When the bride usually works her magic at other people’s weddings, you know her big day is going to be a good one! So, join us, as we head up to Otterburn today, to find out the finer details from the gorgeous wedding of Belinda and Rob.
Professional makeup artist Belinda knew exactly what she wanted when she tied the knot. After all she’d spent years working with suppliers, venues and other brides, so she knew what worked and what didn’t. This March, all the years of inspiration came together, resulting in the prettiest of pastel spring weddings with the idyllic Le Petit Château as a backdrop.
Looking simply beautiful in a ballgown of tulle and lace, Belinda tells us how relaxing it was doing her own hair and makeup on the day – but if you’re not an MUA yourself, this might be a job for a pro!
Pale blue, soft pink and traditional white perfectly complement the quaint, colourful buildings, the spring flowers beginning to blossom in the venue’s gardens and the kind of wonderful Northumberland weather that cannot be planned for.
From the pretty stylings to the emotion evident on the happy couple’s faces; this is the kind of wedding perfection that dreams are made of.
With images by Forget Me Knot Images
Proposal
Belinda says
: Robert proposed by the Quayside on a summer’s evening. We had gone for a walk before our table reservation and I could tell he was very nervous, but I had no idea why. We met in Newcastle and have so many lovely memories by the Quayside, so it was the perfect spot. Afterwards he told me that he had planned to do it on the Millennium Bridge but he didn’t gather enough courage until we’d walked down to the blue bridge (The Queen Elizabeth II Bridge). Now I smile every time I go past there.Setting
We got married on 28th March 2019 because we wanted a wedding in early spring. It’s our favourite time of the year and we were so happy with the date we picked. The weather was amazing, all the spring flowers were out, and we couldn’t have wished for a better day.
We got married at Le Petit Château in Otterburn. As a makeup artist and have been lucky enough to visit most venues in the North East with my work. Over the years I’ve always had a good idea of which ones I liked but as soon as I saw Le Petit Château, there was no other venue for us. We went along to one of their open days and Robert agreed that it was perfect, and we didn’t bother looking anywhere else. We loved the relaxed feel, the quirky features and the beautiful gardens. It’s the venue that felt the most like us as a couple.
Theme
We definitely wanted to get our tastes and personalities across in the wedding. We wanted everything to be quite delicate and pretty in the styling and nothing too formal. Robert chose to name all the tables his favourite Newcastle football players and that went down very well with all our football fan guests!
We always wanted to have blue in our wedding because it’s both of our favourite colours and with it being a spring wedding we decided to go for a pastel blue. When we started putting ideas together, we thought it looked best with pinks and white as well. I loved that it gave us more freedom when picking dress and suits as we weren’t limited to the one colour.
Dress
My dress was from WED2B and it was the Kendra dress. When I went shopping, I had no idea what I wanted, and I tried on all the different styles. It quickly became obvious that I wanted a ballgown! I was looking for something with lace and tulle because I loved the softness of the different textures. As soon as I tried on this dress I fell in love, I didn’t want to take it off and that’s when I knew it was the one.
Groomsmen
Robert hired the Luxury Navy Three-Piece Tailored Fit Suit from Slaters Menswear in Newcastle. Our groomsmen wore the same suit as Robert. The only difference was the colour of the pocket square and ties. The groomsmen had a silvery blue to match the bridesmaids and Robert had a soft pink.
Bridesmaids
Our bridesmaids’ dresses were the Janie dress from Coast. I was looking for a dress that would complement my petite and tall bridesmaids, one who was pregnant and one who had just given birth. This dress worked perfectly. Our flower girls Aria and Verity wore dresses from Debenhams.
Beauty
I did my own hair and makeup for my wedding day. As a makeup artist and hair stylist I knew exactly what I wanted, and I found it very relaxing to get myself ready on the morning. Emma Louise Hair and Makeup did the hair and makeup of my bridal party.
Transport
I love Le Petit Château because I could get ready in the apartment and just walk along to the ceremony room without even going outside. Robert stayed at his family home in Durham the night before and his dad drove him over with our son.
Photographer
Our photographer was Lindsey Robinson from Forget Me Knot Images and we could not have been happier with our decision to book Lindsey and her assistant Greta. The whole experience from our first consultation to receiving our final images was incredible. She completely understood what was important to us and how to work with our 2-year-old son, a very nervous groom and a very picky bride. I loved her creativity and eye for detail, and we are so grateful to be left with such beautiful pictures of our special day.
Styling
Flowers were all provided by Carole from La Sweet Boutique Designs. Carole and I met through working with brides and photographers and became really good friends. She knows me very well and I completely trust all of her creative decisions. I told her the colours we were using and that I wanted hydrangeas and roses and the rest was up to her. What she created was amazing and far better than anything I could have asked for.
The stunning display we had on the fireplace was created by Carole and we then transported that display to our top table, and then to the fireplace in the dining room. I loved that it worked so well in all three places and meant that we could make the most of the beautiful flowers.
Cake
The wedding cake was made and decorated by my auntie, Jenny. I gave her very little direction because we have similar taste and I always love what she does. We were both surprised to see it was so similar to the design of my dress, right down to the scalloped lace, pearls and button details. We had a fruit cake and Victoria sponge because they are our favourite flavours. Carrot cake because that is our little boy Alfie’s favourite and she even did an extra vegan tier for our four vegan guests.
Favours
I made our favours out of salt dough and painted them white. Each favour was a hanging ornament in the shape of a heart with our guests’ name on so they doubled as a placeholder. They were so easy to make and only cost us the price of the ingredients.
Dining
One of our favourite things about our venue was the food selection. We chose to be untraditional and go for a Thai Red Curry and a Mediterranean selection because it’s exactly the sort of food we like to eat together. The children had little buffets that were served to them on a platter and they looked just as good!
Entertainment
We kept our entertainment very simple because to us it was more about getting our families together and catching up with everyone. My brother arranged the DJ for the night, who was amazing, as a wedding gift through AMV Live Music. It was great because we gave them a playlist and they played exactly the kind of music we wanted.
Special touches
It was very important to me that my mum was remembered throughout the day. I lost my mum when I was 11 and I’ve always been scared about getting married without her by my side. We had subtle tributes to her throughout the wedding. My favourite was the corsage that was placed next to her picture in the ceremony room. She was the only person that had the same flowers that I had in my wedding bouquet and that was the last thing I saw before I walked down the aisle with my dad. It meant the world to me.
Thanks to
I would definitely recommend Le Petit Château to any other couples looking for somewhere different, quirky and relaxed to get married. The staff at the venue were amazing and the whole day ran smoothly without us having to worry about a thing. It was perfect in every way.
Best bit
My favourite part of a wedding is always the speeches and the same definitely goes for our own wedding. I felt so proud to see all the special men in my life stand up and say such lovely words about our relationship and our little boy.
Honeymoon
Shortly after the wedding we booked a trip to Rome, we were going to go for three nights, so we wouldn’t be away from our little boy for too long, but we could still have a lovely break together. Unfortunately, when we were in the queue ready to board at Manchester Airport, our flight was suddenly cancelled along with all other flights from the three terminals. Our honeymoon was suddenly cancelled, and we had to drive home from Manchester very upset. We are still looking for a time when we can both get time off work, and arrange for Alfie looked after again, but hoping that will be later this year.
Advice
My top tip for other Brides Up North would be to enjoy every single second of your day and try not to stress about the little things. As a makeup artist I’ve seen a lot of brides worry about things that are out of their control and it’s such a shame to affect your special day in that way. Be selfish as a couple, have fun and relax!
Also, Brides Up North was an amazing resource to us when planning our wedding. We were doing a lot of the wedding ourselves to save money and give it a personal touch, so being able to look at other real weddings gave us lots of ideas and inspirations. One of my favourite things to do was to look at other weddings at Le Petit Château and take notes on how they used the space.
