Our Wedding
A Real Elopement Story
Our Wedding - Eloping to the Lake District
Our wedding day is one of the most important days of our lives. Deciding how, when and where to get married isn’t always easy, especially when little ones are involved. In this blog, we share a real elopement story to inspire those of you wondering if eloping to the Lake District with your children is the right decision for your family.
Our Pre-Wedding Story
Q. What sort of wedding day did you imagine when you first started planning?
A. We are quite private people, so when we started planning our wedding, the thought of a big do with hundreds of people didn’t really appeal to us. When we came across elopement-style weddings, we thought that would be perfect.
Q. What were your biggest concerns or worries before booking your wedding venue?
A. When we first started looking around for venues, our main concerns were about our son. We didn’t want anything too far away from home, as travelling for hours with a toddler on your wedding day didn’t sound much fun! We also wanted somewhere where we could be outside (weather permitting) and get some beautiful photographs.
Finding the right venue
Q. What was it about Cote How that stood out compared with other venues you considered?
A. Cote How was one of the first places we saw, and straight away it felt right. It has such a peaceful setting in beautiful surroundings, with plenty of scope to make our wedding personal to us. Right from the very outset, in our initial enquiry, Caroline and Rachel were really friendly and welcoming. Other venues we’d enquired with felt more like a business transaction, but we were made to feel special from the start with Cote How – something everyone wants when planning a wedding!
From start to finish the whole event was amazing.
Our Wedding Planning Experience
Q. What part of the planning experience surprised you most, or made things easier than you expected?
A. The online portal is fantastic! It’s easy to use and keeps track of everything you need to arrange. Caroline and Rachel were always on hand via email or call if we had any questions, too. People get the impression (well, we certainly did) that planning a wedding is stressful. But aside from the usual hair and make-up decisions or clothes not fitting, the whole planning process was simple and stress-free.
Q. What would you do differently, if anything?
A. Venue-wise, absolutely nothing! Our wedding day was perfect.
On our Special day
Q. Tell us about the atmosphere and emotions on the big day!
A. We actually got married on our 15th anniversary of being together, so the emotion was excitement rather than nerves. We were excited that our little family would now share the same name. It was also exciting that we’d no longer need to refer to each other as ‘partner’ (because fiancé didn’t sound quite right!) There were some nerves beforehand:
Would everything go well? Did it really matter if it rained? Would everyone make it to the meal afterwards?
But our wedding itself was really relaxed. We arrived on time, got ready with time to spare, and everything was very peaceful.
Our wedding highlights
Q. What were your highlights/most memorable moments?
A. There were a few standout moments…
- Before entering the ceremony room, Caroline ensured Ruth took a moment to pause, enjoy the moment and listen to the music we’d chosen.
- During the ceremony, our little boy was playing with toys. He handed Stew a tractor right in the middle of his vows! We loved that he could be with us and we didn’t have to worry, because Caroline and Rachel were excellent with him.
- When we stepped outside for photographs after the ceremony, as if by magic, the sun came out! There was torrential rain during the ceremony, but straight after we were married it was glorious! It allowed us to get some wonderful pictures in the grounds and by Rydal Water.
Thank you so much for making our day as special as it was!
Wedding day details
Q. Did you include any personal touches, traditions or meaningful details on your wedding day?
A. For us, one of the most important things was that we could have our little boy with us. We did have concerns as he is a very shy child; however, with the warm atmosphere and great selection of toys at Cote How, he settled in straight away.
Q. Tell us which details you loved the most
A. How can you choose specifics from such a perfect day! Here are just a few:
- Ruth’s dress was beautiful, and the boys’ matching tuxedos looked great!
- The flowers were absolutely stunning
- The Wordsworth Ceremony room was perfect – large enough for everyone but still so intimate
- We also loved the pace of the day. We never once felt rushed, and everything felt very relaxed. I think we were both surprised at how relaxed the whole day was. We felt so special from the moment we arrived.
Our wedding advice
Q. What general advice would you give to couples planning their wedding?
A. Your wedding day comes round faster than you think! A little obvious, but get everything organised as soon as you can. And if you’re worried about children behaving, don’t be! Ours was the best behaved he’s ever been on our wedding day!
Q. If friends were considering a wedding at Cote How, what would you tell them?
A. Go for it! From our first look around to our wedding day (and even after it), we felt special. Every step has been professional, organised, personal to our wants/needs and relaxed. We couldn’t recommend it enough.
It could not have been more perfect.
Final Thoughts...
For our wedding, we knew we wanted an elopement. But we also wanted to include our family in the celebration. So we had our wedding in the morning, then met the family for a meal. We hired a room at the Lowood Bay and spent the rest of the day together. That evening, we waved our son off with his grandparents and spent a couple of nights at the hotel, enjoying our first days as a married couple.
Photography-wise, we chose Tiree Dawson, who was amazing. She is very familiar with Cote How and the surrounding area. She knew how to coach the awkwardness out of us and exactly where to get some beautiful pictures!
Thank you
A huge thanks to our couple for sharing such fantastic insights into their wedding day. We absolutely loved hosting their beautiful wedding, and they were a joy to have as part of our Cote How family. We know their advice will inspire lots of you planning your own elopement with little ones.
Thank you also to the fabulous Tiree Dawson for their beautiful wedding photographs, and to Lilylous of Ambleside for the gorgeous wedding flowers. Ruth chose a bespoke bouquet of pale pink and white peonies and roses.
Get in touch
If you’ve been inspired by our couple’s wedding story, and would like to find out more about getting married at Cote How, we’d love to hear from you. Make an enquiry using the link below. Westmorland Registrar Team have can advise on getting married in the Lake District.
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