There is a lot to like about a May wedding in North Yorkshire. The countryside is properly green, the gardens are starting to fill out and, importantly, you can make use of the outdoors without it necessarily becoming a full-blown summer wedding.
This wedding at Swinton Estate was planned as a weekend rather than a single day, which gave us considerably more to work with.
There was a pre-wedding gathering in the Deer Park, a church ceremony in Masham, drinks back at the Estate, dinner in Samuel’s and an evening party in the Library. Rather than trying to make everything look the same, we treated each part of the weekend differently. For me, that is one of the best things about a weekend wedding: you can change the pace, the setting and the design as the weekend progresses.
The Welcome Party
We started in the Deer Park at The Deer House, where guests gathered for drinks, pizza and music.
The space has a brilliant position within the Estate, so we wanted guests outside rather than sitting in a room looking at the view. We created informal seating areas with sofas and low tables, giving people somewhere to settle while still keeping the focus on the parkland. Food was deliberately unfussy: pizzas, drinks and a DJ with saxophone.
Guests arrived in the Estate’s classic Defenders, which was a much better way to get everyone to the Deer Park than simply putting them in a standard transfer vehicle. It was a Friday night, so the atmosphere didn’t need to be complicated. The point was to get everyone together, get a drink in their hand and start the weekend properly.
The Wedding Day
The following day started at St Mary’s Church in Masham. The flowers were one of the more traditional elements of the day in terms of the setting, but the design itself wasn’t particularly traditional. We used a pastel palette but kept the arrangements wild and immersive, allowing the flowers to move through the church rather than sitting as neat, contained arrangements.
From there, guests were collected by vintage bus and brought back to Swinton. The bus was another small detail that made the logistics feel like part of the day. With a wedding spread across different locations, there are inevitably a lot of movements to manage. If you can make those movements enjoyable rather than something guests simply have to endure, it changes the feel of the whole day. Back at the Estate, drinks took place outside before everyone moved through to Samuel’s for dinner.
The Reception
Samuel’s was probably the biggest design statement of the weekend. As a working restaurant with a strong identity of its own, the challenge was to transform it into a wedding breakfast while making it feel as though the space had always been intended for the occasion.
I completely rethought the layout, from the positioning of the tables through to the styling and smaller details, while also working around the practical requirements of a busy restaurant and wedding service. It was a careful balance between making the room feel completely different and allowing it to function exactly as it needed to, which is often the part of wedding design guests don’t see. By the time they walked in, the aim was simply for it to feel effortless.
Keeping the Menu Local
The food was closely tied to the Estate and the time of year. Much of the produce came from the Estate, including the lamb, and the menu was built around what made sense for May rather than trying to force a particular style of food onto the setting. Dessert was a seasonal Eton mess, exactly the sort of pudding that works well for a spring wedding: familiar, fresh and not unnecessarily complicated.
For a wedding at Swinton, there is little reason to ignore what is already on the doorstep. The Estate has its own produce and a strong connection to the surrounding land, so using that as part of the wedding makes far more sense than importing a completely unrelated concept.
The Party
Then we changed it again. The evening moved into the Library, which had been designed to feel completely different from Samuel’s. The Library is already a strong room, so the approach was not to cover it in decoration. Instead, we worked with the existing architecture and changed the mood through the design.
The Mini Big Band played a swing and jazz set, which went down extremely well and gave the evening a very different energy from the dinner. Later in the evening, pie, peas and Henderson’s Relish were served. It is a small detail, but it was one of my favourites.
There is a tendency with luxury weddings to assume that everything needs to be elevated, elaborate or unfamiliar. It doesn’t. Sometimes pie and peas at the right point in the evening is exactly what people want.
The Morning After
Guests came together before checking out, which brought the weekend to a fairly natural close. And this is really the appeal of a weekend wedding. You get the Friday night. You get the wedding day. You get the party. And then you get breakfast with everyone the next morning. There is less pressure for every moment to be the moment because there are several of them.
Why Swinton works for a weekend wedding
Swinton Estate works particularly well for this type of wedding because there is enough variety within the Estate and the surrounding area to create a proper itinerary. You can use the Deer Park for something relaxed, take guests into Masham for the ceremony, bring everyone back for drinks and dinner, then move the party somewhere completely different in the evening.
The design doesn’t have to look identical throughout. In fact, I think it is better when it doesn’t. A weekend wedding gives you permission to change things. Friday can be relaxed. Saturday can be more formal. Dinner can feel considered and grown-up. The evening can be completely different again.
For a North Yorkshire wedding, particularly one at a venue with as much character as Swinton, I think that is a far more interesting way to approach the design than trying to create one look and repeat it everywhere. The result is a wedding that feels like a weekend away rather than a wedding that happens to last a weekend.
“Jess was fantastic from start to finish. She exceeded our expectations by travelling frequently to go and meet with the venue, recommending excellent suppliers and organising everything smoothly and quietly from behind the scenes. Her hard work made the whole process of planning our wedding an enjoyable and exciting experience, rather than something stressful or nerve-wracking. Because we were so confident in her plans, we were able to be present and enjoy the day without worrying about what should be happening elsewhere. Many of our guests commented about how it was such a wonderful weekend full of thoughtful small touches and where every detail had been considered. Thanks, Jess!
Overall, I feel like the best part of the wedding was the atmosphere. Jess really understood what we wanted the day to feel like, and I am so impressed with how she made that feeling come to life. Every detail felt intentional, and her being there allowed us to be fully present in the moment with our guests.”
Contact Me
Planning a wedding weekend in the Yorkshire countryside? I’d love to hear what you’re planning and talk through how we can bring the whole experience together, from the first drinks to the final dance: I’d love to start the conversation.
Supplier Team:
Planning & Design: Jessica Sharpe Weddings
Photographer: Rebecca Kerr
Florals: Dreamboats & Carousels
Venue: Swinton Estate
Hire Items: Beaties Events
Stationery: Ink & Paper
Linen: ALBA
