Notebooks and pens at the ready ladies as this wonderful Whitby wedding has bucket loads of inspiration.
Bride Hannah, who is a designer and illustrator, clearly has
an eye for detail
and makes top choices, not only in her own individual attire, but also in her flower, theming and décor choices, with some of the pretty made with her own fair hands.We’re also big fans of Lawrence’s handsome woollen grey suit – swit swoo!
Oh, and this is the first time we’ve witnessed photobombing chickens at a wedding…
With images by Weddings by Smith.
hannah says:
Our engagement was a funny story. We went away for our seven year anniversary on 24th October 2012, to the Lake District where I thought it was going to happen…it didn’t! Slightly disappointed (to put it mildly) we came home and I didn’t give it another thought. Christmas Eve arrived and we exchanged gifts as Lawrence was a chef at the time and was working Christmas Day. We were watching Home Alone (one of my favourites) with a glass of Bucks Fizz. I opened all my gifts and then Lawrence said he had one more for me. He came back with a small white box, got on one knee and ask me to marry him. I burst into tears, and shouted yes!
Our wedding date was 29th August 2014. We chose this date as we love the sunshine, and as it was a bank holiday weekend we thought it would be handy for Lawrence’s family to have more time as they were travelling from down south. I’m also a fan of Leeds Festival and normally go at this time every year. For some reason I thought it would be nice to have it then for that reason as well.
We got married at Danby Castle – the only choice for us. We were quite disheartened at the lack of quirky venues whilst browsing online. Then we found Danby and it looked so different and was everything I was hoping for. I have always loved Whitby and have visited regularly all my life. As Danby Castle is right next door, this was a bonus for me. We went to view the venue and knew straight away it was a yes. It’s surrounded by the beautiful Yorkshire Moors and has animals roaming everywhere, including, a cat, dog, chickens, cows and a donkey! The castle ruins were stunning, then we had a sunny spacious marquee filled with bunting for the wedding breakfast with a vintage tea party theme and a barn yard themed bar. It was full of personality, but really suited Lawrence and I.
I chose a bird theme and general vintage vibes for our wedding. I’m a designer and illustrator and did all my own invites, seating plan and painted my own wedding cake. I love the style of birds and have them all over my home, so wanted the theme to carry on. We had different birds for each table and on the seating plan, each table was a nest, each seat was an egg, with a bird in the centre. The head table were love birds! Lawrence’s grandma made the stunning bird decorations hung everywhere.
I love pastel colours so wanted a lot of them and bright vintage prints too. So the colour scheme was pastel colours with pops of bright pinks. Powder/baby blue became a bit of a theme, with the bridesmaids wearing powder blue dresses and a lot of blue suits appeared.
I chose a vintage style wedding dress covered in beading from Monsoon bridal. It was the only dress I saw that I had in mind that was a good price. I made the bridesmaids’ and my headpiece with birds, fabric flowers and leaves and weaved them onto a hair grip. I wore mine with a birdcage veil to match the bird and vintage theme. My shoes were from Irregular Choice and basically I saw them, wanted them, got them! I love cats and the heels were cats, makes total sense!
Lawrence wore a woollen grey slim fit suit from Ben Sherman and got Ben Sherman tie, shirt and shoes as well. He had a powder blue slim tie and wore a Frank Zappa (his favourite band) badge.
Our bridesmaids were my sisters and wore powder blue crochet dresses from Monsoon.
We all travelled up the day before to our hotel on our own cars and everyone got taxis from the hotel to the venue. My dad surprised me with a beautiful vintage car that was hired through Danby Castle. We drove across the moors and had some champagne.
Tom Smith of Weddings by Smith was our photographer. He was recommended by a friend. I would highly recommend him. His presence was barely noticed, not that I minded when it was as he was such a lovely person!
I had wild flowers, a mixture of shapes and colours. They were stunning! I had them wrapped in raffia to keep the rustic vintage theme. They were arranged by a florist called Audrey who was recommended by the venue. She put flowers in small glass bottle all over the venue, which looked amazing. Other decorations were provided by Danby Castle and myself and Lawrence’s grandma made the birds and favours and name places.
As favours we gave toy cars to the boys and small pastel coloured heart soaps for the girls. I designed all the labels.
My cousin’s fiancée made the cake. We chose carrot cake as it’s our favourite. Sarah made and iced the cake, then I painted it with cake paints with birds and roses all over it.
We had a vintage tea party as our wedding meal as it matched the theme, and was nice and light as it was a summer’s day. I liked the idea of the interaction as everyone was taking from the centre and all enjoying it together. It was constantly replenished until everyone was full as well which was great. All the cakes looked so pretty and all the food was very dainty.
We had giant outdoor games to play and had a DJ with a playlist chosen by me and Lawrence.
We had a sweetie table, outdoor games, and a chip van pulled up at the evening for the evening food. Everyone loved it! There was also a photo booth section with fancy dress, props and funny frames to pose with.
We would most definitely recommend the venue. It was such a magical day and the atmosphere was lovely. They went all out to create a wonderful day, but remained calm. So many extra touches made it even more special. The decorations, the buildings, the animals, the view, the food, the staff – everything was top notch! The whole team seemed on my wave length so felt really comfortable with them all. A great day thanks to the venue!
There were several parts of the day that stood out. I really enjoyed the car ride down the venue with my Dad as I had it all to look forward to. Plus the car and the view was great! The actual ceremony has to be the best part, marrying the man I love and walking into a room seeing all your friends and family looking gorgeous waiting for you was amazing!
For the honeymoon we went to France and did three nights in Paris and nine in Cannes. France is our cup of tea as we love French food and the culture. In Paris, we went to the Louvre and enjoyed all the art including the Mona Lisa. It was amazing to see! We also went up the Eiffel Tower and to the Arc de Triumph. We had some wonderful meals trying the local delicacies. After our three days we got the train to Cannes which took five hours. In Cannes, we totally relaxed. We did lots of sunbathing, eating and drinking. We got the train the other close cities including Nice and Ville France sur la Mere, Which was my favourite place. It was a wonderful two weeks.
My top tips to other Brides Up North would be to take a few moments to stop, look round and take it all in, you’ll never forget that moment. Don’t expect complete perfection, people will get drunk, things may go slightly wrong. Yes it’s an amazing day, but it’s still another day. Oh, and spend a lot of time choosing the right underwear – very important!
