From watching The Wedding Planner to heading up our Wedding Team!

10th July 2022

Watching movies such as 27 Dresses

As well as Jennifer Lopez’s blockbuster The Wedding Planner gave Debbie Armstrong the desire to plan and deliver weddings. That said, it wasn’t until Debbie decided to change career that the opportunity to fulfil her dream arose and join the award-winning Ellingham Hall team.

Whilst having an informal chat with Debbie our General Manager, David, recognised her warm and friendly personality, it was clear to him that Debbie was ambitious and passionate – all attributes that David knew would be essential in becoming a successful wedding and events planner. Little did he know that later that year the stars would align, and Ellingham Hall would be looking to recruit a new wedding and events co-ordinator, which Debbie later became the successful applicant of. Having no hands-on experience in the world of weddings it was Debbie’s sparkling personality, kindness and transferable skills from previous employment that made her stand out.

During Debbie’s first year with Ellingham Hall, she really earned her stripes by planning and part delivering the extensive backlog of weddings that were sadly not able to take place during the pandemic. Under tremendous pressure Debbie had to plan multiple weddings side by side, all the while making each couple feel special. It was Debbie’s calm approach and excellent customer service skills that gained her a promotion, awarding her the title of Head of Weddings and Events.

With Debbie’s new role and Ellingham Hall winning the title of ‘Events team of the year’, awarded at the regional final of The Wedding Industry Awards, we thought we’d catch up with Debbie and see how she’s enjoying being the real-life Mary Fiore, planning and delivering bespoke weddings at our exclusive Northumberland Wedding Venue.

What did you do before joining Ellingham Hall?

I am a trained nurse but was working in retail when I was chatting to my neighbour, David, who is General Manager, about a career change. When I asked him what he did, I told him it was a dream of mine to plan weddings as I’d been inspired by movies, like The Wedding Planner. It isn’t quite the same as what you see on screen, of course. It is a real privilege to help couples plan and deliver their dream wedding.

Any standout moments?

Well, there was one time when a florist forgot the confetti and suddenly realised before the ceremony. We pulled out all the stops and managed to contact our admin assistant, Wendy, who had some. It arrived about three minutes before the couple left the Ceremony Room. The bride was so grateful because it was important to her. It was a lovely photograph. One bride was in the process of getting ready, and when I popped into the suite to check everything was OK, she jumped up and gave me a huge hug because she was so thrilled with everything!

What have you learned so far?

It’s nice to make people feel good and make them happy. It maybe just my job, but it’s important because their wedding memory will be with them forever. It’s more than just a job, and it’s why I even take work home because I want every couple to know that every detail is as important to us as it is to them.

We just wanted to say the biggest thank you for giving us the best weekend of our lives. From when we first stepped into Ellingham Hall in June 2022 we knew we wanted to be married there! It is truly the most magical place and the excitement we felt instantly was insane!

Throughout the whole planning process we could not have imagined having a better team to be working with. Communicating with you guys was so easy, and thank you so much for answering my endless questions constantly and reassuring me all the time haha!

The wedding tasting and open houses were fabulous in the build up and we just knew from these that our wedding weekend was going to be amazing!

On that Friday afternoon/evening on our arrival, we felt so comfortable and confident with everyone working at Ellingham. Everyone truly worked so hard to make us feel comfortable and relaxed prior to the big day.

Our wedding day itself was truly the best day of our lives. The way the co-ordinators worked with our suppliers and our plans to make sure everything was perfect was incredible. The food throughout the weekend was absolutely spectacular and we can not believe how insane the cocktails were! The whole venue is so beautiful and elegant and we couldn’t have imagined having our day anywhere else.

What truly set you guys above and beyond were all of your staff. You are truly the most incredible team who went above and beyond to make sure everyone had the best day, and we can never thank you enough.

Megan and Sam Burgess, 23rd September 2023
“Wow we don’t even know where to start, as you can imagine we have been in such a bubble ever since our big day. Our wedding day was everything we wished for and more. You guys are just amazing and we can’t thank you all enough, from our first day coming to view to the planning process to our big day, everything just ran so smoothly, you guys have been an absolute credit. Yous have helped us in so many ways. Yous have listened to everything we asked. And our day was beautiful because of that. Not only did we have the most amazing day, our guests did too, we have had so many comments back saying “it’s the best wedding I’ve ever been to” “that is how you do a wedding” “the staff were all amazing” “this venue is stunning” it’s just incredible, very overwhelming but we’ll be forever grateful for that. Big big thank you to you and David for being with us on the morning of our wedding making sure everything is running smoothly. Big big thank you to Alicia for all her help and support. And to every other Ellingham staff member present on our big day, thank you because without all of you guys we wouldn’t have had any of that! I wish we could just do it all again, it was perfect! Forever grateful.”

Stephanie & David Armstrong, 2nd September 2023
“Can’t believe it’s been 2 months since our big day! We’re finally off on our honeymoon, so wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you for all your help in creating our special day. The venue was perfect, service excellent, food yummy, den amazing, rooms beautiful – everyone had the best time.”

Rebecca & Daniel Askew, 28th May 2024
“We have hosted a number of corporate events and the staff have always been superb in supporting us. Our guests are always delighted when they walk through the doors and get to spend a day in the beautiful surroundings. “

DIGITAL SPARKLES – NICOLA LITTLE (CHIEF SPARKLER & DIRECTOR)
“We can’t thank the team at Ellingham Hall enough for going above and beyond on our special day, our day was magical and nothing was impossible. Debbie and Wendy made us feel heard and valued and the staff were fantastic and made sure it all went smoothly. We want to do it all again and we couldn’t have done it without the fantastic team at Ellingham Hall.”

Lyndsay & Ryan Ford, 11th July 2024
“I have hosted seminars for over 30 years, all over the country at various well-known venues. At Ellingham Hall you remember everything, from the beautiful quirky venue which has retained its historic features, the friendly staff, great service and the delicious food and amazing coffee! The meeting room had good light and was the perfect size for our event. It was lovely to have use of the comfortable reception rooms too for breaks and lunch. I was very impressed with the extra spaces such as the basement games room and rooftop networking terrace. It is a hidden jewel in the North-East and I am planning to return soon for a private family event”

Amanda Chadwick, Senior Speaker/Presenter, Croner

From watching The Wedding Planner to heading up our Wedding Team!

Watching movies such as 27 Dresses

What did you do before joining Ellingham Hall?

Any standout moments?

What have you learned so far?

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