What made you choose Ramster?
We fell in love with Ramster Hall as soon as we went to visit. Not only is the venue and setting absolutely beautiful, Ramster is a family home complete with beautiful paintings and fascinating artefacts which makes the environment so much more personal and special. The fact that we were able to hire the venue with exclusive use made it particularly appealing as it was important for us to get married and celebrate in an intimate setting. It also helped that we could take all our own drink without any corkage fees from Ramster or the caterers which is very unusual!
Tell us about your wedding – which suppliers did you use? Did you have a particular theme?
We didn’t have a theme as such for our wedding at Ramster. Because the venue has so much character and charm, we didn’t feel it was necessary to decorate the venue other than with flower arrangements on the tables. However, we did decide to name our tables after bands that we have seen together since we met. This was particularly special to us as we met at a friend’s gig and it is one of our favourite things to do together.
Our suppliers were incredible and we would highly recommend them all. We had compliments from our guests (and the other suppliers!) on all of them which was lovely:
It was pretty easy to choose our wedding photographer – Az at Lemontree photography: https://www.lemontree-photography.co.uk/. He had photographed Adam’s sister’s wedding several years ago and the photos were beautiful so we knew the quality of his work would be good and that he wouldn’t fail to capture plenty of special moments. What I hadn’t realised, though, was what a lovely guy Az is – it really makes your day when your suppliers who are present on the day are so calm, friendly and professional. Az arranged for us to have a second photographer on the day too so that we wouldn’t miss a thing!
We came across Soultanas funk and soul band online and we really struck gold with these guys – 9 exceptional musicians who love what they do and really go the extra mile to ensure that they make your day extra special: https://soultanas.co.uk/. The Soultanas learnt our first dance song (You are the Best Thing, by Ray La Montagne) and we can’t thank them enough. Hopefully we will get to see them again!
Choosing Stems florist in Ashtead was a no-brainer as this is our favourite local florist and they offer a really professional and personable service. The ladies at Stems know exactly what they are doing and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them: https://www.flowerstems.co.uk/
Did you have any unique or different details that you would like to share?
It was suggested to us that, instead of confetti being thrown after the marriage ceremony, our guests blow bubbles when we entered the courtyard. We absolutely loved this and have some fantastic photos of us with our guests and hundreds of bubbles!
Although not intentional, because it took us so long to have all our photos taken, we saved the wedding party photos until after dinner. As a result, we have some really great photos of us with the groomsmen and bridesmaids at dusk which look fantastic and pretty original.
We wanted to provide some wedding favours that were inexpensive and useful and really struggled to come up with any ideas. In the end, we bought several packs of drinks markers (multi coloured silicone shapes and characters) that guests could use on the day and take home with them. These went down really well and we didn’t spend too much on them either.
Adam’s sister is a teacher and as a result is really used to controlling the crowd (!) so we asked her to facilitate some pre-dinner games which was hilarious, if a bit crazy! Guests won silly prizes for winning play your cards right or heads or tails which they really enjoyed.
Jess at Jacaranda suggested that as well as serving the usual tea, coffee and cake after the wedding breakfast, we serve espresso martinis which was surprisingly inexpensive (we provided the ingredients with no corkage fee) but a really nice touch and our guests absolutely loved it. I would highly recommend this!
Tell us a little about Jacaranda and the food on your day?
Jacaranda pretty much ran our wedding day from start to finish! They are so much more than a catering company; they are more like event organisers and are very happy to talk through ideas with you and run the show. This was such a relief for our wedding party which meant that the best man and maid of honour could really relax and enjoy the day. Jacaranda’s food is reliably delicious, efficiently served and the staff are a pleasure to work with. Our guests were really impressed with the food which was brilliant because it was so important to us that the guests felt looked after. Food on the day was perfect and Jacaranda served over 130 guests quickly which is really impressive. The fact that they don’t charge corkage was a massive bonus for us as many catering companies do. They also let us bring all our own soft drinks and snacks to supplement the canapes which was great.
What was the best part of the day?
This is a really hard question! All of it!
Is there anything you would change?
The only small thing we would change is to order more canapes! These were so delicious and got snapped up by our guests pretty quickly so with hindsight we could have opted for 7-9 per person.
What are your top tips for couples planning their wedding at Ramster?
Make sure you make the most of your contact at Jacaranda – they have so much experience, they have facilitated hundreds of weddings at Ramster, and they really know what works well at the venue. We relied heavily on them to advise what canapes and meal options to go for as well as ideas on decoration and running order and their advice was invaluable.
