Today’s real wedding couple chose to focus their plans on the elements that mattered most to them, allowing them to spend the majority of their time and money on the things that reflect them best.
From personal food choices, to live music and explosive evening entertainment, guests were treated to a truly special day that suited Harry and Cat’s style perfectly!
Images by Jenny Maden
harriet says:
We got engaged in September 2015 whilst on our favourite walk. At the top of the hill on the route the views are amazing – suddenly the peaks and surrounding countryside unfolds. It was there that Catherine proposed to me. We celebrated our engagement at the local pub with a pie and a pint. It was perfect!We had our legal wedding ceremony on 11th August at Sheffield Town Hall, and then had our blessing and reception with friends and family on 13th August.
The blessing was at Bolsterstone Village Hall followed by a reception in tipis, provided by Totally Tipi, at Lazy Daisy’s Farm in Langsett. The venue was important to us as we wanted somewhere near to where we live and somewhere with a down to earth and natural charm. On viewing both of these venues we loved them immediately. Both Bolderstone Village Hall and the village itself are incredibly charming, and living nearby meant we know them well. Perhaps most importantly though is that all of the suppliers we worked with were fantastic! Carol at Bolderstone Village Hall, Sally at Lazy Daisy’s and Jay at Totally Tipi – they all made the planning and organisation easy and fun.
Our colour scheme for the wedding we blue and coral. The women in the bridal party wore coral lace dresses from Coast. The men in the bridal party wore cobalt blue suits with coral ties and pocket squares.
We both wore pretty standard wedding dresses; we weren’t particularly bothered about the dresses. We were really happy with our choices though, and felt both comfortable and special on the day!
Our say was captured by photographer Jenny Maden. I knew Jenny from school and had been really impressed by her photography work, which I had seen on Facebook. Jenny flourishes at capturing natural moments. Her photography does not focus on staged shots but on capturing smiles, chat, joy, tears, funny faces and laughs, which make up a wedding day! We relish looking back through those photos and losing ourselves in the memories they trigger. We would highly recommend Jenny as a wedding photographer!
We were very proud of our wedding flowers – we loved them in fact! The flowers on the tables were put together by Catherine’s mum. She mostly used flowers from our garden with some from Morrisons mixed in. Our bouquets were also from Morrisons. We went for bright and colourful!
Our wedding favours doubled up as table settings. The adults received either tomato and chilli chutney or rhubarb and ginger jam; both made by Catherine. The children received a small jar of dolly mixture sweets.
Catherine’s sister, Ellen made our wedding cake. There was a chocolate sponge and a vanilla sponge, both iced and beautifully decorated with hand crafted flowers. It fitted perfectly with the day and was both stunning and delicious.
PJ Taste catered for us, providing canapés and a drinks service, followed by a sit down meal of steak and ale pie or chicken and fennel pie, served with mash and peas. Pudding was chocolate brownies and rhubarb Eton mess. It was absolutely delicious and fuelled us well for the evening party! Tracy and her team at PJ Taste are veterans in their trade. They were full of helpful ideas and suggestions which we lapped up with gratitude. From children’s lunch boxes (which were very popular and highly appreciated) to selfie sticks on the tables (which provided hours of entertainment!)
Prior to the wedding we did a ‘booze run’ to Calais for the wine! We then picked up lager and prosecco from the supermarkets back home, along with a keg of our favourite local beer from Bradfield Brewery.
In the evening we hired ‘pop-up’ caterers Van Chaud, who offered fresh hot crepes to guests from their vintage Citroen van. The van is gorgeous and definitely looked the part, sitting next to the tipis in the field. Needless to say the crepes were delicious.
Along with the crepes, we had a live band in the evening. Catherine and I are keen live music fans. When we lived in London we frequently went to gigs and still do when the opportunity arises. We both pictured our wedding being full of music and dancing. The band was great and the dance floor was full all evening!
One final special touch we added to the day was fireworks! We bought a package from Epic Fireworks. We knew it was a bit unnecessary and frivolous but then remembered that, that is the point of the whole day and managed to stretch our budget. We’re so glad we did it. It definitely added a special touch.
Looking back we can’t pick out any specific parts of the day as our favourite, it was all amazing. Each part was special in its own special way.
After the wedding we went to Mauritius for our honeymoon. It was incredibly relaxing and allowed us to come back down to earth without too much of a bump after our wedding day!
Our top tip for other Brides Up North would be to pick out what is most important to you and for your attention and money to be invested into those parts. Then just be relaxed and simple with the rest of it, oh and remember to enjoy the whole process too!
