Charlotte & Jonny's Boho Wedding Somerset

Popping the question

Wedding planning begins with one very important question, and Jonny chose to propose surrounded by Majorca’s natural beauty on a deserted beach. Charlotte reminisces:

“Jonny asked on our second holiday to Majorca. We went back there for this amazing vegan hotel and restaurant, the Bellaverde. It was in the middle of a cycle ride to Alcudia that we found a beautiful empty beach and he popped the question. My response was, 'are you serious!?' with a gleaming smile!”

Boho bride

“My dress was by Grace Loves Lace,” smiles Charlotte. “Being a vegan bride, I struggled for a while to find a dress in my style that wasn’t silk or cashmere. But Grace Loves Lace dresses are often 100% lace and absolutely beautiful!"

“When I first looked online I realized very quickly that they would be way over my budget. But I went to a sample sale at their London showroom and got my dream dress for 80% off!”

Somerset Orangery wedding ceremony at Hestercombe Gardens

A natural choice

As vegans, choosing Hestercombe was a natural choice for the couple, who adored its gardens and countryside setting.

“We fell in love with the venue purely based on the photos online. Even when we viewed the venue in person in the pouring rain, we were still completely in love with how beautiful it was. The Orangery is so light and airy. but it’s not too vast a space.”

With the doors thrown open and the light flooding in, the Orangery truly is the fairy-tale setting, with perfect lighting to frame your enchanting entrance as you descend the dramatic stone steps.

Going green

“We wanted to keep it quite simple, so we opted for a greenery theme. It was very fitting with us being a vegan couple,” said Charlotte. The abundance of natural style floral designs added a gorgeous nod to the gardens, celebrating the setting and ramping up the magic even more.

“Tilda Rose Floristry made our beautiful centrepieces and aisle ends. We wanted a lot of greenery, mixed with some simple white gypsophila, which my bridesmaids had in their bouquets and I also had in my hair piece.”

Picture perfect

As a photographer herself, Charlotte knew exactly what she wanted for her wedding day.

“We found our photographer Simon through the Hestercombe website. As a photographer myself I knew the style of photographer I wanted and had pretty high standards. Simon certainly lived up to them!”

Unique eats

“Hestercombe catered brilliantly for our fully vegan meal," recommends Charlotte. “We had a scrumptious wild mushroom and spinach tart with romesco sauce to start. Next on the menu was a Mediterranean lentil moussaka with cavolo nero – simply delicious. For pudding we had an indulgent blueberry cashew cheesecake with fresh berries and toasted coconut.”

But the deliciousness began well ahead of the wedding breakfast, with the Hestercombe chefs cooking up a storm with vegan canapes. Guests were delighted by light bites including smashed avocado and cherry tomato with chargrilled polenta, oriental vegetable wontons with spiced peanut sauce and wasabi and veggie chilli with a smoky tofu sauce on corn chips. Served in the sunshine on the Orangery Lawn, the vibrant platters looked almost too good to eat... almost!

The vegan theme also guided the couple's tipples of choice, with Hestercombe sourcing vegan wine and drinks to stock the bar. Our talented chefs and catering team can create a bespoke menu to suit any dietary need.

A wild night

Even an unfortunate power cut couldn’t stop Charlotte and Jonny’s celebrations.

“We hired DJ Keith based in Taunton. Despite a power cut just before he was due to start, Hestercombe saved the day with a generator and we got the power back on later on in the evening thankfully!”

Here at Hestercombe, we've encountered almost every scenario possible when it comes to hosting celebrations, and we've got plans in place to ensure you get hitched without a hitch, whatever the day brings.

“We also had an Instax guestbook table in our reception with photo booth props. That was great fun, and we now have a scrapbook full of hilarious photos and messages from all of our closest friends and family.”