Let’s brighten things up around this Tuesday with this colour popping celebration sent to me by real bride Kate and wedding photographer Tori Deslauriers. Kate and Phil opted for a fresh look alongside traditional details, personal touches and lots of bright colour. Today’s Real Wedding is all things bright and beautiful. Enjoy.
Kate says: Phil asked me to marry him on 2nd August 2011. We were in the planning process of building a new house, Phil told me we had an appointment to see the architect so I got the afternoon off work. When he picked me up, he told me we weren’t going to the architect we were going to choose an engagement ring. I was given a ring box with a washer in it! I had always said I’d want to pick my own ring, just to make sure…
We were married on Sat 7th September 2013 (ten and a half years after we got together)! The ceremony was at St Peters Church in Humbleton, East Yorkshire and the reception was in a marquee at the Walled Gardens of Burton Constable Stately Home.
The Church is our local parish church, which is a quaint country church and was only 5 minutes from home, so was an obvious choice.
We knew we both wanted a marquee reception – something we could make our own. We had previously been to a wedding at Burton Constable and commented on how beautiful and private the gardens were, it was only 10 minutes from the church so it was perfect. We didn’t even look at any other venues.
We wanted the wedding day to be modern and stylish, so went for a black and white theme with a hint of colour.
I feel in love with my dress (‘Grace Kelly’ by David Fielden) when I visit the Noble and Wright stand at the National Wedding Show in London. I had gone to the show with the sole purpose of finding a dress, but didn’t bank on the stockiest being in Leicester!
The dress was both modern and classic at the same time. It was v neck with a lace back but had an amazing full tulle skirt. The dress was so light and comfy to wear; I didn’t want to take it off!
Hannah arranged for me to have a full day’s fitting with her seamstress, so my dress fitted like a glove (and meant I only needed to make the five hour round trip to Leicester three times).
As the dress didn’t have a train, I wore my sister’s cathedral length veil which was edged with lace, and finished the dress of perfectly. My shoes were Christian Louboutin. As Phil is nearly a foot taller than me, it was a perfect excuse to splash out on some designer heels.
My makeup was done by Helen Guy Make Up Artist.
I had two adult bridesmaids (my sister Sarah and best friend Rosie) who wore black Dessy dresses with lace detail, from Bridal Design Studio in Scunthorpe. My two nieces wore white princess flower girl dresses with a thick black sash and bow at the back.
My adult bridesmaids had pink and purple shoes and the flower girls had ivory shoes with lace bows on the front which I painted with fabric paints so one had yellow on their shoes and the other orange. The girls had the same coloured bouquets as their shoes.
All the groomsmen had black tail suits with bright coloured ties with matching pocket hankies, socks and button holes. The groom was in pink, best man in purple, ushers in yellow and dad’s in orange. These were hired from Len Beck in Hull.
My dad drove me to the church in his Model T which he had imported from Alabama and lovingly restored for our wedding. I’ve always been a daddy’s girl so the time and effort he put into restoring his vintage car and making it perfect for my wedding means a lot.
I carried a hand tied bouquet of gerberas in all four wedding colours.
Sasha at Serendipity did an amazing job with the flowers considering I didn’t give her much guidance. I wasn’t really sure what I did want, but I did know what I didn’t! I gave her the colour scheme and that I had giant wine glasses for the table centre, and left the rest to her… when I walked into the church and marquee I was blown away by how amazing it all looked!
We had the amazing Sarah Brickel who sang Eva Cassidy ‘Songbird’ and Adele ‘Feel My Love’ in the church whilst we signed the register and she also provided background music at the drinks reception.
Phil had sorted the directional signs from the church to the reception. I thought they would just be normal arrows, but he’d done them as rally stage signs for the ‘Burton Bridal Stages’. It touched me the thought and effort he’s put into it. Thanks must go to our friend Lawrence and Greens The Signmakers for making these amazing signs!
Our marquee was by Black Cherry Events, our catering by Friends 4 Dinner and a hog roast by Hot Trotters.
To keep the children entertained I made party boxes with their names on. Each one was filled with fun games for their age which they could do at the table. We didn’t hear a peep out of them throughout the speeches or meal.
Our beautiful cake was made by my very talented sister. It was a three tier square, with thick black ribbon and lace stencil detail. The bottom tier was a massive two stone fruit cake, and the others were lemon and chocolate.
Phil and I are self-confessed petrol heads, and compete together in rallies. We wanted to get this into the wedding somewhere to make it personal, but it not to be too much. We had the cake topper made by Beautiful Cake Toppers, which fitted the bill perfectly and now has pride of place on the mantel piece!
In the evening we had a DJ and band – The International Party Doctors. We also had a photobooth taxi by Yorkshire Party Booth which was a novelty and the guests loved it!
We had a mini-moon in the Lake District straight after the wedding. Then at the end of September we flew off to Australia for four weeks for a holiday of the lifetime. We delayed the main honeymoon so we could climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Phil’s 30th birthday.
My top tip for other Brides Up North would be to enjoy the lead up to the wedding and don’t stress about the little things as it will all come together perfectly on the day. Take some time out as a couple on the actual day to have a look around as see how much your guests are enjoying themselves.
Congratulations Kate & Phil?
If you’d like to share your own Real Wedding with us on Brides Up North, here’s how. I can’t wait to hear from you!
Brides Up North UK Wedding Blog – Images © 2014 Tori Deslauriers
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