and on the drive home we both agreed Haarlem Mill was the venue for us. There was a couple of things that made us realise this which was how beautiful the venue was, the industrial feel and the twinkly lights made it feel so cosy yet being a spacious venue. Everyone who came to the wedding have all commented on how lovely the venue is and that they didn't even know it was there, it truly is a hidden gem.

Shannon and the team was also incredible from start to finish, and made planning the wedding so easy. Shannon was so responsive throughout the whole period and always very open and honest. I also loved that on the day Shannon was waiting for us with a drink after the ceremony and her and the team made sure we got canapes whilst we were having photos.

The bridal suite was also an amazing addition and it was so lovely to be able to finish off getting ready in there and to be able to go up there for a breather throughout the day.

What has been your favourite part of planning your wedding?

There was a couple of parts that were a standout moment for me:

Finding my wedding dress, this was the 4th dress I tried on and instantly knew this was the dress. However, I then saw another dress I loved and decided to surprise everyone on the day and change to a 'party' dress for the evening which was just before the cake cutting and first dance.

The second was the food tasting, we are both big foodies and the menu was one of the things that sold Haarlem Mill to us. When we arrived on the evening we were so impressed with the food and it made it so hard to decide what to have, it was great to also try smaller versions of a couple of each course. Again everyone at the wedding spoke so highly of the food especially the spinach and mushroom roulade, the sticky toffee pudding and the evening food which was hot dogs and pizza! We loved that for the evening food we could have both our 2 options, people who had previously gotten married told us to buy for 85% of the guests for evening food as it's always left but it was all gone!

Tell us a bit about your theme or colour scheme? What inspired you, have you made anything yourself or added any personal touches?

Early on when planning our wedding we decided we would like to do most of the decorating ourselves as we felt the venue didn't need a lot as it was already so lovely, we were also very lucky to be able to come the day before and decorate. We decided to have blush pink, and white as our colour scheme so we planned everything around that.

For the ceremony room we had fake pink peonies flowers on every other row end, and my mum passed on her wedding bouquet which was on our table as we signed the registrar. Unfortunately, me and Russell have lost a couple of family members that we really wanted to acknowledge so we had photos of the people we had lost and reserved them a seat during the ceremony.

For our reception room we decorated all the tables ourselves from things we picked up in shops, and Russell's sister did our favours and name tags which was sweet jars, we used Haarlem Mills table clothes, napkins, plates and cutlery etc. The only things we hired was the moongate and neon sign along with the love letters.

What was the most memorable part of your wedding day?

Our day was better than we could have ever imagined.

The ceremony was absolutely perfect and there was nothing better than walking down the aisle and saying our vows. For our vows we decided to write our own and keep them secret from each other until that moment, and somehow, they both ended up quite similar but were so special to us both!

For our reception the only thing we had both said is we wanted it to be a big party and for the dancefloor to not be empty all night and it wasn't! There was some questionable dance moves and lots of shots but we had the best night, and everyone we have spoken to have all commented on how great the day and night was.

One rule I made to myself and I would recommend to anyone was that once it was 8pm and all evening guests had arrived and I had spoken to everyone, I was just going to dance and have fun and if anyone wanted me they'd find me on the dancefloor with family, friends and my new husband.

Full list of suppliers:

Photographer - Fly on the wall photography @flyonthewall_wedding_photo

Stylist - Rent for your event @rentforyoureventderby (the moongate arch and neon sign) and Secret Deliveries @secretdeliveries1 (the LOVE letters)

Florist - Hoop and Bloom UK @hoopandbloomuk

Hair - Cheveuxbyc @cheveuxbyc

MUA - The make up stories @the_makeupstoriess

Dress - Day dress was Wed2b @wed2b Evening dress was ASOS

Suits - Moss bros

Music - Bliss DJ @blissweddingdj

Cake - Bbakery @bbakery__

Ella & Russell