Reduce, reuse and recycle was the order of the day for Hannah and Adam’s super sweet North Yorkshire wedding that we’re treating you to on the blog today.
Setting out with a thoughtful approach to their big day planning from the off, this savvy couple made decisions that would be kind to both their budget and the environment. By no means did this mean a sacrifice on style or substance, as they still had every detail they desired, but instead of buying everything new, they hired, repurposed and even hand-made certain elements.
Hannah got particularly crafty when it came to the decor to help reflect their relaxed rustic theme by crafting a bespoke sweet stand, card and blanket box and photo memory display, as well as collecting numerous glass bottles to decorate the venue.
With certain Covid restrictions still in place, they held the majority of their celebrations in the grounds of their chosen venue, The Parsonage Hotel, which only added to the laidback and pretty springtime vibes of their special day.
All the details came together perfectly for a considered yet fun-filled celebration that was peppered with special touches, including some surprise entertainment for our very caring couple.
With images by Amy Jordison Photography
PROPOSAL
Hannah says: We got engaged Christmas morning 2018. Adam saved the last present for me; I unwrapped the box and it was a box covered in photographs of us and our life. There was another smaller box inside each box, all covered in photos. The boxes became smaller and smaller until the last box had a ring in, and he asked me to marry him!
SETTING
We got married on 6th June 2021. We chose this date as it was our ten-year anniversary! We were so lucky that this was our original wedding date, and we didn’t have to change or postpone due to Covid restrictions.
We had both our ceremony and reception at The Parsonage Hotel in Escrick, North Yorkshire. We chose this venue as it’s not far from where we live, and they offered a really good package with everything under one roof. We really wanted a relaxed, happy day with our friends and family and the Parsonage completely delivered this.
It is pretty much a blank canvas, and they are so accommodating and really let us plan our day the way we wanted it, and there wasn’t anything they wouldn’t let us do. Our plans changed a lot due to Covid, but the Parsonage were so helpful and let us change everything around so we could have our perfect day, despite the restrictions. They really did everything they could to make everything we wanted work for us.
THEME
I wanted our theme to be very relaxed and rustic, however so much thought went into every detail, so everything matched. Our main aims were to keep costs down and make everything as eco-friendly as we could, so everything was either hired, recycled, or could be donated for someone else.
I love the rustic and boho themes, so there were lots of logs, hessian and wooden items. We hired log table centrepieces and saved wine and gin bottles, which were used for flowers or lights. We made our own pick and mix stand with saved/recycled jars. Due to COVID, we changed our day to make everything mostly outdoors, so provided rustic outdoor games, including homemade hook a duck and a little bowling alley!
The main colour scheme was sage green. However, we used a lot of lavender and chose a mix of colours for the flowers, mainly wildflowers, with lots of purples, yellow and foliage. We felt the colours fitted well with the outdoor, rustic, relaxed feel we were planning.
DRESS
I knew from the start I didn’t want a big dress. It’s not my style at all and I wanted to stay comfortable.
So, my dress was from Monsoon. I completely fell in love with it and knew it would be just what I wanted. It was so comfortable and light, and I didn’t want to take it off! It was also ideal as I bought it during lockdown when the bridal shops were shut.
GROOMSMEN
The groomsmen wore three-piece dark grey suits rented from a suit hire shop in Selby, our local town. We had planned for the men, including my husband, to wear sage green ties and pocket squares, but then Adam turned up in an ivory tie, which was a complete surprise to me, but I loved it! It made him stand out from the other men and we matched! It’s something I would never have thought of, but it actually worked really well!
BRIDESMAIDS
I had one adult bridesmaid, who wore a beautiful sage green dress from Coast. She had real dried Gypsophila in her hair (which we made ourselves!) and looked stunning! Her bouquet was very similar to mine, but slightly smaller.
My nieces were also bridesmaids, and they wore beautiful ivory dresses from Next. I chose for them to have flower crowns made with the same flowers as my bouquet. These work so much better than bouquets for children as I feel they wouldn’t have wanted to hold bouquets all day. Instead, they looked absolutely gorgeous with their crowns against their ivory dresses.
BEAUTY
The bridal party’s hair was done by mine and my mum’s regular hairdresser, Hair by Beth Alice based in Selby. It was so lovely to have her there for the morning, and she was able to create the perfect look for all my ladies and me!
My makeup was done by Clare Flint, a York-based makeup artist. I asked Clare at the last minute to do my makeup, and I’m so glad I did. She did a great job, and I felt fabulous all day!
PHOTOGRAPHER
Amy Jordison was our amazing photographer. We found her during a search for a relaxed, fun wedding photographer. We knew from the start we didn’t want serious wedding photographs, but instead a varied selection that allowed us to re-live the love, fun and laughter we all experienced during our amazing day. Amy did just that and much more!
Unlike other photographers we’d approached, Amy asked to meet for a drink to discuss our day after our enquiry. We didn’t just talk photos; Amy really tried to get to know us and get a feel for the day we wanted. It felt like we were meeting a friend, and since then, Amy has continued to feel like that. She recommended a pre-wedding shoot, as we had never been photographed before. She took a selection of beautiful photos and really made us feel at ease.
When it came to the wedding day, I felt so comfortable with Amy around, and she really did everything she could to get the perfect shots. All our guests commented on how fantastic she was. She just blended in with the crowd and really has an eye for documenting pure happiness and love.
A photographer is one of the most important aspects of a wedding day. It’s the key to remembering your day forever, the way you felt and the things that were being said/done to make you laugh in each shot. Amy captured all this perfectly, and I would recommend her to anyone planning a wedding!
STYLING
My beautiful bouquet was supplied by Flowers by Kerri Bailey, a local York florist. Kerri was also fantastic at developing a feel for our day and arranging the flowers around this. She described what I wanted perfectly, ‘“like sweeping your hand through a wildflower meadow”, and they really were beautiful. They feature yellows, purples, and foliage, with thistles, rosemary, and lavender. It honestly smelt divine; I wanted them to last forever!
Kerri also provided an arrangement for our register table, which we transported to the top table for the reception. Kerri then arranged similar flowers in the bottles I used for the tables. They looked simple and beautiful!
We hired a few things from UNVEILED Network Member Briarwood Rustic Wedding Hire, including a personalised order of the day pallet, the log centrepieces, a log cake stand, and a beautiful archway. The archway was dressed in the ceremony room, and we stood under this to tie the knot. It was then transferred outside and used as a photo booth with a macrame backdrop. We really wanted a DIY photo booth, and when Briarwood suggested using their arch, we thought it was a great idea, and the guests had so much fun! (we provided the props for the photobooth). They also supplied a sparkler box with beautiful decoration, which the guests lit in the evening.
We hired the hessian table runners and chair covers from Chair Covers of Yorkshire. These fitted our theme beautifully!
FAVOURS
A local small business, Blended by Mama, makes beautiful handmade wax melts and offers a bespoke wax melt wedding favour service. We discussed our day, and she created the most beautiful heart-shaped wax melt favours, with a blend of clementine, sweet orange, lavender and rosewood, with dried lavender inside. Not only that, she organised labels with a bespoke stamp and packaged them up for me in little hessian bags, with a tealight and cute personalised matchboxes I bought from Etsy. She really took a weight off my shoulders, making, organising and packaging all the favours for me.
For the younger guests, I bought personalised wedding activity books from Etsy.
CAKE
We chose a naked three-tier Victoria sponge cake. The top layer was a lemon flavoured sponge with buttercream and lemon filling. The second layer was a chocolate sponge with buttercream and chocolate filling. The bottom layer was a vanilla sponge with buttercream and jam. It was made by a local cake maker I found on Facebook called Sara-Louise. She was fantastic, really took on board our ideas and created it perfectly. She decorated with fresh fruit, lavender and gypsophila, and provided the Mr & Mrs log cake topper.
DINING
The food and drink were provided by The Parsonage, and it was amazing! We chose to change the order of our day and had a longer drinks reception with canapes, so our guests could be outside as much as possible (due to Covid restrictions). We had an evening three-course meal, and it all worked out perfectly.
Canapes included chicken skewers, mini Yorkshire puddings with roast beef, vegetable skewers and goats cheese and onion tartlets.
We had ham hock terrine to start, the main dish was chicken with fondant potatoes and seasonal vegetables, and dessert was warm chocolate brownie, white chocolate mousse with raspberry coulis.
We chose prosecco or bottled beers for arrival, speeches and toast, and a selection of white or red wine with the meal.
ENTERTAINMENT
We provided entertainment for guests with garden games, which included giant Jenga, homemade hook a duck, bowling and croquet. The guests also played musical chairs, which was great fun! Adam’s parents arranged a special surprise evening entertainment for us, a local York-based singer, Harry Collins swing and jazz vocalist, and he was absolutely amazing! He was the perfect finish to a perfect day, singing outside on the patio with the sun setting, whilst we were all able to dance and have fun!
SPECIAL TOUCHES
I created almost everything myself, including a sweet stand featuring recycled jars filled with pick ‘n’ mix favourites, a card basket, a photo frame highlighting snippets of our lives together over the last ten years, and a blanket box for guests in the evening. The venue was also dotted with wine and gin bottles we had saved over the years and filled with fairy lights, which made the place look magical in the evening. I also provided a ‘music phone’, on which guests could queue songs on Spotify if they wanted.
THANKS TO
We would most definitely recommend our venue to other couples! We booked the Parsonage way before the pandemic, and at that point, we were planning a more traditional wedding. When the pandemic risked our plans, The Parsonage were absolutely amazing at working with us to design a perfect day that fitted around the restrictions, and I honestly believe we wouldn’t have had the amazing day we did if we didn’t have to change our plans.
The Parsonage is set on a complex with a spa, pub and church, so it makes the perfect setting for any wedding plans, whether you would like a church wedding or not. I stayed there the night before and had a spa day with my bridesmaid and mum and a lovely meal; it really made the whole weekend special. They are also very reasonably priced and perfect for any couple who want a ‘blank canvas’ venue to allow them to design their day to suit them!
Louise at The Parsonage was the lady who organised our wedding from the start, and she really did everything she could to ensure we had the best day. We were a bit clueless with it all, especially in the middle of a pandemic, and she really helped us design the best day we could have.
Amy Jordison, our photographer, really was the perfect person to photograph our day. She can really ‘read a room’ and captured every laugh, smile, hug and piece of love on our wedding day, and we can treasure those memories forever with the photos. There’s nothing she wouldn’t do for the best shot; she had us walking through woodland, she stood on walls, chairs etc, to get the perfect shot and really captured how happy we were.
Beth Alice, my hairdresser, was with us all morning, and not only did she create beautiful hairstyles for myself, mum and bridesmaids, she really helped to calm us all down and even put my shoes on for me! I would definitely recommend her to anyone getting married!
Kerri Bailey, our florist, did the most beautiful job with our flowers. She completely understood what we wanted and delivered something so much more beautiful than I ever imagined! My bouquet was so beautiful I couldn’t stop looking at it, and I loved it so much I’ve even dried it out to save forever! I’m certain she will be able to create any flower arrangement and do it beautifully!
BEST BIT
This is a really difficult question, as I have a few!
Walking down the aisle was a lovely part of the day. I hadn’t seen friends/family for so long and had just been with my mum and bridesmaid for 48 hours before the wedding, so to walk in and see family and friends there for us was overwhelming but lovely, and of course, seeing my husband in his suit, crying at the end of the aisle, was just perfect, and I couldn’t wait to marry him!
Our drinks reception is also one of my favourite parts of the day. Stood outside in the beautiful sunshine mingling, laughing and playing games with our friends and family is, to us, a perfect way to spend your wedding day.
Finally, the moment after our first dance (a dreaded part of our day for me, but actually it wasn’t so bad!), when Harry Collins began to sing, my tummy turned over, and I just felt overwhelmed with love and happiness that this was our wedding day! This is probably because Harry Collins was a complete surprise, and his voice is absolutely amazing, but that was definitely one of my favourite moments!
HONEYMOON
We went to Cornwall with Rosie, our Cockapoo, the day after the wedding. We stayed in the most beautiful cottage in a sleepy village called Ponsanooth, near Falmouth. We booked this through Unique Homestays, again way before the pandemic, as we wouldn’t have time for an abroad holiday so soon after the wedding. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect week, chilling out in the hot tub, taking coastal walks, eating so much lovely food and spending some time together as husband and wife!
ADVICE
Reduce, reuse, recycle and hire! It might be tempting to buy everything to decorate your wedding, but always have in mind what you will do with it after the day because there will be so much stuff leftover! We have reused the jars/bottles around our house for decoration and also donated a lot of stuff to future brides, family and friends.
Also, have a wedding perfume! This might sound completely crazy, but I bought myself a very special perfume to wear on the day, and now every time I smell the perfume I am transported back to the day and reminded how amazing it was and how I felt! It’s hard to remember that it’s just one day when the planning and organising fill your world for so long. But unfortunately, the comedown is hard, so it’s lovely to have certain things to remember your day by.
Finally, invest in an amazing photographer! Your photos are what is left after the wedding is over (as well as memories and heaps of leftovers), and there’s only one chance to make sure you have captured your day perfectly. You’re so busy mingling, talking to guests and having fun to think of what shots your photographer is taking, but Amy made that all okay because she has the most amazing eye for detail, love and happiness, and now we get to treasure those memories forever.