This wintery Hengrave Hall wedding was set in December, with the magical feel of Christmas eve just around the corner. The festivities were entwined around every corner of this wedding day, helping make this gorgeous Tudor manor house look and feel like a warm hot chocolate, on a cold and frosty night. Check out Carly and Lee’s story below.

First names: Carly-Anne Wildego & Lee David Sambrook
Ages: Carly: 32, Lee: 34.
Wedding date: 23rd of December 2016
Venue: Hengrave Hall

How did you guys meet, tell me all?
We were introduced to each other at Redbridge College in 2000, through a mutual friend. We knew of each other but didn’t meet again until 2003 on a Xmas eve night out with friends. But we were both in relationships.
Then in 2005 us both being single we starting talking & Lee started his pursuit of trying to win Carly’s heart. In 2006 Carly was won over by Lee’s charm after he told he wanted to be more than friends & then on the 7th of June in 2007, they properly become boyfriend & girlfriend, the rest was history.

How did you get engaged, is there a cool story?
We got engaged on 7th of June 2014, it was our 7 year anniversary & we went to Egypt to celebrate. Lee surprised me, by arranging a romantic meal on a private part of the beach. We had to walk up an aisle to get to the table which was surrounded by candles, as we got to the table there was a guitarist playing for us while we ate. We starting eating our meal & enjoying each other’s company, I thought Lee was going really over the top with surprising me with this anniversary treat. Lee then decided to go over to the sea to find me the perfect pebble, as he knows how much I love Penguins & was waddling up & down pretending to be a penguin to find the perfect pebble to give to me. He then gave me a pebble, which I was very disappointed by as it was really small & then he said would this be any better & he was down on one knee proposing to me. I was still in shock not knowing what was going on & saying: oh my god, oh my god, what are you doing!! Lee had to ask me 3 times as I still hadn’t answered him, as I was in so much shock!! Then dolphins starting coming out of the sea, making this picture perfect moment so complete, it was amazing & I always thought I would know when Lee was going to propose, but I didn’t have a clue. It was very romantic & one of the nicest surprises, I’ve ever had in my life, as I’m not very good with being surprised.

What made you choose your wedding venue, did you look at many?
It took us forever to find the perfect venue, we searched for over a year & finally found it in October of 2015 & knew once we had seen it. The wedding team were amazing, especially Shona who showed us around & completely sold the venue to us. Lee always wanted a Summer wedding, whereas I always wanted a Winter Wedding, so we comprised & decided to have a Spring wedding in 2017. However after seeing the venue & meeting Shona, Lee was completely sold in having a Winter Wedding & made my dream come true by having it on top of our favourite time of year Christmas.

What was the inspiration/theme of your wedding?
Fairytale & Winter Wonderland being that it’s so near Christmas, with lots of bling & sparkle. Our whole concept of the Wedding & our initial starting point has always been memories, we wanted to create the feeling of lost ones that are no longer with us to still be at our wedding. The reason behind this, after us just getting engaged in June 2014, we celebrated My Great-Nan’s 100th birthday, which was a lovely day, but sadly a month after this celebration she passed away. Then we also had another big blow last year & unfortunately Lee’s father lost his battle to cancer, this was a huge impact on us & it was the reason why we didn’t find our venue straight away, as we were very worried about Dave (Lee’s Father). After Dave passed away I remembered a venue we were supposed to see with him & it was like a sign that we must go to it & when we went it felt like he was with us & wanted us to get married there.

What is your first song and why?
Beauty & the Beast.
Reason behind it, we both LOVE Disney films & Our Godson Ashton, named us Beauty & the Beast, after he was naming all of us the Princess & Princes in Disney films the reason behind it is, Carly always has her head in books like Belle & when the Beast turns into a Prince, he is one of the only Princes that is blonde, like Lee. So that has always stuck with us & it’s always one of Carly’s favourite Disney films & being that our Wedding is like our Fairytale, it felt right when we had decided.

What would be your number one tip to other couples planning their wedding?
Try not to stress about the wedding & enjoy every moment of planning it, as when it comes to your Wedding day, you will feel disappointed that you have been stressed for so long. Embrace every moment together when planning & try to do it together, never be afraid to ask for help & always try & work things out together, two heads are better than one. Listen to each other & most importantly enjoy it together, you only get to do this once, so enjoy it.

Check out Carly and Lee’s’ Hengrave Hall wedding below.

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