Calling all winter brides! If you’re considering tying the knot in the earlier months of the year, let Leanne and Rich’s gorgeous Liverpudlian celebration warm your heart and inspire your planning.
With a rich colour palette of burgundy, peach and grey, this stylish couple decided to fill their hotel-set celebration with armfuls of foliage and flashes of twinkling fairy lights. Think winter wonderland but with a feel that was decidedly more fabulous than festive.
Read on to find out more about their beautiful celebration – and to find out about that honeymoon!
With images by Emma Ledwith
Proposal
Leanne says
: Like a lot of women after six years in a relationship and edging closer to 30, I was hoping for the question to be popped. Earlier that year, after a luxurious holiday to Dubai, I gave up thinking that it would ever happen…but whilst we were away in Nice, France, later that year – it did! I was getting ready in the hotel bathroom and Rich was being rather sheepish. He went down to the hotel bar and came back with what I assumed was 2-4-1 glasses of Prosecco and a coy grin on his face.I came out of the bathroom to see two glasses of champagne (was told very quickly it wasn’t Prosecco!) and a ring box on the side. It was a moment I’ll never forget as he got down on one knee and asked me the big question!
I immediately said “yes” and the tears began; Facetiming my mum and sister was the icing on the cake!
Setting
Our wedding date was 2nd February 2019. We always fancied doing something different as we’d been to many summer weddings – and even in the summer, you can’t guarantee hot weather! So, we thought we’d do it in late winter, with a cosy feel.
Our venue was the Titanic Hotel Liverpool. Again, we wanted something different: neither of us are religious so knew it wasn’t going to be a church and as we knew it would be cold, we didn’t want to move between venues. A friend of my mum’s suggested the Titanic, so we went to have a look – Rich wasn’t with us that day but I knew he had to see it. When he did, he loved it as much as me!
The venue is incredible, and the team have done an amazing job with the new space – the staff were what made the setting even more perfect! Everyone was so helpful and friendly; they made the day flow seamlessly.
Theme
We didn’t have a theme per se but we did have a colour scheme: burgundy with hints of grey and peach. I loved the deep red colour for my bridesmaids and we then found the grey to go with it. Our florist was fantastic in knowing the colours to combine together as well, which is where the hints of peach and greenery came in, too.
Dress
Oh my goodness… my dress! What a dream! My mum, sister and I went on the hunt in London. I’d booked a few appointments in the day and our first stop was Caroline Castigliano! Needless to say, there was no point going anywhere else. I tried on a few dresses in there and I ended up taking the top of one dress and fitting it with the bottom of another. It was perfect for my body shape.
The material was silk Mikado, which was excellent for the weather. I never imagined having a dress like that and it’s all thanks to my amazing mum. We knew it was perfect for the big day!
Groomsmen
Rich wore a bespoke three-piece checked suit. He went to a bespoke suit tailoring company and designed everything down to the type of buttons on it – he looked incredible.
The groomsmen’s suits were also from the bespoke company; they wore a darker shade to contrast with Rich’s suit. His best man, his twin brother, wore a suit made from the same material but in a darker colour.
Bridesmaids
I had six bridesmaids, so it was difficult to find one dress which suited all of them. In the end, we went with three in one style and three in another. They were from Dessy. Our flower girl, our niece, wore a dress from John Lewis. She looked gorgeous!
Beauty
Lady Muck Bride did our hair and Faye McAuley did our make-up. Both ladies were amazing in the run-up to the wedding and on the day itself!
Photography
Emma Ledwith was our wedding photographer – and hell yes, we’d recommend her! Emma was the photographer for a wedding I was a maid of honour at and she took the most amazing pictures. We knew we had to have her for our day, too!
Videography
Jon Bird was our videographer; my cousin, Nina, works in wedding planning and she recommended him to us. We had a look on his website and his short films from weddings were sensational. Again, we had to have him.
Styling
I carried a variety of flowers and to this day, I still don’t know the names of them all. I fully trusted my florist to do what was best and she certainly did – she was another recommendation from a family friend. Our florist was Victoria Clemson and her ideas for style and colour combinations was like nothing we could have ever imagined.
The statement floral piece she created for the ceremony made the room look absolutely stunning; for the wedding breakfast, we had a range of short and tall centerpieces, which balanced the large space, as well as a foliage trail across the top table.
Cake
We decided we wanted something a little different so got a cake of cheese from Dewlay – four tiers of Lancashire’s finest cheese! My auntie Lynn also made us a classic wedding cake and it was delicious. She’s made cakes over the years for birthdays and was a little nervous of making it perfect. She didn’t need to worry, people still compliment us now on what a great job she did.
Catering
Our menu consisted of cannelloni of Scottish smoked salmon with lobster and Cornish crab and lemon confit to start; roast fillet of beef served with slow-cooked carrots, shallots and a port sauce for our main; and classic lemon meringue pie with homemade blackcurrant sorbet to finish. When we had the menu tasting evening, we couldn’t resist this menu. It was delicious!
Entertainment
We hired a cellist for the ceremony, a grand piano for the drinks reception and then the one and only Six15 for our evening entertainment. They were all amazing but Six15 were out of this world. We also enlisted a sax player, Tom Da Lips, to go with the DJ Carl Hannagan. The videos the morning after were brilliant!
Special touches
The night before, we used the private room to hold a buffet for the bridal party to say thank you for all their amazing support. We also had personal readings during the ceremony: Rich’s sister, Nikki, did a touching reading and my old housemate, Lindsey, wrote her own. It was a combination of love song lyrics – such a great and unique idea!
Best bit
Picking one favourite part is really hard and I obviously loved marrying the man of my dreams, but the morning was so special to me. I had my six bridesmaids and my mum by my side all morning – the laughs and happy tears made me excited for what would come ahead that day.
Honeymoon
I never knew where we were going until we were through passport control and sipping on a glass of champagne. Rich told me to close my eyes and as I opened them, there was a travel guide to St. Lucia! The whole honeymoon was sensational: a helicopter ride to the first location, fancy dinners, moonlit walks by the beach, five nights staying at Hotel Chocolat in our own private lodge… the list goes on. Rich will struggle to plan anything that can top that again!
Advice
My top tip for other Brides Up North is – do what makes you happy and don’t let anyone put you off or let negative words upset you – it’s your day to treasure forever so make the decisions you want to make.
