Fresh Pretty Lilac & Greenery Summer Helmingham Hall Wedding

WWW readers Livi and Sam had the most beautiful Helmingham Hall wedding in Suffolk. They had a simple yet beautiful colour scheme of lilac, whites and greenery which looked so fresh and pretty.

I adore Livi’s two second-hand outfits, as well as Sam’s cool attire, not to mention their mega watt smiles all day long. They kept decor simple, with natural elements such as wood, hessian and edible favours. They also DIY’d some of their decor which is lovely to see.

A big thanks to Gemma Giorgio for sharing these ever so romantic images of the most idyllic summer wedding.

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Helmingham Hall Wedding

The Proposal

We chose the ring together, however, Sam told me a much longer lead time than reality so I wasn’t expecting the proposal when it came.

Sam knew I would hate an audience so after work we went to a brand new rooftop garden in central London and watched the sun go down (for the place to empty out so we were alone). I was so convinced the proposal wasn’t coming that I started making jokes about how it would be a lovely place to come back to get engaged…

We were then looking at the view and hugging and Sam said “you know how we love each other loads, do you want to do that forever?”.

The Vision

When we started planning before Covid, we always wanted to have a wedding that was as fun and non-stuffy as possible, so somewhere we could have complete control of all elements was vital. We also wanted to be somewhere beautiful with plenty of outside space as being in nature is important to both of us.

In the end, we had to change our date three times, so an emphasis on fun and togetherness was even more important. Our wedding was many guests’ first big event since restrictions were lifted and it felt so amazing to have a happy normal wedding with everyone together and mingling and having a great time.

The Venue

We really struggled to find a venue that would give us the freedom to do what we wanted, whilst being a stand-out wow venue with plenty of natural beauty. We were about to decide to elope to Italy when we stumbled upon Helmingham Hall.

It’s in the heart of Suffolk, close to where we both grew up, surrounded by the most beautiful deer park and has incredible award-winning gardens. When we found out we could get married outside in amongst the gardens, with the historic hall as a backdrop we were sold!

The staff were absolutely amazing and we had complete freedom to do whatever we liked (other than swim in the moat).

Your Outfits

We had day and evening outfits as dancing is the most important part of a wedding for us! Both of Sam’s outfits were Hugo Boss, a beautiful tux for the day and then a subtle paisley smoking jacket for the evening.

I wanted an environmentally friendly approach for outfits I would only wear onetime so both my dress and my evening jumpsuit were second hand.

I found my dress by Sarah Seven, a designer I love, on stillwhite.com. After a couple of tries at the dress’s first bride’s house, I was ready to buy and then I had a seamstress alter the dress to fit perfectly.

For my evening jumpsuit, I had a white jumpsuit Reiss had made years ago in mind (which I hadn’t bought at the time as I had nowhere to wear it!). Incredibly luckily I found the exact Reiss jumpsuit on Depop immediately, it was perfect!

The Ceremony & Music

Our ceremony was outside in the grounds, given the weather forecast we had organised a last-minute stretch-tent, which in the end was handy as the sun was shining bright!

We had a floral arch behind us and a beautiful string quartet playing classic tunes before the ceremony (entrance song was Pachelbel’s Canon) and fun modern songs after (we walked back up the aisle to Madness It Must Be Love, followed by songs like Queen We Are The Champions and Daft Punk Get Lucky).

Your Photographer

Gemma was absolutely amazing! After our first wedding date had to be rearranged we lost our original photographer, but feel so so lucky to have ended up with Gemma who was a dream. We had an engagement shoot beforehand as we were both slightly nervous about the camera and she put us at ease so well, the actual day felt like catching up with a friend.

We also wanted stunning pictures but wanted to not be away from the action for too long–Gemma made sure we got amazing shots but in minimal time, and the candid pictures she got of the guests and the partying were fabulous too (particularly of the little ones!).

The Styling & Decor

Our childhood friend Amy is an incredible florist and owns The Flower Shop at Kersey Mill. She made the most beautiful arrangements for us; a long and low for the ceremony and sweetheart table, and a stunning arrangement for the trellis we sat in front of during the meal, as well as bouquets, buttonholes and cake flowers, all in simple whites with beautiful foliage.

For the tables, she incorporated our lilac colour scheme, with white and lilac garden-style blooms. We kept the rest of our décor simple and let the flowers do the talking – everything else was DIY!

Sam made our signage and in the run-up to the wedding the bridal party set to work on the table decorations, including baking 65 otter cookies for wedding favours – an added stress we would not recommend given the 8 hours late into the night it took to batch cook, cool, decorate and wrap them…

The Honeymoon

With covid restrictions still in force we had a last-minute minimoon in Malta right after the wedding, followed by a full honeymoon in Mauritius a few months later which was absolute perfection. Lots of sun, food, rum, watersports, hikes and even some swimming with dolphins – we can’t wait to go back!

Memorable Moments

The heavens opened the morning of the wedding, and when the bridal car was pulling in (good thing we had gone for a last-minute stretch tent outside!) but as soon as I stepped out of the car the skies cleared and the weather was beautiful for the rest of the day.

After some emotional speeches, whilst we were digging into our food, our friends started opening their limoncello favours so we all stood up and finished them together which was a great start to the partying!

So much dancing! Our DJ was great and took on board all of the many requests we had made in advance for old school RnB. The evening was amazing, everywhere we looked friends and family were all meeting for the first time and mixing and having an amazing time. There were several dance offs and a lot of jager bombs!

Advice For Other Couples

The day goes so quickly, try and breathe and take it all in, and try and plan in some time for just for the two of you at some point during the day.

We had a sweetheart table so we could chat just us during the meal and point out the funny stuff our friends and family were up to.

I also made sure I wrote down all my memories of the day soon after so I wouldn’t forget the little things that made the day amazing. Also, accept early on that something will go wrong, it doesn’t matter in the end!

Oh so beautiful!

Livi and Sam thank you so much for sharing your Helmingham Hall wedding story.

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