Lizzie and Phil’s pastel wedding – featuring the stunning videography of Brides Up North Sponsor Silver Sixpence Films (check out the lovely little movie below) – was as pretty as it was personal, even though the date clashed with the groom’s footy team’s first game of the season.
Lucky for Lizzie (and for Phil) he didn’t mind missing kick off that Saturday.
With images by 246 Photography, and videography by Silver Sixpence Films.
lizzie says:
Phil and I had been together for nearly five years when we took our new puppy Douglas away to a cottage in Robin Hood’s Bay for a little break in October last year. One afternoon Phil suggested walking along the top of the cliffs because of the beautiful view of the beach. It was cold and there were a lot of steps but in the most beautiful spot, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him, with his new best pal by his side. It was lovely and a moment I’ll never forget, only problem was getting a signal to call all our friends and family!
We got married on the 16th August 2014. Not a popular choice as it was Hull City’s first game of the season and Phil is a football reporter and all my family are Hull City fans, but it was the only date we could get the church and venue we wanted!
We got married at All Saints’ Church in Brantingham, East Yorkshire and had the reception in a field behind a B&B opposite. We always knew that we wanted a marquee so we just had to pick the location. I used to horse ride in Brantingham so it’s a place I have always loved. It’s a beautiful countryside location with a small and lovely church. Keepers Lodge and Butterfly Meadow, the field we used is on the top of a hill looking over the beautiful scenery and we fell in love with it as soon as we saw it. We even saw some deer running around but unfortunately they didn’t join us on the day!
We went for a vintage tea party theme with lots of handmade bits and bobs. I love bird cages, vintage china and the idea of teapots and cake stands so we based it around that. We wanted it to be relaxed and fun, acoustic guitars, straw bales and picket fences.
We had a mix of pastel colours, my bridesmaids wore the same dress from Brides and Grooms of Lincolnshire in three different colours, one was light pink, one was pale lemon and the other was turquoise. They looked stunning. The boys wore navy suits and pastel blue ties, ditching the suit jackets about 10 minutes into the reception!
My wedding dress was also from Brides and Grooms of Lincolnshire. I just loved it and wish I could wear it again! I knew I wanted a strapless dress that was slim fitting and elegant. I tried on plenty and then I found the one, it was a Justin Alexander ivory dress with lace and a beautiful pattern. A mum’s tears are usually a good sign that it’s the perfect dress and she certainly got a bit emotional. I also found a lovely veil there and the seamstress even used the excess lace from the dress to add a pretty clip for my hair. They were wonderful. My shoes were a gift from my bridesmaid Rachel who was in the process of setting up her own bridal shop in Willerby, Forever Bridal Boutique. Rick Roberts in Beverley did my hair, and my bridesmaid’s hair. It was great to get out of the house in the morning and spend a couple of hours being pampered at the salon., and we were already pleased with our styles.
Phil wore a navy blue suit and waistcoat from Marks and Spencer with a white shirt and white tie. It was a really nice fit and I‘ve never seen him look so handsome. We hired navy suits for his ushers and best men from Slaters in Hull.
A light blue and cream camper van was the first thing we booked, it was from The Alternative Wedding Car Company in East Yorkshire. The bridesmaids and my mum travelled in the camper. My dad and I travelled in a cream Daimler from Superior Motor Cars in Pocklington. The driver was wonderful, he made us feel really important from the moment he pulled on to the drive and couldn’t do enough to make the journey perfect.
Nick Freeman from 246 Photography did our wedding pictures. I knew Nick anyway so I’d already seen a lot of his work and really loved his photographs. He was brilliant on the day, he made us all feel very comfortable and I was delighted with the pictures. I really feel like he captured the best bits of our day, exactly how we want to remember it!
We booked Silver Sixpence Films to do our wedding video after seeing a film of a friend’s wedding. It was lovely to have them there on the day, they were very professional and fitted in perfectly amongst our guests. I wasn’t quite prepared for how beautiful the video would be, so there were a lot of tears when we saw the finished product. They caught some wonderful little moments that we hadn’t even noticed they were filming!
All of my flowers came from Sandhill Garden Centre near Preston, I don’t really know much about flowers so I went in with a picture of a bouquet I liked and hoped for the best. We went through all sorts of ideas and decided on pastel coloured roses and all sorts of other types of flowers that I can’t remember the names of! The bouquets and the flowers in the church and at the reception were stunning, there were roses in colours I didn’t even know existed. The other great thing about them was how affordable they were, it didn’t cost me half as much as I expected!
My favourite decorations were the centre pieces my mum made. She spent hours filling beautiful birdcages with flowers and fairy lights and they looked so elegant and lovely. In fact, a good few people asked if they could take them home! My friends and family were amazing in the run-up to the wedding, the girls helped me make a hundred name cards with pretty bows and coloured card and we spent a whole night decorating an old suitcase and hanging the table plan from pegs inside it. Phil, my brother Matthew and our good friend Pete made a white rural road sign from scratch which pointed to the far flung locations people had travelled from. Phil’s mum ordered pink and white pom poms and lanterns and hung them from the trees and made lace runners for the tables. It was a great team effort and I will always remember setting up the marquee the day before the wedding and getting a bit teary about the number of people who turned up to help us. It was a great day.
We decided bags of penny sweets would make good favours so Phil ordered personalised bags from the internet and we did a big Makro shop to get all the bits we needed. They seemed to go down well, which was nice for Phil and his usher James who had lovingly put them all together and sealed them with heart pegs!
We decided to go for the kind of food we know our friends love and that meant pies! 2Chefs, a Beverley catering company made fantastic pies on the day. We had very tasty bruschettas beforehand and then for a desert we had three tier cake stands layered with all sorts of mini cakes and tarts, served with pots of tea. It was perfect. Apparently the pork and stuffing sandwiches were amazing on the night too, but I was still too full from all the cake! A company called Marquee Bar near York provided the bar and bar staff. Harriet and the team were incredibly efficient, they provided all the drinks we wanted and there was never a long queue which is rare at a wedding. They were also really lovely, and even kept my little flower girl entertained when she got a bit bored during the speeches!
Our cake was made by mum and dad’s neighbour, Lesley. I had seen a picture of a cake I liked so I took it round and was delighted when she said it was possible. I didn’t see it until the day and I remember getting a text from Phil’s mum in the morning saying the cake is stunning and it really was. It also tasted amazing.
Our friend Mike kicked off the entertainment by playing an acoustic set of our favourite songs. He’s an incredible singer and has also been my brother’s best friend since I was little so it meant a lot to have him playing. A local band called the Fork Handles got us all dancing our socks off on the night.
It’s hard to pick a favourite bit of the day, I loved everything from getting ready with the girls to a really special drive to the church with my dad, to seeing Phil for the first time, it was all wonderful. But if I could go back to one moment it would be watching Mike play ‘Chasing Rainbows’ by Shed Seven on the guitar while dancing with my new husband and looking around at all our wonderful guests. I remember just wanting that moment to last forever.
We had a honeymoon we’ll never forget in Barbados. We stayed at Crystal Cove hotel and just felt incredibly lucky for two weeks. We knew we’d be shattered and ready for a break so with the wedding behind us we fully embraced the golden sands, blue sea and rum cocktails.
My biggest bit of advice for other Brides Up North is something a friend said to me: Look around now and again and take it all in. Your wedding is the one day that you get to have all of your favourite people in one room and they’re all there for you two, it’s very humbling.
