Today’s military groom Kyle proposed to the gorgeous Sophie before he was posted to the US for three years and the couple organised their wedding in less than three months. Respect, guys.
Nothing in today’s pictures, however, betrays the fact that they were up against the clock. This seriously chic city wedding scores countless cool points, from Sophie’s edgy ASOS bridal dress, those Oriental-style violet silk shoes and stunning urban backdrops.
This wedding gives us all the feels. Who knew that being photographed in front of a lift could look so – well – completely and utterly perfect?
With photography by Brides Up North Sponsor Rebecca Parsons Photography
sophie says:
Kyle popped the question over an Indian takeaway in our new home. Kyle’s in the Royal Navy so he’s often away but is mainly home at weekends. We’d recently bought our first home together and moved in October 2016. Shortly afterwards, Kyle broke the news that he’d received his new drafting and would be going away to America for three years in January 2017. Then, casually while eating our takeaway, he said, “Sooo, will you marry me?”Our wedding date was Saturday 7th January 2017. We were married at On The 7th at Manchester Media City. We weren’t looking for a traditional church wedding venue and, both being from Manchester, loved the idea of having a Manchester backdrop for our photos. As soon as we arrived at the venue we knew this was the one. It suited our quirky characters and we loved the laidback feel. It’s a fantastic place and didn’t need much decoration. We did, however, hire some lights spelling out “love” from Love Lights The Way.
The groom and groomsmen all wore navy suits with burgundy accessories and tan shoes. The colour theme was minimal with the flowers being mainly white with a hint of light blue fuchsia and blue thistle.
My dress was a cream, crochet-style lace dress from ASOS bridal. It was down to the ankle, with a shorter underdress and a slit up the back. It had a high neck with small capped sleeves. I wore statement blue floral shoes, which were my favourite part of the outfit – I received so many compliments on them!
My hair and make was done by Nicky Selvidge and my nails by Rare Beauty.
Kyle wore a navy Ted Baker suit with a slight check detail and matching waistcoat. He had a paisley patterned pocket square with a burgundy tie and a pocket watch. The groomsmen also wore Ted Baker in navy.
I arrived at the vnue in an Ermine White Classic Rolls-Bentley along with my dad and my sister, who was my bridesmaid.
Our photographer was Rebecca Parsons. I would highly recommend her – she was absolutely brilliant. She made me and Kyle feel totally at ease and the photographs are all so natural and arty. We love the urban backdrop to the photos and I particularly love the night shots – they look so glamorous.
Our flowers were from Tallulah Blooms in Romiley, Stockport. I had a vintage-style, handtied bouquet. I wanted it to look like I had grabbed the flowers from a meadow and I got exactly that – a relaxed bouquet made up of a mixture of fuchsia, gypsophila, white lisianthus and blue thistle. There was a lot of greenery too which looked great against the white flowers. My bridesmaid also had a handtied gypsophila bouquet.
For the ceremony we lined the walkway with large hurricane vases complete with a pillar candle and gypsophila. On each table at the wedding breakfast we had a dusky pink/mink vase with large white hydrangeas, more gypsophila, blue thistles and some dark green eucalyptus for contrast. They looked so good everyone thought they were fake!
For favours, we gave each guest a small mason jar as a shot glass with a label saying “take a shot, we’ve tied the knot”. There were only a small number of under 18s (our youngest guest was 13) and we gave them a small mason jar full of M&Ms.
Our cake was from Marks & Spencer. It was a three-tier cake: the top tier was fruit cake, the second tier chocolate sponge and the bottom Victoria sponge (something for everyone!) We decorated it with ribbon, roses and gypsophila. The cake stood on a wooden log carved by my dad with our initials and a heart!
For the wedding breakfast, we chose a trio of small dishes, which came out in individual bowls. We had said from the start that we didn’t want a long-winded, three-course, sit-down meal. We wanted to keep it more relaxed so we went for a tapas-style selection.
After the meal, we opened up the gin and rum parlour in one of the snugs at the venue. Guests were able to enjoy a cocktail we’d created, adding their own garnishes to suit their taste.
There was also a sweet parlour which went down a treat. And we also opened up ‘The Man Cave’ – a smaller room in between the bar and the dancefloor with a pool table, so when the girls were off dancing, the guys were entertained.
We also hired a DJ for the evening, who played a great selection of songs for both young and old. Our first dance was to Courteeners Take Over The World. It’s mine and Kyle’s favourite song and we wanted something upbeat to get everyone up on the dancefloor.
Overall our wedding venue was fantastic and we would definitely recommend it to other couples. All the staff worked hard to make sure everything ran smoothly and Kyle and I were treated like royalty. Sarah was the wedding planner tasked with organising our wedding in less than three months and yet she pulled it off brilliantly. Matt and Matty were also amazing; always there when we needed them with information and prompts.
Looking back, my favourite part of the day has to be the last song: seeing everyone on the dancefloor dancing drunkenly to Champagne Supernova!
We’re yet to go on our honeymoon. Kyle is now in the US and the plan is to do some touring around America when I go out and join him in June.
My top tip for other Brides Up North would be – just live the moment on the day itself – it goes so so fast. Don’t let anything get to you, ignore any hiccups and just enjoy yourself.
