While we Brides Up North girls are big fans of timeless stately home settings, we can’t help falling head over heels for the stripped-back industrial style venues that are coming through strong on the current wedding scene.
Today’s celebration takes place at one such venue, a former cotton spinning mill that has been transformed into a stylish wedding venue, complete with exposed brick, wooden floors and pendant lighting. We love!
Bride and groom Kate and Matt, enhanced the venue further by paying homage to the area’s textile industry roots within their décor and colour scheme choices.
There’s lots of pretty to pore over, from Kate’s stunning beaded dress and Hollywood-worthy makeup, to the beautiful bouquets and suspended floral arrangement!
With images by Toast of Leeds and video by Brides Up North Sponsor Silver Sixpence Films.
Matthew and Kate from Silver Sixpence Films on Vimeo.
kate says:
We got engaged in Alghero, Sardinia, in August 2015 and set the date for a year later, on Monday 15th August 2016.
We chose to marry on this date as we really wanted our wedding at The West Mill in Derby and, due to its popularity, there were limited dates left and we didn’t want to miss out. Luckily, we both work in a school so a Monday wedding in the summer holidays was not a problem for us.
The venue was right up our street with its industrial chic design and its exclusive use for our big day. The setting is beautiful right on the river Derwrnt and only ten minutes from Derby.
We went with a simple, cotton mill theme for the wedding in honour of the building and because we are both from Rochdale and Oldham, renowned for their part in the textile industry during the industrial revolution.
The colour scheme was made up of rustic tones, with white, cream and peach flowers and navy for the groomsmen’s suits.
I chose to wear a vintage beaded dress by Maggie Sottero from Brides and Gowns, located in Derby city centre. I chose it for its simplicity and style, I wanted to maintain a classic look in keeping with the venue.
Matt wore a navy Venttuno suit with a cream waistcoat and champagne cravat from Moss Bros. The groomsmen wore the same as Matt but with champagne ties instead of cravats.
On the day of the wedding myself, my mum and my bridesmaids travelled to the venue by limousine.
Shelly Mantovani from Toast of Leeds and Lee Allen captured our day. Shelly’s photos are informal and really documented the moments of the day. She’s not your bog-standard wedding photographer – her shots are edgy and quirky.
We also had our day videoed by the lovely Silver Sixpence Films.
My bouquet, provided by The Blossom Tree in Melbourne, Derbyshire, consisted of peach roses, white freesia and gypsophila wrapped in hessian.
The Blossom Tree also provided the flowers for the venue, which included a hanging arrangement above where the marriage took place.
Décor-wise, each of the reception tables had hexagonal mirrored bases with menus inside photo frames, gypsophila in small glass bowls, and small glass jars with candles in and decorated with twine and navy ribbon.
As favours we gave guests salted caramel button-shaped shortbread wrapped in clear cellophane with tape measure ribbon provided by The Melbourne Cake Company, who also provided our cake. It was a four-tiered rough iced creation with red velvet and cream cheese, lemon and vanilla in the layers. It was dressed with hessian and gypsophila.
Jenkinsons Caterers provided our food for the wedding, which was second to none. We had so many amazing compliments for the food. We had canapés of scallops wrapped in Parma ham in a rosemary skewer, sweet glazed pork belly, goats cheese and green tomato chutney crostini. The starter for the wedding breakfast was ham hock terrine and piccalilli, followed by mains of duck with a poached pear and calvados sauce and we finished with a deconstructed passionfruit cheesecake.
Our entertainment was provided by swing band Swingamathing. We had seen them at New Year’s Eve a few years previously and were very impressed by their performance so hired them for the wedding.
We also had a photo booth with a backdrop of coloured lanterns provided by Oh! Photobooth.
Following our wedding, we could not recommend the West Mill highly enough. It’s a stunning setting, amazing building and such a brilliant venue overall!
The entire day was the best day we have ever had. Seeing all our guests really enjoying themselves and the venue were both so special. We would definitely redo the day if we could. Such an unforgettable day!
For our honeymoon we went Chiang Mai elephant trekking in Thailand, spending time in Bangkok and Koh Samui.
My top tip to other Brides Up North is simple – relax, don’t overthink and take it all in.
