Winter weddings are highly underrated and Lauren & Dan’s celebrant ceremony at Minterne House in November last year sealed my thoughts on just how incredibly beautiful they can be. Minterne House itself is irresistible at this time of year. The soft sunlight dipping low in the windows. The candlelight, majestic dining hall all laid out for a delicious meal. The ceremony ballroom with its incredible chandelier and artwork. Lauren & Dan chose Minterne as a place to gather their families as this was a destination wedding; they live in Denmark.
It was an endlessly stylish wedding. The florals were simple whites and greens, which is all the ballroom needed in winter to adorn it. Dan and his groomsmen were in black tie, bridesmaids in black satin and Lauren’s dress was one of my biggest wow moments of 2026, unexpected in design and absolutely jaw-droppingly beautiful. Lauren chose to walk down the aisle and into her future with Dan by herself, and the confident, sweet smile she had as she came towards him is something I’ll never forget. She owned that moment so incredibly well. Their first look had given her all the spark and excitement they both needed – just each other.
It was a romantic ceremony. Lauren and Dan were seated for the first part where I told their story. Their dog, Reggie, who wasn’t able to come to the wedding due to his busy schedule, sent his own summary of their love story which I read out to them. Their family and friends made some group commitments to love and support them, which really brought the energy and showed them how adored they are, along with the secret section I created using words directly from their besties and close family. Before they exchanged their wedding vows we passed their rings round their family and bridal party for a ring-warming, whilst I read a poem.
Lauren and Dan found me on Hitched, and this is the review they left there of their celebrant wedding ceremony at Minterne House.
We are struggling to really put into words how wonderful and amazing Eleanor was and is! From the moment we had our first call with her we just knew she was the perfect person to really showcase our love in the right way during our ceremony. She made the whole process so much fun, got to know us so well and truly feels like a friend to us now. We had so many guests come up to tell us how much they enjoyed our ceremony, how different it was to anything they had experienced before and even some saying they wished they’d done a celebrant led ceremony themselves after seeing how personal ours was!
She filled our ceremony with love, laughter and personality and we really can’t thank her enough for being truly the best!
Having a hard copy of our ceremony to look back on and read through together has been so perfect and something we will cherish forever!
We look forward to another Sunday roast together and dog walk in the future x
Minterne House is perfect for a celebrant wedding ceremony because it has two vital ingredients; flexibility and incredibly creative and talented team members who know exactly what every couple needs from their wedding weekend. You feel like a very important guest every time you step inside, and the wedding suppliers Minterne House engages with are all top of their game Dorset and local folks. Lauren was my first Hollie Danby as MUA bride, and it was great to work with Emily from Emily Rose Events who was their on-the-day wedding coordinator.
All photos by the wonderfully talented Emma Frances Photography and with permission of the couple.
