Millbridge Court is the perfect location for a relaxed but elegant Surrey wedding, and a popular choice with lots of Miss Bush brides! The blank canvas main ceremony space is brilliant for making your own, whilst the grounds provide plenty of beautiful spots for portraits. Our bride Abby chose the venue for her relaxed, natural wedding to Sam, which was the perfect mix of modern and traditional with a simple styling and a chic neutral colour palette.
Abby wore Suzanne Neville's Alicia wedding dress, which features a perfectly fitted, comfortable lace bodice with delicate, pretty capped sleeves and a romantic swishy a-line skirt.
Read on to find out more about this gorgeous day, with photographs by VLA Photography
Suzanne Neville Alicia wedding dress
I chose the Suzanne Neville - Alicia dress, which had a lovely balance of traditional and contemporary. The fabrics were so elegant – I loved the hem at the bottom of the skirt and how it swished as I walked. I never in a million years thought I would go for a dress with a big skirt but this dress made me feel beautiful and I loved the shape on me. The dress also made me feel like a Bride which I quickly discovered is how I wanted to feel – after all you only plan to do it once!
My mum, sister and best friend friend joined me on my dress hunting, I could tell immediately from their faces that this dress was the one!
Dress Shopping
I absolutely LOVED the Miss Bush chapel and shopping experience. The Miss Bush service outshone the other bridal shops I had initially visited by a mile! I had my appointments with Emma, Emma knew exactly what sort of dresses would best suit my figure and it was such a relief to have an honest opinion aside from my bridal team. I must admit I was a little nervous at first that the Miss Bush dresses would all be out of my budget and was so thrilled to hear I could buy the Alicia sample dress. After the exciting moment of deciding this was THE dress, it was even more exciting to be able to come back to the chapel for all the other appointments.
Jo, thank you so much for your amazing work on getting the dress to fit me so perfectly!
Styling
The dress was so beautiful it didn't need much styling. I was actually quite adamant before going dress shopping that I wasn't going to have a veil but when Emma showed me the simple full length Chloe veil my mind was quickly changed. I loved that it flowed with the train of my dress and was so simple. It really finished off the look.
My parents separated when I was young but they secretly clubbed together to buy me a beautiful diamond necklace. It was so thoughtful and such a surprise. The necklace was so elegant and it sat perfectly with the dress – a keepsake I will cherish forever!
I picked some gold sparkly Carvela shoes with a block heel. Although these weren't really seen, it was nice to have the occasional glimpse of sparkle from under the dress.
A relaxed, natural Millbridge Court wedding
Sam and I had been together for 14 years prior to getting married. When we were planning how we envisioned our wedding day, the most important thing to us was our guests. We wanted a big celebration with all of our loved ones. Millbridge Court was the perfect venue – it allowed us to have all the guests we wanted in a beautiful and intimate space. We wanted the day to have a good balance of traditional wedding as well as being relaxed. We chose to keep the styling very simple, the venue was a beautiful shell that we didn't really need to do much too. We kept our colour scheme neutral, I didn't want to have to worry about working with a specific colour palette and getting caught up in it – that would have stressed me out! We used white and memory lane roses accompanied with a beautiful variety of other white flowers and foliage. The flowers smelt incredible! I didn't want to put my bouquet down!
The best bits
The whole day was incredible! I had so many favourite parts!
I LOVED the evening party! It was the part we were both looking forward to the most and it certainly lived up to its expectations. We were so thrilled with how busy the dance floor was all night!! I had blisters on my feet for a whole week after because I was dancing so much – it was worth it!!
I also LOVED the time Sam and I had together when we went off to have our photos taken after the ceremony. It was so nice to spend some calm time together to take it all in.
Abby's Advice
Enjoy every moment!
If you go into dress shopping without really knowing what you want, that's ok! Try on all the dresses you think you might like and ask the Miss Bush team for their suggestions too! It's easy to narrow it down when you know which dresses don't compliment your figure as you might have imagined. Emma was incredibly honest and having an opinion from someone outside your bridal team is invaluable, so definitely make the most of that!
Don't let any of the planning stress you out. I wrote lots of lists and tackled it all bit by bit which meant I could enjoy the whole process. Don't get too caught up in the fine details, at the end of the day the wedding day is just about you and your partner and its important to remember that.
Suppliers
Photography: VLA Photography
Venue: Millbridge Court
Cake: Cake Sensations (also my amazing Mum!)
Flowers: Petals of Walton
Catering: Kalm Kitchen
DJ: LR Disco Entertainment
Photobooth: The Photo Cabin
Bridesmaid Dresses: Asos
Flower Girl / Young Bridesmaid Dresses: M&S
Hair: Kirsten Brouer
Make Up: Hanna Taylor
Stationery: The Bride
Groom and Groomsmen Suits: M&S