We love the bravery of today’s groom who popped the question to his now wife during a flight to the Dominican Republic. You’d have to be sure of a ‘yes’ wouldn’t you? Otherwise you’d be in for a rather awkward flight and holiday!
Anyhoo, ring firmly on finger, Laura and Adam decided on a shabby chic wedding with
pretty pastels
and a cute afternoon tea.Executed to perfection everything fits in perfectly with the theme and setting, from the beautiful bouquets to Laura’s gorgeous mermaid style dress.
With images by Brides Up North fave, Stephen McGowan Wedding Photography.
laura says:
We got engaged on 8th April 2014, when we were on a flight to Dominican Republic. Adam asked the pilot to call me to the front of the plane, Adam then got down on one knee and proposed. All flight he was acting rather nervous and taking advantage of the free drinks – now it all makes sense, he was trying to calm his nerves. When I said yes, the whole plane cheered! It was such an amazing proposal.Our wedding date was 12th September 2015. We always knew we wanted August or September for a lovely summer wedding and so when we found our perfect venue, the dates worked out well as it was the only available Saturday left.
We were married in Willington Hall in Tarporley, Cheshire. To be honest, it was Adam who found this hidden gem, much to my dismay! It was exactly what we were after, beautiful location, perfect intimate size and amazing staff. The views around for the photographs were perfect and it simply is a beautiful venue. After looking at so many ‘corporate’ venues, it was nice to find a place that remembered us by name, rather than a wedding date!
I love afternoon tea and our whole house is decorated in shabby chic and so we definitely wanted to incorporate that into our day. We started to collect tea cups and teapots and we decided to look at having a vintage tea party theme and then everything started falling into place. We had collected our tea cups and teapots for two years for the big day. We decided to give these away as the favours with a cupcake in and the teapots were utilised as the centre pieces with flowers in.
As we knew the room would be dressed in a mixture of tea cups in a variety of colours, we wanted to keep the colours to pastel shades and so opted for three colours; grey, pink and teal. All the colours complemented one another perfectly.
I wore Augusta Jones’ Skyler dress, from Bethany Hannah in Stockton Heath, Warrington. I always knew I wanted to wear a dress that was tight fitting and then fluted out. I had some alterations so the dress was more of a mermaid style than a fit and flare. It fitted like a glove and it was the first shop and third dress I tried on and I just knew it was ‘the one’.
Adam wore Peter Posh Suit in sand from L&J Formal Hire in Nantwich. It was a lovely suit that complemented the bridesmaid colours and kept in with the vintage theme.
The groomsmen wore the same as Adam and the bridesmaids wore Dessy dresses from Bethany Hannah. The colours were icydellic, oyster and blush.
I was lucky enough to get ready at the venue on the day of the wedding so didn’t require transport but Adam’s dad surprised Adam and his best man with a Bentley as their transport.
We were fortunate to have Stephen McGowan as our photographer. He was amazing all day, getting all the shots I had bombarded him with on email in the weeks leading up to the wedding but he also captured so many natural shots. I’m that made up with them all that I’m making a wedding book with every single photo in as I don’t want to leave any out. From start to finish he was so professional yet easy to work with. I would highly recommend him to anyone as he deserves all the credit he gets.
My bridal flowers and bridesmaids’ flowers were from Amore Flowers in Widnes, Cheshire. I kind of left the flowers last minute as I couldn’t decide what I wanted. However I found a picture of what I liked a week before the wedding, and the florists were so accommodating to my last minute order and they were exactly what I wanted when they turned up on the morning of the wedding. I wanted to keep the flowers a pastel shade and have some roses in. I’m not one to be so unorganised but I’m really glad I was, as they were perfect!
The flowers in the venue that formed part of the centre pieces and top table were provided by Black Cat as part of a package with the hotel. I was desperate for my favourite flower to be displayed, the hydrangea, and they also had thistles and roses. The flowers worked so well with the theme and matched with the teapots.
I’m lucky that my mum is amazing at making cakes (Homemade by June) and so she made our bird cake wedding cake and all the cupcakes. We didn’t want a three tier cake as we felt they always seem to go to waste and so my mum was baking lots of cupcakes on the lead up to the big day.
We didn’t want a traditional wedding breakfast, instead we wanted to do something different. We decided to have afternoon tea so we had choice of sandwiches, then the chef at the hotel excelled himself in the sausage rolls, pork pies and scotch eggs that he made as well as the different choices of cakes and scones. We were worried on the lead up the wedding if it was enough food but judging by everyone’s response they all loved it, it was a perfect amount and they were all so glad to have tried something different.
When we booked the wedding, it came with a package for the entertainment and so we used their regular DJ, Decedance, to get everyone dancing.
I tried to make sure ‘our personal touch’ was put on our special day and so we tried to make as much as we could ourselves. This included the name tags, table plans, collecting all the tea cups and centre pieces and hand painting the glass cake stands that the centre pieces stood on.
My friend let us have her wishing well (as our something borrowed) for all the cards to be posted into and then my dad made our polaroid photo stand to display all the pictures that were taken throughout the day. We enlisted the nieces and nephews to ‘be in charge’ of getting all the photos. We as a couple love to make things, upcycle and decorate and so I think this may be why we wanted to do as much as we could together.
Willington Hall is not only a beautiful country house with beautiful views being in an amazing location, but the staff and owner could not have done enough for us. They were so attentive to detail, every time we went back they knew who we were and when we said we wanted to do an afternoon tea theme they were so on board bouncing ideas for the menu with us. If a bride and groom want a beautiful looking venue for beautiful photos, a delicious wedding breakfast with delicious food and an amazing atmosphere for an amazing wedding party, then Willington Hall is the venue for them.
The whole day went exactly how I imagined, it was the reality for the dream I have had since I met Adam. I think finally getting to call Adam my husband was my favourite part of the wedding because to me, the whole day was about us committing to one another for the rest of our lives and so without that part we wouldn’t have had all the other amazing parts.
We went on honeymoon to Mauritius the day after the wedding. Travelling with a slight hangover was not something I could had contemplated, however when we arrived to our hotel after about 17 hours of travelling, it was so worth it. We stayed at the Maritim in Balaclava and it was a beautiful place.
My top tip to other Brides Up North would be to enjoy every moment from start to finish because in a matter of moments it’s all just a distant memory. Take five minutes away from the wedding party to let it all sink in and look around and be proud of what you have planned to perfection.
