Le Petit Chateau in Northumberland is the exquisite backdrop to today’s real wedding, reminding us why this venue has become such a popular choice among our readers.
Tying the knot back in July – Katie and Anthony crafted a truly beautiful wedding which will have your Pinterest boards chock full of new inspo in no time!
With a fabulous pastel colour palette offset perfectly by a smattering of pink garden roses, white veronica and pink astilbe – we think you’re going to love the dreamy styling and décor.
One pre-wedding detail we absolutely adore is that bride Katie took her mum, nan and granddad as her trusted advisers when picking her wedding dress, making it a truly memorable family affair. Remember ladies, it’s important to take those with you who know you best, and Katie clearly did so as she looks every inch the perfect bride in her stunning Ronald Joyce fishtail gown.…
With images by Carn Patrick.
Proposal
Katie says
: We got engaged two days before Christmas in 2016. I’d just gotten home from work, when Anth and his son Jack came downstairs and both knelt in front of the Christmas tree. Anth held a ring box open and Jack started with “Daddy doesn’t want you to be his girlfriend at Christmas, he wants you to be his fiancée!” At this point I was in tears when Anth took over and popped the question.Setting
We married on 8th July 2018, the only two things we wanted from our wedding date was a weekend, as my family had to travel, and we also wanted to make the most of the gardens at our chosen venue so thought a summer wedding would hopefully mean we’d avoid any rain!
We viewed about seven venues in the North East, but Le Petit Chateau was our winner. It was the first venue we viewed and there wasn’t one thing we didn’t love about it; the gorgeous Belle Époque, the intimacy of the venue, the stunning gardens and not to mention Tim the master of ceremonies who is so passionate about his job.
Theme
We didn’t have a theme as such, but the Newcastle United greats made an appearance as our table names. Anth was very involved in the wedding planning but this was definitely the most passionate decision he had to make!
For the colour scheme, I chose a mixture of pastels, as I couldn’t decide on one colour so went for them all! Originally, I wanted my maids to each be in a different coloured dress but when I found the dresses for my flower girls, I changed my mind on the bridesmaids colours too. I did still stick to the pastel scheme throughout the wedding. The bridesmaids wore dusky pink dresses and the groomsmen wore matching coloured ties.
Dress
I wore a Ronald Joyce ivory fishtail dress with a ruffled skirt, Bardot neckline and low back with beading detail on. I took my mum, nan and granddad to two dress shops in Whitley Bay. After disagreeing on every dress in the first shop we went to Wendy Coles Bridal. I tried on every style I thought I wanted and still didn’t get “that” feeling. Wendy threw in a wild card which I wasn’t sure about. When I came out of the fitting room, my granddad cried, to make it even more special it was named Ada, which is his mum’s name!
Groomsmen
As soon as we picked our venue and date, Anth knew he wanted to wear a blue suit. He wore a tailored petrol blue three-piece suit from Moss Bros with a knitted pink tie from ASOS and a floral pocket square from Moss Bros, which complemented the pink and blue.
The younger groomsmen wore three-piece suits from Marks & Spencer and the older groomsmen wore the same suit as the groom from Moss Bros. The service was great as they all needed some alterations to jacket length, sleeve length etc. which was all done in store.
Bridesmaids
I fell in love with my flower girl dresses from Monsoon and so the challenge was to find a matching colour for my bridesmaids who were all different sizes. After ordering every dusky pink dress from ASOS, we all fell in love with a TFNC London dress which had a keyhole detail and a split up the leg.
Beauty
We did our own makeup on the day. I had a few trials before the wedding but didn’t feel like myself when someone else had done my makeup. My hairdresser travelled from Bedford, where I grew up, to do my hair. My bridesmaids’ hair was done by Hair and Makeup by Maxine Hughes, who was fantastic!
I stayed in L’apartment at Le Petit Chateau with the girls the night before the wedding. It was lovely to be onsite stress-free and drinking Bucks Fizz with breakfast the morning of the wedding!
Photography
We met with a few photographers, but it was Carn Patrick who photographed our wedding. His work spoke for itself when we met, and he showed us his portfolio. It was everything we wanted; natural photos with a beautiful signature style. On the day he was amazing, it goes without saying he was professional, but he went above and beyond. He shared tips to make sure we were at our best, made sure we were relaxed and considered the guests – making sure we weren’t away for too long.
To be honest, it was a pleasure to share our day with him as he really did just feel like part of the wedding party! We were simply blown away when we received our photos, a few weeks earlier than expected too.
Videography
From a friend’s recommendation we chose Marc Trotter from Inspired Wedding Imagery. We have seen our preview video, which is stunning and we’re very excited to see our full video. Marc did a great job on the day – he was very discreet but captured moments we’d forgotten about, so we’d definitely recommend him!
Styling
My bouquet consisted on pink garden roses and lilac stocks for the scent, with white veronica and pink astilbe for the texture, and blue delphiniums and pink lisianthus for the fabulous pastel colours. Sharon from The Little Flower House provided them and put so much thought into each flower choice, I cried when I saw how beautiful my bouquet was!
Sharon provided all the flowers for the venue too. She was fantastic, right from our first consultation through to the wedding day. We had boxed flower arrangements for our tables and a fireplace arrangement for the Belle Époque, all with complementary colours and flowers to my bouquet.
For our favours, we gave our guests little chocolate squares with “Just Married” on them.
Cake
We chose to go against a traditional wedding cake and opted for a dessert table consisting of white chocolate cookies, brownies and vanilla cupcakes. One of my bridesmaids is a part time baker so she provided the goodies, Josie’s Cupcakes.
We did have a small naked cake (adorned with flowers provided by Sharon), so we were still able to cut a cake as husband and wife.
Dining
There was an extensive choice of food options at Le Petit Chateau but as Anth’s favourite food is barbecue so it was an easy choice to make for our main meal. We included the Mr & Mrs drinks package to our day, which included a reception cocktail or beer and wines for the table. The fish and chips served in the evening were a total winner!
Entertainment
During our drinks reception we had magician Paul Lytton; everyone commented on how great he was.
My bridesmaid’s boyfriend is the drummer in The Cluny Band, who played a fantastic bespoke set of Anth’s favourite songs including tracks by Oasis, The Smiths and Tom Petty.
Thanks to
We would absolutely recommend our chosen venue to other couples! The day ran so smoothly and that was down to the staff and master of ceremonies. Communication in the lead up to the wedding was everything you could ask for, with everyone being supportive.
The venue is stunning – therefore the photos are also beautiful – and the rooms in the hotel are also gorgeous. The set-up of the venue is great, you never feel too far away from your guests at any point.
Special Moment
I loved every part of the day! From walking down the aisle and saying our vows, to celebrating and dancing with friends and family right and sitting on the balcony of the bridal suite with my husband at 3am drinking champagne and taking the day in. I must say I think the guys’ speeches were outstanding and it really felt like one big family which was probably one of the stand-out parts of the day for me, it never felt like ‘his and her’ guests at any point.
Honeymoon
As we had our daughter in December 2017, we have decided to postpone our honeymoon until our first anniversary, so we can have a romantic honeymoon without taking the kids! We managed to get a couple of nights away to York following the wedding but we’re looking at going to Italy next year.
Advice
Honestly, I think wedding planning can be stressful but on the day the love you feel will be all that really matters. My biggest tip for other Brides Up North would be: try not to stress over the small details, it all comes together in the end.
When we first got engaged, we visited a Brides Up North wedding show which really helped us to begin planning our big day. It helped us to focus on everything that we needed to consider – and it was great fun!
