Mr & Mrs Wheeler

Thursday, February 19th, 2026

Wedding planning was truly a dream for me. I love planning a party, so planning a bigger scale celebration was right up my street, I honestly loved every minute! We had been together 14 years by the time we got married, so you can only imagine the excitement when we got engaged in January 2022. We didn’t want to rush the process as we wanted to enjoy the build up and didn’t want any pressure. In February, we viewed the first venue on our wish list, Wrenbury Hall and instantly fell in love, and this is where the wedding planning began.

We booked our wedding for 5^th October 2024. The feeling of having a date and venue secured is so special! We worked together from that moment, organisation was key. Spreadsheets took over our life but in the best way possible. We had waited so long that we wanted our day to be perfect. We soon learned we were aligned in most of our hopes and wishes for our special day, which helped the whole planning process and avoided any cross words, which I know may be rare, but we loved doing it together.

Where we got to meet the suppliers in person, after an open day the team hosted whereby the suppliers were there to meet in person. The team at Wrenbury really made life easier with this, we trusted their opinion immediately and it was obvious to see the relationships they had formed with their recommended suppliers, which made it easy for us to follow their lead. With most suppliers booked early and the saving ramping up, we could take a back seat on wedding planning with peace of mind that we chose the best.

After welcoming our second child in April 2023, it would soon be time to turn our thoughts back to wedding planning.

Bridesmaid dates and dress shopping filled the last half of 2023 and hen and stag parties the beginning of 2024. It then became time to increase communication with our suppliers and make decisions around the finer details. We met our photographers Gemma and David (Gemma Leese Photography) in August for our pre- wedding shoot, and we were immediately put at ease with their relaxed and natural approach. With the children in tow, it still felt easy capturing pictures that we will now treasure forever. Gemma was so knowledgeable and gave us lots of information on how the pictures would go and certain poses we would use on the day. Gemma listened to our thoughts about how we were most comfortable and remembered everything we discussed. The communication in the build up to the wedding with Gemma was very insightful and reassuring, we truly felt we had nothing to worry about and had developed a great relationship with Gemma.

So, our special day fast approached and still our emotions were just pure excitement. Our parents had been with us every step of the way, helping us to achieve our perfect day and our mums lived every single emotion with us. With minimal hiccups in the planning, we knew we had done everything we could to make sure we were ready and couldn’t wait to get to Wrenbury and begin the celebrations.

Luckily enough we had Wrenbury to ourselves from Friday afternoon. Our family and bridal/ groom party arrived, and it started to feel real. No one could wipe the smile from our faces. We enjoyed living in the moment with our closest people with a beautiful evening of food and drinks and lapping up the buzz and excitement. I enjoyed precious time with my gorgeous bridesmaids and the tears came early. Everyone was in great form, and we were on cloud nine.

The morning finally came, we joined our respective parties, and I had the most incredible, chilled morning getting ready, being pampered and enjoying bucks fizz with my favourite girls. It was everything I imagined.

Gemma, David, and our videographer Laura arrived whilst we were getting ready, it was perfect that they already had a working relationship, and this shone through on the day too. For me, I love a photo, taking it or being in it because I believe that it is so important to capture memories. However, I love a picture I am aware of, not as much the candid ones, so I thought I would look through 100’s of pictures Gemma took that morning and dislike myself in some way. It was quite the opposition. I don’t remember Gemma being there much of the morning because she was amazing at capturing the perfect shots without getting in anyone’s way or without me feeling like I constantly had a camera on me. Tom also said the same about David, having two people was amazing because nothing was missed. I love all the shots from the morning, they capture all the emotions, the chaos and buzz of me, the bridesmaids, mums and flower girls getting ready and equally Tom and the men, somewhat more chilled, on their morning of preparation for the biggest day of our lives.

Gemma guided us with timing and perfectly captured me getting into my dress with my mum and mother-in-law, first looks with my dad, brothers, bridesmaids and flower girls, time with my family alone and all the moments leading up to that special walk. Again, most of these moments I was unaware of the camera, effortlessly clicking away in the background which allowed it all to be the natural, emotional, and most amazing experience I had pictured in my head.

Our day was everything we dreamed of and more. The sun shone, everything went perfectly. From my voice over before walking up the aisle that got Tom’s tears flowing – again captured perfectly, to the emotion of seeing each other at the end of the aisle, our personalized vows, my brothers readings during the ceremony, the first kiss and the cheers of our loved ones as we walked back down the aisle as Mr & Mrs.

Flicking through the pictures, I believe every single emotion was captured, more than we imagined it would be. We lived in the moment the whole day, wrapped up in our love bubble and spending time with the people closest to us. Gemma and David were great throughout the day, capturing everything we had spoken about without pressure. It was so natural, they snapped away as we soaked in the newlywed bliss, but they were also aware of us wanting to enjoy time with guests. The fact that they got so many beautiful pictures of our two children was impressive enough! They worked relentlessly to not miss a thing, and when we look back through the pictures, they tell an amazing story from start to finish. The perfect balance of the planned pictures, natural ones where we were chatting away, the rollercoaster of emotions that came from the heartfelt speeches, our huge smiles on our sparkler pictures knowing all that was left was to party the night away, and the pure love and happiness during the first dance.

I have never felt happier, and we are incredibly grateful for the most amazing day spent with amazing people, captured by two of the most talented photographers around. I would do it again 100 times over!

Suppliers:

Dress- Willow & Sage Boutique – www.willowandsagebridal.co.uk

Entertainment- Gemma Daltrey music – www.gemmadaltrey.com

Extras- The Added Extra – www.theaddedextra.co.uk

Flowers & dressing – The Flower Divas – www.theflowerdivas.co.uk

Lighting / Dancefloor/ DJ- Hipswing – www.hipswing.co.uk

Photography – Gemma Leese Photography –  www.glpweddings.co.uk

Venue- Wrenbury Hall – www.wrenburyhall.co.uk

Videographer- Vision Wave Weddings –  www.visionwaveweddings.co.uk