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Sometimes life gives you lemons. It’s up to you to make lemonade.
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I was contacted recently by my wedding industry friend Charlene of Love Gets Sweeter wedding films, who had a bad experience with her photographer on her own wedding day. I’m not here to air dirty laundry, but the long and short of it was that Charlene ended up without a photographic record of her big day.
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So what’s a girl to do but enlist the help of a fab photographer and celebrate all over again with a stunning bridal shoot? Girl Power!
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With help from Evie at Chapter Photography, Charlene got to share her Real Wedding story with Brides Up North after all…
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Lets hear from Charlene: We were engaged on our first anniversary back in 2003, on a moonlit beach in Spain. We had both bought rings with the intention of proposing but I shied away and Lee beat me to it! He had to hide the ring in his pants so I wouldn’t see the box shape in the pocket of his linen trousers!
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We were married on 30th August 2009 (reshoot date 20th November 2011) at The Hillbark Hotel, Royden Park in the Wirral. I had seen footage of the venue at my old work and fell in love with it. With no prices on the website we were initially put off but went to see it all the same. We couldn’t help but be blown away and thankfully the prices weren’t scary. When we went back we couldn’t help but feel butterflies again.
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We kept it simple with white flowers and light blue bridesmaids dresses and waistcoats. The table plan was New York themed as that was where we went together after meeting at Camp in Minnesota back in 2002 (it took 28hrs on a coach!).
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For my wedding gown, I had a lace vintage number in mind but nothing I found really suited me. My Nana actually picked my dress out after seeing it in a window and making my try it on. It was perfect and she loved it that much she helped pay for it! It was an Ellis Bridal design and I haven’t seen it anywhere else! The shop was a local one by my Mum’s in Newark, Notts.
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I carried a white bouquet full or different sized roses, lisanthus, stephanotis… and other white flowers but I can’t remember their names! I went for a frilly look.
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The most important special touch on our day was writing our own vows. Civil ceremonies can be so short so we tried to make it as personal as possible. I also decorated our cake, with the help of my bridesmaid/ sister in law, with handmade daisies and a personalised cake topper (the first one lost the grooms head in the oven!). We had our invitations designed by a friend and worked closely with him to get them perfect.
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We also learnt a quickstep for our first dance to show off a bit and then had a hip hop dance group perform afterwards as we love dance! We tried to make it all as personal as possible.
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A friend made a white tiered cake with Chocolate, fruit and lemon sponge. I then decorated with white ribbon and flower paste daisies with crystal centres.
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In the evening, we lit Thai lanterns (trust me, very entertaining to watch when its windy!) and watched them float into nothingness.
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We honeymooned in Hong Kong and then Koh Samui in Thailand. I can’t wait to go back and we’ve found ourselves eating a lot of Thai food since we’ve been back!
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My top tip for other Brides Up North would be that it really is true what they say, the day will pass by so quickly and it’s worth taking time out throughout the day to reflect. We found that the best way to take it all in and slow everything down a little! Investing in photo and video is a must. If, after the day, you are unfortunate enough to go through what we have then a ‘re-shoot’ is a must. The good memories and feelings from the day came flooding back just being at the Hillbark and we now have some nice couple shots that we can treasure forever and share with our family.
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Lucky for Charlene, she also caught her actual big day on video camera… here are her highlights!
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My Wedding Trailer from Love Gets Sweeter on Vimeo.
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Congratulations Charlene & Lee! 
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Brides Up North UK Wedding Blog – Images © 2012 Chapter Photography
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