Your Bristol and Somerset Wedding news and ideas from around the county

Bailbrook House is hosting a Weddings and Celebrations Open Day on Saturday 28th January, 2023

The historical Bailbrook House is reached via a private tree-lined drive, at the end of which you'll be greeted by the hotel's handsome and impressive Georgian mansion-house facade. Made of stone in various shades of soft gold the building boasts intricate stonework including carved pillars, decorative stone flowers and pretty bows above the entranceway, it offers a memorable and grand setting for your big day. What's more, with 20 acres of grounds, you won't be short of picture-perfect backdrops for your couple's photoshoot.

Average ages we are hitting life’s milestones

A new study from Confused.com has revealed the average ages we are hitting life's milestones in England & Wales, including getting married at age 35! So how does your milestone timeline compare? Typically, the first milestone people in the UK reach is moving out of their parent's home at age 20, followed by moving in with their partner at 27. The next life milestone those in the UK usually meet is having their first child, with couples seeming to have children before marriage. The average age for having children is 29, while the average age for getting married is 35. The data also suggests that on average, people are choosing to have children before purchasing a property. This could be a result of house prices continuing to rise making it harder to save for a deposit.

If you dream of a countryside wedding, then Croydon Hall could be for you

If you dream of a countryside wedding then Croydon Hall could be for you. Situated in Exmoor National Park, this newly-refurbished venue offers an idyllic haven away from the hustle and bustle of urban life. Accommodation includes the stunning bridal and honeymoon suites, as well as 13 additional en-suite bedrooms.

Whatever the weather, Croydon Hall has indoor and outdoor spaces to suit your ceremony. The Drawing Room is ideal for winter weddings with up to 70 guests, as is the Barn for up to 150. Alternatively, for summer vows, there's the beautifully landscaped Italian garden for up to 130 loved ones or the terrace for up to 170.

Couples are opting for eco-friendly weddings

One of the UK's leading waste and recycling management companies BusinessWaste.co.uk collected data, which shows how much attitudes to environmental and sustainable choices in regard to weddings are changing. According to the research searches for 'sustainable wedding' has skyrocketed by 75% over the last year, while 'sustainable wedding venues near me' saw an 80%+ increase along with 'sustainable engagement ring' which saw a staggering 96% search increase. What's more, us Brits came out on top overall for our eco-friendly mindfulness, with France and Greece also seeing the biggest increase in searches for sustainable wedding venues.

Keep your wedding guests warm this winter

Putting the chocolate back into drinking chocolate with their unique fine beads, Cocoa Canopy are making winter weddings super cosy with its sample-szie offering. Perfect for winter wedding favours, they offer the ultimate in comforting hot chocolates, guaranteed to put a smile on the receiver's face! Cocoa Canopy is the only UK drinking chocolate brand to craft unique fine chocolate beads for beautifully smooth, real chocolate drinks made from only a handful of sustainably sourced ingredients.

Somerset ceremonies will be getting an exciting refresh in 2023

Somerset ceremonies will be getting an exciting refresh in 2023. Somerset Registration Service has launched a survey to help them rewrite ceremonies that reflect what couples want. If you feel like sharing your thoughts on your ideal big day, now is the perfect time to have your say.

Readings, personal vows, optional extras, planning meetings, even the style of the ceremony itself, everything is up for review, and the team is keen to hear your ideas. Modern or traditional, relaxed or formal, just the basics or something elaborate: what kind of day is your dream wedding?

How to throw an insta-worthy engagement party

You never have to scroll too far to stumble upon a celebrity engagement party on instagram and if you've recently got engaged yourself, you're probably thinking - should I throw one too? The short answer is yes, absolutely. While planning the wedding is always top priority, there's no reason why you shouldn't have a party to get all your loved ones together and celebrate the big news straight away - particularly when most weddings take place a good 12 to 18 months post-proposal. However, hosting an engagement party of your dreams can still be quite a daunting task. To help, wedding jewellery experts, Queensmith have pulled together 11 tips for taking your celebratory soirée to the next level.

Orchardleigh is a family-owned country estate in Somerset

Nestled amidst 500 acres of parkland and lakes, Orchardleigh is a family-owned country estate in Somerset. It boasts a beautiful 19th-century stately home, romantic island church, 18-hole golf course and plenty of luxurious accommodation. Orchardleigh House and grounds will be exclusively yours for the duration of your day complete with plenty of stunning backdrops for your photographs.

The venue offers a selection of elegant indoor spaces and cosy log fires, making it ideal for winter weddings. The grand Ballroom provides a beautiful space for the wedding breakfast and because Orchardleigh is a private house, residents and guests can celebrate until dawn! The house can sleep 85 guests within 41 opulent bedrooms, with further accommodation available in the estate cottages if required.

Spotify data reveals the most popular wedding songs

Luxury engagement ring retailer, Diamonds Factory, has scraped Spotify to find the top 100 most popular wedding songs to include in your playlists. To do this, Diamonds Factory analysed over 100 Spotify playlists containing the word 'wedding' and found the most featured songs across all playlists. These playlists included 3500 unique songs, and the data scrape also used additional keywords to reveal the top wedding ceremony songs, wedding party songs and top wedding artists, too.

New planner reveals when you can afford to tie the knot

With wedding costs rising by 3,000% since the 1950s, and set to reach an all-time high in the 2020s, making and sticking to a wedding budget can be a real headache for couples. To help would-be newlyweds with the complex task of budget planning their big day, the wedding finance team at money.co.uk have created a new wedding budget planner, to help couples account for all their costs for each stage of their dream wedding. The new planning tool also helps you calculate the earliest date you should set for your big day, based on how long it will take you to save up enough money to pay for your dream wedding. The wedding budget planner page also has lot of tips to help couples save cash, including:

Local vocalist and saxophonist Lucy Harvey has won an award

Local vocalist and saxophonist Lucy Harvey has won the Wedding Entertainment category for solo, duo or string quartet musicians at the 2022 South West Wedding Awards held in November. The annual awards recognise wedding suppliers throughout the South West who exceed the expectations of their customers by providing outstanding service, crowning these very special wedding suppliers as the best of the best in the region.

Wedding companies covering all aspects of the industry can enter the various categories available, including photographers, stationery, bridal hair and more. Votes can only be placed by couples who've used the suppliers for their own nuptials, making the winners very much the people's choice.

Win a ‘One Night Luxury Four Poster Hotel Break for Two’ in Essex

County Weddings Magazine has teamed up with The Rose and Crown Hotel to give our readers the chance to win a 'One Night Luxury Four Poster Hotel Break for Two' in their 700 year old hotel. The lucky winner will receive a voucher which can be redeemed any time in the next 18 months. Also included is a bottle of champagne waiting in your room on arrival, breakfast in the morning, early check-in and late checkout, and a delicious three course dinner in their onsite restaurant

The most popular wedding foliage 2022 revealed

Wow, 2022 was quite the year for weddings with a bumper amount taking place. Looking back at what was trending last year, perhaps inspiration for those tying the knot in 2023, wedding insurance specialists Protectivity have researched the most popular wedding flowers, based on UK Google Search Volume. The most popular wedding bouquet foliage was Eucalyptus, with 585,000 searches! Followed by, Ivy 495,000, Jasmine 458,200, Rosemary 374,600, Ferns 351,200, Monstera 319,500, Silver Birch 219,600, Philodendrons 219,400, Olive branches 143,000 and Myrtle 133,300.

Berwick Lodge is an imposing red-brick Victorian manor house

Berwick Lodge is an imposing red-brick Victorian manor house. Its interior has everything you'd expect from a building of its type, such as open fires and wood panelling, yet with an East meets West twist. Sumptuous over-sized sofas and crystal chandeliers bring a luxurious feel to the place while retaining its relaxed and welcoming ambience A sweeping staircase leads to 14 beautiful bedrooms, all individually designed and named after ancient civilizations in the Anatolian period.

Set in 18 acres of beautiful gardens and woodland with views reaching as far as Wales, the venue features a walkway to Aphrodite's Dome (the marble pergola), ornate fountains, an orchard and summer house, making it a wonderful backdrop.

Honeymooning in your married name

If you are dreaming of jetting off to sandy shores with your sparkling new ring, spouse and matching passports...then this guide from NameSwitch will tell you how to make your dreams come true. Please do have a proper think about whether having matching passports straight away is really that important to you because, trust us when we say, it's not an easy thing to pull off! With recent changes to how processes work, effects of the Pandemic, and added complications like not being handed your marriage certificate on your wedding day, or needing the name on your NHS records to be the same as the one on your passport, an already stressful undertaking just got even more nail-biting! Now it's not mission impossible, but you do need 3 key things to be aligned (and nerves of steel) if this is going to work...

Batch Country House is hosting a wedding show on Sunday 5th February, 2023

A comfortable home with a traditional farmhouse feel, Batch Country House boasts cosy lounge areas and ample space. An exclusive-use venue it only hosts one wedding per day. The venue's beautiful, award-winning, landscaped gardens overlook the Mendip Hills, and you'll find plenty of water features dotted around including ponds, waterfalls and fountains. Plus, the outdoor photo opportunities are endless and it's licensed for indoor and outdoor civil ceremonies.

This local lovely is hosting a wedding show on Sunday 5th February, 2023 between 11.30am and 3pm. It's your opportunity to take a look around and meet some fantastic local suppliers.

Set on a Bath hillside, Bailbrook House Hotel overlooks Bath and the Avon Valley

Set on a Bath hillside, Bailbrook House Hotel overlooks the glorious landscapes of Bath and the Avon Valley. With its beautiful period features, landscaped gardens and warm, welcoming atmosphere, it offers the ultimate country-house wedding experience. Dating back to the 1790s it retains all the characterful glory of its bygone years with striking original features including delicate cornicing, crystal chandeliers and dramatic feature fireplaces. Meanwhile, the Hotel's 20 acres of private grounds and parkland offer picture-perfect locations for those all-important photographs, complete with a lovers' bench and views across the city of Bath in the distance.

The rise of double-barrelled surnames

n the past couple of years, there's been a continued increase in the number of people wishing to join their names. For example, in November, research by The London Mint Office to mark The Queen's platinum wedding anniversary shows that 11% of married couples between the ages of 18 and 30 joined their names. As the UK's leading Name Changing Service, NameSwitch has also seen an 18% year-on-year growth in couples wishing to adopt a double-barrelled surname, which accounts for 12% of the thousands of name changes we've assisted over the last 12 months. So, why are more of us opting to double-barrel their surnames?

Your wedding, your way

With the Pandemic derailing wedding plans since 2020, the next few years look set to be a busy time for couples celebrating their union. But couples themselves are evolving – from individuals who feel shoehorned into traditions or cultural expectations they don't feel comfortable with, to those who feel more confident creating their own idea of how a wedding should be, encompassing a far wider range of preferences, traditions, and cultures. When NameSwitch was invited to speak on diversity at a recent industry event, Bridelux Symposium, the overwhelming consensus of wedding professionals was that they, too, are seeing a change in how weddings are becoming more individually unique; created to celebrate the heritage (often blended) and preferences of each couple.

National Trust places are full of magic as the festive season approaches

Across Somerset, Bath and Bristol, National Trust places are full of warmth, magic and sparkle as the festive season approaches. Wrap up and embrace the chilly days with a romantic walk around a country estate, or get into the Christmas spirit with carols, open fires and mince pies. There's lots on offer this season from guided walks and craft workshops to horse and carriage rides.

An Enchanted Christmas at Barrington Court is taking place now until 31st December, 10am-3pm. It offers a magical experience as you stroll around twinkling Christmas trees in the old cow shed and the wintry garden; shop for special gifts in the artisan workshops and complete the day with a warming drink in the cafe.