I feel like there is a definite postponement theme to my blog posts at the moment; Abbee and Matt should have celebrated their two year anniversary shortly before the date they actually tied the knot but it was 100% worth the wait. They threw a Mexican themed wedding at Winstanley House having married earlier in their day at Abbee’s family church in Leicester. Their wedding breakfast was a spread of Mexican sharing food and their surprised their guests with a brilliant mariachi band. They also won the prize for the most confetti at a wedding ever… Head to my Instagram to see the video!

Needless to say I’m delighted we finally got them down the aisle and I’m so excited to share their FIESTA of a day with you.

HOW DID YOU MEET?

I was working as a waitress in a cocktail baaaar… Matt worked at Revolution in Leicester part time during his degree at DMU and I got a job there in December 2011 when he was in his third year. By the end of the uni year he had decided to stay in Leicester rather than move back home, and the rest is history!

TELL ME YOUR PROPOSAL STORY

He said he would propose after we’d bought our first house together, so after buying in August 2017 he was swiftly reminded by my soon to be Maid of Honour Kimberley, and he proposed over lunch on New Years Eve. We went and met our friends that evening and celebrated with champagne!

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO HOLD YOUR WEDDING AT WINSTANLEY HOUSE?

I knew I wanted to get married in the family church, so that was a relatively easy decision. My grandparents were thrilled when I told them we would get to walk down the aisle at St Joseph’s and it really was so special.

The reception venue was slightly harder because we wanted to make sure the food menu was going to be amazing and that they would allow us to make decision on the food, not just pick a standard package. We looked at quite a few and only really went along to Winstanley House for a bit of a nose around when it first opened because we thought it would be too expensive for us! The wedding coordinator we met with at the beginning was amazing and confirmed we could tailor our own menu, and they were so excited about trying something unique!

WINSTANLEY HOUSE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY

WHAT WAS IT THAT YOU LOVED ABOUT YOUR OUTFITS AND ACCESSORIES AND WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THEM?

I had a hard time choosing between two dresses, but finally chose the one my mum cried the most at. After the wedding was postponed the first time I was browsing a wedding website and came across a bride selling the second dress for a bargain price! I couldn’t turn it down, and so started the mammoth task of getting people to try and keep a secret from Matt for two years!

I loved having a second dress, it felt fitting to have a beautiful long sleeved gown for the church and a slinky party dress for the evening!

TELL ME ABOUT THE VISION YOU HAD FOR YOUR WEDDING

We had decided even before we were engaged that we didn’t ant the usual boring food choices that you get at a wedding. We have lots of lovely memories of sitting down with my (Abbee’s) family with a big Mexican feast across the table, with everyone getting involved and helping themselves, so it felt right to try and get a venue that would allow us to replicate this ourselves.

Once we had decided on Mexican food, the rest really fell into place – we were having a fiesta. Bright colours everywhere, jazzy beautiful over the top bouquet, succulents and papel picado flags as decorations. We wanted people to look back at our wedding photos and know instantly that it was our wedding because everything was so bright and colourful!

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST DANCE AND WHY DID YOU CHOOSE IT?

We had Closing Time by Semisonic, a song we used to hear the DJ play quite often at the end of our bar shifts at Revs. Every time we hear it it brings us back to the early days of us.

WHAT WERE THE MOST WONDERFUL PARTS OF THE DAY FOR YOU?

Arriving at the reception venue to our amazing Mariachi Band, who started their set with Human League – Working as a waitress in a cocktail bar. Most people didn’t know we had the mariachi band and it is easily one of the most raved about parts of the day.

Before the wedding was postponed I had bought 6 confetti cannons, but wasn’t sure where or when we would use them. Hannah and I had a chat and we thought it would be a good idea to do it when we did the group photo, but with Hannah’s reasoning that because we had to postpone the wedding back two years because of Covid, we should go all out, so I ended up buying 18 cannons in total!! The result was some amazing photographs, but a lot of mess!

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE HANNAH HALL PHOTOGRAPHY AS YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER, AND WHAT WAS YOUR EXPERIENCE OF YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY ON THE DAY?

Getting engaged on New Years Eve and starting to look for photographers in the New Year, I think I first saw Hannah’s annual round up video from 2017 and I knew straight away that we wanted her to capture the funny candid photos that were in that video.

We booked Hannah in 2018, should have got married in 2020 (and 2021) but finally got to meet her in 2022! We had four years of chatting over Instagram, making plans and getting to know each other so when we finally met it was like meeting an old friend. She put us totally at ease and was like a secret bridesmaid, pinning on buttonholes and giving advice on how to store the flowers.

She has captured so many beautiful photos of our family and friends having so much fun together, and seemed to be everywhere and nowhere all at the same time.

WHAT WOULD BE YOUR BEST BIT OF ADVICE TO OTHER COUPLES PLANNING THEIR WEDDING?

Ignore everyone else. People will have opinions regardless of what you choose, so make sure the choices you make are for you.

Make a list of everything wedding related — food, outfits, flowers, etc – and choose your priorities. We were able to take money out of the budget on things we didn’t deem important and use them for amazing things like a mariachi band!

It’s so cliched but it really really does go past so quickly. Try and remember every single thing. And for all the things you don’t remember, Hannah will have got a photo of them, so don’t worry.

Abbee + Matt’s Mexican themed wedding at Winstanley House happened with the help of their amazingly talented suppliers

Hair Martha Garry / Dress Marylise Bridal / Florist Bloom Project Leicester

Cake Baker St Cakes / Groom’s Hire Peter Posh / Venue Winstanley House / Entertainment Beat Banditos

Booked Winstanley House for your wedding and on the hunt of a photographer?

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