For some entertainment at a wedding is somewhat of an afterthought, going on what’s left over in the budget. However this was certainly not the case for today’s real wedding couple who made
song & dance
a key part of their big day proceedings.Bride Samantha (who runs a dance school) and groom Martin, treated their guests to a whole host of wonderful entertainment to make their wedding all the more memorable – from singers and dance routines to a live band and fireworks.
Not neglecting other areas of the planning, Samantha and Martin complemented Rise Hall perfectly with a gorgeous autumnal colour palette of silver and plum for their décor and finishing touches!
With images by Mike & Emma Bowering.
samantha says:
We met originally on the Plenty of Fish website in 2011. In March 2014 we got engaged on the understanding that Martin could purchase a £2,000 bike that very same day…and he did!Our wedding date was 17th October 2015. We chose the date because I so desperately wanted to get married at Rise Hall and that date was one of the only autumn dates left in 2015. We fell in love with Sarah Beeney’s home Rise Hall, a few years ago when we took our candy cart to a Brides Up North exhibition there. Since that point I dreamt about getting married there.
Our theme for the wedding from a styling perspective was autumnal. We also had a dance/entertainment theme throughout due to me owning a dance school with my best friend and maid of honour, Stephanie.
In terms of the colour scheme, we had silver touches throughout, including the bridesmaid dresses. All of our flowers and other styling elements were plums and purples to fit the autumn season.
My main wedding dress was from Essense of Australia and I fell in love with it as soon as I tried it on. I didn’t really enjoy the dress shopping experience until I tried on my dress. It had a large hoop under it and made me feel like a princess, however it wasn’t appropriate for all of the dancing to come in the evening and so I also purchased a tea length Maggie Sottero dress too.
Martin and the groomsmen wore dark grey silk tales from Jeff Banks. I purchased the bridesmaid dresses online from China, which I knew was a risky choice, but when they came they were perfect!
I stayed at the venue the night before the wedding and had a bridal shower sleepover with my mum, bridesmaids and friends. Martin meanwhile arrived at Rise Hall in a Rolls Royce Phantom pearl car, which was hired from American Pie Limousines in Sheffield.
Our photographer was a family friend Mike Bowering and his wife Emma. He does photography as a hobby but we would say that he is extremely talented and captured our day perfectly!
My bouquet was one of my favourite parts of the day and was created by Sarah Nicholson at Floral Lounge. Sarah provided all of our flowers and styling – we had ivy draping up the stair case at Rise Hall with clusters of autumnal flowers. Our centre pieces were very rustic with logs, candles and flowers.
As favours we gave ‘hangover packages’ which I put together. They included, Yorkshire Tea, coffee, pain killers, Tic Tacs, water and a Berocca. We also made a donation on behalf of each guest to Cancer Research and had pin badges on the tables.
A family friend Gill Hirst, made our wedding cake. I was let down by another cake supplier and so decided to trust Gill with the job! The cake was the first ever wedding cake she had made and we think she did an amazing job – it tasted delicious!
Our caterers were Eat Me Drink Me from Huddersfield. We had cocktails and canapes after the ceremony and then the wedding breakfast. Starter was a goat’s cheese tartlet with caramelised onions and rocket salad. Main was chicken supreme with seasonal vegetables and we finished with a trio of desserts. We supplied our own wine and I personalised all of the wine bottles myself.
We had lots of entertainment all through the day and evening. During the ceremony we had the amateur performers class from Flex Dance, mine and Steph’s dance school, singing on the balcony. Then after the ceremony we had Liz Keeting, another family friend, performing during the drinks reception.
At the wedding breakfast we surprised all of our guests with the Main Course Singing Waiters which was amazing and the atmosphere was fantastic. We had the whole room up and dancing before they had dessert. Our evening entertainment was mine and Martin’s favourite band Soul Patrol.
In the evening Martin and I performed our first dance, which we did to Hold My Hand by Jess Glynn. I then danced Northern Soul with my dad to Do I Love You by Frank Wilson.
Later in the evening we surprised our guests again with a choreographed Spice Girls mix from me and my five best friends Steph, Emily, Steph, Sarah and Grace. This was followed by the event of the night both of our fathers, both best men and an usher performed a street dance mash up! Prior to the wedding we had been meeting for weeks in an evening to teach these five men that have never danced a routine – it was great fun! On the night they wore caps that said diversity on the front and nailed it on the head! The video has since gone viral with more than 96,000 views on the Pretty 52 Facebook page.
We ended the evening with a wonderful fire work display out the front of the house from Eastern Pyro.
After our big day we would definitely recommend our venue to others. Rise Hall was truly magical and Helen our wedding planner made sure that Rise Hall really did feel like our home for the weekend. Nothing was too much and we really were able to do anything we wanted!
My favourite part of the day was hearing the choir singing in the ceremony whilst I married my soul mate and seeing both sets of parents so happy.
We haven’t been on our honeymoon yet but are booked to go to Las Vegas in March.
My top tip to other Brides Up North would be to make sure you do and have everything you want so that you have no regrets – we did exactly that and the whole day was perfect!
