Laurence and Donna

“I first attended the Festival of Speed back in the late 90’s, having always been a petrol head but I never dreamed that I would one day have the chance to get married here. I introduced Donna to Goodwood after we met and we have been to a few of the GRRC Christmas Balls and to The Goodwood Revival and whilst Donna isn’t into cars as much as I am, she instantly fell in love with the place. When we decided to get married, there was only really one place in the UK that would do.

“It was the most perfect day we could have asked for. I started the day with breakfast at the Goodwood Aerodrome with my best man and close friends before heading back to get ready. We then went onto The Goodwood Hotel to meet my friend who had agreed to let me borrow his Ferrari for the short trip to the House. As I was a little early, I managed to have a quick drink in the bar with a few of the guests first before they made their wya to Goodwood House for the wedding.

“Donna had breakfast at The Goodwood Hotel with most of her family and close friends and then spent the rest of the morning in the room getting ready with the bridesmaids.

“When it was time to leave for the wedding, my best man and I drove the Ferrari up the drive to towards Goodwood House but as I got to the point where I was about to turn onto the turning circle, something inside told me that you will never likely have another chance to drive the Hillclimb in a Ferrari, so I kept going to the top of the hill. Then realising how late I was, I had to get back down the hill. By this time most of the guests were there and I was hastily rushed in to see the registrars who were waiting…and whilst I was going through the formalities, I saw Donna’s car coming up the drive out of the corner of my eye…and realised I was probably in trouble!

“We had about 80 people for the day and another 20 for the evening. There was no theme as such, we had a number of personal touches. Donna’s friend who is a florist, did most of the flowers for the wedding party, the cake and all the table decorations. We picked our own band and playlist for the evening and before, during and after the ceremony we had a violinist who played songs that we had both chosen."

“We'd heard a lot of horror stories about planning weddings, so much to think of, arrange, coordinate etc. We both have busy jobs and home life and were worried how we were going to get everything done – it was quite daunting. We arranged to meet with Rhiannon, to take a tour of the House and learn a bit more about Goodwood weddings. One thing that struck me when talking with her, was how easy she made it sound, how much they took off the list of things to do and really, we only needed to arrange flowers, cake, photographer and entertainment, everything else really was included in the package. To be honest, I was pretty sold on the place already but was surprised that it would actually be within our budget. I could tell that Donna loved it too and we both came away with the feeling that we had found the venue where we wanted to get married."

“We loved the menu tasting day, it was almost as good as the day itself. We decided to stay at The Hotel and Rhiannon came to pick us up and drive us to The House – we were made to feel so special. They had set up an intimate round table in The Card Room. Here we were confronted with a table with several glasses, four different types of folded napkin, a printed menu and name places. The first decision, after trying the prosecco, was what napkin fold design did we prefer! We then spent the afternoon being thoroughly spoilt, trying two of each red, white and rose wine and two starters, mains and desserts. We then met the Head Chef to discuss the menu, what we liked and to agree on our final choices. We had quite a variety of dietary requirements from our guests and were surprised at the ease by which the chef created similar dishes to the ones we had chosen, yet catering for all dietary requirements. The staff were amazing and we left with the leftover open bottles…suffice to say we didn’t make it to dinner at The Hotel that night!

The menu for our wedding was:

Starters:

Ham hock & smoked chicken, tian roasted artichokes, rapeseed aioli

Mediterranean vegetable tian, tian roasted artichokes, rapeseed aioli

Mains:

Sirloin of beef, Charlton gratin, tomato jam, red wine shallot jus

Leek & Charlton pithivier OR Wild mushroom pithivier, sprouting broccoli, caper & sage dressing (V)

Desserts:

White chocolate terrine salted caramel, peanut butter

“The level of attention to detail was impressive. We had a final Zoom call with Rhiannon to agree final points, she asked us so many questions about what we wanted and gave lots of suggestions. So many things she asked about we would never have even thought about and it is these details that often make all the difference.

“On the day we were in the very safe and experienced hands of David, the House Butler. I could not sing his praises highly enough and for that matter, the entire staff, all were amazing. David even provided any guests interested with a personalised tour of the house, including the vast array of paintings and antiques.

“The highlight for me was the moment we walked back down the aisle as a married couple, passing all of our friends and family, I don’t think I have ever had a bigger smile – but in all honesty, I loved every single moment of the day and we often say how much we wish we could do it all over again.

“As for Donna, she loved waiting with her brother for the car to take them to the House with the anticipation and excitement for the day. She also loved the speeches during the wedding breakfast and dancing all night - the list goes on!”

Suppliers

Bands sourced through Bands for Hire

The Band: The Tricks

The Violinist: Sharma

Photographer: Lemon Tree Photography

Florists

Tanya Webber, Bloom in May Events – Bridal party flowers, cake and tables

Forge Flowers - ceremony, entrance & top table