Kristen & Sepehr

Kristen & Sepehr…

Your names and occupations:

• Kristen Rossi, management consultant

• Sepehr Aghamehdi, civil engineer/entrepreneur

We met …

In Birmingham, UK on the first day after lockdown that six people were allowed to meet outside. We met through a mutual friend who I studied with and Sepehr worked with.

How did your proposal happen (when and where)?

Sepehr proposed on my birthday. It was a windy but sunny April afternoon on the bridge over Lake Vyrnwy, a very picturesque reservoir in Powys, Wales. He spelled out Will You Marry Me on individually lettered, laminated cards. Each letter had a phrase on the back and when the cards were put together, they read ‘will you marry me’. It was a very thoughtful and romantic proposal.

Length of engagement:

1-year

In three words, how did you imagine your wedding day?

Intimate, family, classic

How did you choose your venue?

My family is American and live in the USA and Sepehr’s family is Persian and live in Iran, as such this was the first time many family members were meeting. We looked for a location outside of the UK for about 6-months, but nothing ‘clicked’.  Finally, in October of 2023, we agreed we would stick to the UK.  Our main criteria was we wanted to have a place where our families could spend quality time together and experience the ‘magic’ of England’s history. As such we decided to look for a castle/manor that could accommodate our family members (22 people) for 2-3 nights, had bathrooms in each of the bedrooms, could fit 50-60 guests during the wedding, had beautiful grounds/interior, was well maintained/’modern’, and provided support in planning/supplier recommendations etc.  Pentillie ticked all the boxes on ‘paper’ and then speaking with Chrissie [Pentillie’s Wedding Manager] ‘sold’ it. She was so organised, informative, and attentive that we knew it was the venue before we even visited. We never once second-guessed our choice.

Often the aspect that makes a wedding original to the couple is the detail/theme – tell us about the special details of the day and how you implemented them (colours, theme decorations, centre pieces, favours, photo booths, DIY etc). 

Sepehr is Persian and I am American so it was important to us that the music/song choice throughout the day represented this. 

The castle is so beautiful that we wanted to keep the flowers and decorations clean and simple, we chose white and green for this reason.

Again, because the castle is so beautiful, we didn’t go crazy with decorations or photo booths but instead, as it was a ‘small wedding’ (~46 people from 12 different countries) we wanted to make sure everyone interacted. We focused on activities that would bring people together including our dinner opening speech where we shared a fun fact about each person and then used it later during cake time for ‘wedding guest bingo’. Similarly, the next day we held a farewell brunch with archery in the garden. This brought a sense of playfulness and friendly competition that transcends languages/cultures.

Busy with work [we], didn’t want to be fussing with too many DIY projects. The castle’s supplier list helped make this possible.

Were you inspired by anyone on social media? Pinterest/Instagram etc?

I used Pinterest to find my dress and for inspiration on our flowers, hair and makeup and the cake. Sepehr also found a lot of photography inspiration/poses etc on Instagram and we used these posts to make our photography vision boards.

Please give a brief account of your wedding planning story i.e., priorities, highs & lows, challenges etc…

The challenges came in the very beginning, trying to find a venue/location that would work for both of our families. We searched for 6-months looking at venues in Georgia, Turkey, Morocco, and Spain. Around October, the frustration was such that I thought to cancel all wedding planning, but then over lunch one Saturday, we agreed to look at venues in the UK. Within 2-3 weeks plans fell into place.

The other challenge was that I travel a lot for work so I often found myself planning on airplanes or in lounges and we coordinated via email, iMessage, WhatsApp, Instagram, Trello etc. In the end, teamwork and technology pulled through.

What food did you choose for your day, wedding breakfast and evening buffet, and why?

We love all cuisines so picking the food for the day was tricky. We originally wanted to have Persian food but we struggled to find a reliable and reasonably priced caterer in the area. For cocktail hour we had Asian fusion canapes and the main dinner was Italian. Ultimately, we thought about our guests’ likes/dislikes/requirements as well as our preferences and then selected what would work best for everyone. 

What was the song for your first dance, and why?

You’re still the one, performed by Bailey Rushlow.

We chose it because the lyrics are meaningful, the version is lovely, it is not too long (under 3 minutes) and made famous in the 90s by Shania Twain, it is very recognisable/relatable for others.

What was your favourite part of the wedding?

The evening dancing.

What was the most important investment for you? For example, food, drink, clothes, honeymoon?

That is very difficult. The venue and team were probably top as if that is solid then they can guide you on the rest.  With every supplier we chose/investment we made, we did so purposefully. We aimed for quality over quantity in each of our choices.

Examples…

• With flowers we wanted to ensure they were beautiful and framed the castle but equally, as they will die, we did not overdo it.

• The cocktail hour and dinner wine, we ran the numbers and chose to bring the champagne and wine ourselves and pay the corkage.

What is your top tip for other couples?

Map out your vision, be intentional about the suppliers you choose (they can meet your vision, are reliable, etc), put a plan in place to track progress and manage the moving parts, and then enjoy the process.

Suppliers:

Photographer: U Got The Love - [We] would choose Andy again, hands down. Loved working with him.

Videographer: Images by Steve Waters - Same as Andy, would work again with Steve in a heartbeat.

Brides Dress: Eva Lendel in the style Lanvee

Brides Shoes: Dune

Bridal Hair: Anna Ingram Hair - Anna did an amazing job on my hair and the other women loved their hair as well. Anna was very attentive to small requests people wanted and was good at understanding the executing it. She also managed to complete 6 women and a flower girl in 6 hours.

Bridal Makeup: Orchard Makeup - All five women who had their makeup done LOVED the results.

Grooms Outfit: Gieves and Hawkes

Bridesmaid Dresses: As the bridal party members live in different countries, we gave them a brief and they were left to shop accordingly.

Groomsmen Outfits: Same as bridesmaids.

Flowers: Flower Scene - Alice was fantastic. Amazing designs, beautiful flowers, reliable and reasonably priced.

Stationery: Zazzle - We used Zazzle for the invitations, seating cards, wedding programmes and labels.

Caterer: Philleigh Way - Delicious meals for both our rehearsal dinner and wedding ‘breakfast‘ (in the USA we would just call it our wedding dinner). Rupert is extremely professional and reliable, highly recommend.

Cake: Peboryan - Everyone raved about the cake

Music: Bespoke Disco - Great. Marco respected our requests and gave us a fabulous party.

Day After Food: Kernowforno - They catered for our ‘Farewell Brunch‘ the next day. Great choice and delicious pizza that the guests annihilated.

Archery (on the day after): Lonewolf Archery - So much fun, a lovely touch for the day after.

Taxi: Countryside Cabs Aimee

Our Weddings Manager would be delighted to show you around Pentillie! To book your private viewing, please click here, call 01579 350044 or email weddings@pentillie.co.uk.