We just love all the little personal touches and surprises that today’s bride and groom incorporated into their big day.
From undercover entertainment to secret menu choices, Nicola and Matt planned a wedding day to reflect them as a couple whilst also keeping their guests on their toes.
If, like us, you are captivated by their stunning wedding images which capture the emotion of the day so perfectly, we have some excellent news for you. The photographers behind the images, the fabulous Katie and James from Fairclough Photography, are offering our readers an amazing £200 off their full day wedding package for those that book before 30th June 2016. Just quote ‘BUN16’, when enquiring or booking.
With images by Brides Up North Sponsor, Fairclough Photography.
nicola says:
We got engaged on 26th July 2014. We decided to book a short break in Summerbridge, North Yorkshire, as we’d been there not long after we first got together in 2010. We stayed at the exact same place – Springwood Lodges – in a totally secluded area, surrounded by nature, in a lovely log cabin, which was perfect for a romantic break away from the hustle and bustle! We were enjoying some bubbles in the hot tub when Matt announced he needed to get a top up from inside. When he returned and had settled back into the water, he reached over the side of the hot tub, but instead of turning back round with a glass in his hand, he had a ring box! He’d picked out the most perfect ring I could imagine and after 20 or so “Oh My Gods”, I said yes!We set the date for 22nd August 2015 as we wanted to go for a Saturday in the summer to make it as easy as possible for all family to attend – and give us the best chance of sunshine!
Sandon Hall in Stafford, was our chosen venue for the wedding. Not only is the building stunning, but we had access to the grounds for the day, which are breath-taking! Our families are pretty much all based within 30 minutes of the venue, which is lovely and rural. Funnily enough what clinched the venue for us was a ‘sign’ from nature. When we got engaged in Summerbridge we spent a lot of time relaxing outside on the decking and saw a Jay bird for the first time in the wild – we saw our second one when we were just turning the corner on the long driveway up to the hall the first time we went to view the hall!
We didn’t have a theme as such for the wedding, we just wanted to be ourselves more than anything – still look like us in the pictures, have music we enjoyed and food we loved. The venue is so incredible it didn’t need a great deal of styling so I opted for a neutral colour scheme of pale pinks, champagne and gold for a classic look, a little bunting here and there and lots of natural textures, such as wood and raffia.
My dress was champagne with ivory lace over the top – I’m quite pale so ivory dresses made me look totally washed out! It was the third dress I tried on when I visited the bridal shop with a couple of my bridesmaids. One of my bridesmaids, Espi, picked it off the rail which was lovely as I had done the same for her the previous year when she got married. It was from Aisle of Brides in Stoke.
Matt and the groomsmen got their suits from Aisle of Brides too, and all had matching shoes. They went suit shopping as a group and Matt called me to ask how I felt about brown suits – although at first I was unsure about the colour, when I had a look at them in person they were a really deep brown and suited all the guys really well – they looked so handsome!
My bridesmaids are all very different sizes/heights and have very differing tastes in terms of style so I went for complementing rather than matching dresses for them all which worked out brilliantly. I let them all pick their own. Their look was tied together with matching floral headdresses I found on Etsy and a silk flower on bracelets instead of bouquets/posies.
On the morning of the wedding, my bridesmaids and I made our own way to the venue early and took advantage of the offer of a beautiful bedroom to get ready in – we had a champagne and strawberry breakfast. I had my makeup done at the hotel before we arrived then met the hairdresser there.
Matt made sure I had a lovely bouquet of flowers waiting for me in the room, along with some chilled champagne for me and the girls to enjoy. Meanwhile, I had a bottle of Lagavulin whisky and some cigars delivered to Matt by one of the groomsmen so we each had a little surprise in the morning.
While we were getting ready, one of my bridesmaids, Tanya, also gave me a little silver locket that my mum has had for years. She had a tiny photo of me with my dad printed to fit inside, attached some string and told me it was to go round my ankle under my dress so he could still walk me down the aisle – then immediately after explaining all this made me laugh so I wouldn’t ruin my makeup! As my dad passed away in 2009 I asked his brother, my uncle Robert, to walk me down the aisle and give a handpicked short reading during the ceremony. He chose an extract from Phillip Pullman’s ‘The Amber Spyglass’ which was beautiful.
Our day was captured by Katie and James Fairclough of Fairclough Photography. We spoke to them several times and realised they were absolutely perfect for what we wanted. Having Katie with the girls and James with the boys meant that our finished album was a walk through the whole day and we got to see bits of each other’s preparation. The Faircloughs are a top team who deliver stunning work – we’d definitely recommend them and plan to use them again in future! They’re both extremely friendly and felt more like friends/guests at the wedding than photographers – couldn’t have asked for more! We had a pre-wedding photoshoot at the venue so they could get a sneak preview and plan locations for photos on the day. The album they provided is amazing and they were really supportive, helpful and patient when we were deciding which photos to include.
When it came to the flowers I had a beautiful bouquet, which included roses, ivy and rosemary, and we had roses for the buttonholes. The bridesmaids had a simple keepsake bracelet that I had fitted with silk flowers so they didn’t need to worry about losing petals throughout the day. We also had corsages made for both mums from real flowers. All flowers were provided by Hevanscent florists in Stoke – luckily for us the owner was our next door neighbour at the time and is a really good friend. My bouquet was a wedding present from her (Viv Baker-Evans) and her daughter (Sarah Evans), who delivered all flowers to us on the morning of the wedding.
For the venue, we had two large displays of flowers that we moved from the room we had the ceremony in to the large hall where we had the wedding breakfast so they could be enjoyed all day. Our table centrepieces were silver birch/willow containers with miniature orchids – these were handed out to bridesmaids/aunts etc. at the end of the evening. I searched Etsy for some bespoke items, such as champagne flutes and a cake cutting knife that would complement the colour scheme and natural theme. I also found a gorgeous wooden ring box that we had engraved with our names and the date of the wedding. We borrowed a card box from a friend as it was made to be customisable with our own pictures. I made our seating plan myself using a picture frame and various crafty items – had a couple of near misses with the glue gun but it turned out beautifully! I’m really glad I took the time to make a few items myself and source things from individual designers, it resulted in a really bespoke and unique feel to the day.
Rather than have favours on the table we had a large Ferrero Rocher display next to our card box. This was provided by The Petite Booth Co, who I found through Facebook. They also provided a photo booth along with some costumes in the evening. This provided lots of fun for the guests and we now have some hilarious photos of various family members as Vikings/gorillas/hula girls etc! They even provided a guestbook for us so guests could write a message for us next to their photos.
We had a gorgeous three-tier wedding cake. As I’m not a fan of fruit cake we had a large lemon sponge with blueberry jam and buttercream filling, the middle tier was chocolate cake with chocolate ganache filling, and the top tier was carrot cake (both our mums’ favourite)! We had some sugar flowers as decoration and I found my cake topper on Etsy. The cake was from Decorative Cakes by Donna – a single-person operation based in Stoke who our family have used in the past and continue to use for special occasions. It was so beautiful it was a shame to cut it!
During the drinks reception we served Pimms with a selection of canapes, including goat’s cheese and red onion crostini, scallops wrapped in pancetta skewered with rosemary and strawberries dipped in dark chocolate – all of which went down a treat!
We chose to just let our guests specify what they wanted for the main meal of the wedding breakfast and we decided on the starter and desserts for all. We also decided not to print out menus for the guests and let the starter and dessert be a surprise for them. This gave everyone at the table a talking point so they’d all get to know each other! Our starter was a sharer platter of meats, Pecorino cheese, sunblush tomatoes, olives and artisan breads and we had this served on platters in the centre of the tables – again to promote a bit of discussion and get everyone chatting. By the time the mains arrived it was like everyone had known each other for years! Our options for mains were: Staffordshire leg of lamb stuffed with pancetta, anchovies, garlic and fresh herbs served with a red wine jus, or flame grilled sweet red pepper and aubergine wellington with melting Taleggio served with a rich tomato sauce. Both Matt and I opted for lamb – our favourite! We had a mini trio of deserts: a spiced rhubarb crumble, Limoncello cheesecake and a chocolate cup, so there would be a bit of variety – plus Matt has a particularly sweet tooth so why have one when you can have three! Our best man provided a magnum of rose champagne for the top table and we also served red and white wine with the wedding breakfast.
In terms of entertainment, we set up some garden games outside during the drinks reception, including croquet and giant Jenga and set blankets out on the lawn. As a few of our guests are partial to a strum, we had acoustic guitars, a cajón and a few tambourines set out and let the guests create their own entertainment while they enjoyed the sunshine and we snuck off to have photos taken. Later my mum did a wonderful ‘mother of the bride’ speech, which was really touching – and only a little embarrassing!
We also planned a surprise for all guests with the help of the incredible Rat Pack Boys, who are based in Lichfield. They pretended to be waiters during the reception and were serving guests during the wedding breakfast, then out of nowhere burst into song! My dad was a big fan of the Rat Pack so this was a little nod to him as well – it would have been right up his alley! All the guests were blown away by their talent and sneakiness, they got everyone up on their feet waving napkins as they serenaded us and also did an hour set in the evening before the DJ came on so we could dance the night away!
Following our wedding I would definitely recommend Sandon Hall to other couples. It’s an incredible building with loads of history and the grounds are absolutely beautiful and so loved and well maintained. We felt like Lord and Lady for the day!
Being able to say our vows in front of our families was one of the most special parts of the day to me, and having my dad’s brother walk me down the aisle was something I’ll always hold close to my heart. The whole day seemed to go so quickly with so many laughs, smiles and so much love.
We went on honeymoon to Kardamena in Kos and completely fell in love with the Greek way of life – the food, music, people and weather! We went for two weeks and although we had booked an all-inclusive package, we wandered into town most evenings to enjoy food from family-run taverns. We had an incredible evening watching the sun set into the sea on a mountainside at a place called Zia. We plan to go back to Greece and work our way round the islands over the coming years.
My top tip to other Brides Up North would be to make sure you set time aside to have a few minutes together throughout the day – have bridesmaids/groomsmen on ‘distract the guests’ duty so you can appreciate what’s just happened! I also loved the fact that Matt and I planned a lot of the entertainment, food and gifts together which was a surprise for the guests – wedding party included. It was great being able to catch each other’s eye and smile, knowing what was coming up and that everyone would love it, even if they didn’t know it yet!
