September, straddling as it does that halfway line between the summer and the autumn, is a stunning time of year to get married, as today’s newlyweds, Amelia and Nathan, found out first-hand.
With the leaves changing colour yet the sun still warm, this couple swapped their vows mid-September in a gorgeous celebration held at the elegant Rise Hall in Rise. With a colour palette of predominantly white – with splashes of sage and lavender – theirs was a celebration that was as chic as it was charming, with thoughtful details dotted throughout the day.
Read on for all the info on Amelia’s gorgeous Hayley Paige wedding dress, the family-affair wedding cakes (yes, plural) and to have a peek at the glorious florals that adorned the venue. In a word: wow! Happy reading, brides.
With photography by Kazooieloki.
Proposal
Amelia says
: We got engaged December 16th 2017. We had gone away for the weekend for a little break before Christmas; we’d booked a beautiful cottage in the Lake District.We had taken our Lhasa Apso, Teddy, with us and had been out for some beautiful walks amongst the snow-capped hills. One evening, we’d returned to the cottage from a frosty walk and Nathan had told me to go and run myself a bath and get warmed up while he put tea in the oven for us.
Whilst I was in the bath, a playlist was on that featured all our favourite songs. I got out the bath and put on my PJs, and we sat down and had our tea. We were talking about the songs that had been playing on this playlist and all the memories associated with them – travelling to Australia, trips to Scotland, friends’ wedding and so on, though the Jason Derulo song Will You Marry Me? didn’t ring any bells for me. Nathan then got down on one knee at the dinner table and asked me to marry him. My reply was 100% followed with ‘have you asked my mum and dad?’
It was honestly the most thoughtful way for him to propose – just the two of us and Teddy. Nathan had created this playlist especially for this moment (I had just thought we had been lucky with the playlist and the songs that had been playing!). Now when I listen to the playlist, it brings me so many fantastic memories.
Setting
We got married on September 14th 2019, a Saturday. We chose September as the weather is still usually quite warm and the leaves on the trees are just about starting to change colour. It’s such a beautiful time of the year.
We got married at Rise Hall in East Riding of Yorkshire and had both our ceremony and reception there. We wanted to get married in a stately home with beautiful gardens but also wanted it to be somewhere our guests could stay the night before and the night of the wedding. We also wanted it to have a sort of home-from-home feel to it.
We had viewed two places prior to Rise Hall but neither were quite what we were looking for. We viewed Rise and we were sold on the drive up to the property. The sweeping driveway though the wooded area, the stunning grounds and the impressive building – it was all just so beautiful! Once inside, it was just breath-taking. It was everything that we had wanted in a wedding venue.
Theme
We didn’t really have a theme for our wedding – I knew I wanted the Big White Wedding but without being too OTT. Getting married is something I had always dreamed of and poor Nathan got brought along for the ride – he definitely enjoyed all the planning more than he will admit though!
Our colour scheme featured a lot of white, with hints of sage and lavender. I love white weddings but I wanted a bit of colour, too. I felt the sage and lavender colour palette worked well together. Sage is also a colour that looks good against any skin tone, as I found out with my bridesmaids.
Dress
I had an ivory A-line wedding dress with a huge train. My initial plans for my dress involved something very plain and simple but, like everyone says, the dress you get married in is not one you think you would choose.
My dress was Fleur de Lis from Blush by Hayley Paige. As soon as I started looking for wedding gowns, I had spotted Hayley Paige’s designs and immediately fell in love – I just knew I had to get married in one but I didn’t think it would be lace!
I purchased my dress from Chloe Jane Bridalwear in Howden; it’s the most beautiful boutique in the area with some gorgeous dresses. Chloe, who owns the boutique, and her sister, Emily, are both fantastic; they are so lovely and let you know what styles and colours suit you. If you want the full bridal experience, I would highly recommend their boutique.
Groomswear
This was one job for Nathan! He wore a navy three-piece suit from Remus Uomo in Nottingham, which he paired with a white shirt, white pocket square and sage-patterned tie. His shoes were brown brogues.
The groomsmen were in the same suits as Nathan and all wore different ties and pocket squares from Next.
Bridesmaids
My four bridesmaids wore sage maxi dresses from Motee Maids, we bought them from Joy’s Bella Bridesmaids and Hannah who owns the boutique is so lovely. Two of my bridesmaids (Victoria and Zoey) had the ‘Amelia’ style dress and Amy and Jessica wore the ‘Seraphina’ style.
My flower girl, Nora, had the ‘Flora’ dress from La Petite Hayley Paige, which was purchased from Chloe Jane Bridal.
Beauty
Our make-up artist was the incredible Natalie Kate from The Blossom Rooms. Natalie advised me on skincare prior to the wedding and is the most fantastic lady. She also brought along Bethany from Bethany Hughes Salon in Epworth to assist as there were nine of us to get ready that morning.
Our hair was styled by the fabulous Katie Chapel and Rebecca Rafiq from Sorelle Boutique Salon, also in Epworth.
Transport
We all stayed the night before at Rise Hall – we had hired the venue for the weekend, which was brilliant as it meant all our friends and family were introduced the day before our wedding. We all had an evening meal together and Rise opened their pub to us, too.
Photography
Our incredible photographers were Richard and Christine from Kazooieloki – they’re amazing! They made us feel so comfortable and at ease. We had such a good time with them on our wedding day and would highly recommend them to anyone who is getting married. They captured our day perfectly and we love all the photographs.
Videography
Our videographer was Stefan from Lincolnshire Videographer. Again, Stefan was fantastic – we hardly knew he was there, his style of filming is non-intrusive and we absolutely cannot wait to see the full video.
I would 100% recommend having a wedding video done. Nathan and I weren’t sure if we wanted one to start with. It was a Christmas gift from my parents and we are so grateful to them for booking Stefan for us.
Styling
The amazing flowers were provided by Sheryl and her team at Fulford Flowers. I had a loose hand-tied bouquet, filled with white roses, lavender, white veronica, spray roses in blush pink and white, aubergine wax flower blue eryngium, astrantia eucalyptus, thlaspi, wax flowers and French ruscus all tied with an ivory ribbon.
Fulford Flowers were amazing. They dressed the entire venue for us and it was perfect. We had two huge urns of flowers in the entrance hall and foliage, hydrangeas and lanterns dressing the grand staircase. We also had 10ft blossom tree arches in the ceremony room where we stood and said our vows, as well as 6ft blossom trees on the dinner tables in the ballroom as centrepieces.
The ballroom at Rise has such a high ceiling that we wanted our guests to be wowed when they walked in. The top table had individual vases with a variety of flowers (which matched the blooms in my bouquets) as well as candles to give different heights. We also had large silver lanterns lining the corridor from the ceremony room to the ballroom. It was just magical. Sheryl and her team did such a brilliant job and we cannot thank them enough for all their help.
Around the venue, we had lots of photographs of family members who are no longer with us, along with wedding photographs of our parents and grandparents. It was little touches like that that made the venue feel so homely and reminded us of how special our day truly was.
We also decided to book a photobooth from Magic Images. We wanted something fun that our guests would be able to enjoy – plus, we were provided s with a guestbook that featured all the photos our guests took in it! We hired the old-fashioned camera-style photobooth and instead of having their backdrop, we hired a flower wall from Fulford Flowers. This worked really well for the photobooth and for guest selfies.
Favours
Our favours we had were a box of two macarons from Juniper Cakery. Macarons are always a little something that Nathan and I get ourselves when we visit Betty’s and we wanted our guests to have a delicious treat on the day too.
Cake
We had a three-tier cake from the talented Juniper Cakery. Our cake was beautiful and the detail that Felicity and Krystle put into it was amazing. It was exactly what we had asked for! It was a white cake washed with a lavender water colour and the sugar flowers were beautiful. The base was Victoria sponge, which is Nathan’s favourite, the second tier was carrot cake, which is my favourite, and the top tier was Sicilian lemon, which is my mum’s favourite.
We also had a separate fruit cake made especially for my dad, as he likes traditional wedding cake.
Catering
Our caterers were Baba Ganoush. Ashley and her team are so professional and helpful. We had canapes during the drinks reception – Ashley saved Nathan and I some as she knew we were off having photographs and were missing out on them all! For our wedding breakfast, we had a choice of two starters, two mains and two desserts.
Our guests absolutely loved the choices and we got so much amazing feedback about how delicious the food was.
Entertainment
We had Sophie Jane Music throughout the day of our wedding. She’s the most talented young lady! Sophie and I went to the same college and when I found out she played at weddings and events, I just had to book her. Sophie plays the violin and piano and is also a fantastic singer and we would highly recommend her for anyone wanting a musician for their wedding or event.
For the evening reception, we hired a band called Something for the Weekend via Jonny Ross Music. We absolutely love ‘90s music and being ‘90s kids ourselves, we wanted all the songs that we grew up with. The band was fantastic. They filled the dancefloor and really interacted with the all the guests. Our friends and family raved about how good they were and one of the best decisions we made was to hire a band for the wedding.
Best bit
I’m not sure I could choose just one favourite part of the day – there are so many! Walking down the aisle with my dad and seeing Nathan’s smiling face was just perfect. The speeches from my dad, Nathan and his best man Luke were great and had everyone in fits of laughter. The first dance with Nathan literally felt like it was just the two of us in the room.
The father-daughter dance was also one of my favourite parts. My dad and I had been for a few lessons and instead of a traditional dance, we did a jive. It proved to be a bit tricky with my dress but we had such good fun!
The entire day was incredible and I wish we could do it all over again. It was perfect.
Honeymoon
We went to Rhodes for our honeymoon and stayed at Casa Cook. It was beautiful and so lovely to get away and chill for a couple of weeks after the wedding.
Advice
Enjoy every single minute and don’t worry about the little things. What will be will be so just have fun – and make sure you get time with your partner!
