I met Rachael & Ashley for the very first time on their wedding day, 7th August 2021, and oh my gosh, it really was the most amazing day!
These two originally planned a big wedding at a completely different venue, but due to the uncertainty due to covid they cut the numbers significantly and decided to keep it as a small wedding even though the restrictions lifted.
The uncertainty was probably one of the best things for Rachael & Ashley because they ended up getting a dream intimate weekend-long wedding with their favourite people at the beautiful Hidden River Cabins.
Ashley and Rachel met on Tinder 5 years previous to this, and if anyone knows these two you know they aren’t the classic online dating type! Ashely enticed Rachael over to his for their first date with a promise of a hot tub, and to Ashely’s surprise Rachael actually arrived with her bikini at the ready… and the rest is certainly history!
These two were previously planning an absolutely epic honeymoon to both Bali and Japan (and are still hoping to go sometime) but due to covid restrictions they spent some time city-tripping around the country instead.
They are certainly no strangers to wonderful holidays and trips away though, with Ashley proposing to Rachael on a trip to Sicily when he hired out an entire spa (Rachael couldn’t understand why the spa was so quiet!) and even when Ashely got down on one knee, she still didn’t click onto what he was doing until she saw the ring! Her first words weren’t “Yes!” but more, “But we aren’t old enough” even though Ashley was 32 and Rachael was 29.
Two years later, and with a lot of hands-on planning from Ashley (yes that’s right, Ashley did a lot of the wedding planning!) they had the most wonderful wedding day with some amazing speeches that had guests crying one minute and in fits of laughter the next.
The tears however begun a bit earlier for Rachael though… Rachael entered her wedding in absolute style on her favourite horse Tilly, and after the ceremony the owner of the horse had THE BIGGEST surprise of the day for her. She had signed Tilly, the horse Rachael loves potentially more than Ashley, over to her! To say she was shocked was an understatement, but without a shadow of a doubt it was the best present Rachael could have ever been given.
Ashley and Rachael deserve all the happiness in the world, but instead of waffling on any longer, I’ll let the photographs tell the rest of their story. The biggest of congratulations to Mr & Mrs Elsley!
Their amazing suppliers:
Venue: Hidden River Barn / Hidden River Cabins
Venue Dresser: Stories Of Events - Sarah Pearson
Florist: Scilla Dillon
Hair: Boyd HairandBeauty
Dress: The Wedding Dress Company
Bridesmaid Dresses: ASOS
Caricature: David Bignall
