Bethan & Lis - A 5pm-on-holiday Wedding at Findon Place

Bethan and Lis’ luxury marquee wedding at Findon Place in West Sussex was a playful mix of English country house style, Mediterranean-inspired florals, and an unforgettable party.

If Bethan and Lis could bottle the feeling of their wedding day, it would probably be 5pm on holiday. The sun is still out, drinks are flowing, dinner is just around the corner and nobody is quite ready for the evening to end.

It’s a pretty good brief for a wedding at a Georgian country estate in West Sussex.

Bethan and Lis have been together for eight years, after meeting in a bar in West London when they were 22. They moved to London together, bought their first flat and renovated it, before getting engaged in the Whitsundays while celebrating Lis’s 30th birthday. Two weeks in Sydney with friends and family followed, so Australia has always been part of their story.

For their wedding, they wanted to bring a little of that holiday feeling home with them.

The Wedding Weekend

The legal bit happened on the Friday at Horsham Town Hall, with the main celebration taking place the following day at Findon Place.

For 75 guests, the Georgian country estate became the backdrop for a wedding that felt classic British at first glance, but with a distinctly Mediterranean mood running through it. Think English country house, garden party, olive trees, bright pinks and fuchsias, acoustic strings and, later, a dancefloor that involved a fair amount of standing on chairs.

The brief was relaxed, stylish and sociable. Nothing too formal. Nothing too polished. Just a really good party in a beautiful setting.

A garden ceremony, with a fashion moment

The ceremony took place in the Cedar Garden at Findon Place, with guests seated outside beneath the trees.

Pink and bright fuchsia flowers brought a hit of colour to the setting, with two generous pedestal arrangements framing the steps at the top of the aisle. The classic architecture and garden setting did the rest.

Bethan arrived for the ceremony in a traditional veil, keeping things beautifully classic as she walked down the aisle. Then, once the formalities were over, came the switch.

She swapped the veil for a stunning, dramatic sheer scarf that caught in the breeze and wafted behind her as she moved through the gardens. It felt very Bethan — a little fashion moment, a little unexpected, and the perfect change of pace as the day moved from ceremony into party.

Acoustic strings carried through the ceremony and cocktail hour, giving the afternoon an easy, summery soundtrack before the celebrations started to build.

Five o'clock on holiday

The design was all about taking that feeling of being somewhere warm and relaxed, and bringing it into an English country house setting.

Inside the sailcloth marquee, foliage canopies were threaded through the structure and finished with fairy lights, creating a canopy that became even more atmospheric as the evening went on. Olive trees added to the Mediterranean feel, while the flowers brought the colour.

Bud vases were dotted along the tables in groupings of bright pinks, oranges and yellows. The colour was playful without feeling overly sweet, and worked particularly well against the more traditional setting of Findon Place.

The result was a marquee wedding that felt relaxed and contemporary, rather than overly formal - a space designed for long lunches, good conversation and eventually, a very busy dancefloor.

From garden party to party party

The afternoon had that easy rhythm that makes a wedding feel like a proper gathering of friends rather than a series of formalities.

Acoustic strings carried through the ceremony and cocktail hour before things shifted up a gear in the evening, with DJ and sax duo Steve from Groovewrk taking over.

And this is where the 5pm-on-holiday feeling really came into its own.

The first dance was You To Me, and from there the dancefloor got progressively more enthusiastic. By the time people were standing on chairs, the elegant Georgian country estate had become something altogether more lively.

Exactly as it should be.

A wedding that felt like Bethan & Lis

There was something very natural about the balance of this day.

The setting was quintessentially English. The styling brought in a little Mediterranean sunshine. The flowers were bright and confident. The music moved from acoustic strings to sax and DJ. And Bethan and Lis brought the energy that tied it all together.

After eight years together, a life built in London and an engagement on the other side of the world, their wedding felt like a really good reflection of where they are now: confident, sociable, stylish and completely themselves.

Classic country house, but with better music.

A garden party, but make it fashion.

And definitely more 5pm on holiday than traditional wedding day.

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| Photographer Pat Partridge | Florist Magic Flowers