Date: 08/02/2024 - The Robyn and Connor Story – A Holmes Mill Wedding

“Still look at the pics every day… Still need to dry clean the dress…Can’t thank you enough xxxx”
Robyn and Connor

We met over ten years ago volunteering for a Catholic charity who take children with additional needs on holiday. We became friends, laughed a lot, got together when we were 17 and we’ve never looked back! This is why it was important to us to have a church wedding as we wanted to celebrate what had brought us together.

Conor completely took me off guard by proposing on a sunrise hike up Catbells in the Lake District, one of our favourite places, I ran the whole way back down the mountain shouting ‘I’m engaged’ like Monica in that episode of Friends.

A week after our engagement we went to look at Holmes Mill– it was the perfect blend of traditional and fun we wanted in our day. There was a last-minute date available for 7 months time and we just thought, why not?!

I knew the short engagement would mean I needed to get cracking on finding a dress. I had no idea what I wanted, it was just important that I could dance in it! Wendy at Lacy Days of Ramsbottom made the experience so relaxing and enjoyable and was really helpful advising me on dresses that would be ready for my quick deadline! When I tried on my dress, the double-layered train just made me fall in love with it, and there was only one available in my size, which I felt was fate. I absolutely adore my dress (although it is still awaiting a good dry clean).

We only went to one place for our flowers: when we first bought our house in Monton, Salford, Conor organised a monthly delivery of flowers from the local florist, Monton Florist. Sarah there was allowed creative control of these bouquets and I loved them every month, so I knew she needed to do our wedding. My wardrobe resembles the werkroom on Drag Race– colours, sequins and more colours- and I wanted my flowers to be just as bright. Sarah absolutely smashed the brief and filled my bouquet with bright roses as well as plenty of foliage to go with the bridesmaids’ green dresses. I have had these pressed by X and are pride of place in our dining room beneath our custom neon sign we also got for our wedding day.

The team at Holmes Mill, especially Charlie, were incredible from the moment we booked to the day after helping us nurse our hangovers! When we went through the timings of the day in the run up to the wedding, we were wary of the time between the meal and the party- I mean, where are you going to squeeze 150 people? We booked Holmes Mill’s bowling alley as a fun activity for literally all the family (everyone from our 2 year old flower girl to the priest who married us got involved) which also ensured our guests had a space to sit.

It was so important to us that we spent the day together, and we were wary that with so many guests we might lose each other so I wanted to ‘book in’ time just us two after the ceremony to soak it all in- I would recommend this time to all couples as it was nice to enjoy our first drink as husband and wife together, and not running around trying to greet everyone. We also had a look around the room and got to pour our own pints before the guests came up- it was amazing to see what we’d been working on there in real life- the team at Holmes Mill absolutely delivered and kept checking in with us throughout the day and night.

Food:

The food options at Holmes Mill were also a reason we knew it was our perfect venue. When you’re from Wigan, there’s only one thing you want on your wedding day…pies. I made a Google drive for guests to upload their pictures to of the day (I would recommend this as you will take no pictures and will spend the next few weeks just wanting to relive every moment!) and every single guest uploaded a picture of their pie, so safe to say it went down a treat!

Photography:

When choosing a photographer we wanted someone who understood that we were there to enjoy the day we had put together, and not spend the day standing for photos.

We knew we wanted to have as much fun as possible on the day and wanted all this captured in a light and natural way, which Sarah did perfectly! It was so useful that Sarah was familiar with the venue and surrounding area so could get those essential family & couple shots in beautiful settings with no faffing and posing for ages!

Our families mean everything to us, so it was important they featured in our day. Conor’s uncle drives wedding cars, so he chose a car to drive us to and from the church. My cousin and his wife played the music for us in church, they had even rehearsed an extra song for us as a surprise! My dad had made our centrepieces out of recycled wood, my auntie had crocheted love hearts to decorate our table flowers, and another auntie arranged beautiful flowers for the windowsills at Holmes Mill that matched my bouquet. We had cousins do readings as part of the mass, my uncle who designed some artwork for our invites- no family member got away unscathed! All these elements made our day so personal, right down to our wedding rings which were custom made by the amazingly cool guys at Jaqueline and Edward in Yorkshire with gold from Ireland as an nod to Conor’s heritage, and from the Lake District where we got engaged.

I wanted fun vibes threaded through the day, I had made a quiz for tables to do together which was a great way for our guests to get chatting, as staked were high with a £50 bar tab for the winning table (it was all spent on baby Guinness) We made a pact to stick to the dance floor all night and our band (To The Wire) made sure everyone else stayed there too as they banged out indie and Manchester classics all night. We had Amy Lauren MUA return in the evening to do a glitter bar, which our guests loved.

My top advice to couples is to make sure you eat enough- you can make this a job for one of your wedding party; to make sure you get that moment away from everyone just the two of you after you’ve signed on the dotted line- you’re married! Also, no guest that loves you is going to be bothered if you didn’t spend 10 minutes chatting to them, spend your time enjoying yourself, not worrying! Stuff will go wrong, just roll with it because you’ll either not remember them in the morning, or they’ll be the funny memories you always talk about!