Top of the agenda for this morning’s wedding was ‘fun’ – taking just one look at the images below it’s clear to see that the bride and groom accomplished their aim. From the morning preparations to the ceremony and reception Steph and Paul, and their guests, just can’t stop smiling!
So let’s put on our
dancing shoes
and go join the party!With images by Fairclough Photography.
steph says:
We got engaged during a concert at the O2 Academy in Liverpool. We were watching our favourite band Scouting for Girls, who we have seen live many times and their songs and performances have given us such special memories from the moment we met. Our song is Heartbeat and as the band started to perform our song, Paul turned to me and produced a dazzling ring and asked me to marry him. In all the excitement I forgot to answer, I was in a daze. Eventually and after some prompting, I said yes!We set the date for 16th August 2015, hoping for a sunny day – and it was!
Our venue was Abbey House Hotel, Barrow-in-Furness and it was sort of fate how we came to pick it. We initially met John from Abbey House at a wedding fayre in Bolton and were taken back by the stunning imagery he was displaying. Paul thought he recognised it and sure enough it was actually a hotel in the town Paul was born and raised in. We then entered a competition to win an overnight stay at Abbey House – and we won. When we booked our night’s stay we were keeping an open mind about the venue, but from the minute we pulled up we fell in love with the place. It ticked every box!
We didn’t have a wedding theme as such, we just wanted the day to be really fun. I picked coral for the colour scheme as it’s my favourite colour though it turned out to be the most awkward and challenging colour to match anything to.
My dress was a Ronald Joyce creation called Brighton. It had a sweetheart neckline and was long and flowing made from tulle, in Ivory with stunning sparkly detail on the bodice.
Paul wore a Ted Baker tailored morning suit in blue with coral tie and handkerchief. The groomsmen wore blue Ted Baker suits to match.
Mu bridesmaids wore coral dresses which I found in Debenhams.
Fairclough Photography captured our day for us. After meeting with the duo we were convinced that they were the perfect couple to share and document our special day. Their eyes lit up when we gave them total creative freedom to capture our day in the most unconventional, unique and quirky way possible. Their passion in delivering ‘outside the box’ modern and contemporary photographic perfection was unrelenting. The end product most certainly reflected their passion, as they produced simply amazing photographs and memories that blew us away. The fact that we had two amazing photographers cannot be ignored, not a moment was missed; both bride and groom preparations gave us both a wonderful insight to how each other felt in the run up to the all-important, I dos. This was priceless. We also loved that as a special surprise Fairclough Photography brought along some coloured smoke grenades for us, which produced some incredible pictures!
Allyson at Posh Flowers Barrow in Furness, created the bouquets and venue flowers for us, which included Miss Piggy Roses with foliage and diamantes. The beautiful centrepieces and chair swags were provided by Linda at Sophisticated Events, and Donna at Pure Elegance supplied the huge love letters and the gorgeous candelabras, which really gave the wow-factor!
As favours we had ‘Tequila Fairies’ in full and fabulous costume, offering our guests the choice of Sambuca or Tequila shots, as a thank you for attending our very special day.
Instead of a traditional wedding cake we had a selection of shoe shaped cupcakes as I’m a complete shoeaholic, finished with a heart shaped top tier made perfectly by a lady called Jo, as recommended by Abbey House. By sheer coincidence she was also our registrar!
After an incredible menu tasting at Abbey House we found it difficult to decide on the wedding breakfast, but in the end we went for a trio of starters – salmon roulade, smoked Applewood with marinated pineapple and garlic mushrooms. The main was roast breast of Goosnargh Chicken, Anna potatoes and pancetta wrapped asparagus served with a wild mushroom, leek and tarragon cream sauce. To finish, an assiette of deserts – black cherry cheesecake, lemon posset and Eton Mess.
To provide entertainment at the wedding, we hired fabulous singer Howard Wing. We have had the absolute pleasure of witnessing a Wing wedding before. He is simply amazing so personal, so entertaining and really brings something unique and very special to the day. We then had the incredible My Mate Kate for the evening band who came highly recommended – and rightly so! They learned and perfectly performed our favourite song for us and got everyone dancing.
As a little extra entertainment we also had a full size Formula 1 car simulator as Paul is a mad F1 fan. In fairness this was his only permitted decision for the whole day which went down a treat with everyone.
We would absolutely recommend our choice of venue to other wedding couples. John and the team were perfect. Nothing was too much trouble, nothing was unachievable and everything we asked they delivered and more. We cannot praise them enough for their attention to detail in every aspect of our wedding. We genuinely felt that our wedding was the most special date in their calendar, as it was ours. During the three days we spent there every member of staff treated us like royalty. We also need to mention that this was not just on the wedding day they were like this, it was from the day we first walked into the venue and all throughout the preparations to the big day itself.
Looking back I honestly could not pick one single part of the wedding as my favourite – it was the best day of our lives (as cheesy as that may sound!)
We went on honeymoon to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. In keeping with our non-conventional wedding, our honeymoon followed suit. It included beach parties, fire breathing, dancing in the best night club in the world (Coco Bongo), foam parties, dune buggies, waterfalls, pool parties and much more. It was an incredible honeymoon!
My top tip to other Brides Up North would be to make your wedding as personal to you and your partner as possible – and always remember the day is about you, do not try to please all your guests as it will never happen.
Also, don’t overlook having a videographer, we nearly did and it would have been a huge mistake. Adam Wing Films created an absolute masterpiece that captured the entire day for us and then presented us with a jaw-dropping four-and-a-half minutes of professionally edited Hollywood movie quality video. We and our family and friends have watched it over and over since the big day, an absolute must!
