Inside Ascot TV Host Rosie Tapner's Garden Wedding, Where Family History Was Woven Into Every Detail of the Day

Welcome to Real Wedding Inspiration, where we collect and curate beautiful wedding stories. We invite Wedding Present Company couples to share favourite moments from their special day — and we have stunning photos of every last detail. 

Rosie and Ross didn't have to go far to get married: just a short walk between the village church and her parents' garden, where a marquee reception, a hand-built bar and a night under canvas turned her childhood home into a wedding venue for the day. 

Model-turned-TV-presenter Rosie Turner (née Tapner), a familiar face on the racing coverage at Ascot and Goodwood, wanted a day that felt entirely like her own family, rather than any kind of production. "So much of our wedding was homemade," she says, "which just made it feel like us." From her mum taking care of the venue to bespoke touches running through nearly every part of the day, it was a family affair from start to finish.

Rosie shares how she and her husband Ross filled their wedding day with the people who love them most. Expect a bridal look and groom's style, each carrying a little piece of family history, wedding planning that proved it really does take a village, with their friends and family pitching in from the very first decision, and favourite picks from their wedding registry with The Wedding Present Company. 

"I have no idea how Ross managed to surprise me, as I was so desperate to get engaged, but he did it," Rosie says of the proposal, which took place in Cornwall on Brea Hill. The two of them had gone up for what she calls "a really average picnic," just sausage baps and a cider each, with the whole hilltop to themselves. Rosie noticed his heart racing and asked if he was alright; he blamed it on all the walking. An hour later he got down on one knee with a ring box she recognised instantly. "It was my great-great-granny's ring box," Rosie says. "I was so overwhelmed I was instantly ugly crying and missed the entire proposal," she admits. "He proposed with my great-great-granny's ring, which was so special." Ross checked whether she had taken it in, and when she admitted she had missed the whole thing, he got back down and did it all over again. "The whole thing was just magic," Rosie says, "I have never felt so special."

Rosie's mum helped the couple to kick off the wedding planning checklist by taking things in hand. "My mum was amazing," Rosie says. "The day after we told her we were engaged, she had already booked the church, caterer and the band. We had the best time planning, everything was homemade, and it was all super personal to us." Neither Rosie nor Ross hired a wedding planner. "We were lucky to have our wedding at my parents so we didn't have a wedding planner," she explains, "we did the whole thing ourselves." Their theme grew out of who they are rather than a mood board: "We wanted it to be simple but pretty, so much of it was homemade... inspired by our travels and hobbies that we love, there was always a touch of us in everything," she says. A family friend who runs a wedding business pointed them towards their suppliers. "What drew us to everyone was just how many weddings they had all done," Rosie adds, "we knew they would be amazing and we could put our trust in them, and know they would do it all perfectly, which they did."

"We had heard about it from lots of friends and they all said it was the best," Rosie says of choosing The Wedding Present Company for their wedding gift list. "It didn't disappoint at all." The showroom appointment made all the difference too. "We loved coming into the showroom," she says, "it was too much fun being able to zap everything we wanted, and also so easy, and there was so much choice as well. But most of all it was such an easy experience, and the team gave us such brilliant guidance on cost and amount of presents we should have on our list." "It really helped seeing things in person and being able to make decisions that way, and also to meet the team in person," she adds. On brands, she's the first to admit defeat. "We are totally hopeless on brands," Rosie laughs, "but we just loved everything there, we really loved the amount of different brands that we could choose from."

The Wedding Present Company gift delivery day itself was another highlight. "Delivery day was so much fun," Rosie says. "Everything arrived perfectly, and it was like the best Christmas ever, like something out of a film, being able to open so many lovely presents that we had chosen." Among her favourite gifts: photo albums they know they'll keep for life, a large frame from The White Company filled with black and white wedding pictures, a cookbook stand used daily, a collection of Addison Ross frames now scattered through the house, a big round Pooky mirror that has become a genuine centrepiece, and, more practically, a full set of pots and pans.

"My dress was a Suzanne Neville dress, which I then had altered by The Modiste," Rosie says. "The Modiste also made my bridesmaids' dresses and my veil, which was so special." The dress itself carries family history: "on the dress we added some pearls from my Mum's wedding dress and from my Granny's wedding dress, so that was crazy special," she says. "My veil was bespoke, and was lace and just beautiful," Rosie adds. "It also has our initials sewn into it." Her shoes came from Emmy London, spotted on the brand's website years before she was even engaged and had 3D petals all over them. She finished the look with a delicate pearl necklace, bracelet, and a gypsophila floral piece under her veil.

The couple’s bridesmaids and pageboys wore bespoke pieces from The Modiste: white dresses with Peter Pan collars and puffed sleeves, finished with pale sage sashes tied into bows at the back, and matching gypsophila flower crowns. 

For the flowers, Rosie and Ross gave their florist a loose brief and a lot of trust. "We actually said to our florist, Andrew Fleming, that we trusted him to do exactly as he thought would look beautiful," Rosie says. "We wanted white flowers in the church and colourful in the marquee, otherwise we were happy to let him have fun with it, within a budget. We just wanted it to look really pretty, not over the top and not too complicated." Rosie's own bouquet followed the same brief: a cascade of white roses and gypsophila.

The decor itself was another family project. "For the decorations we really personalised that and did it on our own," she explains. "We had lampshades that my husband brought back from Cambodia, we recycled some of my sister's decorations, and we used a table we had made on our first date for the cake, and put a tree we had planted on our first date next to the table too. We wanted it to be homemade and special." That table now carries a hand-painted line reading "Dance in the Rain."

"We used The Fabulous Hurricanes, and they really were amazing," Rosie says. "The best band ever!" For their first dance song, the couple chose "Bonfire Heart" by James Blunt. 

"Our wedding photographer was Juliet McKee, and she was just incredible," Rosie says. "All of her photos were super natural and just captured the moments rather than being staged. She got the most special images that we will cherish forever." Films in Bloom filmed alongside her. "They were amazing," she adds. "Again, I didn't even know she was there, she just did it without us even realising. So many amazing memories that we are lucky to have."

When asked about her most memorable wedding highlight, Rosie says, "That is so hard to say, the whole day was just magic. From the morning and reading lovely letters from people, including a very special letter from my husband, to the candles in the church representing our late grandparents, to the music my brother wrote, the poem Ross wrote..." Those candles bore the grandparents' own names, lit "so that when we had the blessing and final hymn we were looking at them and remembering who wasn't there," she explains. The readings carried the same weight: "Ross had also written a poem about me and us a few years before, and we decided to use it as one of our readings, his sister read it out, which was really special," Rosie says, "and my brother had written a piece of music for me that the trumpets played just before I walked down the aisle, that was super special."

The day also carried plenty of British wedding traditions, right down to a best man's speech with a twist. "My husband is an identical twin, so lots of people who didn't know the twins well enough kept getting them mixed up," Rosie says. "His twin, Hugo, was his best man, and their relationship is amazing, it made their speeches incredibly emotional." The weather played its part too: "we also had the perfect weather, cloudy and warm," she adds, which made what came next stand out all the more. "There was a moment when we came into the reception from doing pictures and the clouds parted and the sun came out for about 20 seconds and everyone turned to look at us," Rosie remembers, "and we knew it was my Grandpa, who had died just before the wedding, looking down on us." "We ended our day sitting on the roof of a Land Rover, watching some fireworks and then the two of us sleeping in a tent in the fields, literally perfect," Rosie says.

"HAVE FUN!!! It's all about you two, listen to advice from others but remember that you don't need to take all of the advice," Rosie says. "Also remember that it is your day, not anyone else's day, so do exactly as you want."

Wedding Dress: Suzanne Neville altered by The Modiste, Veil: The Modiste, Bridal Shoes: Emmy London, Bridesmaids' Dresses: The Modiste, Florist: Andrew Fleming, Wedding Caterer: Carte Blanche, Band: The Fabulous Hurricanes, Photographer: Juliet McKee, Videographer: Films in Bloom

Special thank you to Rosie & Ross for giving us permission to share their gorgeous wedding photos. If you would like to join them and be featured on The Wedding Present Company too, submit your wedding below

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