Birtsmorton Court, country wedding in Cotswolds

Yasmin & Aneesh

Birtsmorton Court Country house wedding in the Cotswolds

24th of May, 2023
The Great Hall at Birtsmorton Court and afterwards at
Birtsmorton Court
Photography by Jo Ager at Iris & Ivy Photography

It wasn’t exactly love at first sight for this lovely couple who married at the beautiful Birtsmorton Court near Malvern in the Cotswolds… You see, the pair were at school together from age 10 but it wasn’t until 2016 that they made their romance official, at a Drive Thru KFC, as it happens! What could be more perfect?!

Breaking with tradition with good reason – there was an opportunity for Aneesh to catch sight of Yasmin before the ceremony started, for example, it was the perfect day to seal a beautiful romance, surrounded by their nearest and dearest all dressed in black-tie finery.

Over to Yasmin for the low-down on this very special Birtsmorton Court Country House Wedding in the Cotswolds…

How did you meet, and when?

We initially met in middle school when we were both 10. We were also at the same high school but never in the same social circle. And then in the April of 2016 we went for drinks for a mutual friend’s birthday and really hit it off. Four weeks later we decided we were ‘official’ while ordering an Oreo Slushie at the KFC drive through!

How many dresses did you try on before you found The One?

I actually only tried on about eight dresses in total and it was the seventh one that I tried that was the one… Dress number eight was a ‘Let’s try, just in case.’ I fell in love with a Suzanne Neville dress called Leading Lady about ten years ago and knew that if I was to get married one day, Suzanne Neville would be the designer I would want to wear. ‘The one’ ended up being called Loretta, and just like everybody says, not at all what I thought I would pick!

What made it your ONE?

From the moment I put Loretta on, I could not stop smiling. And then when I saw she had pockets, I just knew!

What did you do for your hen do?

My Maid of Honour and Chief Bridesmaid pulled together an incredible hen do in the Cotswolds based around our Paris engagement. Dining in the French Alps was an afternoon feasting on the deck at The Fish Hotel, City Lights in Paris was a decorated apartment in Stow-on-the-Wold with cocktail making, then Sunshine in St Tropez was a spa afternoon at Daylesford’s Bamford Spa.

Was there a theme or colour scheme for your wedding?

The colour scheme was sage green and then a black-tie dress code for the evening.

How did you decorate your venue?

The Great Hall where our ceremony took place was such a statement anyway, so for the ceremony, we just had a flower display on the Registrar’s Table, which was then used on our top table for the wedding breakfast.

For the wedding breakfast, the styling was all down to us. We purchased all of the faux flowers, vases, and candles from IKEA, we made the napkins from IKEA curtains, the glass charger plates from Amazon and the table runners from SHEIN. We had created a step-by-step guide to explain exactly how we wanted the décor to be set up because the venue coordinators did this on the morning of the wedding. They did an incredible job!

What were your best decisions for the wedding?

Originally, we had booked our wedding for December 2024 at a different venue, having got engaged in June 2022. We then had a huge change of heart, cancelled that wedding, and brought it forward by 19 months. We are so glad we did! Another decision we are pleased with was that we didn’t stay at the venue the night of the wedding, so we woke up in our own home with our dog Doug and it was super chilled for our first morning as husband and wife.

Did you make any cost savings, and how?

We actually found buying the faux flowers ourselves and making the napkins saved a large amount in terms of the décor.

What were your favourite moments?

It’s so hard to choose but we did a First Look ahead of the ceremony, which was a really nice moment and also the Champagne spray at golden hour was so much fun.

Any funny things happen? Embarrassing moments?

We had a photobooth open between 9-11pm and the photos that came out of that were quite funny… And some of the props made it to the dancefloor.

Did you follow all the traditions?

Not all of them, while we had a cake, we didn’t do the cutting of the cake and obviously the First Look broke with tradition, too.

What were the challenges of planning the wedding?

Probably trying to keep everyone up to speed with what was happening. I found it frustrating that I couldn’t articulate the vision I had in my head of what I wanted the wedding to look like sometimes, but we got there in the end!

What are your honeymoon plans?

We went on our honeymoon a couple of days after the wedding, to Mykonos. It was the perfect escape to wind down and extend our wedding bubble.

Anything you would have done differently?

We don’t have any regrets; we just wish we could do the whole day again!

What advice do you have for other brides?

During the planning process, don’t doubt your decisions! And when the day comes, just enjoy every single moment!

The Details

Photographer: Jo Ager at Iris and Ivy Photography
Wedding venue: The Great Hall at Birtsmorton Court and afterwards also at Birtsmorton Court
Wedding venue: 70 days guests and around 100 in the evening
Wedding dress designer: Suzanne Neville at Courtyard Bridal – Yasmin: “I couldn’t recommend them enough! The best experience!”
Groom’s suit: Gieves and Hawkes
Flowers: Roses, Peony, Lissianthus, Gypsophila, Sweet Pea, and mixed Eucalyptus foliage arranged by Lydia at Floral Roundabout
Stationery: Elle Bee Design
Shoes: Jimmy Choo Sacora 85 for the Ceremony and formal photos and then sequin Prada trainers for the rest of the day
Accessories: Yasmin: “The Veil was called Hurdy Gurdy by Eliza Jane Howell and my earrings were small pearl huggies by Dower and Hall. I wanted to keep my accessories simple as the veil was a statement. I had also purchased and intended to wear the Emma tiara by Ivory & Co, but changed my mind at the very last minute.”
Jewellery: Anja Potze Fine Jewellery
Hair: Chloe at Cotswold Bridal and Colour
Makeup: Yasmin: “I did my make-up myself as I have always enjoyed make-up and felt fairly relaxed about doing it myself (albeit it there were plenty of trials on myself ahead of the big day!) and the Bridesmaids and Mother of the Bride were by Keeleigh at KB Makeup Artistry – they all looked beautiful!”
Cake: “Nicola from Cake-Tastic brought our Pinterest-inspired pearl cake to life!”
Bridesmaids: “We had six bridesmaids who all wore the cowl-back dress from Six Stories in sage green”
What the mums wore: “My mum wore a pink dress and jacket outfit from Hobbs and the Aneesh’s mum wore a Saree that was green by day but changed colour in the evening because of the lights. It was amazing!”
Menswear: Yasmin: “There were eight groomsmen in total, and the dress code was Black Tie for all groomsmen and guests. The groomsmen all wore their own suits and shoes from various places – some were bought and some rented. The only must was a double cuff shirt because they were gifted cufflinks on the wedding morning.”
Entertainment: “The wonderful Capriccio Quartet for our ceremony and drinks reception and then the incredible TwentyOne Events Saxophonist and Bongos for the evening.”
Videographer: Verity at The Story-Teller Films
Catering: Brookes Catering

Thank you so much for sharing your special Cotswolds wedding with us, Yasmin and Aneesh! We loved how you had a vision for the wedding and everything was exactly how you’d imagined it to be!

Yasmin – you looked so elegant and radiant in your Suzanne Neville gown. It was the perfect choice! Congratulations to you both, with love from the team at Bridal Buzz xx

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