Today’s wedding is pretty – and we mean,
oh so pretty!
From bride Sarah’s stunning lace detailed Pronovias gown and the sweet pastel bridesmaid dresses, to the vintage wedding transport and fabulous country garden style blooms, we adore it all!
With images by Jessica O’Shaughnessy.
anthony says:
We got engaged on the 13th July 2013. I decided to surprise Sarah with a city break to Paris as part of her birthday gifts. I had planned to propose to Sarah for a while but she had no clue.The week after Sarah’s birthday we flew to Paris and we stayed in a quaint hotel in the Opera District. We spent the weekend just spending quality time with one another and enjoying the moment. On the day of the proposal, we had been admiring the landmarks and scenery that Paris had to offer.
Later in the evening, following a romantic meal, Sarah and I enjoyed Paris by Night and headed for a walk in the Eiffel Tower Gardens, I found a bench in a quiet location of the gardens, got down on one knee and asked Sarah to marry me.
sarah says:
Our wedding date was on the 28th June 2015. I always wanted to be a June bride, for they say when you marry in June, you will always be a bride. We also hoped that June would give us a warm sunny day, which, luckily it did.
We got married at our local parish church of St Margaret & All Hallows. The church is rich in tradition and is surrounded by stunning trees, roses and shrubs.
Following the wedding ceremony, we held our wedding breakfast at the beautiful Mere Court Hotel, Cheshire, originally an Edwardian country house. We chose this venue because we felt that it had a lot to offer us on our special day. It was in the most beautiful setting, with seven acres of land and an ornamental lake. We loved the country style of the house and its stunning glass conservatory. It was also in the perfect location in the Mere, Knutsford, so our family and friends didn’t have to travel too far.
Although we didn’t have a theme as such, we aimed for the décor to have a rustic and vintage charm. In order to ensure wedding continuity, we tried to incorporate such style in various ways, which was evident in our wedding stationary, flowers, attire and props.
Our colour scheme was hessian and ivory lace, however to add some colour we incorporated pastel shabby chic colours by way of centrepieces, seasonal flowers and a mixture of paper lanterns. The colour scheme fitted well with our rustic and vintage theme.
I decided on a Pronovias dress named Ocelada – the dress was just perfect, it was made using tulle and covered in lace Chantilly appliqués all hand stitched using mother of pearl beads. I wore the dress with a cathedral-length Pronovias head dress edged with lace embroidery – it was truly beautiful! My necklace and earrings are part of the Jon Richard collection and my wedding shoes were by Debut all available at Debenhams.
On the wedding day my bridal makeup was done by the fabulous Flossy & Leigh team; they were amazing and created the romantic look I was aiming for on the day!
Anthony didn’t want to wear the traditional groom attire, instead opting for something different. Anthony decided to wear a tailored grey Donegal suit which was purchased from Next. He wore a navy blue bow tie from Riva Menswear and white shirt and navy paisley pocket square from T.M Lewin. To finish off his look, Anthony wore brown brogue shoes from M&S. To complement, the groomsmen wore stylish navy blue suits and brown brogue shoes, all from Burtons.
My bridesmaids wore elegant vintage pastel blue dresses, which featured a decorative floral shoulder strap. These were purchased from diydress.co.uk. We did have to have the dresses altered, but other than the alternations the dresses were prefect.
For our wedding transport, we hired beautiful vintage style vehicles. We booked a Beauford Tourer from Horgans Wedding Cars, whose duty was to transport me to the church and then both Anthony and I to the reception venue. We also booked a truly unique Volkswagen campervan called Sandy. We hired this from I Do Campers, who were responsible for transporting my bridesmaids to the church and then on to Mere Court. Both vehicles were decorated with ribbon and they provided complimentary champagne.
We felt as though the transport was very important because it was the first opportunity we had to be alone as husband and wife. On reflection, it was one of the most enjoyable moments; we were able to sit back, savour the moment and have a private toast to our future together.
We chose the extremely talented Jessica O’Shaughnessy to capture our day. We spent a lot of time looking at photographers’ work online to try to determine who would be best suited for us but after searching photographers on numerous search engines and websites we still couldn’t find the right one.
We knew that the photographer is the one area you have to get right and is probably one of the most important factors to consider for your wedding day, so we decided to put a post on a Facebook North West wedding group, and Jessica responded. We instantly went on to her website and fell in love with all her work. Jessica went out of her way and visited us at our home address to discuss how she worked on the day and to show us her work. We booked her there and then.
Not only did Jessica’s photography impress us, but she left an impression of professionalism and it was evident that she had a true passion for what she does. Jessica also did a lot of vintage style photography, which was a perfect fit for our wedding.
We would most definitely recommend Jessica to all future brides and grooms. Throughout our wedding day Jessica was a massive help, any particular shot we wanted she worked with us to get it. Jessica managed to blend into the wedding perfectly, capturing the most natural moments. We couldn’t be any happier with Jessica and her wonderful work; she truly is a gifted photographer.
We chose Emma Fawcett-Eustace to create our wedding flowers – she is a Cheshire based specialist wedding and event floral designer. Emma is absolutely lovely and always has time for her brides. The flowers she used and arranged were all fresh and of perfect quality. Our flower choices were all pastel colours; pink and white roses, gypsophila, blue and white hydrangeas
Given our rustic and vintage style we wanted the flowers to represent the same. Also, as our tables were ivory lace and hessian, we wanted flowers that would stand out and bring colour to the room. We decided on flowers that would represent a cottage garden and for them to be arranged in large cream jugs and rustic style jam jars situated on thick tree slice centrepiece. Emma prepared our jug centrepieces for our wedding reception, which were truly stunning.
We also had Perfect Weddings, in Altringham, to organise the entire room and jam jar flowers. The owner, Debbie, was one of the most helpful people we had during our wedding planning. Debbie always made time for us and was always available to chat about our plans. The Perfect Weddings team did an outstanding job of organising the room on the wedding day.
At the time of meeting with Perfect Weddings we also needed some stationary and they referred us to Susan Statham. Susan made our unique wedding invites, menu, order of service and our Paris landmark table names. There is nothing Susan cannot design, whatever your idea, Susan will try her upmost to do it for you.
We decided to donate the money that we would have spent on favours to Cancer Research and in return our guests received a note of gratitude and charity badge for their contribution. That said, we did treat our guests to a vintage candy cart full of sweets!
The wedding cake we chose was a three tier naked cake made by Bloomsbury Cakes, Altringham. We wanted our cake to be completely stripped back and simple, yet delicious. The cake was decorated with beautiful pastel flowers to fit with the colour scheme. The cake was absolutely delicious and we would most definitely recommend Bloomsbury cakes to other couples.
In terms of entertainment, our guests were treated to multi-talented singer Amber Prothero. She performed a wide range of music while we attended to guests and later during bride and groom photos. During our wedding breakfast, Amber also played the piano, which was the perfect background music and she created a relaxing ambiance to the room.
We also had Amanda Hayes, a soprano vocalist to sing at our church ceremony. She sang the as I walked down the aisle and as Anthony and I left the church. Also, Amanda kept out guests entertained singing the breath-taking Ave Maria while we signed the register. It was truly a magical touch!
To fit in with our vintage style theme, we booked the Nylon Hearts as our evening entertainment, a female close harmony trio. They cover a wide range of music from the 1940’s to the present day. They have been recognised for their tight harmonies and northern verve and cheek, which we thought would be a perfect fit for our day. We also had a vintage suitcase full of dress up clothes for our guests to have some extra fun. The DJ we booked was through Mere Court.
If a bride and groom are searching for a wedding venue that provides fine dining, truly beautiful grounds and breath-taking scenery, then we would definitely recommend Mere Court. The members of staff could not be more helpful, from the planning of the wedding, to being there for you and your guests on the day. They provided a first class service and they couldn’t do enough to make sure our day was special.
Looking back, our favourite part of the wedding day has to be the exchange of wedding vows. The ceremony was truly beautiful and the biblical vows meant a lot to the both of us. The promises we made to one another in front of our family and friends was more enjoyable than any other moment of the day.
Following the wedding we decided to go on a mini-moon as we have a three-year-old daughter, Ava-Rose, and the thought of leaving her for two weeks was unimaginable. We decided not to travel too far as if we needed come home it was only a short flight away. Ava-Rose stayed with her grandparents and we stayed in a beautiful 5* luxury resort in Side, an ancient Greek city on the southern Mediterranean coast of Turkey.
When planning a wedding, it is very easy to get carried away booking numerous things, such as expensive transport, up lighters, dance floors and photo booths, so my top tip for other Brides Up North would be to take a step back and consider the cost and whether it is actually necessary.
