Let’s get this week’s gorgeous wedding schedule kicked off with this
absolute beauty
, sent to me by newlyweds Lindsay & Chris and their fabulous photographer Anna Louise Crossley.This afternoon we’re back at Taitlands (check out this lovely wedding that we featured only last week), and I can see why the venue’s brides and grooms fall in love with this place.
Ey up, lets head to the Dales, for a vintagey wedding full of pretty – not least the stunning bride herself!
lindsay says:
We got engaged on a cruise in Alaska on 17 August 2013. We were in our room getting ready for the first formal night, which was our second night on the cruise. Chris was in his tuxedo and I was in a long black dress. Chris asked me to come out on the balcony for a minute but as I had no idea he was going to propose I refused saying it was too cold and windy and I had just done my hair! He got down on one knee in the room and asked me to marry him.We wanted somewhere in the country that was relaxed yet stylish. It had to be somewhere where we could hold the wedding, the reception and the evening party. It wasn’t easy but we found the perfect place, Taitlands, near Settle in the Yorkshire Dales. Chris and I just fell in love with it and knew it was the place for us to get married. We tied the knot on 18th October 2014.
We wanted our wedding to be relaxed, rustic and romantic, with a touch of vintage thrown in. My mum has been a huge fan of vintage for a long time, so had some brilliant ideas up her sleeve. We also decided to make as much as possible ourselves. My mum did an amazing job making the bunting, cake, bouquets, confetti and the list goes on!
Our colour scheme evolved as we went along. In the end it was a mixture of navy, dusky pink, white and burgundy.
Both my mum and I had been looking at dresses independently. When we got together we realised that we had been looking at the same dresses. I wanted a fitted mermaid lace dress with straps. The first dress I tried on was from Wedding Belles Of Otley, it reduced my mum to tears… twice! I tried other dresses on in different shops but I knew I would go back to the first dress. It was by Nicola Anne and called Dolce. I loved my dress!
Chris had a tailor-made suit from Kristopher’s on Kirkstall Road in Leeds. The material he decided on was navy with a black fleck. His suit was perfectly made and had nice little touches such as a label stitched to the inside of his jacket with our names and wedding date.
Chris said he wanted to wear a pocket watch with his suit, so he borrowed his granddad’s watch and my mum lent him a silver fob chain that had belonged to her great uncle.
My bridesmaids dresses came from Coast.
My chief bridesmaid Helen, had a full length navy dress with a beaded belt and a plunging back. Jenny, Angela and Joanna had knee length floaty navy dresses to accommodate Jo’s baby bump! Imogen, my little niece and flower girl wore a dress came from Accessorize. It was dusky pink with little flowers and she had some pink sparkly shoes which she loved to bits and a hair band to match her dress.
Both dads and the two best men bought blue suits from Slaters in Leeds. They teamed them up with white shirts, burgundy paisley ties and tan shoes.
Because our wedding was relaxed and DIY, we decided to do the flowers ourselves.
My mum and my uncle Tony went down to the wholesale market in Huddersfield and came back with a car full of flowers. I had some beautiful dusky pink vintage roses called Memory Lane in my bouquet, together with blue veronica. My bridesmaids has a mixture of pink roses, white and pink spray roses and purple limonium. Imogen carried a little bucket full of petals from the hydrangeas in mum’s garden.
My mum was in her element decorating the venue! She made the cones for the ends of the chairs and we filled them with gypsophelia. She had collected vintage glass vases and jars wrapped with string, we just filled them all with a selection of flowers and they looked amazing. We also had tea lights in lace covered jars in vintage saucers. My mum’s trusty sewing machine came out of retirement and she made 100 metres of bunting. If you want a wedding planner, you should book my mum!
We spent the Friday before the wedding decorating the Coach House and the marquee and had lots of help from family and friends. Karen (my new mum in law) brought her mum’s vintage sewing machine which we gave pride of place to. We wanted the wedding to have special memories for us so tried to include as much as we could that was personal. Imogen also wore her great- great grandmas pearl necklace. I wore a comb made from the tiara that mum had worn when she was married. My mum’s lovely and very clever friend, Jill, made it up for me and it looked amazing!
Instead of favours we had a sweet table. It was a real favourite and everyone loved it. After all, what’s not to like about a table full of sweets!
Our photographer was Anna Louise Crossley.
Anna lives in Leeds like us and we met up for a chat and booked her straight away. She has a lovely relaxed style and we knew she was just right for us. I would recommend her to anyone, her photos are amazing!
Taitlands provided all the food and it was delicious. We chose Roast Beef for our wedding meal. Each table had their own joint of beef, so one person on each table had to put on an apron and carve for everyone. It was a lot of fun and something that was certainly different. We provided a selection of wine for each table and some fizz for the toasts. We also had sausage sandwiches for supper and they went down a treat!
Since I was a little girl my grandma’s chocolate cake has been my absolute favourite. Two mammoth baking sessions later and my grandma, (who is 92) and my mum had made 9 cakes for a 3 tiered naked chocolate cake.
The chef at Taitlands assembled the cake and decorated it beautifully with strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries.
Chris is a big fan of Superman, so I asked Karen to try and find a blonde bride and a Superman groom for the toppers and she did!
My Uncle Jon has played guitar in a band for years. He played Fields of Gold by Eva Cassidy for me to walk into the ceremony. You could hear a pin drop! Then at the party his band were amazing. They played a mix of classic songs that made sure everyone was on their feet. My mum had very sneakily arranged for my school friend, Kay and Chris’s brother Stevie to join the band with their ukuleles. It was the most amazing surprise and brought the house down. When the band had a break, we had a playlist of requests from the RSVPs. Even after the party had ended, a few of us were sat singing… we just didn’t want the party to end!
I loved it all from start to finish. I can’t pinpoint an exact favourite moment!
We went to New York for 8 nights and then the Bahamas for 6 nights. New York was absolutely amazing, it’s somewhere I’ve always wanted to go. Chris organised the honeymoon and didn’t let me know what he had planned in New York. He did an amazing job, we went to a Nicks game (go Nicks!), we went to see Lion King on Broadway and went on a cruise around the Hudson River that went right up to the Statue of Liberty. As well as going on a rowing boat in Central Park, up the Empire State Building and many more! The Bahamas was red hot and we had an amazing room with our balcony overlooking the beach.
My top tip for other Brides Up North would be to get everyone involved and make lots of lists!
