We are loving bride Emily’s
glamorous look
in today’s real wedding. Her gorgeous slim fit, lace fishtail gown and long, tumbling, dark wavy locks remind us of recent celebrity bride Michelle Keegan, with both ladies looking stunning for their moment in the limelight.The pretty continues throughout the Emily and Stephen’s glam wedding day in the summery colour scheme, chic décor and girly bridesmaid dresses. There’s also a rather pretty pooch involved in the proceedings too, the couple’s adorable pet dog Honey, who had her very own coral outfit made for the special occasion. Too cute!
With images by Rachel Victoria Photography.
stephen says:
We got engaged on 13th March 2013. I had the ring for some time and told pretty much everybody I knew I was going to do it, but swore everyone to secrecy. On the day, I took Emily to her bedroom where I had laid out rose petals on the floor in the shape of a heart with some candles to set the mood, with me knelt in the curvature of said heart. After her initial surprise followed an up roar of nervous laughter before my beautiful wife finally came to and said yes.emily says:
We chose the 26th June 2015 as our wedding date because we always wanted a summer wedding. We also chose this date because it was on a Friday, which meant we could have the weekend to ourselves and reflect on what an amazing day we had. The date was also exclusive to us, so we didn’t have to share our special day.
We married at The Thistle in Haydock, Merseyside, which is a lovely hotel ten minutes away from Haydock Race Course. We chose this venue for a number of reasons as we wanted a marquee for our evening reception, but also a hotel so we could get ready there. Our main reason for picking it however, was because the hotel is dog friendly which meant we could have our most prized possession, Honey, with us on our big day and she could be a part of it too.
Our theme for the wedding was a vintage/ fairy tale as we incorporated things like bird cages with tea lights in them, and picture frames that our guest could leave messages. We wanted our wedding to be simple and classic, yet pretty.
Our colour scheme was coral as we saw it as a summery, bright colour that would stand out. With having seven different bridesmaids with different hair colours to each other and different skin tones, we also felt this colour was one that would complement them all equally.
I wore a fitted, lace fishtail dress with a sweetheart neckline and low back, with a simple belt with a classic bead embellishment in the centre. The dress, which was from Always and Forever Bridal Boutique in St. Helens, was perfect and meant so much to me as my nan bought it for me. I wore it with Christian Louboutin peep toe stiletto shoes and a handmade lace and blue garter made by Stephen’s mum, which made it even more personal! I also had a Tiffany & Co bracelet bought by Stephen, which I received as a gift before the wedding.
Stephen bought a three piece suit from Slaters in Liverpool, and wore Kurt Geiger shoes, with a coral cravat. To accessorise Stephen had a pair of groom cufflinks and a Michael Kors watch, which I bought for him as a wedding gift. The best man and groomsmen wore the same suit as Stephen, each with personalised cufflinks and a coral cravat, again from Slaters.
We had seven bridesmaids that wore a one shoulder, floor length dress with a cascade of flowers on the shoulder strap. These dresses were purchased from an online boutique. We had a flower girl who wore an ivory dress with coral details and a big coral bow, made by the mother of the groom. Our pet dog Honey, had dress made also by the mother of the groom, to match the bridesmaids, and had a bow made for her hair to match.
Our photographer was Rachel Butterworth of Rachel Victoria Photography, who did an amazing job on the day! I went to school with Rachel so automatically felt comfortable around her. I’d also been to events that Rachel had photographed before and the photos always looked perfect. Rachel even did an engagement photo shoot for us before the wedding, for us to get used to being in front of the camera. I was feeling quite nervous being photographed at first but instantly felt at ease with Rachel. We are so made up with our wedding photos they exceeded our expectations and we can’t stop looking at them!
The flowers carried by my bridesmaids and I were made by our manager in work who does floristry on the side, we loved the personal touches she gave to them and how they complemented our theme and the bridesmaids’ dresses.
To decorate the venue we had large martini glasses as our centre pieces with beautiful summer flower arrangements in done by Amore Flowers in Widnes, Cheshire. They were excellent and listened to exactly what we wanted.
Our reception room was dressed by Angela of Chicks on Wheels, based in Widnes, who covered the chairs with white chair covers finished with a coral bow. On our entrance table we had a wishing well for cards to be put in and a wishing tree for our guest to hang well wishes on. Angela also did our candy cart which went down very well with our guests who defiantly had a sweet tooth!
On the entrance table was also a wooden frame with small wooden hearts for our guests to sign and post into the frame so that we can keep it forever as a statement piece in our home. My mum bought this for us as a gift.
We had personalised mirrors as favours for the women from Not On The High Street, which read ‘thank you for sharing our special day with us, Emily and Stephen’. We placed the mirrors in mini birdcage favours boxes to tie into our theme. We had tuxedo tins with mints in for the men and a children’s wedding colouring pack for the little ones.
We chose a four tier wedding cake with different shades of coral and peach flowers cascading down the side. The flavours of each tier were different: fruit, chocolate, lemon and strawberry. It was made by Cakes by Kerry, based in Widnes, who delivered it to the venue on the day. Stephen’s nan and granddad kindly bought us the cake.
Entertainment was provided by The Thistle’s DJ, Ian Dutton, who was fab. He kept the guests on the dance floor with his eclectic mix of songs and guided us through the evening. At the reception, we also had a photo booth from Sunshine Events, with a selection of props, and we were given a copy of all the photos taken in the booth, presented to us in a book that we can keep.
The Thistle was an amazing – we cannot recommend it enough! The staff could not do enough for us, nothing was too much trouble. Our favourite part of the day would have to be the ceremony. We had been planning the wedding for two years and to finally be standing there saying ‘I do’ was the most amazing feeling.
For our honeymoon, we went to Crete in Greece and stayed in the Thompson Sensatori five star hotel. We had our own private pool on the balcony, so we could relax in peace after all the wedding stress. We picked Greece as this was the first destination we went on holiday together, so it has many sentimental memories to us.
Our top tip to other Brides Up North would be to enjoy the day and not worry about everyone else. You will only have one wedding day and it goes so quick so make to most of it!
