There is a beautiful serenity between Lily & Toby; perfectly content in each other’s company, their wedding day was romantic and the weather was suitably wild. They travelled all the way from Suffolk for their Merewood “just us” elopement and it was such a pleasure to spend a couple of hours with them, as well as being a witness! After the ceremony and a glass of prosecco we headed down to the the shores of Windermere for their wedding portraits; Lily’s cape moved beautifully in the wind.

A romantic country house retreat above Windermere

Merewood Country House Hotel is the perfect venue for a “just us” elopement with a range of competitively priced packages on offer including two nights’ stay, lake cruise tickets and afternoon tea and dinner on your wedding day. It has both indoor and outdoor ceremony options, has an incredible restaurant and its impressive Victorian architecture and grand interiors (it was formerly a hunting lodge, think sweeping stair cases, large roaring fires and ornate wood panelling) means that whatever the weather you can still have brilliant wedding photographs. It boasts phenomenal views over Windermere and to the Coniston fells beyond. Although it doesn’t have it’s own lake access, there are a number of locations within a very short drive should you want your photos on the lake.

While Merewood does “just us” weddings brilliantly, it also offers packages for intimate weddings with a small number of guests (like Victoria & Joe’s Merewood Cosy Christmas wedding) and has capacity for much larger weddings of up to 120 day guests at 200 at night.

If you’re considering a Merewood “just us” elopement, I’d love to chat some more.

How did you meet?

We met when we were seventeen on Instagram when Toby liked a photo of mine and then sent me a message. From that point forward we were inseparable. We talked every single day and we realised that we bring out the best in each other.

Tell me your proposal story

We were on holiday in Walt Disney World and one morning Toby had decided that we should walk around the gardens of the tree of life while the crowds were running off to get on the different rides. As we were walking around the gardens there were lizards and wild rabbits running around all over the place.

When we got to a part of the gardens that had and small waterfall Toby called my name and as I turned around he was down on one knee. It all happed so quickly I can’t even remember saying yes, I can only remember putting the ring on!

Why did you choose a Merewood “just us” elopement for your wedding day?

When we were first looking into getting married we were going to have the normal traditional wedding locally at home with all our friends and family. We soon realised that the big event was not for us. We are not people that like to be centre of attention.

So we decided to start looking at elopement packages and we looked all over the country. Then we stumbled upon Merewood Country House Hotel and its beautiful views on to Lake Windermere. When we looked at the packages they offered it was a no brainer. It was perfect. And what really made us love it even more were the highland cows that live on site.

When organising our big day the wedding coordinators at Merewood were amazing. They were so easy to talk to and they knew exactly what to do, which really put us both at ease.

What was it you loved about your outfits and accessories that made you choose them?

Our favourite part of both our outfits were that we were both wearing trainers. If you could ask anyone that knows us they would say that you would never find us wearing any other kind of footwear. So wearing our trainers of our big day made complete sense to us!

I also had a hard time finding accessories to go with my dress. I even had a cry when trying on my dress in the shop because I didn’t like any of the veils and different accessories they were putting on me.

So I took to Etsy and that’s where I found an amazing lady called Jules at ‘MyBelovedBride’ and she made me the most beautiful cape I have ever seen. She truly made my day as the cape gave the dress the little something it needed.

Tell me about the vision you had for your wedding

We really didn’t have a theme for our wedding day we just decided to choose things that felt right for us.

Toby didn’t buy a new suit as he loved the one he already had and we just got him a new tie that he loved to match it.

I made my own bouquet the night before the wedding and chose flowers that were bright, colourful and that made me happy to look at.

Even the ring box we used was the box that my wedding ring came in because we loved the colour and it had our initial already on it.

What were the most wonderful parts of the day for you?

The most wonderful part of the day for us was after the wedding and taking photos with Hannah by the lake.

We went back to our to our room (at Merewood) and got changed into our normal clothes to warm up, then we went down to sit down stairs in the library with a big pot of hot tea and the best afternoon tea we have ever eaten, whilst looking out at the most beautiful view of the lake.

Why did you choose Hannah Hall Photography as your photographer, and what was your experience of your photography on the day?

When we were looking for a photographer we didn’t really know where to look as we aren’t from Cumbria so we took to instagram.

After a couple hours of deep diving we stumbled upon Hannah and we just fell in love with her. Her photos are truly beautiful and then after following her on Insta we realised how funny she is as well.

From that point on we knew we wanted her to be our photographer so we asked what days she had free before we even said yes to the venue because we knew we wanted her to be our photographer.

What would be your best bit of advice to other couples planning their wedding?

Do what is right for you. Everyone likes to put in their two pence, but it is your day so do what makes you happy.

It’s a day to celebrate your love and commitment to one another. It isn’t an event to please everyone else.