Weddings are all about the people in them and at them, no matter the budget, theme or styling. Amy and Carl wanted an understated celebration surrounded by their nearest and dearest and with a little help from their families, that was exactly what they got.
Fuss free and fabulous.
With images by Brides Up North Sponsor Fairclough Photography.
Amy says:
We first got together in 2009, then split up for a little while. We both went out to the same village pub for New Years Eve 2011 and got back together. When we went out together back to the same village pub for New Year a year later he proposed. We all went outside to do the countdown and he got down on one knee. While everyone else was holding hands and singing we were getting engaged!We were married on July 14th 2014. We had our ceremony at Patrington Church, also known as the Queen of Holderness. Its our village parish and we have both grown up around it. I sang in the choir there for a short time as a child, and my primary school is a Church of England school so harvest festivals and nativities were held there through growing up, and now our son goes to the same primary school. Friends and family have their christenings and weddings there often which made it even more special for us.
We had our reception at The Gardener’s Country Inn, we wanted some where family friendly where everyone could relax, have fun and enjoy themselves. Gardeners have a lovely little play area where children can go so with having 11 children at our wedding reception it was perfect.
Over the course of planning the wedding our style choices varied so much, the only thing we knew we wanted for sure was a simple, natural and understated look. I’m not an overly fussy person and don’t like anything too over the top.
We opted for a colour scheme of sage green and lemon, with daises. We used large tins covered with hessian, filled with flowers and finished off with lace for the centerpieces. We picked up a couple of hessian buntings, one saying Mr&Mrs for our archway, and one saying “just married” for the top table.
My friend Kathy and her husband and daughter spent hours making and hand cutting and painting various sizes of sugar daisies to scatter on the tables which just helped tie everything in together and the children loved them. They also hand painted and filled miniature glass jars with sparkly confetti and decorated them with daisies. We had to have bubbles on the tables too of course!
Everything was family orientated, planning the wedding made our two families come together and everyone did anything they could to make our day special.
Usually wedding dress shopping is the first thing on a bride to be to do list, but I left my dress shopping a little bit last minute and it ended up being a bit of a panic. When I first went I was a bit overwhelmed by it all (mostly having to get undressed in front of a stranger). My original idea for a wedding dress was for a bohemian style wedding dress, simple and flowy, but after trying on the style it just wasn’t for me.
I went to Samantha’s in Hull and there was my dress. I fell in love with it instantly and although it was out of my budget I had to have it! It was a princess cut gown with an ivory lace illusion neckline with pearl detail and finished off with a silver crystal and pearl waist band. With the wedding only 12 weeks away it had to be put a fast track for delivery and manic dress fittings the week before the wedding but the ladies in the store were really helpful and did their best for me and I was so happy with my dress.
Carl wore a grey Prince Edward cut suit, hired from Greenwoods with an ivory rouche and brogues. It was the only part of the wedding planning I had no say in, but he chose well and looked very handsome.
The bridesmaids wore sage green floor length Coast dresses.
Carl’s Aunty Toni volunteered to do our flowers for us, she is very artistic and creative and we were really happy with the end result. We wanted simple, country style flowers and we had a silk daisy assortment. My bouquet was slightly different holding some yellow and white roses too.
Our friends came up with the idea for our cake and made it for us. Instead of having a tiered cake they made a large daisy. The centre of the daisy was a fruit cake, and the petals around the daisy were alternating chocolate and lemon sponge. They made us a Mr and Mrs Bumble Bee to sit in the center, the Mr had a little top hat and the Mrs had a little veil and bouquet.
We had a singer join us for the ceremony and the reception, she sang as I walked down the aisle and again as we walked back up the aisle together as husband and wife. She then travelled to the reception venue where she played throughout the rest of the daytime, up until the DJ started at 7pm for the party.
We have planned our honeymoon to Fuerteventura during the school holidays so our 5 year old son can come with us. A holiday wouldn’t be the same without him.
The best advice we can give to other Brides Up North is that no matter what your budget, your photographer is one of the most important parts of your wedding day. Do your research, look at their web page see if you like their style of photography. meet with them and make sure you hire someone you can trust and get along with. If you don’t like your wedding photos you can’t have a re-run.
