Rosie Porter & Jack Lynch – Mitton Hall

Thursday, March 28th, 2024

After initially meeting at our local Crossfit gym, I didn’t think much about it at first due to Jack being 4 years younger than me, other than obviously thinking he was a very handsome chap! But little did I know, Jack was already on a mission to get to know me. He started changing his class times so we would bump into each other more. And it worked! 

Jack proposed July 2021 in Snowdonia, 3 years after our CrossFit romance started. I had never been to Wales and had always wanted to go on a walking trip. He surprised me the morning of the trip and proposed that afternoon on the top of a big hill with a beautiful backdrop of nature which is my favourite thing.

He’d even been secretly emailing my boss to give me the time off work. My boss convinced me I was going to a four day training course as her substitute because ‘she couldn’t be bothered to go’ and I was absolutely fuming! I made it quite clear to everyone in my office I wasn’t happy as I was totally unaware everyone was in on the secret. That was a very embarrassing realisation the morning I woke up to my surprise.

We chose Mitton Hall because it is absolutely beautiful! It’s a lovely combination of old beauty; a 15th century manor house with so much character, and then a contemporary fresh, light and airy reception room with huge windows meaning you can overlook the beautiful grounds and Ribble Valley throughout the day. You can see fields and sheep and blue skies (or grey skies as it ended up on our big day). It is big enough to hold a substantial wedding like ours but still feels extremely intimate and special. A really homely feel and no corporate hotel vibes to be seen!

Every single member of staff there was amazing. The wedding coordinators went above and beyond, they replied to every random question we had extremely quickly, they had multiple meetings with us to keep us feeling confident we were on track with the planning, and they genuinely showed excitement for our day alongside us. They always snuck me a few extra biscuits to go with my brew on meeting days too.

Jack and I did the planning ourselves, and my maid of honour Sarah really helped to keep us grounded and on track. I am a bit of a ‘stick your head in the sand’ person when things get stressful, but Sarah helped to remind us that it’s our special day and everything about it is exciting. We have a great group of friends and family, each and everyone brought the day to life. We did have a surprise act, Encore Entertainment, a secret singing duo. They were an absolute highlight of the day. I’ll never forget the surprise on people’s faces when they burst into song. It was awesome!

The day ran perfectly. I spent the lead up to the day very stressed about the rain and completely ignoring everyone who said, ‘as soon as you see Jack the rain won’t matter!’ I have to begrudgingly admit they were right. The staff ensured we still managed to get our outside shots and the rain didn’t dampen any of our spirits. 

Running the day was the amazing, Lesley-Anne, Wedding Operations Manager at Mitton Hall. It was like having your good mate there with you, in charge of everything and making sure you were happy and having a good time.

We also decided on using a celebrant, Vikki Haris, who was wonderful! She made our day completely personal and unique. We had meetings with her beforehand to ensure our wedding was exactly how we wished and that special touch brought a tear to even the toughest people in the room.

We had pinks and greens as our colours, and our theme was all based on nature and English flowers – I always had the book ‘The Secret Garden’ in mind when thinking of aesthetics. I love art and have always enjoyed drawing, so I hand drew a floral design for our invites as well as a different flower for each of our table number cards and our table plan. 

Our florist, Sophie at Walter and Blossom, took our ideas and created bouquets and arrangements beyond anything we dreamed. I cannot tell you the amount of compliments those flowers got!

I was very close with my Gran growing up and into my adult years. Unfortunately, she passed away four weeks before I began my relationship with Jack and she never got to meet him. I know she would have absolutely adored him. On the big day I wore my Grans veil from her wedding, it was beautiful and very delicate. It meant a lot to me to wear it. It was worn by her mother and grandmother too! It is 112 years old!

I walked up the aisle to Canon in D by Brooklyn Duo, and we exited together to Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Queen to really set the tone for the day. In addition to our surprise singing act, we had a band called Furious Styles for our evening entertainment who were amazing and so much fun. One of my bridesmaid’s boyfriend is in a band and he very kindly agreed to play during our drinks reception, which was a really nice touch and everyone loved him! Finally, we had a DJ from Exceed Events who came as part of the package with Mitton Hall and he was great. We got to list all our must-have songs and they kept everyone on the dance floor all night.

Georgie Beck Photography was our photographer, we picked her after seeing her in action at my best friend and maid of honour’s wedding 5 years ago. I knew I wanted her to be my wedding photographer before I had even met Jack! Aside from her being the loveliest person ever, her photographs are second to none. She captures the emotions, feelings and spirit of the day in every single picture. Each time you look at the photos it’s like reliving every moment of the day.

There were so many amazing moments from our day – whether it be me and my bridesmaids attempting to go for a classy photo outside the front of the building and it quickly turning into us all doing ridiculous poses and finding ourselves very funny, the reaction of our guests when the surprise act started in the reception room or the cheeky little looks Jack and I were giving each other throughout the ceremony. It’s too hard to pick just one!

Mitton Hall and the team truly made our day the perfect day for us! Full of laughter, love and confetti canons. The best day a million times over!

Celebrant: Vikki Harris Celebrant – www.vikkiharris.com

Dress: Ava Rose Hamilton – www.avarosehamilton.co.uk

Florist: Walter and Blossom – www.walterandblossom.co.uk

Hair & Make Up: La Bella Boutique – www.facebook.com/labellaboutiquehair

Photographer: Georgie Beck Photography – www.georgiebeck.com

Venue: Mitton Hall – www.mittonhallhotel.co.uk