Join us in sunny Whitby for today’s featured real summer wedding at imposing Sneaton Castle, as we catch up with Beth and Joe, bringing you all the pretty little touches that made their big day into their own dream wedding.
As home of the blushing bride’s favourite place, it had to be Whitby – for both the proposal and the wedding, as it turned out! When Sneaton Castle opened its doors as a new wedding venue, it seemed destined to be where Beth and Joe would tie the knot.
The old castle, the chapel and the military uniform certainly sets the formal tone for this wedding steeped in history, but it’s all perfectly lightened by the femininity of the princess style Pronovias bridal gown (one our Beth didn’t realise she’d fall for) along with the gorgeous dusky pink toned florals softening the vibe. It’s the perfect daily dose of inspo for all you wedding-planning couples.
With photography by Paylor Photography
Proposal
Joe had always told me he knew exactly how he wanted to propose, but that we’d need to have been together for ten years before he would. He would bring it down to seven with good behaviour and if I kept ‘gobbing off’ it would add time. He then applied this rule to my mum too, when she kept asking when we were getting married.
On the 25th of October 2021, Joe was home on leave and asked me where my favourite place was in Whitby. I said I liked the pier and Falling Foss. As we got ready, he’d told me to make sure I looked nice. When we got there, I realised I’d forgotten our dog, Loki’s lead so we had to go home. Eventually we began walking to find the waterfall. I led us 40 minutes in the wrong direction and then, when we found it, I wasn’t sure if we could get down to it, but Joe was adamant we were getting there.
We began walking down the steepest, muddiest route. Poor Loki was sliding all over! We got down there and I sat on the rock looking at the waterfall. I wanted a picture of me and Loki as I had a belt on that matched his collar. Joe said he was going to ask the other people who were down there to take a picture of us, but really he’d quietly asked them to film it, explaining he was going to propose.
I turned around and he was on one knee with the ring in his hand, although he didn’t actually say “will you marry me?” so, eventually I said, “I guess you’re asking me to marry you?” We then had a couple of beers before heading home. Except Joe took the ring back off me and wouldn’t let me walk back up the hill with it on!
Setting
We decided to get married a year later and chose Friday the 14th of October 2022 at Sneaton Castle, Whitby. My friend had mentioned it had been taken over and they were doing weddings, so we went for a drink and to pick up a brochure, fell in love and the rest is history.
Theme
We had no real theme, but we didn’t know what to name the tables and Joe loves Star Wars so all our tables were named after his favourite characters. Colourwise, we went for sage green and dusty pink, and the bridesmaids were split in these colours.
Dress
I had a big princess dress. It wasn’t the style I’d originally wanted but when I went dress shopping, I had recently found out I was pregnant, due in July. I felt the pressure to get a dress quite quickly before I got too pregnant. I’d picked about six dresses and not liked any of them when I’d tried them on. My mum was picking ‘wild cards’, as she called them, and as soon as I saw it, I knew I’d fall in love with it, which I did. It was by Pronovias in Bridal Rouge in Harrogate.
Groomsmen
Joe is in the army so we had the ceremony with him in uniform. We had a sword guard too and they were all in their uniform. He later changed into a Marc Darcy suit which we bought from Santoro Milan. The groomsmen wore the same suits as Joe.
Bridesmaids
My bridesmaids wore matching dresses from ASOS. I had five bridesmaids and Joe had a groomsmaid. Three in green and three in pink. Our daughter was 4 months old at the wedding and wore a dress from Monsoon that matched mine.
Beauty
Felice from The Fringe, did our hair and Steph Swaine did our makeup.
Photographer
Paylor Photography were amazing, we had an engagement/pregnancy shoot with them in June and we just felt so comfortable and relaxed. They are so friendly. I had the crazy idea of the sword guard throwing me up in the air and they were 100% on board. Our photos are amazing and I love that we have them shot from two angles, with Rebecca and Rob both taking photos.
Videographer
We had a family member recording as a guest, but I do wish we had got a professional videographer in hindsight.
Styling
We had faux flowers so all the bouquet and the buttonholes were made by Jade of Belle Ame Faux Fleurs. I still have my bouquet at home. Jade was amazing and they were all so gorgeous.
We then used all the decorations and flowers already at Sneaton Castle, just adding a few decorations from home such as photos of loved ones who could not attend.
Favours
We had little boxes with sweets that had everyone’s names. We used them as the name cards and I had put personalised messages in each one.
Cake
My mum made my cake and it was a surprise for me. I didn’t know anything about it until the wedding. She had planned it with Joe. She had made figures of us all on the cake.
Dining
We chose the afternoon tea package from Sneaton Castle and then chose from the selections of canapés, sandwiches, sweet and savoury options they offered.
Entertainment
I went to school with a guy called Mark (although Mackie is his stage name) who I’d seen play a few times and loved his music. We decided we wanted a country, Irish music theme so we booked Mark quite early into the wedding planning and he was absolutely excellent! Our guests loved him. We also hired a photo booth from Vintage Heart Photo Booth, who are a really great company to work with.
Special touches
Joe had bought all of the sword guard presentations which he gave to them before the wedding. I was going to hire some singing waiters but in the end I asked one of the sword guard guests, John, to sing, which he did and it was fantastic!
Thanks to
Jackie from ’I Do’ Your Ceremony was our celebrant, and it was such an amazing ceremony. She had written a few drafts with us and had sent us both questionnaires to complete so she could write us the perfect ceremony, which she absolutely did! It was just so personal and our guests loved it. They said they had never been to a wedding like it.
Thanks also to the Sneaton team. Their planning was very thorough and both Kelly and Courtney were brilliant! They had taken care of everything. The grounds are beautiful and the food was incredible! We had the most amazing time from start to finish. Kelly and Courtney worked so hard with the planning and then on the day of the wedding.
Paylor Photography were also brilliant and Mark played exactly what we’d asked in the evening. Everyone made our day so special and all our guests have said our wedding was spectacular.
Best bit
I loved all of the day, right from getting ready. The room at Sneaton Castle is perfect, the ceremony in the chapel was so special and then the reception was incredible, the food was amazing. It was perfect and exceeded all of my hopes and expectations!
Honeymoon
We went for a weekend away to Krakow but are hoping for a holiday towards the end of 2023.
Advice
The only thing I would do differently would be to get a DJ, we didn’t have one and I wish we did. But my advice is to just enjoy it. I kept telling myself if anything was going to go wrong, it would and it was out of my control anyway. Utilise bridesmaids and groomsmen to your advantage!
