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Is it raining where you are? Yeah, me too. Those pesky Southerners, thinking they know it all about weddings (we know better!) and now hogging the sunshine too?!
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Anyway, we don’t care! If it rains on our parade, we just do it in style – as proved nicely by today’s real bride Olivia and her wet and wonderful race day wedding captured by Anna Louise Crossley. Olivia made sure that her big day was so bright, colourful and packed with personal touches that when it rained, she made rainbows.
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…and sourced her wedding using entirely local suppliers. Good girl!
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I love this. Enjoy.
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Olivia says: We got engaged at home in October 2011. Jon asked me when he got home from work. I had the day off and was watching the news, drinking tea and eating Jaffa Cakes. We were married on
June 30th 2012 at Holy Trinity, Ripon then afterwards at Ripon Racecourse.
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We are both sporty, we like racing and we wanted somewhere different for our wedding. Most of our friends and family weddings have been at stately homes or hotels and we fancied something quirkier. We also wanted lots of outdoor space for children.
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The wedding had a vague newspaper theme because we are both journalists and met each other while we worked at rival papers in East Anglia, with a colour base of sea green, turquoise and pink.
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I chose 1950s style tea length wedding dress with a full skirt and halter neck, from Carlton Couture in Ripon. It was quite a simple and plain design (I am a tomboy you see!!) I also had a little jacket with collar which stood up and a bird cage head dress. We wanted to keep everything as local as possible to help businesses in Ripon. {Editor’s note: hear hear!}
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My bridesmaids wore turquoise/sea green dresses from a shop in Florida – it’s the only thing we bought outside North Yorkshire!
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I walked down the aisle carrying a beautiful bouquet of peach, pink and white roses, sweet peas and hydrangeas by Twisted Willow Floristry, who also provided the flowers for my bridesmaids and the wedding reception.
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The ceremony was so brilliant. I couldn’t stop grinning. When we got to the altar Jon told me he had written L and R on the soles of his shoes – but the wrong way round, that’s what he’s like.
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The vicar Rev. Isaac Lawrence was quite inexperienced. He is originally from Pakistan and after the marriage part of the ceremony he produced a mirror, which he said was a Pakistani tradition. It was lovely and made a great photo opportunity. This was my favourite part of the day because I had been nervous and it was just so amazing to be surrounded by all our favourite people in the world.
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We asked as many people to make things for our wedding as possible. My mum made a banner for above the top table, my father in law created a “newspaper front page” celebrating our wedding. My dad made ceramic hearts for place names and a DVD slideshow of us growing up which was played during the signing of the register. My mother in law made the cake and a lolly tree for the children. My father in law drove us in his car – which should have been convertible except it was raining! – and my sister made our invitations!
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Ripon Racecourse recommended a local jazz band – I Love New York. They’re from my old school in Ripon. They were amazing and everyone complimented them.
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After the wedding we had a mini-moon in my aunt’s cottage near the Lake District and we are going to Barbados later in the year.
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My top tip for other Brides Up North would be to splash out on a really great photographer like Anna Louise Crossley. She is ace. Also buy some cute wellies in case it rains!
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Congratulations Olivia & Jon!
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Get in touch to share your Real Wedding with Brides Up North! Don’t be shy!
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Brides Up North UK Wedding Blog – Images © 2012 Anna Louise Crossley
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