We’re brightening up your (probably) rainy autumn day today with these hot summer festival brights and pretty pastels. Let’s dive into the joyful vow renewal of Natalie and Jason, who are just as much in love now as they were at their first wedding 14 years ago. Couple goals!
Picture a boho vibe, a relaxed approach and flower crowns, turning the bride and her tribe into goddesses for the day, complete with punchy pops of fuschia pink, blue and teal against the white.
If you’re currently after some ideas of things to fill the gap between ceremony and reception, we love this whole approach to the festivities. After the traditional church ceremony, the celebrations moved outdoors for lawn games and frolics to entertain the guests and the children in attendance, and from the looks of the gorgeous, happy photos it certainly kept everyone’s spirits high.
Let’s hear from Natalie herself to get all those wonderful details…
With photography by Louise Rayner Photography
Proposal
Natalie says: After being together for four years, we got engaged on a weekend away in Dublin just before Christmas. Then, two years later we got married on 07/07/07. It was a big white wedding at the Midland Hotel in Bradford.
Setting
We had such a blast on our wedding day and we always knew we would want to do it again. So finally we got the chance on our 14th anniversary, 07/07/21, and we renewed our vows.
The ceremony was at St. Walburga’s Catholic Church in Shipley, as this is our parish church where we celebrate mass. The reception was at the Chilli Barn in Otley. We chose the venue as it is an intimate space, we had 60 guests, and has a rustic style which we also have at home. It also has a big lawn area for the children to play outside games. The vegetarian menu they offer was also a winner for us.
Theme
We had a vibrant boho theme as we love bright colours. The boho style is quite relaxed and I really wanted us all to look smart but also enjoy the day with our seven young children.
We used lots of colour. Our stationery from UNVEILED Network Member Ivy Alice Stationery was yellow as it’s one of my favourite colours that I have used to decorate our home. We had vibrant flowers in pinks, peaches, yellows as I love to wear brights especially pink. The tables had naturals, gold with clear, pink, grey and blue glassware. Our clothing also included pink, blue, white. I felt the toned down colours really made the flowers stand out and pop.
Dress
I chose to wear a boho style ivory lace dress called Briar by Wilderly Bride by Allure Bridals. I purchased it from Louise Perry Bridal in Saltaire. I wanted something that would highlight my best parts and flatter the rest. It also had to be comfortable and relaxed. The lace straps and decorative V neck complemented my bust. The back was low cut, showing off one of my more favoured features. The high waist with no lining drew attention and gave me a lovely shape whilst the skirt was very flowing and skimmed my hips. The fabric was also very lightweight and soft.
Most of my jewellery came from Carrie Elizabeth. I started a collection to wear on the day; three necklaces, a bracelet, and eighteen rings. I went for the stacking rings and more is more look!
Groomsmen
The groom wore a blue tweed suit by Marc Darcy, a brown waistcoat and pale gold tie, brown shoes and a peach rose buttonhole. We purchased this from H&L Fashions in Haworth.
Our four boys’ suits were from Next – beige waistcoats, white linen shirts with blue bow ties, white with blue striped linen shorts and navy suede loafers.
Bridesmaids
Bridesmaids wore knee length lace dresses from Next; one in dusky teal, one in dusky pink and one in ivory. They also had blue denim jackets with a “bridesmaid” badge and sandals. They had flower crowns and hair was pinned with cubic zirconia pins from Accessorize.
Beauty
I had my regular hairdresser, Amy at The Cutting Jungle in Saltaire. The girls and I went to the salon early in the morning and had a really relaxing time. I also painted the girls’ nails and did my own makeup there too.
Travel
We hired a vintage coach from Yesteryear Vintage Vehicle Hire. It was a beautifully restored coach, cream outside and decorated for a wedding inside. The coach took us all from our home to church and then with our guests to the reception.
Photographer
Louise Rayner Photography was our photographer. She is so kind and patient and of course talented, especially when photographing children and families. She really sees and captures the beauty and essence of everyone she photographs. When I received the photos they were exactly how I remembered the day and I will treasure them forever.
Styling
I had a large vibrant bouquet with pinks and yellows, including pampas grass. It was tied with a pink velvet ribbon. I also had a large flower crown on the same colours. The flowers were by Pink Ginger in Saltaire.
Our sweetheart table had a large floral display and the guest tables had greenery garlands down the middle. Everyone had a water hyacinth placemat, macrame napkin ring with bunny tail grass and place name There were coloured pressed glass water goblets, candlesticks and glass or gold tea light holders, and photo frames for the table numbers. I decorated the fence outside with white swallowtail bunting from the cotton bunting company. We also had large balloons scattered around supplied by Gather in Bingley.
We also had a welcome mirror made by my brother in law Craig Ainge, who is a sign writer, and some small mirrors with quotes made by Honey and Iris. They featured quotes such as “and so our adventure continues“.
Favours
Everyone had a sweet cone in pink, white and gold from The Lollipop Shop. The children also had a pair of aviator style sunglasses. We gave everyone a drink token for the bar too.
Cake
We had a three tier naked sponge cake, with both Victoria sponge and chocolate layers. It was sprinkled in sugar and fresh fruit. My dad made the cake. He makes all our celebration cakes, and made our original wedding cake too.
Dining
We really liked the idea of the Chilli Barn’s vegetarian menu for a change from the traditional fare. For starters there was a Mediterranean sharing platter, and mains were curry or cauliflower shawarma. Dessert was a choice of Eton mess or lemon posset. The children had a lunch box in the shape of a barn and a mini dessert too.
Entertainment
We had music playing all day inside and outside. We had lots of lawn games including ring toss, tin can alley, badminton, football, frisbee, darts and space hoppers. We wanted everyone to get involved playing outside with the children. We also hired a bell tent from Yorkshire Bell Tents for the children to play in.
There was a fire pit in the evening with marshmallows, and a photobooth by UNVEILED Network Member Valentina Photobooths. We only had a small space so I was really glad they could use my hexagon backdrop and handmade macrame curtain as the background.
Thanks to
I think all our suppliers made a great effort and were very patient with me in doing pretty much all our planning over email during the challenging times of lockdowns and restrictions. Natalie at the Chilli Barn kept us updated via email. Sarah the florist at PinkGinger was amazing, along with Louise our photographer and Yasmin from UNVEILED Network Member Ivy Alice Stationery.
Lucy at the Chilli Barn was a big help setting up the venue the day before as well as all the packing up afterwards. The Valentina Photobooth team were adaptable as we used my backdrop instead of theirs in the small space.
Chill Barn was great for an intimate gathering. It’s quite pretty but plain inside so it can be decorated many ways. It was lovely to have the venue to ourselves and the lawn outside was great to have some space for the children to run around on. It is a very pretty rustic venue.
I also liked reading the Brides Up North real wedding features!
Best bit
For me, the church ceremony was the most important part and it was very personalised for a vow renewal. It was so wonderful to have the blessing from our parish priest. Once we got to the reception, I really enjoyed the confetti outside the Chilli Barn. Before we sat down to eat we walked through all our guests throwing yellow petals over us. It was definitely fun and we got a great slow motion video of it too. I’m still finding the yellow petals months later!
Honeymoon
We had a mini moon and spent a night at the Cow and Calf in Ilkley. We had a pub dinner with champagne. I decorated the tables with balloons, flowers and place settings from the day and kept my bouquet with me. We spent the day in Ilkley and walking in the Yorkshire Dales.
Advice
Our advice to another couple would be, after all the planning just try to relax and enjoy every minute of your special day!
