Every wedding journey begins with a proposal, and each of them are special and completely different to one another, which is why we love hearing about them. Mark took almost a year to plan his proposal to Jane, from designing the ring to planning the venue, and even getting the hotel staff involved. Mark whisked Jane away to one of their favourite hotels in Scotland called The Prestonfield, for a few days as part of her Christmas present.

“We did some shopping in Edinburgh during the day, and arranged to eat at the Hotel’s restaurant The Rubarb on the evening. After a lovely day and beautiful meal, we went back to our suite. Once we arrived in the suite there were hundreds of flowers in all of the rooms. I still didn’t realise what was happening, my head was thinking ‘Wow this hotel really goes that extra mile.’ When we went into the bedroom, Mark turned me around got down on his knee, and proposed! It was unbelievable - I couldn’t believe it. It was so romantic! After seven years together, he eventually asked me! The best day.

“Mark had taken almost a year, to source the stone in my ring, as well as working with the jewellery to design the ring. Its beautiful, and holds so much sentimental value for me. I smile every time I put it on.”

From the location of the proposal to the location of the wedding, the venue was very important to Jane and Mark. “We have been together for 13 years, with 3 children. We wanted the day to be very intimate, with the people around us who had made a difference to our lives. Wynyard Hall was the only place we viewed that gave us that welcoming, homely yet grand feeling. Visually Wynyard Hall is beautiful; everything within the hall is exceptional. We knew from the start that our wedding photographs would be amazing, inside and outside of the hall.

“We wanted to be married in a church, so having the chapel attached to the hall was just the icing on the cake for us. Although we did have to attend many church services within the area, leading up to the wedding, I do have to say it was more than worth it. Every time we both walked into the chapel, we filled up, it’s just so beautiful.”

“The staff at Wynyard Hall were also one of the main reasons for choosing it as our wedding venue. Our wedding co-ordinator, Ingrid, was amazing from start to finish. It’s so important to get the right people working with you, as your wedding day is something that you only get the one chance at making right. Ingrid, helped with every single detail of our wedding organisation within the hall. It was a very personal one-to-one experience and we formed a great relationship with her.”

“Mark and I love our food, so we decided to have a bespoke menu. We initially spoke to the chef about what we would like the courses to be, to ensure this was something he could do. After two tasting sessions we were over the moon with our choices. Our chef kindly sourced our USDA steak for us and this was brought over from America (fantastic service and I can’t imagine many venues would do this for their customers), together with a very tasty chicken dish as a second option, three starter choices and most importantly two pudding options of sticky toffee pudding and toffee roulade. We finished our meal with cheese and crackers.”

Since Jane and Mark wanted an intimate affair they decided to extend the celebrations with their nearest and dearest. “We decided to have the members of our family come to Wynyard Hall the day before the wedding. We arranged for the men to go off and shoot, and the women had a day at Wynyard Hall Spa. This was one of the best decisions we made. The shoot was fantastic! The men were picked up in the Range Rovers and taken off to the folly, just across the lake. A beautiful posh picnic was arranged for their lunch before taking the men off to shoot some guns. Mark asked that they all come along in country attire! Fantastic photos, and great fun on the day.

“The ladies went down to the beautiful spa and we had afternoon tea and cakes, followed by our treatments. We had chosen our treatments before the visit, and the spa had all of our times organised for when we arrived. This worked so well, as there was no waiting around. A relaxing, day with some of the most special ladies in my life! The shoot and spa day was the perfect start to an amazing weekend. We then arranged an evening meal in the restaurant with everyone including our three fantastic children. Just put an end to the most special day.”

Jane and Mark choose David Lawson Photography to capture their celebration. “Our wedding photographs are out of this world! We met the photographer at a wedding fair in Newcastle and we instantly hit it off, and loved his work. He captured other weddings so well and this was so evident in his albums. We paid our deposit and booked him in asap.”

Do you have any wedding planning tips?
“Make a list of priorities, things you both really want to be included. Stay on track, and have a realistic budget. Work out your budget, then add 10%. Make sure you both get involved. Mark came with me to do everything, apart from my dress. He wanted to, and that showed, because the feeling on the day of knowing all the choices were made by both of us.”

For more real wedding inspiration, take a look at our dedicated wedding section, or to find out more about this stunning wedding venue, take a look inside the pretty pages of our regional magazine.