Joyous Peak District wedding at Heathy Lea wedding venue

Meg Senior

4 min read

We’re spoiled for choice with venues in Sheffield and the Peak District, but there was nowhere better to bring to life Amy and Jamie’s colourful, glitterball vision than Heathy Lea wedding venue.

Jamamy (as they christened themselves)’s wedding was relaxed and downright joyous, and a perfect example of how you can have a wedding that’s non-traditional, non-stuffy, but still has any recognisable ‘wedding’ features that you like and want to include.

From the vintage cake to the colourful streamers, and the cerise bridesmaid dresses to the dog in a floral collar (I repeat, dog in a floral collar!) this wedding was jampacked full of personality.

Heathy Lea wedding venue

Amy and Jamie chose to have their wedding at Heathy Lea, a stunning wedding venue that has the best of both worlds: both super close to Sheffield and actually on the Chatsworth Estate. That means it’s easy to get to, but also completely surrounded by expansive green fields. Basically: I love this place, Amy and Jamie love this place, and I think you will too.

Meg Senior Celebrant | Man and woman on their wedding day at Heathy Lea Peak District wedding venue

Bar the deer and the sheep that wander around, it’s a totally exclusive space to host your event because Sally and James, the owners, actually live there, and only take on a small number of weddings each year. Alongside Sally and James, the team that work there are amazing too, with the planning delivered by my good friend Jessica Sharpe Weddings (some would call this bias, others would call it having excellent friends and celebrating them!)

Both their ceremony and reception were held in separate sailcloth marquees on the grounds, decorated with orange and pink streamers and flowers (and later, confetti).

A Sheffield-centric wedding ceremony

Amy and Jamie were super organised, and we first spoke 18 months before the wedding. Despite the fact that my name didn’t also rhyme with theirs – something I can only apologise for – I was thrilled that they booked me to be their Peak District wedding celebrant.

When the day finally rolled around, I loved regaling guests with Amy and Jamie’s story, from falling in love in Sheffield, where they both went to uni, to getting engaged in Las Vegas, as well as their personalities and passions, including watching F1, volunteering, travelling, languages, and running marathons (although that one was just Amy!)

They both had a friend perform a reading, with Amy’s friend reading ‘Falling in love is like owning a dog’ (more on the dog in JUST A SECOND) and Jamie’s friend reading the lyrics to Arctic Monkeys’ ‘I Wanna Be Yours’. Live music was woven through the ceremony, too, with the uber cool Emily White performing on the lawn.

Symbolic but not stuffy

Though Amy and Jamie’s wedding was the opposite of traditional (they were heavily inspired by the fab wedding blog The Un-Wedding*, where I've been featured before, for a start), they still had some recognisable elements of a wedding that slotted seamlessly into the ceremony.

Meg Senior Peak District Celebrant | Amy and Jamie running across the Chatsworth Estate on their wedding day at Heathy Lea

For example, they wrote their own personal vows (with help from my complete step-by-step vow writing guide, of course…) which included this gem: “I promise to love you, appreciate you and annoy you until the end of our time on this planet.”

They also exchanged rings, and had their gorgeous Golden Retriever Sunny as their ring bearer. She was SUCH a good girl, chilling throughout the ceremony until it was her moment in the spotlight when she brought the rings in a secret sock (a homage to the sock which Jamie hid the engagement ring in before he proposed). Ten out of ten wedding dog performance!

I defy you not to find some inspiration in Jamie and Amy’s mega, magnificent wedding – whether it’s the gorgeous Heathy Lea wedding venue, the delightful orange and pink colour scheme or the idea of a dog as your ringbearer (I can enquire as to whether Sunny is taking bookings).

Perhaps you’ve even been inspired to have a Humanist wedding ceremony, with me as your Peak District wedding celebrant? Here’s what the happy couple themselves had to say in a lovely Google review:

“We are so pleased that we decided to book Meg and have a celebrant ceremony. We knew on our first call that we wanted her to be part of our day.

She took time to get to know us and wrote an amazing script that was funny, sweet and really highlighted our relationship story - she really struck the perfect balance.

All of our guests loved our ceremony and said it was fun, unique and emotional. We got so many comments saying how great Meg was. If you are on the fence about whether to have a celebrant at your wedding, just do it and choose Meg - you will have no regrets!”

JAMAMY + MEG FOREVER. JAMAMEG?

Get in touch here to arrange a call to discuss your wedding plans. Whether you’re 18 months out or 18 weeks out, I’d love to chat.