This morning on the wedding blog we’re off to the North West of the country to relive Carl and Samantha’s wedding at Ashton Memorial.
Having fallen head over heels for the stunning venue and its surroundings, today’s bride and groom made full use of its beautiful backdrops, posing for numerous photographs both inside and out.
We also have to praise Samantha on her choice of fancy wedding footwear, which provided her something new and blue!
With images by Rachael Pereira Photography.
samantha says:
We got engaged on 19th June 2015 and our wedding was on 8th April 2016, as we wanted to get married during the first week in April. This gave us just under ten months in which to plan our big day.Our chosen venue for the ceremony was Ashton Memorial in Lancaster. We love everything about this stunning Victorian building and the atmosphere inside is incredible too. Our reception was then held at The Crofters Hotel in Garstang.
We picked a royal blue colour scheme for the wedding and I decided early on that I wanted to wear blue shoes to match (they also provided my something new and blue!)
My wedding dress was an ivory, strapless lace gown which I wore with a co-ordinating bolero and short veil with crystals. I picked these from The Bridal Collection of Lancaster. My shoes to complete my look were from Ted Baker.
Carl wore a grey Ted Baker morning suit, ivory waist coat and tie, all of which was hired from Moss Bros. The best man wore a morning suit too but with a grey waist coat and royal blue tie.
My lovely bridesmaids meanwhile wore royal blue chiffon and lace, full-length dresses and looked beautiful.
On the day of the wedding Emma Coppock, of The Lytham Wedding Company, took care of the bridal party’s hair and makeup. The service she provided was amazing; from doing the trial a few weeks previous to arriving on time on the day to make everyone look stunning. I was so pleased that Emma shared part of my day and would definitely recommend her other brides.
To transport me to Ashton Memorial for the ceremony we hired a stunning 1926 Rolls Royce, from D W Hume & Sons.
Rachael Pereira Photography captured all elements of our day for us and I would definitely recommend to other couples. She made everything so easy, listened to what we wanted and produced fantastic photos which surpassed our expectations.
The fresh flowers for the wedding, which included my bouquet, the groom’s buttonhole and the mother-of-the-bride and groom’s mother’s corsages, were provided by Ann Barnes, who is based in Blackpool. The artificial arrangements, including the bridesmaids’ bouquets, the flower girl’s basket and the royal blue buttonholes, were supplied by Petals Polly Flowers.
The flowers at the reception were provided by The Crofters Hotel and we named each of the tables after grandparents which are no longer with us. Each table had picture of them which made it feel like they were there with us on the day.
As favours we gave cute red lip candy lollies to the ladies and chocolate moustache lollies to the men.
Or wedding cake was a three-tier design made up of two Victoria sponges and one chocolate sponge, which we got from Marks & Spencer.
Following the wedding breakfast and speeches we had a DJ, who played a variety of country music, to keep our guests entertained. Both Carl and I love country music after visiting the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, and so thought this would be a nice touch to the day.
Following our wedding I would definitely recommend Ashton Memorial as a stunning ceremony venue. It’s just so special in its location set in Williamson Park. It has so many gorgeous backdrops for amazing photo opportunities – inside with its beautiful painted ceiling and outside on the sweeping steps, by the lake and within the woodland.
My favourite part of the wedding had to be Carl and I seeing each other for the first time on the day knowing we were about to get married!
After the wedding we went on a fabulous honeymoon to Orlando. We thoroughly enjoyed the parks visiting The Magic Kingdom, Great Universal, Sea World, Epcot and The Kennedy Space Centre. The highlight was visiting The Discovery Cove where we both had the opportunity to swim with dolphins.
My top tip to other Brides Up North would be to make sure that everything you do is memorable and includes everything you’ve ever dreamt about for your wedding. We both enjoyed every second of our big day and have such amazing memories of a perfect day like no other.
