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What’s a Tuesday afternoon without a huge dose of glam? Caroline and Kevin’s elegant Real Wedding, with styling inspired by Old Hollywood and one rather iconic actress has plenty. Flawlessly done, and just beautiful.
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With images by Brides Up North Featured Supplier Katy Melling Photography.
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Caroline says: Kev arranged a picnic on a beach in Dubrovnik when we were on holiday last July (2012). He popped the question as the sun was just setting and it was a complete surprise! He did it at the start of our two week holiday so we decided not to tell anyone until we got home. It was exciting keeping it to ourselves and it felt like we were in our own little bubble for the rest of the holiday.
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We were married on Saturday 18th May 2013. The ceremony took place at St Mary Magdalene Church in Yarm. The reception was at Rockliffe Hall in Hurworth-on-Tees.
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We come from quite traditional families so it was always going to be a church wedding in our home town of Yarm. We chose to have our reception at Rockliffe Hall as we loved the fact that it had a mixture of old charm and modern decor. The Rockliffe Suite, where the wedding breakfast was served, was light, airy and decorated with neutral tones so we could really put our own stamp on things.
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We went for a simple, classic colour scheme of whites, creams, greens and greys.
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I love the romance of old black and white Hollywood movies so took inspiration from this. I decided on an Audrey Hepburn style dress, hair and makeup complete with red lipstick. We used ND Makeup Artists and Carolyn Clayton hair. The girls were lovely and by the end of the morning felt like old friends.
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My white wedding dress was Audrey Hepburn inspired with a huge underskirt and train bought from Kathryn Trueman in Morpeth. The back had little ivory buttons and the seamstress added a ivory satin bow. I grew up in Morpeth so it seemed fitting that I ended up buying my wedding dress there.
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The bridesmaids wore Dessy dresses in Amethyst from Elizabeth George Bridal.
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The groom and ushers hired traditional tails also from Elizabeth George Bridal. We bought Dessy cravats and handkerchiefs to match the bridesmaids.
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Hart Company run by Suzie Hart arranged the flowers and also provided the table decorations. Suzie even took the time on the wedding morning to show the wedding party how to hold their bouquets and put on their buttonholes. I had a bouquet of ivory roses, ranunculus and lily of the valley. My mum also had lily of the valley on her wedding day so this had sentimental value.
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We felt very lucky to have picked such good suppliers. This really helped on the day as we had nothing to worry about.
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We used Katy Melling Photography. We could not recommend Katy enough, she captured our day perfectly.
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There was very limited parking at the church so we hired an old London Routemaster bus to transport guests. Knowing that the wedding breakfast would not be served until later in the day, we handed out mini muffins to guests on the bus which were greatly appreciated.
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A family friend let us borrow his 1938 Rolls Royce and kindly played chauffer for the day even dressing up with coat and top hat. We felt like royalty stepping out of the car.
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My dad passed away suddenly three years ago so my mum gave me away. I wanted my dad to be part of the day so the florist added a small locket to the front of my bouquet with a picture of my dad inside. That way I felt like he was with me when I walked down the aisle.
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My favourite part of the day was he ceremony and also the short drive from the church to the reception where it was just the two of us in the back of the car. We couldn’t stop smiling and saying ‘we’ve done it’.
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We decorated the room using simple, elegant tall crystal vases, candelabras and mercury glass tealight candle holders. The tall vases were a bit pricey but made a big impact when you walked in the room so were well worth it!
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The three tier cake was homemade by a family friend. We wanted something a bit different and in keeping with the old Hollywood glamour theme so we attached diamante necklaces to the icing to add sparkle!
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We bought old Polaroid cameras from Ebay and put one on each table. Guests were encouraged to take a picture of themselves and stick it in the guest book along with a message. This seemed to go down really well with the guests, especially the kids.
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We decided on a ceilidh (Michael McCormick) to get everyone up on the floor and it did the trick. The ceilidh was followed by Flash Dance disco.
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After the wedding we went to Lake Garda in Italy and in also visited Venice and Verona.
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My top tip for other Brides Up North would be that when shopping for your wedding dress be open minded and try on lots of different styles. To start with I was sure I wanted a tight fitting lace dress but it wasn’t until my mum suggested I try a different style, ten shops down the line, that I found ‘the one’ which was the complete opposite of what I had imagined.
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Also book a videographer! We decided last minute to book Joined Heart following a friend’s recommendation and we are so glad we did. You don’t realise how much you miss.
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Congratulations Caroline & Kevin!
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Brides Up North UK Wedding Blog – Images © 2013 Katy Melling Photography
Katy Melling Photography is a Brides Up North Featured Supplier
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