A wedding full of unexpected combinations.

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Having met Australian Dom in England, and having decided to tie the knot in England, Rachel really wanted their wedding to reflect both heritages. Their relaxed East Bridgford Hill country house wedding had subtle nods to both Australia and England, hand-made where possible with the help of friends and family. To add an extra chic element to their theme Rachel and Dom incorporated an on trend colour palette of copper, grey and sparkle - all captured by Jess Petrie Photography.

East Bridgford Hill wedding by Jess Petrie | onefabday.com

For Rachel and Dom the beginning of their relationship wasn't all smooth sailing, Rachel explains..."We met at Leeds University in our halls of residence. Dom was doing an exchange programme from his uni in Australia (he’s Australian) for a semester and I was just starting my first semester of first year. We got together quite late on in to the semester and then parted ways with Dom having to go back to Australia in the February. We were really sad to leave each other but thought with the long distance nothing would come of it."

Rachel continues..."We stayed in touch all year over Skype as we got on so well and he came back in the summer after my first year to do a road trip around the UK with me. We made it official that summer but Dom had to go back to uni in Australia after a glorious month together. We did the (extremely) long distance thing for the next 2 years with some awful 6 months or more apart and then awesome holidays when we would meet up and be with each other for a wonderful month or so. Dom was finally able to move over at the end of my final year to look for a job (moving to Dubai for 5 months while he couldn’t find anything!) and we haven’t looked back since."

Finally together, and living in London, Dom proposed. Rachel remembers..."It was very low-key but lovely. We now live in London so Dom took me for a surprise picnic in Epping Forest and found a spot to propose. We spent the day breaking the news to friends and family. Hoping I would say yes (!), Dom had booked a fancy dinner for us that night in the Oxo Tower to celebrate where we cracked open the Champagne."

With lots of guests travelling from Australia Dom and Rachel really wanted a big party wedding in a venue where they could do exactly as they pleased. After lots of searching online they finally found the perfect spot to celebrate..."East Bridgford Hill was the first venue where we could have a marquee in the beautiful gardens as well as have the beautiful and quirky house to use in case it was raining during the drinks reception, and where all of our bridal party and other halves could stay the night before and of the wedding, and where it didn’t list a bunch of things we couldn't have at the wedding (like real candles and confetti.) They were willing to accommodate us in any way they could."

With the perfect venue secured Dom and Rachel began to plan the décor elements of the day - incorporating both English and Australian elements wherever possible.

Rachel describes..."We had lots of touches paying homage to our Australian, English and Scottish sides. The flowers at the reception and the men’s buttonholes included over 5 different varieties of eucalyptus and a gorgeous flower called ‘kangaroo paw’ as a nod to Oz. We also handmade our Scottish tablet favours for our guests from my grandma’s recipe (sadly she couldn't be there with us on the day so it was lovely to have something to remind us of her.)"

Rachel's dress on the day was a classic design by Jesus Peiro, while her five beautiful bridesmaids each wore variations of the same dress in a chic purple hue.

For their speeches Rachel and Dom thought of another special touch to help their Australian and English guests mesh..."As the Ashes cricket tournament was on during our wedding, we knew there were going to be plenty of friendly rivalry between the English and Australian guests as well as several references to the cricket in the speeches (I think Australia were winning at the time.) We devised an Ashes sweepstake game to guess how many cricket references would be in the father of the bride, groom and best man’s speech and the winning guests at each table won a little Ashes trophy!"

Love the subtle hints of copper and sparkle...

For their honeymoon Rachel and Dom spent two weeks in South Africa - going on safari, driving along the garden route, wineries and finishing in Cape Town. Huge congratulations to you both, and thanks so much for sharing your East Bridgford Hill wedding with us all.

A big thank you also goes to Jess Petrie Photography for sharing their work with us. To see more from Jess Petrie Photography visit www.jesspetrie.com

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