Today’s real wedding couple decided to let the season in which they tied the knot provide the inspiration for their styling and colour scheme.
The result is a
rich & warming
autumnal wedding complete with pretty rustic décor and striking seasonal blooms.With images by Arusha Images Photography.
katie says:
We got engaged at Christmas. Damian took me for a walk at somewhere we love locally called Wycoller, it is really beautiful with an old ruin and a little stream. It was such a surprise when he proposed. I was so excited! We actually chose to have our engagement shoot with our photographer Arusha at Wycoller too, and it was lovely to go back there.We set the date for October 25th, because we love autumn and so we had a wedding full of autumnal gorgeousness!
We had a nuptial mass at Damian’s RC church, Sacred Heart Church, which was really important to him and his family, and was beautiful. Our reception was nearby, in the Lancashire countryside at one of our favourite places to eat, The Alma Inn in Laneshawbridge. It has a gorgeous view of Pendle Hill, and was such a perfect venue for our rustic autumn wedding, and the big open fires kept everyone warm.
The theme of the wedding was rustic, romantic and autumnal. The Alma itself already suited our theme down to a tee. I only added decorations as a personal choice. The log fires we asked to be lit on the day added to the personal and cosy feel of the venue. The pumpkins used as table centrepieces also proved to be a low cost, but effective way, to enhance our autumnal theme.
To suit the season we went with autumnal colours for the scheme, made up of oranges, browns and then some brighter whites. The bridesmaids wore black which really made their bouquets stand out.
I wasn’t sure what I wanted when it came to my dress. I tried on a lot of styles during my first appointment, then the advisor asked which one I felt most like a bride in. After that it was easy shopping for the style that I wanted. My only specification was ‘no bling’. My dress was perfect and the natural silk enhanced the natural colours of the wedding. It was by Maggie Sottero and I bought it from Sugared Almonds in Earby. On the wedding day stylist Lois Pickup did an amazing job of my hair and makeup.
Damian wore a green moleskin waistcoat from Brook Taverner, a white shirt from Baumler, trousers from John Lewis and a tie by Paul Costelloe.
The bridesmaids looked beautiful in black evening gowns from Alexon. It’s quite unusual to pick black for bridesmaids but I felt it helped to really show off all the lovely autumnal oranges in the bouquets and around the venue.
As our wedding transport, we hired a campervan from Coach House Limousines, which provided a perfect, fun and relaxed mode of transport for our rustic day.
Arusha of Arusha’s Images Photography captured our day. We loved the journalistic style that we had seen Arusha capture before. I actually cried as I relived the day through Arusha’s shots. Arusha captured the extra special moments in our day that we will always look back on through our photos. A lot of people have commented on the style of our photos and like how the natural moments have been documented. We love our photos and would definitely recommend Arusha. She worked so discretely and made us feel at ease all day.
Hedgehogg Florists provided our flowers. The arrangements were so autumnal, with the addition of cotton as a nod to the cotton mills in the area we were married in. They were amazing flowers!
We had the same style of flowers as my bouquet for the decorations and I also did a lot of DIY decorations as I love creating things. Everything followed our autumnal theme.
I tried to do as much of the wedding myself as possible. I made all the wedding stationary (invitations, place cards, order of service) and designed the chalkboards (menu board, photopod sign and the rules of the dancefloor). I made the conker heart decorations from old coat hangers and conkers collected from our wedding guests a year before our wedding. I also put together the photo montage from our family weddings of the past. As wedding favours gave sparklers. It was all rustic and personal and I loved making everything!
Our wedding cake was two layers of fruit cake, presented as just one tier. It was rustically iced in an off-white icing and decorated with autumnal flowers and my own seasonal decorations.
In the evening we had entertainment in the form of a disco provided by Alma’s resident DJ and we also had a photopod from Flash Photobooths.
We would most definitely recommend the The Alma to other brides and grooms. The team there are wonderful, the food is fabulous and the venue is in a gorgeous location.
My top tips to other Brides Up North would be: relax and trust the professionals; enjoy the company of your friends and family; stay true to yours and your husband-to-be’s wishes as it’s your day; savour every second as it truly does fly by and set a limit of meeting and greeting. I made sure I got round as many people as possible before 9pm as then I wanted to enjoy the dancefloor!
