Holly Ramsay’s elegant wedding plans and gift registry are inspired by her parents

“I see so much of my parents' stuff here,” says Holly Ramsay smiling, as she wanders around The Townhouse. “I’m like, oh, this is where they got it from.” She points to the Portmeirion salad bowls set, “My mum has those. They actually got them as a wedding present. They’re very heavy — I remember as a child trying to lift them to put them away.” She mimes heaving something heavy above her head and laughs at the memory. 

Holly has dropped by The Wedding Shop to meet her Gift Guru and to create a wedding registry for her upcoming nuptials to Olympian Adam Peaty. She’s just as chic in real life as online, arriving elegantly dressed, in a belted oatmeal coat with embellished lapels by Danish brand Rotate Birger Christensen, a black tiered midi dress, and black Prada loafers styled with white ankle socks with ruffle trim. Two small pendants — a cross and the initial A — and a micro Dior saddle bag complete the look. You might think based on her outfit that she’s not especially approachable, but you’d be wrong. She’s warm, kind, thoughtful, even a little playful at times. She also has a self-deprecating sense of humour — we complimented her nails (long, red, almond shaped) and she confided that “One actually fell off this morning! I was like mum, where’s the superglue!?” After initial greetings, we set off together around the house looking for the best wedding presents for the couple, and as we browse, conversation keeps naturally returning to their wedding plans, which is the Digital Creator’s main focus at the moment. “it’s everything I talk about. My poor siblings are so bored of it!”

She is the second child and daughter of one of the most revered chefs in the world, and yet in a tongue and cheek way, Holly makes no secret of the fact that she lacks culinary skills, joking, “When I’m a wife I’ll be able to cook and make a bed with all the cushions?!” Yet, despite little interest in preparing food, she does have plans to add kitchenware to her wedding list. Her registry will be split into two groups: practical things they need, and beautiful items she wants. “I have a pink Le Creuset pot, but I want to keep it pristine, so it’s for display only.” As she walks around the tableware room she picks up items she’s drawn to, like the Anna Von Lipa tumblers. “I love this glass. I’m obsessed with lovely glasses and novelty cups, but not for use.” She laughs again before adding, “for display!”

Holly has — after growing up in such a foodie household — been exposed to some of the best kitchen and tableware money can buy. So we enquire, what items does she actually use day-to-day that aren’t just objets d'art? Without hesitation she responds: “Snack cups. I’m a big snacker, I snack all day.” Snack cups, in case you are wondering, are not a whole category of homeware you missed. They’re just regular mugs filled with her favourite nibbles. “Some cups I use for frozen grapes. Some cups I use for crisps. You know, some spicy, some salty, mix them together…” We ask about her go-to brands for these, and she has a few, but they depend on the use case. If she’s grazing then she prefers a fun cup ideally with a super long handle, like the ones Caroline Gardener does. It’s different for hot drinks though, “I like the Soho Home mugs — they have a good handle for tea. And for coffee I like the Anna + Nina mugs that say things like Good Morning.” Importantly, they all have one thing in common: practicality. “I want things that can go in the dishwasher!”

All the talk of eating and drinking brings the subject around to wedding food, which is being overseen by her dad. We ask what brief she gave him for the wedding breakfast and she’s surprised but casual in her response and tone. ‘Oh my goodness, it wasn't necessarily Dad it needs to be this. He's been so excited from the beginning and we've always, always talked about him doing the food. So it'll be very much, I guess the food we have at home. It's not going to be anything fancy. I'm a big fan of, like, a spicy pasta, or just like steak and chips, you know, super easy food. Not too complicated…because at the end of the day, you're celebrating over a meal with friends. So just the feel good, easy food.” 

They’ve not got as far as planning the wedding cake, though she’s definitely having one. Her only criteria at the moment is that it has to be “good cake.” When pressed for what that means she adds, “I love red velvet. But then you can't beat a classic, like vanilla sponge cake.” Then, conversation moves to their engagement party, which was held in December 2024, and whether she would like to replicate anything from that bash, such as the espresso martini tower. She says, they’ll probably do something similar at their wedding, but with a slight menu change, “If I can do it with spicy margaritas, I will.” 

Dad, Gordon, is leading on the food, but mum, Tana, and her youngest brother, Jesse, are helping Holly find her dresses. Yes, dresses, plural. They’ll certainly be a costume change, but she’s not sure how many just yet, because while the three of them have all been to multiple boutiques together, the hunt is still ongoing. “I've been thinking about my wedding since I was super young, so to finally get to go and try on these big beautiful dresses…I just couldn't wait! I always go wedding dress shopping with my mum and younger brother at like 10 in the morning.” We quiz her on whether she knew what she wanted before she began, and she shakes her head no. “I went in with a few ideas of dresses I have seen, but I wanted to not leave any stone unturned, so I put them aside and tried on literally every cut, neckline, length, fabric…so that I could rule out what was not right and discover the dress that truly felt me!” She’s been dress shopping for several months now, and reveals that she has found one of her dresses, but is hopeful she will pick the other(s) soon. “This year's collections have only just come into stores literally this month, so we're still having a look around. Keeping options open… And if I can try on dresses for a bit longer, then I'll try on dresses…” We ask her if she can tell us anything about the gown she’s picked, and she’s coy, but we infer from her response that it’s her ceremony look. “I have gone for something that feels like me. It's feminine, modern, yet timeless. I’ve ruled out anything with sequins…They’re for the afterparty!” Would you ever consider wearing your mum’s dress, we ask, and get a politician’s deft answer: “I love my mum's dress. It's in this beautiful, like, silky fabric, and it's still very traditional, but it would suit the modern bride today. So I love how timeless and elegant it is. When we were renovating my parents house a couple years ago, my mum actually got out her wedding dress and tried it on which was so beautiful. She still looks incredible in it.”

She moves on to talking about her parents' wedding, which was in 1996, and the influence it’s had over her. “I loved my parents' wedding, I love how happy they both look in the photos. It was a very traditional wedding yet they made it theirs effortlessly with small adjustments. I've only ever seen pictures from it…I’ve definitely gone through the photo albums [for inspiration]. It was about 30 years ago now. Everything that they had then, I want to have at ours, and kind of keep traditions, but bring in a bit of a younger feel as well.” How does she plan to give it a younger feel, we ask? “I'd say the more modern stuff would come in with maybe, like, the second dress or outfit change.”

We’ve made it to The Townhouse’s lifestyle room, when Holly suddenly bounds over to the Yeti display. “Adam is obsessed with Yeti! I bought him a cool box in King Crab orange, but this is more my colour palette,” she gestures to the navy and charcoal colourways. Next we move to the bathroom, and it’s the bath linen that catches her eye, “I love these towels,” she says as she trails her hands along the egyptian cotton. And in the bedroom I find her in a robe with one of those towels wrapped around her head, giggling, enthusiastically piling up scatter cushions on the bed. Is that what she meant earlier about being able to make a bed with all the pillows, we enquire? She tells us she doesn’t have time to do this at home, but she wants “one day, that kind of bed, that you can literally just collapse into and it's like landing on feathers.”

The penultimate room during her appointment is the kitchen. Holly is going through the cupboards and drawers, looking at cutlery and utensils. As she lifts out knives and forks to test the weight of them, it’s impossible not to notice her beautiful engagement ring — a 2-carat oval-cut pale yellow diamond on a gold band — it catches the light and everyone coos over it. She didn’t pick it apparently. “We did a few appointments together, and then I gave Adam a list of what I liked, and left him to it. He did so well, I’m so lucky, I love it.” She sparkles almost as much as the ring when she says this. “I tried on the shape I thought I wanted and was like nope. It’s like that with [wedding] dresses as well, you go in thinking you want one thing, and…,” she admires her hand and finishes with a shrug. 

At the end of her appointment, on the living room sofa, Holly shares a fact she recently learnt that she thinks is great. “I had no idea the groom is actually called the bridegroom. So it literally translates to the bride’s man! I love that!” Holly has been engaged since September 2024 and has been thinking about their wedding ever since apparently. We ask what they’ve planned for the big day so far, which is set to take place this year, in December 2025. “We’ve just confirmed we’re getting married in the UK,” she says. She's tightlipped on their criteria for choosing a wedding venue, but she does share the significance behind the location and season of their wedding. “So, being British, and Adam representing his country, there’s just something so English about getting married in the winter. When it’s dark outside, but it's so magical inside. I love summer, but winter is my favorite time of the year. I get very hot and bothered in the sun, so the cold is just more me.” She wants the wedding to feel festive, she tells us she wants the, “Christmas magic feeling of everyone coming together to celebrate and have a great time. I love the idea of a cold day but with sunshine!” From a wedding theme point of view this means a deep rich colour palette and lots of candlelight. “We both love darker, yet warm tones and winter is the perfect time for that! We want a super cosy and intimate feel and the winter lighting will be in our favour as we can really experiment with candles — either Diptyque or Jo Malone are our favourites!” 

There’s still a lot of planning to do, so what’s up next on their list? “Probably, like getting into the details now. We've done the main things. So now, kind of finalizing menus, and I love making things like the stationery. I absolutely love designing, I did the invites for our engagement party, so I'm so excited to get involved in that.” Getting involved means experimenting with typography and meaningful motifs, and working on the wedding invite wording: “I love playing around with different illustrations, fonts and small things that mean something to us, which really adds a personal touch.” While she’s going to be heavily involved in the creative process, the invites will not be a DIY job. “I'm not a professional, so that's when professional help comes in, but I love being a huge part of it too.”

We wrap up by asking her about her wedding gift list, and what’s going to be on it. It turns out she’s had an early present already, from sibling Megan. “I’m going to FaceGym in the morning. My older sister gave it to me as a wedding present.” As for the rest of the presents, they plan to pick a few traditional wedding gifts, and there’s a few brands and motifs that they know will feature heavily on their list (Late Afternoon, Anna + Nina, The Conran Shop, and lobsters…), but she’s still working it out. “I've seen so many things that you could see online and never really visualize in your own space, so to be able to see them in situ — and kind of play house for the day — has been so fun. I've been so inspired by different ways to style things, and different colors and different prints that don't go together on paper, but when you put them in front of each other, they look incredible. And it looks exactly how I would want it at home. There’s definitely something for everyone here.” 

Preview Holly's Wedding List

See a selection of Holly's wedding registry here, or view Holly Ramsay's complete expert list.

As we say goodbye and hand over the post appointment goodie bag, we ask her how she found the experience of starting her gift registry. “Oh my goodness, It's been incredible. I know if I were to bring my mum she'd be all over the house, and Adam would be in different rooms, we'd all have huge lists.” She tells us that they’d make a dream team when it comes to wedding list shopping. “I love comfort, so the cushions, the blankets, the you know, duvets, all the comfy stuff. Adam would probably be a little bit more practical, like the pizza oven, or something tech, or some kind of board game. Mum, she's very good at getting the little things that make a whole room come together, if that makes sense. It's like the small finishing bits. So together, we could all make a perfect room.” Lots of couples bring friends and family on their appointments, we say, so bring them next time? “Oh, yes!” she replies. We can’t wait, Holly.