Here at Brides Up North we love to see couples’ cool and quirky wedding ideas play out in their imaginative themes, but we also feel you just can’t beat a
simple & classic
big day.Bride Gillian was set on having the latter for her wedding to Ashley, which took place at the lovely Beeston Manor in Preston, a venue the couple were set on from day one.
With elegance in abundance, everything about this wedding fits in with Gillian’s wishes for pretty and romantic, from her beautiful slim fit dress, to the simple styling and the bridesmaids’ dreamy pastel gowns.
With images by Arusha Images Photography.
gillian says:
We got engaged in Egypt. We were completing our PADI diving course whilst on holiday and Ashley decided our first open water dive was the best time to propose. He popped out a ring on the bottom of the red sea. I was in total shock! The whole dive crew were in on it and everyone cheered when we got back to the boat. It was all very thoughtful and romantic!
Our wedding date was 6th June 2015. We had our hearts set on Beeston Manor in Preston, as our venue and so waited two years for a Saturday in spring! We had viewed the venue back in in May 2013 and instantly loved it, both of us knew that was where we wanted to get married.
We didn’t have a theme as such, I just wanted a pretty, romantic and classic wedding. Our colour scheme was pink, ivory and pearls. It was a perfect, simple and pretty wedding.
I chose a dress from Dreamcatcher in Kirkham. I actually bought a strapless dress and had a bespoke jacket made to go out the top. I chose a fairly simple lace dress – I wanted something stylish and classic, but not over the top. I felt the final dress was very me! On the wedding day Be Beautiful did my hair. They were amazing and put up with my fussing.
Ashley wore a blue three piece suit from Ted Baker and the groomsmen all wore navy suits from Next.
Our bridesmaids’ pale pink dresses were all from ASOS.
Ashley and I bought our wedding rings from George Banks Jewellers. We decided this was an area to splash out on since we will wear them every day for the rest of our lives!
Arusha Images Photography photographed our wedding day. We would totally recommend her to other brides and grooms. Her photographs are very romantic and utterly beautiful. They are exactly what we wanted as a memory of our day!
Rachel at Sweet Peas Florist did all our wedding flowers, including my huge bouquet of beautiful blooms. I went to her with ideas and let her get creative with the final pieces. I was so impressed. She is extremely talented!
We use Add a Little Sparkle to decorate Beeston Manor to suit our chosen theming and colours. Using this company totally made our venue. Everything looked stunning!
As favours gave out sparklers to our guests and at 10pm everyone got together for a photo. The idea was more successful than the reality!
We had a three course sit down meal as our wedding breakfast. It was delicious! The wine was provided by Beeston and perfectly complemented the menu. For our wedding cake we had a three tiered simple floral design, which was from Simply Cupcakes.
To provide entertainment at the reception, we hired a three piece jazz band fronted by Willy Fluss. I can’t recommend them enough!
Following our wedding, we would certainly recommend Beeston Manor to other couples. The venue is so beautiful and everyone there was so lovely to us and our guests! We had the perfect day.
Looking back we would say the reception was our favourite part of the day – we loved that everyone could let their hair down and dance!
After the wedding we went on honeymoon to Miami. We have a nine-month-old so we decided this was a good place for a family trip. We are due to go to Thailand in January for our official honeymoon and can’t wait!
My top tip to other Brides Up North would be to check in with your other half regularly throughout the day! Everyone wants to speak to you on your wedding day and before you know it you find it’s been ages since you last checked in with each other. We found it best to greet and thank all our guests together so then we could enjoy the rest of the evening on the dance floor!
