We absolutely LOVE hosting your weddings here at The Gamekeeper's Inn and creating a day that's perfect for you is a wonderful feeling. So we've asked some of our brides to relive their special day with us by filling out a little questionnaire so we could share a little bit of the magic with you too!

Please tell us yours and your husbands names Anna & James Graham

The date of your wedding with us? 22nd June 2019

Tell us how you met? Through mutual friends

How did he or she propose? He wrote a speech on a scroll and put it in a box and wrapped it up, which I was hugely disappointed by as I had a feeling he was going to propose. But when I saw the shape of the box I though "this can't be a ring", which it wasn't, but then the scroll gave me directions to find the ring in the room.

What was the theme for your day, and did you have a colour scheme? We didn't have a theme as such, just a summer wedding. Our colour scheme was baby blue, which we based on the baby blue organza chair sash colour which was one of the options supplied by Creative Events, which we viewed at a wedding fair at Gamekeepers

Where did you hold your ceremony? In the Netherside Suite at Gamekeepers

Why did you choose The Gamekeeper’s Inn as your reception venue? A colleague of mine mentioned the venue to me and I knew of it from going to Long Ashes so we booked a viewing. We loved the Netherside Suite, the bedrooms and the grounds straight away and Angela was extremely organised, thorough and friendly. We booked there and then without viewing any other venues.

When did you know you had found THE dress? I tried on a few at Ava Rose Hamilton in Skipton and when I came out and my mum and best friend both went silent and then burst into tears, I knew that was the one!

Who were your bridesmaids and what did they wear? My best friend Gee, good friend Sarah and sister Laura. They wore long, baby blue summer dresses with embellishment to match the colour scheme.

Tell us about your floral arrangements I had a waterfall bouquet made up of cream and blue-ish purple flowers. The florist also made me up a miniature bouquet to throw after the ceremony. My bridesmaids had hand bouquets in the same colour scheme as mine. Ladies buttonholes were cream roses with a sprig of lavender and the men had cream roses with a thistle, again to fit with the blue colour theme.

Tell us about the personal touches you added to the day We had pencils with Jimmy & Anna Gamekeepers inn 22/06/20 on the tables to fill out wedding I-Spy game cards, and personalized cupcakes on the tables as wedding favours. The speeches took place before the wedding breakfast as the men (my dad in particular) were so nervous they wouldn't have been able to eat and we chose our own playlist through Hi-Life DJs.

How did you feel as you walked down the aisle? I was extremely nervous but so happy to see all my family and friends looking so happy for us. I was so proud to be walking down the aisle with my dad and very relieved when I got to Jimmy and could focus on looking at him to take my mind off the number of eyes looking at us!

What was the most memorable moment of your day? Without a doubt the speeches, which were done by my Dad, Jimmy, and Jimmy's best man and both our good friend Richard. Both my Dad and Jimmy are relatively quiet until you get to know them (Richard not so much!) and the thought of public speaking makes my dad, especially, feel physically sick. Up until the moment he started speaking in to the microphone, myself, my Mum and my Sister weren't even sure he was going to do it and both my Mum and sister had a copy of the speech in case they needed to step in! All 3 speeches were so funny, loving and heart-warming. I feel truly blessed that 3 amazing people spoke such beautiful words at our wedding and will remember the speeches forever.

Which song did you choose for your first dance and why? Coldplay Magic as we both have quite different music tastes but both love Coldplay and the lyrics of the song are beautiful and fit so well with what we wanted to get across for our first dance

Which food and drinks did you choose to provide for your guests on the day? We chose pâté, chicken and an assiette of deserts for the majority of the guests and sweet potato wedges with hummus, butternut squash and kale risotto and chocolate brownie as the vegetarian & vegan option for the wedding breakfast. We had a prosecco reception and toast and Shiraz and Pinot Grigio on the tables. For the evening buffet we had a hog roast and veg burgers as the vegetarian/vegan option.

Tell us about your wedding cake Sue Tennant (The Yorkshire Cake Fairy) designed and made our cake. It was a 3-tiered iced cake with edible blue and cream flowers cascading down the side. The bottom tier was lemon, the middle tier was white chocolate and raspberry and the top tier was chocolate orange. Sue also made us personalised cupcakes with a cream flower swirl frosting and baby blue cases for our wedding favours.

What music and entertainment did you have on the day? We had a DJ from Hi-Life. Hi Life were brilliant as you are able to go online and select which songs you want for your first and last dance and an additional set of songs which you would like playing during the night. You can also specify whether or not you would like your DJ to take requests from guests and can also blacklist some songs. (The only song we blacklisted was come on Eileen as I HATE this song with a passion, however, it was requested so much by the guests the DJ caved and played it- and then wouldn't stop apologizing to us afterwards! Not that we were bothered in the slightest as it seemed to go down well with everyone but me!

Where did you go on your honeymoon? We went to Thailand where we had 2 amazing nights at Elephant Hills. The first in a jungle camp and the second on a floating tent in a rainforest. During our stay, we fed and washed the elephants, trekked through the rainforest, went caving, and kayaked down lakes seeing snakes, bats and monkeys all up close. We then went on to have 7 additional nights in Phuket where we visited Buddhist temples (I even got blessed by a Buddhist Monk), went kayaking through sea caves, toured the Phi Phi Islands at sunrise before any other tourists were up and about so we had the amazing beaches all to ourselves. From Thailand we then went on to have 5 nights in Kurumathi in the Maldives where we stayed in a luxury watervilla. This was absolutely amazing. It was like something you see on the front of a holiday brochure and dream about visiting and I couldn't believe we were actually there! We snorkelled, paddle boarded, wake boarded, went on a sea plane, had an amazing massage and did yoga overlooking the crystal-clear waters. Pure heaven.

What was the most challenging aspect of planning your wedding? The venue dressing as we had no idea at all how the venue was going to look until the day. We knew what we wanted to achieve with the look but were not confident at all that it would look like we wanted to. We needn't have worried as Creative Events and Quartz did an absolutely amazing job. I can't actually believe how gorgeous they made the room look. We had blossom trees on the tables at the wedding breakfast which looked so classy. They really did do an amazing job.

Was there anything you wish you had known before? No. We were really well informed by Angela and felt completely in the loop and at ease throughout the entire planning process.

Do you have any advice for couples planning their wedding? Don't stress too much about little details as everything will come together in the end. There are so many people working with you that things happen around you without you even realising. Also, just enjoy every moment you can as the day goes so quickly you will hardly have chance to blink!

A short review... "The Gamekeepers Inn is the perfect wedding venue. The Netherside suite is absolutely stunning, as are the grounds. It's located right next to Long Ashes park and Envy hairdressing, which is perfect for a pre-wedding pamper session. The bedrooms are beautiful and staying the night before is a great way to relax with family and friends before the big day. The food and service is amazing as are the wonderful staff. Honestly couldn't have asked for a better venue and experience."

WEDDING SUPPLIERS

Wedding Dress - Ava Rose Hamilton Silsden (Stella York designer)

Bridesmaids Dresses - Jenny McCartney

Suits - Bridgewater Menswear Colne (Marc Darcy Designer)

Photographer - Colin and Heather Murdoc (Colin Murdoch Studios)

Wedding Stationary - My best friend and Maid of Honour Georgina Louise Robinson

Entertainment - Hi-Life DJs

Make-Up - Charlotte Laskey- Kelly

Hair - Gemma at Envy Hairdressing

Flowers - Hillary Lee of the Flower Gallery Silsden

Cake - Sue Tennant (Yorkshire Cake Fairy)

From your first visit, through all your planning, right up to your wedding celebrations, our wedding planner Angela will be by your side. Angela has been organising weddings at The Gamekeeper's Inn since The Netherside Suite opened and has overseen many happy couples tie the knot. She will answer any questions you might have and help you set out your perfect wedding.

So why not choose The Gamekeeper’s Inn as your perfect wedding venue? We have everything you need to plan your wedding and we’ll help you through every step. Please check out our 'Weddings' page for more information, or get in touch with Angela directly to start discussing your special day today.