Harriet + Julian | December 2024
“From the moment we first spoke, we both knew Sarah would be the person we wanted to marry us - you were so kind, friendly and warm, it immediately felt like we had known you forever.”
Middleton Lodge had been on my Dream Venue List for a long time. In fact, not even necessarily for a wedding - I just wanted to cast my eyes on the place and the famous, steam-rising-in-the-courtyard outdoor pool. Suffice it to say I was overexcited when Harriet and Julian told me their venue and asked if I would be their celebrant, and festively giddy (in sequins) when their December day rolled around.
And this wasn’t just a bucket list venue, the beautiful bride works for Tatler and this wedding is. in. the. next. issue. Be still my 90s heart. I grew up in the absolute magazine heyday (you probably did too unless you’re reading this and you’re 11 years old); all my pocket money went on fizzy cola bottles and Girl Talk (then Mizz, Just 17, Sugar…you know the drill, I worked up through the ranks as my innocence evaporated). I was magazine-obsessed and I am so excited to see this wedding - Harriet and Julian’s spectacular day - in glossy print.
And the photos are stunning. Heaven help us, they are delicious. I was reunited with photographer Katy Melling, and I just love her work. It deserves to be in Tatler so YAY.
And cast your eyes on those flowers! Absolutely breathtaking arrangements in white tones from luxury floral design studio Mollie & Mauve.
Middleton Lodge didn’t disappoint when I got there (and started doing my Sarah Clarke Celebrates-style snooping around). There are three different spots on the estate where couples can get wed and Harriet and Julian married in the Main House, their friends and family both seated on the ground floor and then stood in a winding circle, looking down from the grand stairs and balcony.
This set up might sound unusual but I thought it was fantastic - I got to address a whole room of loved ones from floor to ceiling, and the atmosphere was electric. Tears from every corner of the magnificent, stately room and laughter from every stair. And, at the end of the ceremony, this set up allowed for the most joyful, stunning confetti shot as rose petals literally rained down on the bride and groom. Even as one of the suppliers, part of the clockwork of the day, I was blown away myself.
Photography by superstar Katy Melling
During the ceremony there were lots of lovely, personal moments. Given their wedding was on the first day of Advent I talked a little about new starts. The dawning of a new chapter for the bride and groom and also how this occasion was a beautiful opportunity to mark both their heritages, celebrating Harriet’s much-missed mum’s Christian faith and Julian’s Jewish roots. Mother-of-the-groom Elizabeth read the first reading, a piece I found by Jewish-Polish poet Dora Teitelboim, originally written in Yiddish.
All my yesterdays were steps
that led to you and you and I alone.
My heart was like a harp that slept
Until you made the strings your own.
The next reading was taken from the Old Testament as a nod to both Christianity and Judaism, a few verses on love - “set me as a seal upon your heart” - from the Songs of Songs.
One of my favourite moments - and a first for me as a celebrant - was that we all got to “mazel tov!” as the bride and groom stomped on a glass underfoot, an ancient Jewish tradition. Among other things, it is said that the glass is broken to protect the marriage with the implication: may your bond be as difficult to break as it would be to put back together the pieces of shattered glass. It was an impactful moment, and we modernised it from the tradition of the groom stomping to both groom and bride stomping together.
There was plenty of laughter too, as I recounted brilliant stories they’d told me from their time together. In the secret section (where I ask each partner individually what they love about each other and they hear it for the first time on their wedding day), Jules and Harriet were hilariously matched. They said lovely, soppy things and then Harriet ended on a compliment about his head of hair and he a compliment about her “fantastic legs”.
For one of the most glamorous, exquisitely-organised weddings I’ve ever done I was not expecting to…hitch-hike outta there! I needed to catch a train back home, but there were no ubers available to the station. I booked a local taxi but it just never showed up. They said 15 minutes’ wait and I waited FIFTY and…nothing. No one turned up. I spent that almost-hour in the December dusk by the roadside, warmed by the glow of a wedding-gone-well, but even I got a bit bored of my own company after that long. Plus it was getting very dark. In the end I flagged down a car leaving Middleton Lodge - a family who’d been enjoying a long Sunday lunch - and they took pity on me. The LEGENDS.
Every wedding is an adventure and this is one I will never forget. And I won’t have to, I’ll have a very special copy of Tatler on my bookshelves.
“I always felt sure you would do an amazing job and that the ceremony would be exactly what we wanted but it was so much more than I thought. It was SO celebratory, the energy in that room was so incredible....people told us afterwards it was the most personal, unique, special ceremony they’d seen.”