Instead of focusing all their plans around one set theme, today’s real wedding couple decided to go with their preferences and gut feelings when it came to both their big day setting and suppliers.
Proud to show off their home city of Sheffield, Faith and Pete chose to use local businesses where possible to help bring their pretty Yorkshire wedding to life.
With inspiration taken from everything from their favourite flowers to their favourite food, Faith and Pete’s wedding is without doubt a true reflection of them as both individuals and as a couple.
With images by Kindred Photography.
faith says:
We got engaged on the 8th July 2014 at Monsal Head. Pete said he wanted to take us somewhere with a nice view and had seen Monsal Head listed on a website recommending beauty spots. We went early and there was no one else around. I was eight months pregnant at the time and wasn’t expecting the proposal at all because we had recently been on several romantic mini breaks where Pete had ample opportunities to ask but nothing had happened. It turns out he just hadn’t chosen the ring; he found the perfect one though with a little help from his friend Stevie at Beaverbrooks in Meadowhall.Pete had packed a picnic and some fizzy wine (non-alcoholic of course) which he got out of the car. I was going to start setting it up but before I had a chance he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him – it was an amazing moment and couldn’t have been more perfect. We ate the picnic and called our friends and family to tell them the news. My hands were so swollen from the pregnancy I couldn’t get the ring on so Pete drove us to Castleton where we chose a temporary Blue John ring to wear in the meantime. It was very special to return to Monsal Head the following year with our son Alfred and have an engagement/family shoot with our wedding photographer.
Our wedding date was the 18th June 2016. We chose June because it is when all our favourite flowers are in season, also because I always remember a friend telling me it is statistically least likely to rain, I’m not sure if that is true but it stuck in my mind.
We got married at Staindrop Lodge, in Sheffield. We knew we wanted to get married in a venue where we could have both the ceremony and reception. We hadn’t been to Staindrop before but saw it online and thought we would have a look. Both of us loved it straight away. We loved how clean and light it was, we liked the idea of having the reception in the restaurant, which is on two levels and a little more interesting that just a room, we loved the modern feel with art deco touches and all the artwork throughout the venue. We also loved Rachel who is the wedding planner there, she is the most organised and in-control person you could ever meet, I tend to be a bit of a control freak but I had no doubt she would do a fantastic job. They were so flexible and really embraced all the ideas we had. They also saved all the hotel rooms for us which meant most of our friends and family could stay over after the wedding.
We didn’t have a wedding theme as such, we just wanted day to be about us; to feature everything we loved and be a really fun celebration with our closest friends and family. The styling was simple with just a touch of sparkle. We were also keen to show our love of Sheffield by using lots of local or small wedding suppliers.
For our colour scheme we took inspiration from the crocuses, which always look so lovely and cheerful at the start of spring. We had shades of purple for the bridesmaid dresses and my bouquet, bright yellow ties and pale yellow table runners, ivory for my dress, the bridesmaid’s bouquets and the centrepieces, and gold sparkles for the place names and numbers.
I originally saw my Sincerity wedding dress on Pinterest and loved it straight away. I knew I wanted quite a full skirt and a bit of sparkle. I wanted to feel beautiful and girly on the day, like a ‘proper’ bride. I also knew I wanted some kind of straps for comfort. I Googled stockists of the Sincerity dresses and found Georgian House Bridal, in Doncaster, it’s owned by a lovely couple who were really friendly and loved to talk about their grandchildren. My dress was the first one I tried on and I loved it straight away. Obviously I tried on about a hundred other dresses just to be sure, but in the back of my mind I always knew it was that one. I loved the details on the shoulders and waist band and the tiny sparkles on the skirt. I wish I could wear it every day!
Pete’s suit was bought from Moss Bros, he really wanted a navy blue three-piece and saw the perfect one in there. It looked great with his bright yellow tie and the pocket watch I surprised him with on the wedding morning. He couldn’t have looked more handsome.
My four bridesmaid dresses and my mini maid dresses were made by Laura at Something New – The Wedding Specialists. Laura was so friendly and the dresses were just perfect. Two of my bridesmaids were pregnant when they first got measured and she refitted them easily once they had given birth. I opted for dresses with a similar neckline to mine in four shades of purple. My lovely ladies looked amazing. They wore hairpieces made by Claire Green at Sparkle, she also made my headpiece and shoe clips. She used beads and pearls that perfectly matched the waistband on my dress. The girls also wore matching bracelets, which I got them from Alexandra Howarth at Ruby & Sapphire, and she also made Pete’s cufflinks and the mother-of-the-bride and groom gifts.
After failing to find a suitable makeup artist to do my bridal makeup, my friend and bridesmaid Calli asked if she could do it. We had so much fun prior to the wedding shopping and trying out makeup and I got to keep all the products afterwards. She did an amazing job on the day and it felt all the more special because she had done it.
Mine and my bridesmaids’ hair was styled at Lobby Toffs, on Ecclesall Road, Sheffield, on the morning of the wedding. They were so lovely and so reasonably priced. They opened up early just for us due to having quite an early wedding and took loads of pictures of us while we were there, which they emailed to me after the wedding.
Our photographer was Shelley Richmond from the amazing Kindred Photography, along with second-shooter Priscilla Maurer. I cannot recommend them enough. I saw Shelley at a wedding fair I was visiting with a friend not long after she had started out and before I was even engaged and just fell in love with her style. We both loved how she focuses on taking natural shots and can pick up on lovely moments between people. We had met Shelley before for our engagement shoot and at the aforementioned friend’s wedding, so knew the pictures would be just lovely. She and Priscilla were so friendly and fitted right in on the day. They are so great at making you feel at ease and are just downright nice people. I couldn’t recommend them enough and think that the pictures speak for themselves. We especially enjoyed taking an hour away just the two of us to get some lovely shots in a more rural location. We had a bit of fun climbing into a field and capturing some amazing images in the late afternoon. I would recommend all couples take the time to do this.
My absolute favourite flowers are hydrangeas so when it came to my bouquet I really wanted different shades of purple to match the bridesmaids’ dresses and then ivory bouquets for the maids to match my dress. Our florist was Gillian of The Flower Garden Florist, whose window displays are always so beautiful! We chose bouquets, button holes, wrist corsages for the mums and planted hydrangeas for the centrepieces as we liked the idea of being able to keep some and give them away as gifts. A couple of days before the wedding Gillian told me that I had been her first wedding booking and that putting my faith in her new business and paying in full right away had really encouraged her and helped to build her confidence in her new business. I definitely think when it comes to your wedding go with your gut.
We got our confetti for the wedding from Shropshire Petals, which was absolutely fantastic. There is a really good app on their website which helps you decide how much confetti you need. They also send you out samples so you can see what the confetti will look like. Once you order the confetti you can choose whether or not to receive it right away or have it delivered two weeks prior to the wedding so it is lovely and fresh.
We had two wedding favours, firstly “I do” nail polishes for the female guests, which were colour matched to a deep purple crocus for each of the ladies and were named Mr & Mrs Nicholson. The second favours were personalised Henderson’s Relish bottles. I have a bit of an obsession with the spicy Yorkshire sauce and our house is full of Hendo’s artwork and around 25 different bottles. Having personalised ones for wedding favours was kind of a dream come true for me.
Our wedding cake was made by Diane Krlic of Blue Flamingo, and was absolutely stunning. It was honestly one of my favourite details of the day. A friend of mine had Diane’s cakes at her wedding and I have ordered from her several times previously. We met up to discuss what I wanted and she really seemed to get what I was after. I went for three different flavoured layers; red velvet, carrot and lemon (we tried them all) so there was something for everyone. I love wedding cakes and wanted something with a nod to tradition but quite girly and glitzy. I was not disappointed! I actually gasped when I saw it. We had a topper made reading ‘happily ever after’. I kept the topper and have framed it to put up on the wall.
We knew we wanted something a bit different when it came to the wedding breakfast and were thrilled when we found Staindrop Lodge to be so accommodating to our ideas. We went for British classics as our canapes, which were fish and chips, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding and goat’s cheese and red onion chutney tart. We accompanied this with a choice of mojito or a Green King ale as this is made in Bury St Edmunds where Pete used to live with his family. We have been on holiday several times to a lovely place in Crete called Koutouloufari and we used this as our inspiration for our main meal. The starter was a sharing meze board including cured meats, stuffed vine leaves, olives, tzatziki and fresh bread. For main we had a trio of Greek classics moussaka, chicken souvlaki and meatballs served with rice and, of course, Greek salad with plenty of feta cheese. We brought some Greek salad herbs back from our last visit and they were sprinkled on the salad for an extra personal touch. A lot of people have said to me since the wedding it was the best wedding meal they have ever had. For dessert we combined our two favourite sweet treats, cheesecake (mine) and Crunchie bars (Pete’s) and had a honeycomb cheesecake. When the evening guests arrived we served a Ploughman’s tea with plenty of cheeses, meats, breads and chutneys to tuck into, along with the wedding cake.
To provide entertainment we hired a cellist named Paul Graham of Mellow Cello Weddings. We had seen him perform at another wedding. He played prior to and during the ceremony as well as during the outdoor reception drinks. He was really accommodating and played songs which weren’t in his repertoire, such as You Were Meant For Me from the musical Singing in the Rain, which I walked down the aisle to. Instead of a DJ in the evening we chose all our own music very carefully and created a playlist, we knew we wanted complete control of the music and it was really nice knowing what was coming next, as well as liking every single song played.
One of my younger sisters, Joy, recorded our first dance song for us which was really special. We wanted 500 Miles by the Proclaimers as the words are so beautiful and meaningful however the original version is hardly romantic! Joy recorded a slowed down version for us which is something we will be able to treasure forever and something which will take us right back to the day whenever we hear it.
Looking back I would say that there were four things that I loved most about the day. I loved getting ready in the morning with my ladies, having a glass of fizz, being pampered and just the excitement bubbling away. I loved walking into the ceremony, the feeling is indescribable, I couldn’t look at anyone I was sobbing so much, it didn’t make for pretty pictures but it was just so emotional after planning everything for so long and remembering what the day is actually about. I loved going off for an hour to take some pictures just the two of us with Shelley. Lastly I loved the end of the evening, I was a little tipsy and had been dancing and laughing and was so happy and then the last song came on and we all sung along and ended in a huge group hug. A lovely member of staff videoed it for us and I can’t watch it without feeling filled with love and happiness.
We went to Madeira on our honeymoon. It really is the most beautiful and lush place, filled with flowers and trees. We stayed in Quinta Da Casa Branca, which is a five star boutique hotel and was simply out of this world. It’s set in huge gardens, which are kept to the most incredibly high standards, the staff were all so accommodating and the breakfasts were delicious. The best thing about the honeymoon was the food; I have never eaten so much amazing food in my life. Our personal favourites were Cris’s Place and Do Forte, which is in an ancient fort, they sent a vintage car to pick us up from our hotel and drove us all round the town in the moonlight, it was magical. It’s a very relaxing place and great for a quiet holiday.
My top tip for other Brides Up North has to be – it’s your wedding and do not forget it! Don’t compromise for anyone else. It is a special day, it does matter and it should be exactly how you want it and only have the people you want in attendance. Secondly, go with your gut when it comes to suppliers and choices, don’t always choose the big companies and shop local where you can. Lastly try not to worry. I am a terrible worrier and stressed so much in the last couple of weeks I didn’t enjoy them as much as I should have as I had loved everything about the planning up until then. At the end of the day what will be, will be but you will have married the love of your life. After all that worrying the day went perfectly (aside from my son being sick on mine and my mum’s dress incident, which will be brought up on every possible occasion when he is older). Everyone said to me enjoy every second as it goes so quickly, I think that is impossible as it’s so overwhelming! However, my absolute top tip would be to get an amazing photographer, the photos will bring the day back to you and really help you remember it forever!
