Heather Croall and Nick Phillips’ wedding spectacular
Adelaide Fringe director and CEO Heather Croall wed her long-time partner Nick Phillips … again. The pair, who have been together for more than a decade, were married in an inflatable church at Fringe on Valentine’s Day and this time, they opted for a castle in Cumbria.
Fresh from her Lake District wedding, Heather spoke about the nuptials at Muncaster Castle, which has been in the Pennington family for more than 800 years. It was built on Roman ruins and is said to be haunted.
“The Lake District is very important to us because when Nick and I first met, we were living in Sheffeild, England and we used to go walking in the Lake District a lot,” Heather says.
“We first went to Muncaster Castle for a music festival called Krankenhaus years ago, organised by our favourite band Sea Power – we met the Pennington family at that music festival and started talking to them about the idea of having our wedding at the castle.”
"We had about 130 guests and most were on their feet dancing in the barn"
Adelaide’s own Katie Spain was the MC for the ceremony, which was held in the drawing room. Then, it was off to the lawns for Champagne and a special anointment from the king of the castle.
“For the reception, everybody walked across the castle grounds through the woods to the barn … a functioning cow barn. The Kranenhaus music festival in the barn had just finished the day before, so it was still all set up with a bar and everything.
“We had about 130 guests and most were on their feet dancing in the barn. We had a Ceilidh band with a caller to start the dancing off, so we did Strip the Willow and the Gay Gordons and all your typical Ceilidh band songs.
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“We then cut the cake – our wedding was on Nick’s birthday so we have croquembouche as well as wedding cake.”
“Then we had DJs – Chris Arnold, famous for his Beatles Dub Club that wows festivals around the world, and Sean Rowley, famous for Guilty Pleasures around festivals and clubs in the UK. The dance floor was pumping well into the night.”
"We wanted to make the wedding feel like a micro-festival with different areas to explore"
Both the bride and groom wore vintage – Heather found an Oleg Cassini beaded gown for a few hundred dollars in an online vintage store. The designer is famous for creating the Jackie Kennedy look and dressing Hollywood stars, such as Rita Hayworth and Audrey Hepburn. Nick’s suit was a 1970s chalk stripe navy number.
“We wanted to make the wedding feel like a micro-festival with different areas to explore … the first chapter in the castle was stunning and quite formal, and then in the cow barn, it was more get your trainers on and dance your socks off! Lots of food, loads of places for people to sit at tables and on hay bales, fun lighting for the late night dance floor.
“The most amazing thing was the bright blue sky, sunshine all day and a warm balmy night that is not typical weather for Cumbria and the Lake District.”
For more of Heather’s story, and more photos, pick up a copy of SALIFE’s October issue.
