We’re getting your week off to a beautiful start with another helping of pretty, rustic wedding inspiration in the form of Beth and Rob’s big day.
Tying the knot in an intimate ceremony at The Yellow Broom in Cheshire, bride Beth decided to complement the setting with a simple rustic theme, featuring lots of twine and ethereal woodland themed décor.
As groom Rob is allergic to fresh flowers, Beth went for a pretty paper boutique which we think adds to the overall daintiness and charm of this sweet celebration.
With images by Amanda Balmain Photography.
beth says:
Rob proposed on Christmas Eve 2014. We took the dog for a walk (I thought he was very quiet) and when we got back, he had disappeared telling me he had to wrap some more presents. A few minutes later, I got called upstairs to find my dog with a little Santa outfit on, with ‘will you marry me’ stitched on the back – I turned around and Rob was down on one knee with a beautiful ring! It was a complete shock and needless to say, the best Christmas Eve ever!We set the date for 20th February 2016. We decided we’d prefer a winter wedding, but we were conscious of daylight hours and the usual English winter weather, so we thought February would be a suitable month!
We got married at The Yellow Broom in Cheshire. I only wanted a very small wedding and we also wanted a civil ceremony. After a lot of searching around, we found that we could do both at The Yellow Broom. After a visit, we saw it was such a light, beautiful venue and decided that it would be perfect. We were offered a brilliant deal on the wedding because it was in the winter and the wedding manager there Nathalie, took care of pretty much everything for us, which was exactly what I needed!
I picked a rustic theme, with candles, wooden hearts, wooden rounds on the table and a tree stump as a wedding cake stand. Lots of twine and tree themed decorations! I picked it purely because I love the old, rustic style and just hunted around until I found the decorations I absolutely loved! It also seemed to fit the venue very well.
Our colour scheme was browns, golds and champagnes – again, purely because it was colours I love and that fitted in with the rustic theme I was going for!
For my wedding day attire, I chose a long-sleeved Diane Harbridge dress called Elizabeth, from Swan Brides in Congleton. I had always had this image in my head that I wanted to wear a long-sleeved wedding dress. We went to Swan Brides to look around, but I didn’t have a huge budget so we asked to see the sample dresses. After pulling a few out, my mum actually pulled the one out. I wasn’t sure about it, but I tried it on and absolutely fell in love – it was exactly what I was looking for. I tried a veil on with it and mum cried, so I knew I’d found the one – and for an absolute bargain too! My shoes were from Debenhams and were called Bunting by Pink Paradox. These were really comfy and I would very much recommend them to other brides.
Rob wore a charcoal grey three-piece suit from Slaters in Manchester. I knew my wedding dress was quite sparkly so went with him to try and find something that went well with my dress – which is quite hard to do when I couldn’t tell him what my dress was like! We found this suit and it looked perfect. The manager of the store took charge of the alterations and it’s definitely the nicest and well fitted suit that Rob has!
My bridesmaids wore the Stephanie maxi dress by Darling Dresses in cream and the groomsmen wore the same suit as Rob, but without the waistcoat.
To provide our wedding transport, my brother-in-law borrowed a lovely white Mercedes for the day. Rob travelled with his family to the venue and I was treated to a very posh ride there! We just got a taxi home at the end of the night!
We used Amanda Balmain for our photography – she was one of the very few photographers who you could have just for a couple of hours. We only wanted some photos of the ceremony and then some family shots afterwards. I would absolutely recommend Amanda, she was fantastic. She was so quiet and you barely noticed her being there, but she got some amazing pictures that I never even saw her take! She was brilliant at organising people to get the group shots (I know that must be a nightmare) and wasn’t afraid to spend most of her time stood in the rain so she got the best photos. We are so happy with the result and have got some beautiful photos to remember our day by!
Instead of fresh, we had paper wedding flowers from Powells Petals. Rob is very allergic to flowers, so I was a bit stuck in what to do for my bouquet. My sister found the Powells Petals shop on Facebook and I knew I wanted these! She makes flowers out of your favourite books, so they are personal to you, plus, you can keep these afterwards. I had a bouquet, then we had some flowers for the bridesmaids and flower girl, the men had buttonholes and then we had a ring of flowers for the top of the cake.
I did the table decorations for the venue myself with candles, sprinkles and some chocolates in a vase, which was placed in the middle. Other than that, the venue was already done up beautifully so we didn’t need much else!
As favours we had little envelopes made saying ‘Beth & Rob- the perfect blend’ with a teabag inside. Anyone who knows us, knows we live off tea, so this seemed like the best idea!
My colleague at work, Julie, made our wedding cake for us. She makes them for her family and friends’ birthdays and knew I wanted something quite plain. After searching round for some inspiration, we found an idea for a white tiered cake, with twine around the bottom and some flowers around the middle. She did an absolutely amazing job and it looked so lovely – as well as tasting delicious!
For the wedding breakfast, The Yellow Broom provided a menu that we could pick dishes from. We just went through and found the dishes we most liked the sound of! There were some canapes and cocktails after the ceremony then, once seated, we had starters of leek and potato soup, followed by chicken wrapped in bacon with watercress sauce and chive pommes puree, then chocolate brownie with ice cream for dessert. We also had sausage/bacon baps with fries later on at night, which went down a treat!
We used the Light & Sound Experience to provide our wedding entertainment, after an extensive internet research. He was reasonably priced and had great reviews. After speaking to him, he was very genuine and seemed to know exactly what he was doing and what sort of music to play! He had most of our friends up on the dancefloor and definitely played a great mix of music!
Instead of a guest book at the reception, I had a thumbprint tree which my grandad actually drew for me. It’s now up on my lounge wall and it means so much to me. It’s lovely having something visual instead of just a guest book you have to hunt out and open up to read!
On reflection, our wedding was such a wonderful day. Guests said it was the perfect size (50 day guests and 90 evening guests), so everyone could mingle and talk and the room didn’t look empty when people had grouped off to chat and have a drink! The venue took care of everything from start to finish, they decorated the tables exactly how I’d asked and they were brilliant in organising everyone, so we weren’t milling around in between the different parts of the day. Roisin and Nathalie were so helpful during January when I was panicking about getting everything right and even a last minute change in the seating plan didn’t faze them! I honestly would recommend The Yellow Broom to anyone, there wasn’t a bit of the day I’d change!
My favourite part of the day was after the first dance was over. It was the point when I knew I could truly relax and enjoy myself! I’d been very nervous of the ceremony, but it was actually lovely and I had nothing to be worried about. The first dance was quite stressful (all eyes were on us…aghh!) but once all that was over, I literally had nothing else to be worried about; I had a new husband, all my friends and a truly wonderful night!
For our honeymoon, we went to LA for five days and then Las Vegas for three days. It was absolutely amazing! We stayed in Le Montrose in West Hollywood in LA (on recommendation of my boss), which was in a brilliant location for everything. We hired a car and so went off to the Hollywood sign, the Warner Bros Studios (where I sat on the Friends couch, literally a life dream come true), and Santa Monica and Venice Beach. It was a very busy five days, but it’s the most amazing place and I wouldn’t hesitate to go back there. We then travelled onto Vegas where we stayed in the Monte Carlo. We went shooting at a range, saw Le Reve the Dream and went round all the different hotels and casinos and then had a mega shopping spree on the last day in Fashion Show Mall! It was a truly crazy place to be I’d definitely go back there and stay for longer in both places, it was the best holiday I’ve had in my life!
My top tip to other Brides Up North would definitely be to save money where you can. I found my perfect dress in the sample rack for £550 as I couldn’t afford to spend £2,000 on one! Also, don’t stress about the little things! I spent hours worrying over my table decorations and whether the heart/flower sprinkles would go together – and I don’t think anyone noticed! Finally, for anyone stressing about the ceremony, it’s definitely true what people say. I got myself so worked up, but when I saw Rob standing at the front, I wasn’t worried anymore and it was lovely – we even had a laugh while standing at the front!