The Day
We’re delighted that you’ll be joining us for our special day.
Details for the Day
There’s just so much to think about…
The dress code for our wedding is formal attire. As the venues are old buildings in an historic area, the day will involve walking over cobbles, floor grilles and uneven paving. Ladies (and gents!), do leave the stiletto heels at home and please take care when walking and dancing.
As you can imagine, rather a lot of planning is going into our big day! To help with this, we kindly ask that all RSVPs are sent by 30th June with any dietary requirements, requests or allergies.
Although we are fortunate enough to have photographers in the family, we do ask that guests please avoid taking photos during the ceremony. There will be plenty of official photos of the day which we are looking forward to sharing with you all afterwards.
Unfortunately, we are unable to invite children or plus ones unless specified.
The City of Dreaming Spires
Oxford is a special place for us. It’s where we began our journey together, where we studied and partied for 6 years and not far from where we now share our home, Willow Barn, with our lovely cat, Luna.
We are looking forward to sharing the highlights – and challenges! – of Oxford life with you.
Accommodation
Summer weekends in Oxford get booked up early, so we strongly advise booking accommodation as soon as possible. Standard chain hotels are conveniently located near the Park & Ride facilities on the ring road: the Oxford Cowley Premier Inn (South East) and the Holiday Inn Oxford (North). Most are a short taxi ride into town and include free parking.
Central, but certainly pricier, options include the Old Bank Hotel, the former prison Malmaison Oxford, or The Head of the River, where you can watch rowers training on the river below. The Randolph deserves a mention as being Oxford’s most famous hotel – with a price tag to match! There is also a new, centrally located Oxford Westgate Premier Inn – note it doesn’t include parking, but you could park at a Park & Ride and get the bus into town.
Slightly more unique is a night at an actual Oxford college. Many offer student rooms (of varying quality!) during the summer through University Rooms.
Directions
The ceremony and reception venues are situated 5 minutes walk apart in the historic centre of Oxford on either side of the High Street. During the summer and particularly at weekends the area is extremely busy with tourists and events, so please allow plenty of time to travel to the venue.
There is a map with detailed directions below. There will also be ushers on hand at Convocation House and porters at Oriel for anyone looking lost!
Transport
Oxford Station is a 15 minute walk from the venue and is the primary station for trains coming from London, Bristol or the North. Oxford Parkway is less conveniently situated and a 25 min taxi from the centre.
If you are ordering taxis for the night, guests staying South, West or East of the centre should use St. Mary’s Church on the High Street. For guests staying North of the centre, drop off and pick up from the Sheldonian Theatre on Broad Street.
Parking
Oxford is famously a city which hates motorists. For guests staying in town, we suggest using one of the Park & Ride facilities and walking from your accommodation.
For guests staying out of town, 001 Taxis is reasonably priced and reliable, and can be booked using their free app – it generally works out cheaper than bus tickets if there are more than two of you. The ‘Park & Ride’ bus services are also reliable.
Photo Gallery
There have been quite a few photos of us over the years. Here’s to many more…!
Gift Registry
As our home is already well-stocked, we have chosen to have a honeymoon gift registry for our wedding, so that guests can contribute towards elements of our upcoming trip to Sri Lanka and Northern India.
We are delighted to be returning to two countries that are very special to us and have an exciting three weeks booked with Audley Travel.
The Finer Details
The dress code for our wedding is formal attire – ties and bow ties, rather than tails and tuxedos!
Although Oxford can be very hot in the summer, our wedding starts later in the day and should avoid the worst of the heat. If the day is wet, the reception will take place in the Champney’s Room, and guests should bring an umbrella to walk between the ceremony and reception.
We’d love to see you and your nearest and dearest to celebrate another time!
We are hoping to be heading straight off to Heathrow the day after our wedding. Please find details of our honeymoon gift list above.
We will have a box for cards at the Divinity School.
Convocation House may feel like a big space, but it was built long before modern fire regulations, meaning we are unfortunately not able to accommodate all our guests for the ceremony itself. Those with reception invites will join the celebrations immediately after the ceremony at Oriel College at 5.30pm.
Don’t worry – you’ll arrive just in time for some enthusiastic confetti throwing and the first drinks!
We are very relieved to be able to go ahead with our wedding third time around, but we do still have some Covid measures that our guests and suppliers have to comply with on the day. We hope these will also help you to feel safe and comfortable, but please reach out to us as soon as possible if you have any concerns.
Our suppliers will be wearing face coverings at all times and maintain 2m social distancing from guests where possible. They will provide hand sanitiser stations at entry points to both venues and the rooms will be kept fully ventilated throughout the ceremony and dinner. Our drinks reception at Oriel will still take place outside.
Our venues request that guests wear a face covering when using enclosed shared spaces, such as corridors and toilets, so do keep your mask to hand for these times. There is space in Convocation House to distance from other guests during the ceremony if you choose to. During the dinner, there will be space between the tables for staff to serve, but guests will not be seated at a distance from each other. You will be within 1m of the guests on either side of you, but those people won’t be change during the meal and we have deliberately not split up household groups to minimise household mixing.
For NHS Test & Trace, we are required to submit our full guest list including the phone numbers of everyone attending. We do have many of your numbers already, but if you’re not sure, please email back with the details of those in your party. The venue’s QR code will also be displayed at the entrance for you to scan in.
Importantly, we are not allowed to include anyone who has been told to self-isolate by NHS Test & Trace or the Covid-19 app. We do hope that – as much as possible – you avoid situations where you might be ‘pinged’ in the days prior to our wedding. Having waited so long to be with you, we really don’t want to be thwarted by Covid at the last moment!
For our own peace of mind and the reassurance of all those attending, we respectfully ask that all our guests take a lateral flow test beforehand, even if you are fully vaccinated, so that we can be confident that we are not putting our friends and family at risk. If you have not already got your own stash as we do, they’re really simple to use, can be ordered for free on the NHS website and come with clear instructions for use – just click here.
Finally, as much as we are thrilled to be able to see you all again, we hope you will be understanding when we do not rush to hug all 118 of our wedding guests, as we are mindful of reducing the risk to you all. While this is a very important day for us, we want to be respectful of your safety and comfort. Likewise, we will not be offended in any way if you choose to keep a distance or wear your mask at our wedding. What matters to us is that you are there and you enjoy yourself as much as possible!
You can click the button below to download a PDF guide to our wedding day, including a map of Oxford!
RSVP
We kindly ask that all RSVPs are sent by 30th June, including any dietary requirements or allergies. For guests who prefer not to eat lamb, please request the vegetarian main course.