Sam & Russell’s Wedding at South Farm – Royston, Hertfordshire

Last week we had the honour of being invited to the wedding of Samantha Bolans and Russell Tate.  Sam is an old friend of Dan’s from his schooldays and so we headed to Royston near Cambridge to celebrate the day with them for their Wedding at South Farm.

South Farm was a gorgeous venue and we were ushered into The Old Dairy for the wedding ceremony.  It’s an actual working farm and you can see all the animals.  We even had a rooster crowing throughout the ceremony – usually during very inappropriate bits, which called for some giggles.  The piglets were the cutest though, only a couple of days old!

As the ceremony began, the bridal party began to walk down the aisle.  Sam’s flower girls were super cute, scattering their rose petals as they went and her bridesmaids looked absolutely gorgeous in their navy and white dresses.

Then it was the bride’s turn to walk down the aisle with her father.  Sam looked absolutely stunning in a floor length white, backless gown covered in crystals in a floral design.  I loved the bouquets they were all carrying as well, so bright and summery.

The ceremony was very personal and afterwards we all went outside into the courtyard for the group shot of all the wedding guests.  We had the confetti throwing before Sam and Russell got in a tuk-tuk (a kind of Thai Taxi).  It was a really cute idea and very personal to the two of them.  They lived in Asia for a while a few years ago and it holds happy memories for them.  The tuk-tuk drove them to the reception party which was in another building.  When you have your wedding at South Farm you get exclusive use of all the buildings!

It wasn’t the warmest of days, being mid-April and we were pleased to be ushered inside the farmhouse.  We had champagne and canapés round the big fireplace which did a great job of keeping us warm. There was delicious prosciutto wrapped asparagus and a really tasty minted pea and broad bean puree on crostini.  I also loved the smoked salmon blinis and another crostini topped with paté.  Dan kept getting the hump with me though.  I kept eating the toppings off of the crostini and giving him the boring bread bit!  What’s a grain-free girl to do?

For those that were a bit braver, the farmhouse courtyard was open to everyone to take a drink in as well.  It’s a beautiful location to have champagne and cocktails but the day was a bit too cold to enjoy it properly.

The highlight of the champagne reception though was getting to play with baby Miles!  Our friends Scott and Christina live in Geneva and we hadn’t seen them since Miles was born.  It was great to finally meet the little guy.  Dan loved playing with him and I think he wore him out, as by the time I got to get a cuddle, he fell completely asleep in my arms.

After the champagne and canapés it was time to head into the dining room for the wedding breakfast.  All the tables were named for places that Sam and Russell had to been to throughout the time that they’ve been together.  We were on table Austria and they had more of the gorgeous flowers in the centre, in similar colours to the bouquet.  I especially loved their thoughtful table favours.  Brighton Rock as they live in Brighton, and Jaegermeister bottles (to get the party started I guess?) which it certainly did, as everyone did a cheers and drunk their shots before the meal had even begun.

Dinner was served and the gluten-free starter was an Indian onion bhaji and paneer salad.  Everyone else got duck spring rolls.  The main was a delicious hot buffet of roasted lamb with plenty of sides and salads.  At that point, we all went back to the Old Dairy to watch Sam and Russell cut their cake.  This was served as dessert along with other goodies such as macarons and cupcakes.  the dining room was then prepared for the DANCING!!  The Wedding at South Farm was a great success and we partied all night to a great DJ.  We were ready to head home at midnight but the coach company hired to take us back had other ideas…

About 10 minutes into our coach journey home, one of the guests realised that the driver was driving the wrong way down a dual carriageway!!!  Luckily it was 1am and the road was fairly traffic free or we could have had a nasty head on collision.  The driver pulled onto the grass verge, at which point the coach sunk into the mud.  All the boys were called out to try to push it free (in their wedding suits) but there was no freeing it.  The wheels were just spinning.

At this point one of the other guests called the police.  We were in such a sticky situation and there was a real danger of us causing an accident.  The police closed off the road and there was nothing else to do but wait for a tow truck.  We fell asleep in the bus until 2 hours later we were finally on the move.  We eventually made it home at 4.30am…with a serious sense of humour failure!

For more weddings that we’ve been to you can read about: Kate & Jonathan’s Wedding in the Lake District.

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