We are getting married
Nine years after standing in the wrong queue for the wrong film, we are doing this properly. The twelfth of June, a stone house outside Asheville, and everyone we like in one walled garden. There is a shuttle, there is a pizza van at midnight, and there is no seating plan drama we are willing to discuss.
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How we met
It started as a mix-up over cinema tickets and became the kind of thing where neither of us can remember what the arrangement was before. There was a flat with no lift and a sofa that would not fit through the door. There was a dog we went to "look at". There was a year in which Theo learned to cook properly and Maya learned to make bread that does not need to be called rustic, and friends stopped offering to bring anything. There was a two-hundred-kilometre walk on which, somewhere around day nine and one memorable blister, we started talking about this. The proposal was supposed to involve a restaurant and a speech. What it actually involved was a power cut, a torch and a kitchen floor, eleven days early, which in hindsight was much more us.
The Venue
A stone house and a walled garden at the end of a long gravel lane, twenty minutes out of town.
Get DirectionsThe Ceremony
Four o'clock on the lawn, or in the orangery if the weather has other ideas. Twenty minutes.
The Reception
Dinner at six in the ballroom, speeches at a quarter to eight, dancing until the band gives up. Shuttles run to both hotels until half past midnight.
Details & FAQ
- What should we wear?
- Garden formal. Long dresses or a suit, and shoes you can stand on grass in — the ceremony is on the lawn and the ground is soft after rain. The reception moves indoors after dinner, so a layer for the evening is worth bringing.
- Can we bring our children?
- Yes, and we would love to see them. There is a supervised room off the ballroom from seven o'clock with films, floor cushions and someone keeping an eye, so you can stay for the dancing.
- Is there parking at the venue?
- There is space for about eighty cars in the lower field, free and unattended. If you would rather not drive back, the shuttle runs to the two hotels below every half hour from ten until half past midnight.
- What time should we arrive?
- Doors open at half past three for a four o'clock ceremony. Arriving twenty minutes early gives you time to find a seat, find the drinks table, and find whoever you have not seen since the last wedding.
- Are you doing a registry?
- There is one, and there is also a fund for the honeymoon if you would rather put something towards a night somewhere than a thing for the kitchen. Neither is expected. Turning up is the gift.
- Will the ceremony be outside?
- On the lawn if the weather holds, in the orangery if it does not. The decision gets made at noon on the day and we will put it on this page, so check here before you leave.
- Can we take photos?
- Everywhere except during the ceremony itself — those twenty minutes are the only ones we have asked to keep to the photographer and our own eyes. After that, please do, and please send them to us.
- What food is there?
- A seated dinner: three courses with a vegetarian main as standard and a vegan and gluten-free option on request. Tell us on the RSVP and it will be at your place, not something you have to ask a waiter about.
- Is there a dress code colour we should avoid?
- Only ivory, and only because it makes the photographs confusing. Everything else is fair game, including the bold thing you have been waiting for an excuse to wear.
- How do we get there without a car?
- The nearest station is a twenty-minute taxi from the venue, and taxis do not reliably wait there in the evening. Book one, or take the shuttle from either hotel — the schedule is on the Schedule page.
- Can we bring a plus one?
- If your invitation names one, absolutely. If it does not, the room is genuinely at capacity rather than us being coy — do ask us anyway and we will tell you honestly.