This morning’s real wedding is brimming with pretty rustic and
vintage touches
to create the beautiful big day that bride Claire envisaged.Using an elegant colour scheme of pastel pink, taupe and champagne, all elements of the day were beautifully tied together, from the blooms to the décor.
Claire’s stunning Maggie Sottero dress, accessorised with sparkling silver belt and headpiece, meanwhile added just the right amount of glam to the proceedings.
With images by Brides Up North Sponsor Fairclough Photography.
claire says:
We got engaged in Jamaica May 2014. Stephen organised a private, romantic candlelit dinner for two on the beach where we had our own personal chef and waiter. He proposed after our main course – I was so excited I couldn’t eat my dessert.Our wedding day was 27th June 2015. I know you can never trust the weather in the UK but we were hoping for plenty of sunshine on the day, which is why we opted for June.
We chose a gorgeous wedding venue called Curradine Barns, in a lovely town called Shrawley in Worcester. I wanted a beautiful romantic wedding in a imitate barn setting in the countryside and this venue fitted the bill perfectly. The Granary Barn, where we got married, is stunning chapel with exposed brick that worked so well with my rustic theme. Then there is The Barley Barn for the wedding breakfast, which again is stunning with its oak beams. As we had chosen a summer’s day we were hoping for fabulous weather (which we got) so we could make use of the picturesque court yard for drinks.
I love anything rustic and vintage so this was the wedding theme we chose. To fit in with the soft, romantic and rustic setting, we choose natural colours including pastel pink, taupe and champagne. We felt this would give it a classic vintage look.
I chose a Maggie Sottero dress from J&J Designs, in Newcastle Under Lyme, near Stoke on Trent, where we live. It was a beautiful lace dress to fit with the vintage theme. I wanted to add my own touch to the dress so we added a sparkly silver belt around the waist and lace straps that were removable. I also had the corset style lace-up fastening removed and replaced with a zip and buttons all the way down the back. When I tried it on I just knew it was the one, I didn’t want to take it off!
Stephen wore a beautiful custom-fit navy suit with waistcoat, which we purchased from Debenhams, with a white shirt and pastel pink tie. The tie we purchased through Roberta’s Bridal, in Burslem.
For the groomsmen we purchased the same suits as Stephen’s, which they wore with a champagne tie to match the bridesmaids’ beautiful, long Alfred Angelo dresses, from Roberta’s Bridal.
We searched high and low for the perfect photographers to capture our wedding day and just when I thought we would never find someone we loved, we did! Fairclough Photography were recommended to us. I took a look at their website and fell in love with their photography instantly. We met Katie and James for a quick coffee one day and knew they were the ones, they put us at ease straight away. The way they capture the moments without you realising is amazing!
When we received our photographs we couldn’t believe how many there were, how stunning they were and how perfectly they told the story of the day. It was like reliving the day all over again, which I loved. The fact that there were two of them capturing the day was even better as we got to have photos of the groom and groomsmen getting ready as well as myself and my bridesmaid, which I thought was just fab. It’s the groom’s day as much as it is the bride’s, so it was great to capture it all.
For our wedding flowers we had different types of roses, including Sweet Avalanche, Thalia and Quicksand, along with Peonies, Ammi, Gypsophila, Stocks, Larkspur and foliage of Jasmine, Eucalyptus and Brachylogies with Ivy trails for the bridal bouquet, and a smaller version for the bridesmaid. A lovely lady called Jane, who runs a company called Long Barn Flowers based in Shrawley, Worcester, provided our arrangements. She was so helpful and designed the bouquet exactly as I wanted. We also had wooden crates on each of the tables with the above flowers in.
To decorate the venue we used lots of bunting, chalk boards and wood to add to the rustic theme. We produced lots of DIY projects, like a sign post with our names and date on, and a wooden banner to hang from the tree featuring the events of the day. We also made a giant wooden Polaroid frame as a prop for people to take photos with our names and the date on. Stephen has Greek heritage so the names of the tables were named after Greek gods.
We decided to put together the favours ourselves. We had brown paper sweet bags personalised with our names and date on and filled them with all kinds of sweet treats to keep guests going through the day.
Our wedding cake was a three-tiered vintage design, which was champagne in colour with beautiful white lace detail and roses touched in pink colour on the side and top. The three layers of cake were different flavours: the top tier was vanilla, middle tier was toffee and bottom tier chocolate. This was produced by a company called Cakeydoodle, which was recommended to me by a friend.
For the wedding breakfast we chose smoked salmon and king prawns with lime and dill dressing to start, followed by fillet of beef with dauphinoise potatoes in a red wine jus and triple chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream for dessert. These are all foods that we absolutely love.
In the evening we went for street food of jerk chicken, rice and peas that was served out of a cart in the courtyard. This was due to the fact we got engaged in Jamaica and we just loved the food.
We also supplied every guest day and evening with a drink on us. The options were: Best Man’s Beer (Peroni out of a beer drum), Bride’s Sea Breeze cocktail or Gorgeous Groom’s gin & tonic.
For the evening entertainment we hired a DJ called Dave at Wedding & Party DJs. We just wanted a simple evening where people could dance if they wanted to. We requested each guest on the wedding invite to select a song that would get them in the dancing mood. The DJ was great as they had an online page where we could add everyone’s requests that they played on the day.
We also asked two of Stephen’s friends to do a rap performance about us in the evening to entertain the guests and get everyone dancing. My husband surprised me by rapping a verse to me himself on the day. I didn’t know anything about it, it was brilliant!
Throughout the day we’d added a few special touches to make the occasion more personal. On the gift table we had images of both of our grandparents and mums and dads on their wedding days in frames. Our card box was built out of wood by one of Stephen’s friends and we added the amazing engagement shot photography from The Fairclough’s on all sides of the box to make it our own. We had lots of fun signs around the place to make people smile and we added flip flops to the dance floor to ensure all the ladies with high heels could continue to dance the night away.
I would certainly recommend Curradine Barns to anyone getting married – it’s the most stunning setting and was exactly what we wanted. The staff are amazing, particularly Philippa Jones who coordinated everything, they decorated the venue for us on the morning exactly how we wanted it. The food was amazing too.
I couldn’t pick a part of the day as my favourite because the whole day was amazing. The sun shone all day, getting ready with my bridesmaids was fun, the ceremony was fantastic, the wedding breakfast food was amazing. The courtyard in the evening was great to chat and have a drink with friends. The entertainment was brilliant and rap performance from my hubby a fabulous surprise. I wouldn’t change a thing and I wish I could do it all over again!
For our honeymoon, we decided to go to a lovely boutique hotel in St Lucia called Hotel Rendezvous, which is a couple’s only hotel. The honeymoon was amazing with absolutely stunning views. They had a number of different restaurants to choose from and meals were served on the veranda facing the sea as a romantic candlelit meal for two. As part of the package we were given a relaxing couple’s massage. The whole holiday was amazing and to top it off we got upgraded on British Airways for free to World Class on the journey home.
My top tip to other Brides Up North would be to ensure you take the whole wedding day in and enjoy it. It goes so fast so take a moment during the day where it’s just the two of you to take it all in.
