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When Jackie of J Clitheroe Photography and real bride Kate sent me this afternoon’s Real Wedding, I was instantly smitten. Everything about this wedding – from the relaxed yet gorgeous bouquets to the grinning groom to Kate’s “dancing” dress – sings of a good time, and a couple who are best friends. The perfect start to the Easter weekend (and they even had Kinder Egg favours!).
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Kate says: We got engaged on a camping trip in the South of France in July 2009. Pete proposed one evening while we were sitting in the tent in the rain. He said he had to do it before the following evening as we were going to see Status Quo (Pete’s choice not mine!) and he wouldn’t be able to enjoy it if he knew he still had to pop the question.
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We were married on 26th March 2011 at Monk Fryston Hall near Leeds, then we had our evening reception in Goole, our hometown, at the Vikings Hotel.
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We wanted somewhere which was elegant but wasn’t too imposing. Monk Fryston had this but also had a ‘cosy’ feel to it. Also, we’re both real foodies and had heard excellent things about the food there – we weren’t disappointed!
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We never really discussed a theme for the wedding; we didn’t want to be tied to just one colour or style, so the theme really just became ‘a collection of stuff we like.’ Luckily it all came together OK! Most things ended up being a variation of green or purple as they are our favourite colours. Though we intentionally didn’t want everything to be too co-ordinated, we just chose things that caught our eye.
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My dress was ‘Ryan’ by Augusta Jones, from Scarlet Poppy in Pudsey. It was a drop-waist slim A-line, with a lace bodice and chiffon skirt. It was really important to me to have a dress which wouldn’t get in my way when I wanted a dance! Some of the bigger dresses I tried felt so heavy and bulky, but as soon as I tried this dress on I felt so comfortable in it and I loved how romantic the light material of the skirt was.
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The bridesmaids wore full length, chiffon dresses from the Jasmine range, which were from It’s All About the Dress in Hedon. I wanted each of them to feel great in their dress and liked the idea of asking them to choose their own style so they could each be different. I think everyone was happy with the arrangement- I didn’t have the stress of trying to find a dress which would suit all three of them and they felt a bit more individual. Many of the wedding guests commented on the day that they thought it was a really good idea.
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Our flowers were by Posies by Amy in Goole. I wanted my flowers to look really natural and simple, like they had just been picked and hand tied. I’m rubbish with names of flowers and so just pointed out things I liked to Amy, our florist, she did a brilliant job. My bouquet was an assortment of hydrangea, muscari and other things I don’t know the names of!
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In the morning, everybody (except me, my Mum and Bridesmaids who were already at the venue) piled on to a double decker red London Bus, which was provided by Red Bus Days in Keighley and came complete with bus conductor and ticket machine! Then the bus took us to the evening reception venue in Goole after the wedding breakfast.
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Pete is a talented musician and song writer and wrote an acoustic guitar piece for me to walk down the aisle to. He also did a brilliant job in slightly altering the Edward Monkton Lovely Dinosaur reading to suit us!
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To add another special touch to the day, my Nana is a great artist – she made custom floral designs for our invitations, place cards and table numbers, which she based on a verse on spring flowers in Shakespeare’s ‘The Winter’s Tale.’
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We used J Clitheroe Photography from Selby. We really liked the natural style of Jackie’s photos – and that she didn’t overuse airbrushing or effects, as we still wanted to look like us! We were sold after meeting up with Jackie, as she was so lovely we knew we would both be really comfortable around her on the day, especially in the morning taking pictures of the bridal preparations. It’s surprising how much time you spend with your photographer on your wedding day, so if you can have a bit of a giggle with them it really is a bonus!
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We had a cheese tower cake made by Chucks and Cheese in Goole. As it was a very Yorkshire affair we decided that the bottom tier of the cake should be fruit cake. Pete made clay model mice cake toppers for the top of our cheese tower!
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We hired a DJ from BCs Promotions in York. We’re both very much into our music and probably had some quite unusual choices for a wedding disco, but we loved it.
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My favourite part of the day was definitely the party in the evening! One of the things we always said throughout planning was that we just wanted everyone to be relaxed, well fed and watered and having a good time. There was such a fun atmosphere in the evening and so many people were up dancing, we didn’t want to leave!
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We had an amazing honeymoon in Thailand, travelling around some of the islands then spending a few days in Bangkok.
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My top tip for other Brides Up North would be “don’t sweat the small stuff”– on the day nobody will notice if small details are not perfect. If there are glitches, try to laugh about them – they’re usually the parts that make the interesting stories down the line!
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Congratulations Kate & Pete! 
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Brides Up North UK Wedding Blog – Images © 2012 J Clitheroe Photography
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