Still rolling with the postponements over here! This time for a wedding that was the talk of the town… house! Kirsty and Sam wanted the bright lights of the big city as their backdrop and chose to wed in the centre of Manchester at King Street Townhouse, surrounded by their nearest and dearest, and of course against that iconic skyline.
The clean lines of Kirsty’s stunning Pure Bridal gown fit perfectly with the urban backdrop, the groomsmen look excessively dashing in their suits, whilst the florals in neutral tones give everything that softer, prettier edge that we associate with weddings.
Our couple didn’t want to get too swept up in the detail though and arranged a chilled out, laid back day for both them and their guests, so that everyone would be able to easily relax into the celebrations. They’ve very much let this ethos dictate their styling choices, from the convenient city venue to the no-fuss styling and fashion choices. Not to mention the cakes; a classic Colin and his beloved Connie, of course!
With photography by UNVEILED Network Member Kate McCarthy Photography
Proposal
We got engaged in Mexico, in April 2018. We went for a two week holiday and on the first full day, we went down to the hotel beach bar. Sam got us both a drink, sat down, and he told me he needed to ask me a question. I was a little worried! Suddenly he pulled out a ring box from nowhere and passed it to me unopened, then asked me to marry him. It was perfect. We headed back to our room where he’d bought a bottle of champagne and organised for rose petals to be scattered on the bed. We drank the champagne and headed off out for dinner to celebrate.
Setting
Our wedding was postponed twice but we eventually tied the knot on the 30th October 2021. We decided we didn’t want to wait another year for another May date so we went with the only Saturday date that our venue had left!
We had both the ceremony and the reception at the King Street Townhouse in Manchester City Centre. I’m from Manchester originally so I always knew I wanted to get married up North. Manchester is such a massive part of my identity, I wanted the city as the backdrop to our wedding photographs and King Street Townhouse gave us the stunning views that we envisaged.
Theme
We just wanted something minimal and relaxed. We didn’t want to get too caught up in the details and we wanted it to be as chilled out as possible for us in the lead up, on the day and for our guests too. Colour-wise we went with a palette of greys, greens and white for bridesmaids and room decoration. Sam went with navy and burgundy for all the suits.
Dress
My dress was Pure Bridal, very plain and understated but I felt classic and elegant. I fell in love with the train and the buttons all the way down to the back of the dress to the floor. I’m not a very dressy person so I knew that I wanted something plain with no lace or sequins. After finding a designer I liked, I looked for a local stockist and the nearest to me was White Rose Bridal Rooms in Newbury, where Ashley was super lovely and helped me to pick my dream dress!
Groomsmen
Sam’s suit was from Reiss. He picked the colour combination first, he’d seen it elsewhere so when they went into Reiss he knew what he was looking for and loved the suit when he tried it on. The rest of the groomsmen all wore their own suits, again we wanted them to feel comfortable and make it as easy as possible for them. So there was no pre-requisite for the suits; they just picked their own. We gave them all buttonholes so that they would look slightly different from the other guests.
Bridesmaids
My bridesmaids (both my younger sisters) wore long grey dresses from LittleMistress.com. I had a very specific image in mind and I wanted to get the dresses a while before the wedding so that there wouldn’t be any chance of any other guests wearing the same dress!
Beauty
Rowena from Jodie Smith did our makeup.
Transport
I’d planned for months to arrive in a taxi, because nobody would see us arrive – the guests would be up on the 6th floor, waiting for the ceremony to start. My parents also don’t live far from the venue and I thought it would be a bit of a novelty for us all to arrive together (me, my dad, mum, sisters and photographer) in a taxi. However, on the morning of the wedding my dad told me he had asked a favour from a friend, and he would be taking me in a borrowed white Jaguar F-Pace, which was amazing and such a lovely gesture. My sisters, mum and the photographer booked an Uber!
Photographer
Kate McCarthy Photography. We’d absolutely recommend her, not only is she an incredible photographer but she is a gorgeous human being too. She kept us in check on the day, found our moments of calm, captured the moments we would miss and sent us the most amazing collection of wedding photographs that we will treasure forever.
Michelle from MSW Photography was our second shooter on the day. She was with the boys at the venue in the morning, whilst they got ready. She is also a total pro at her job and a lush human.
Styling
I had a gorgeous bouquet made up of purely white flowers and green foliage. The flowers were roses, alstros, astilbe and lisianthus and the foliage was made up of wax flowers, populus and eucalyptus. Therese Roberts provided them – she’s actually my parents’ next door neighbour and owns Les Petite Fleurs in Ashton-on-Mersey village.
For centrepieces my parents collected different sized and shaped glass bottles and sprayed them with white, grey and silver spray paint. We had a variety of each bottle on each table filled with a few flowers.
Favours
We had a bowl in the middle of each table with a selection of shots in; limoncello, coffee tequila, strawberry and lime cider, gin and Jaffa Cake vodka. Plus everyone got their own little mason jar style shot glass.We wanted to give something that people could use at the wedding.
Cake
We had two giant chocolate caterpillar cakes from M&S, Colin and Connie!
Dining
We opted to do a BBQ buffet for the wedding breakfast. Again, we wanted relaxed vibes and thought rather than a formal three course dinner, we would prefer guests to just pick what they want and serve themselves. King Street Townhouse did a great job with a lovely selection of meats, sides and salads plus puddings!
For wines we picked two different whites, Sauvignon Blanc and a Gavi, a Cote Du Rhone red and then lots of Prosecco. We asked the servers to do table service and just ask the guests which they’d prefer.
Entertainment
We hired Dave Whicker as the DJ. He came recommended from a wedding my sister had been at and he did not disappoint! He took on our requests and preferences and he kept the dance floor full all night!
Special touches
I had four photo charms on my bouquet to represent people close to us that we lost in the lead up to the wedding; Sam’s Nanny Helen and Grandad Billy, my Grandma and my best friend Charlotte, who was going to be a bridesmaid. I also had her name sewn into an extra piece of fabric in my dress pocket in blue thread, which was done by the lovely Helen at Sew Loving in Newbury. Charlotte’s sister, Emily, walked down the aisle with what should have been Charlotte’s bouquet for me which was such an amazing and emotional moment.
Sam wore four leaf clover cufflinks from his mum, for his Grandad, and he and his brother James (also his Best Man), had a Guinness on the morning of the wedding in his honour.
We had tambourines for guests once the first dance was over, for the dance floor and they were a big hit! Plus as a nod to getting engaged in Mexico we put out miniature cactus pinatas filled with sweets once the party started.
Thanks to
Our photographer Kate, I cannot thank her enough. I personally hate having my photo taken and was so worried this would be reflected in my wedding photos, but she made us feel so comfortable and at ease, and listened to what we wanted from our photos that I needn’t have worried at all! She just captured so many moments that we wouldn’t have noticed that mean so much to us.
The venue is stunning, inside and the views outside.The wedding co-ordinators are amazing, so helpful and will go out of their way to get the day you dream of. All of the staff are amazing and friendly, and even when we stayed for a few nights after the wedding, they made us feel so welcome and like nothing was too much to ask.
Best bit
For Sam it was the speeches. We had Father of the Bride, Friend of the Bride, Best Man and Groom speeches and they were all amazing. We had tears of laughter and emotion from all of them!
For me it was the feeling of the whole day! Just the enormity of love in the room for me and my new husband. After waiting for so long and then finally having 100+ guests at our wedding for us is a feeling I will never forget, especially when there were faces missing that were so loved.
Honeymoon
We stayed at our venue for three nights after the wedding, which was spectacular. We have a honeymoon booked in Lake Garda at the end of May – originally it was straight after the wedding but having moved our date to October, we decided to do the honeymoon at a later date too.
Advice
Everyone tells you to enjoy the day because it goes so quickly and you won’t believe them but it does! Immerse yourself in the day and just be in the moment. If you can, take ten minutes after the ceremony for you and your new husband. We had Champagne on the roof after ours and it was so needed!
I followed Brides Up North on social media for inspo too! I loved reading the real weddings and those really helped me to find suppliers and inspiration for our wedding.
