Rachel & Dominic's Wedding Story
Why Did You Choose The Montagu Arms For Your Special Day?
We have always loved breaks in the New Forest and after Dom proposed there, we knew it was the area we wanted our wedding. The Montagu Arms was the only venue we looked at but we knew straight away that it was perfect for us and ideal for the small intimate wedding we wanted. We will definitely be returning as we have such happy memories of the day and the area.
How was the morning of the Wedding?
We chose to stay at the hotel the night before the wedding to ensure a calm morning (especially with our 9 month old daughter)
I woke up early for a morning run around Beaulieu, making the most of the fantastic weather and stunning location.
We all went for breakfast together and met some some of the family who were also staying. Breakfast was lovely and our daughter got lots of nice attention from the staff.
Then we had some time getting ready.
Clara kept us in the loop of what to expect the entire time so we knew the timings to work towards and where to be, it all felt very seamless.
The Flowers
Jo Hicks did our flowers. I don’t know a lot about flowers - I just knew I wanted a spring theme for our April wedding so I sent her a few examples from her Instagram page and the vague colour scheme. On the day I was so happy to see that they were perfect and exactly what I had in mind. I even got some of the bouquet pressed and framed as a reminder of the day.
The Food
We chose the beef raviolo to start- this went down well with everyone as it was something a bit different. We chose the cod for our main which balanced the richer starter out perfectly. And my favourite was dessert - the apple tart. It was all cooked and delivered beautifully
The Photographer
Our photographer was Lemon Tree photography- Az was great as he has worked at the hotel many times so knew the best locations for photos whatever the weather. He really put us and our guests at ease and was really patient with our daughter- we cannot wait to see the photos.
The Wedding Cake
The cake was made by Sarah Louise Cakes and we asked for a traditional style wedding cake with sugar flowers to match the style of the wedding flowers. The cake surpassed our expectations and matched perfectly – we even thought that she had liased with the florist. We went for a Victoria sponge layer and a lemon and passionfruit layer – both were delicious and it looked stunning.
The Best part of the Day
We have such fond memories of the day – everything went nice and smoothly yet felt lovely and relaxed. Our favourite part of the day was sitting down for the meal after the ceremony with our close family knowing that we were finally married.
Words of Wisdom
The best thing we did was making sure we booked the sort of wedding we wanted. It can be easy to get carried away and pressured into an event that doesn’t suit you but we were so happy that everything was just as we wanted it to be- a lovely intimate event in a beautiful location where we felt comfortable
