If you happen to recognise today’s beautiful bride and groom that’s because this isn’t the first time they’ve appeared on Brides Up North.
A few months ago we shared their beautiful pre-wedding shoot at Bolton Abbey, which also featured their cute dogs, Beren and Roxi.
Today we’re welcoming Kala and Andy back to the blog (along with their handsome hounds) to share their
handmade
wedding day with us too. Oh how we love a good follow-up!With images by Ellie Grace Photography.
kala says:
We got engaged on 25th December 2006 at my grandparents. Andy and I had been looking at rings a few months before, but then he surprised me by proposing on Christmas Day and had a bottle of fizz ready for us.We set the date for 20th August 2015. Our wedding ceremony was Halifax Minster as it’s a beautiful building with history behind it. We’d also been attending the minster and so had got to know people there – it’s a lovely community. After the ceremony we went onto the Ring O’Bells pub next to the minster before going to Holdsworth House for our reception.
Our theme was very outdoors. Andy and I are very outdoorsy people, we have lots of hobbies and wanted our interests and personalities to reflect in our wedding. We went with a wood theme and Andy made all the table decorations, so it was very personal too.
Ocean teal was our colour scheme because I found a beautiful pair of Converse when we were out shopping at my sister’s graduation and I fell in love with the colour.
I had quite a big dress, with lace from the waist and a high neck line. It was from Brides to Be in Queensbury, Bradford. I just loved the dress, I wanted to be covered up and didn’t want strapless. I knew it was the one! On the wedding day my makeup was done by the Kirsty at The Relaxation Den in Rotherham, and my hair was done by DB’s Hair & Beauty in Wibsey, Bradford.
Andy and his groomsmen wore grey woollen patterned suits from Next. We didn’t want the men to be too formal looking and Andy wanted something to tie into our theme. Their outfits fitted in perfectly with the setting of the minster.
My bridesmaids wore ocean teal below-the-knee dresses with silver hammered heart jewellery and nude heeled shoes during the day. At night they changed their footwear to white Converse.
On the wedding day I travelled to the venue in a 1930’s Bentley. A friend of ours is part of a car club and his friend was doing up this car for shows – he offered it to us for the day.
Ellie from Ellie Grace Photography captured our wedding day for us, and I’ve been recommending her to everyone since. We wanted someone to catch natural shots and she was the perfect person for the job. I have been following her work since we met her last year and she has such an eye for catching natural beauty and the perfect memories. We loved our pre-wedding shoot with Ellie and she loved our dogs, so it was a perfect match! She was excellent on the wedding day too, so casual and fit into the background. Everyone who has seen our pictures are wowed by how amazing they are – and they never even noticed her taking them.
The lovely Leanne at Sentiments in Wibsey, Bradford, provided our wedding flowers. In my bouquet I simply just Calla lilies with very long stems, tied with twine with small picture frames holding my lost loved ones. The bouquet provided my something old, something new. My bridesmaids had the same style bouquets, just smaller.
We had very simple decorations; wooden slices made and carved by Andy, with glass jars filled with fairy lights and moss, and wooden buckets with Calla lilies and gypsophila. We also had a small wooden stand with a poem detailing our Instagram page for pictures and little chalk board hearts, which guests wrote on and took pictures of themselves.
All our wooden decorations were handmade by Andy. He’s very crafty and artistic and we wanted the wedding to be very personal. We gave our table decorations as gifts to our parents and family after the day.
Instead of giving out favours we donated the money we would have spent to a charity close to our hearts – Community Action Nepal. Andy and I went to Nepal in 2012 for a month to help build and refurbish health posts, and with the recent earthquakes we thought our money would be better spent helping the people of Nepal re-build their lives.
We had a three tier, chocolate, Victoria sponge and fruit cake, made by Netty’s Cakes in Thornton, Bradford. It was decorated with hand drawn silhouettes, designed by Andy, which was a story board of our life together.
In terms of food, we had self-serve chips as a snack at the Ring O’Bells next door to the minster, then a buffet including salads, meats, couscous and a cheese board as the evening meal at Holdsworth House. We served cake for dessert. We also had a sweetie cart supplied by Amanda’s Candy Cart and S’more (a campfire treat) toasting on an open fire in the venue’s courtyard. This suited our day perfectly as we didn’t want a formal sit down meal, we wanted people to grab a plate and walk around talking to everyone.
Andy’s brother and a friend are in a band called Acoustic Twist, so we had them to perform at the wedding. Following their set, which including singing our first dance acoustically, we had a DJ to continue the entertainment.
To help keep our young guests entertained we did a picture hunt which required them to take specific pictures on a list they were given using a disposable camera. We also gave them goody bags with items such as bubbles and sweets in.
We had a few special touches on the day which included inciting our Cubs (Andy and I are Cub leaders) to do a guard of Honour. As we left the church, they stood with the flags all in two rows and saluted as we walked past. It was lovely to share our day with them. Andy also had a special necker stitched for me saying ‘Mrs Hamilton-Roe’ on the back with our wedding date.
We chose to have the S’more making in the courtyard as we’re both Scouts, and many of our friends are scouts too. One of our campfire traditions is to toast marshmallows and make them into S’mores by squashing the marshmallow between two chocolate digestives. Holdsworth House agreed to light the fire in the courtyard and all our guests had a fab time making S’mores throughout the evening.
A little different to tradition, we had our rings flown down the aisle by an owl, which was a surprise to our guests – and to Andy! After the ceremony Wayne (the bird man) had set up a row of beautiful birds for our guests to hold and have pictures with.
Following our wedding we would certainly recommend our choice of venue to others. The staff at Holdsworth House were brilliant and the food was gorgeous. The whole setting of Holdsworth House was just amazing; the beautiful gardens for pictures and the courtyard was lovely for people to sit out in.
My favourite part of the wedding day was standing in the minster and saying ‘I will’. Andy and I have been together for 12 years and put off marriage for so long due to financial commitments but finally walking down the aisle, Andy waiting at the bottom for me, all our family and friends there to support us was just amazing.
We haven’t been on our main honeymoon yet. Following the wedding we went to Inverness for a few days to get away with our dogs. We stayed in a yurt on the coast and did some dolphin watching, but we have our main honeymoon booked for 1st December. We are going to Iceland, and we are so excited!
My top tip for other Brides Up North would be to take time to look around at everyone having the best time ever. Also, take a minute every now and again to grab your husband/wife and just look into each other’s eyes before someone whisks you away for a photo or to ask you a question.
