early summer elopements
Elope in May. May is the perfect month of the year to elope. Our summer elopements have been super popular since we introduced them a few years ago. Originally we only offered elopement weddings in the winter when we were closed for big weddings. But the elopement weddings turned out to be so popular we started offering a limited number in the spring, summer and autumn too. Then, well…covid and we did a ton of elopement weddings in 2020 and 2021 because that was the only type of wedding you could have for a while. In 2021 I think we did over 60 elopement weddings, more than double our usual number for the year.
So we got through covid and had a big re-think about the business and what we wanted to do going forward. We took the decision in 2020 to stop doing big weddings. As most big weddings get booked up more than 2 years in advance, it took a while for all our existing bookings to unwind. Our last big wedding was August 2022 and now we’re exclusively an elopement venue, offering small weddings for 6-10 guests, depending on the month.
As well as stopping big weddings we also decided to close for 3 months in the summer so we’re totally closed in June, July and August. I know, sorry about that. We didn’t have a summer without full on working for over a decade and we decided to reclaim our summers. That means for us summer is now only May and September. May being early summer and September being late summer.
May 2023
We’ve only got one date left for May 2023 and that’s Tuesday 9th May 2023. You can see all our May elopement weddings over the years just by typing “May” into the search box at the right hand top of each page of the website. It’ll bring up a load of real May weddings and you can click through each real elopement gallery to see what the gardens are like in May and how things might look for you.
May is probably the month with the biggest change in the garden from the beginning to the end of the month. And obviously it all depends on the weather, ie whether we’ve had a warm or cold spring.
You can see from Hannah & Ant’s elopement wedding here at the beginning of May 2021, the leaves weren’t fully out on the trees in the woods.
but the weather is usually warm enough to have the screens up on the terrace to get that real indoor/outdoor feel. The planting on the terrace is always out in May because it’s got its own warming greenhouse effect with the canopy and glass roofs.
The willow tree on the river walk is always in leaf in May and the camellias bring a real splash of colour…
By the time we’re into elopements later in the month, it looks much more like summer. The wedding of Sama & Jamal took place in May 2022 and you can see the difference in the leaves on the trees in the woods…
and in the gardens…
Claire & Mark got married at the beginning of May 2022 where the early spring had been much warmer than 2021 and the gardens were quite fully in leaf…
elope in May
Over the years we’ve had some stunning weather for our May elopements. But whatever the weather, we’ve got you covered literally. There’s total cover in the wedding barn for your ceremony and then the glass roof covered terrace and the canopy covered mid section means you’re completely dry even if it’s raining outside. And with roll down screens which can be put up or down in a jiffy, not to mention the open fire under the glass roof – you’ll be toasty and dry.
So if a mini May wedding sounds like you’re thing, you’ve got only one date left this year – Tuesday 9th May.
All photos by Clare Kinchin Photography
All flowers by Flowers et al
