The summer wedding of Patrick and Katrina has a sweet vintage, village hall vibe and took place in their local community so they’ll always be reminded of their special day setting.
They chose an afternoon tea menu for their reception, with delicate culinary treats served on charming old-fashioned crockery. Add to that the bunting and fairy lights strung from the rafters, a homemade cake table showcasing mouth-watering treats baked by talented family and friends – and even a cheese table in the evening – and you have a wonderful, personal day that reflects Katrina and Patrick’s wedding wishes perfectly.
And the dress is rather dreamy, too!
With images by Kate Gosney.
katrina says:
We got engaged in December 2016. I cycled home from work on a dark, rainy, Friday night. As I pulled into our road, I noticed that my car had been moved from the road onto our drive, which was a bit unusual. As I pulled closer, I noticed there was a note tucked under the windscreen and my heart sank, thinking one of the neighbours must have been complaining about my car being in the way. I couldn’t bear to open it but Patrick was inside waiting for me and he urged me to read it. Inside it said, “Katrina, seeing as this all started three years ago with a note on your car, it seemed only right that this should also be a note. Will you marry me?”
We got married on 29th July 2017. Neither of us wanted a long engagement and Patrick is a teacher, so this coincided with the start of the school holidays.
Our ceremony was at Sale Town Hall, as we wanted it to be in our local community and somewhere we would pass regularly. Our reception took place at Mobberley Victory Hall. We wanted the reception venue to be beautiful, low key and to allow us to do our own thing with it.
The old-fashioned approach to a wedding appealed to us, so we went for a natural, handmade, rustic and vintage look with involvement from family and friends.
I wore a Brighton Belle dress. I wanted a knee-length dress, as I liked the idea of being able to move around freely and dance.
My bridesmaids wore pale grey lace dresses from John Lewis.
Patrick and his best man wore beautiful blue suits, which were also from John Lewis.
I wanted my flowers to be seasonal and full of different colours. We used Ken Fraser Florist, a long-standing local company, and I asked them to copy a bouquet I had seen online, which they did with ease. The roses were called Miss Piggy!
Our photographer was Kate Gosney. I loved her style, which is what drew me initially to her, but then we got to know her at the pre-wedding shoot – she is super friendly, made us relaxed and at ease, and her enthusiasm was wonderful.
For the decorations at the reception venue, I sourced items myself on Etsy and eBay and in local stores. I used Pinterest for a lot of inspiration.
I combined the favours with the place names, using a small paper flag with each person’s name on it, which I popped into a Tunnock’s tea cake!
Our cake was made by my friend, Sarah Campbell. She makes and decorates them as a hobby. We had three tiers: chocolate, Victoria sponge and lemon drizzle. We also had a selection of other cakes made by friends.
For the food, we used Brynleys Catering. I cannot recommend them enough – they were so accommodating, flexible and brilliant. The team was incredibly helpful when it came to setting the hall up – they went beyond the call of duty to help us. The food was also fantastic. We chose to have afternoon tea, which fitted the village hall vintage theme.
We organised our own music throughout the day. This was Patrick’s project – and his triumph! We also had Radio Kings Band for the evening.
Following our wedding, I would absolutely recommend our choice of venue to other brides and grooms. It was great for complete hire from mid-morning on the Friday to late afternoon on the Sunday. It has an interesting history and is just beautiful.
My favourite part of the day was the ceremony. It was magical. It felt very momentous in a place of history in our local community, and our registrar was lovely.
For our honeymoon, we went to Paris, then onto Burgundy and then finished up our trip in London.
My top tip for other Brides Up North is to use a spreadsheet from the very beginning of your planning to help you organise everything.
