Let The Sun Shine! A Real Wedding, Steph & Mark

Posted on: 07/09/2011

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Wedding blog fabulous photographer Damian Hall Photography sent me Steph and Mark’s beautiful real wedding at The Mansion, Roundhay.  It might not have escaped your notice that this was the venue for the fantastic Brides Up North Tweet Up Yorkshire last night… so I have been saving this gem of a celebration, jam packed with brightly coloured inspiration and details for you today.  Enjoy!

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Over to Steph: We got engaged on 19^th February 2009 whilst on holiday in a cottage in Scotland where we had gone on our first holiday together the year before and we got married on 30th July 2011 at The Mansion, Roundhay Park, Leeds. 

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We visited Roundhay Park on one of our first dates. When we were looking for wedding venues Mark found a news article about The Mansion being renovated and arranged an appointment. We looked around The Mansion before it had been renovated and loved its character and the vision of it finished.

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We didn’t have a theme but we wanted something bright and summery. We did use a scrolled heart on our stationary which carried through the day and a monogram with our names on.  We chose fuchsia and orange as a colour scheme.

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My bouquet was made of pink and orange roses with gloriosa lilies by Just Jasmine. It then had pink and orange ribbon wrapped around. To remember my Grandma who passed away before the wedding (and who I probably inherited my creative streak from) I added one of her brooches to the ribbon as she always wore one.

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After trying on lots of dresses at lots of shops I visited Ivy House Bridal in Bradford which is literally 5 minutes from where we live! I had vowed it was the last shop I would visit before looking at getting a dress made. I told her what I wanted but couldn’t find and she immediately pulled out a Romantica dress called Montana. I tried it on and knew immediately that I didn’t need to try any more dresses as it was perfect! It was in ivory taffeta with a chiffon skirt. The top was strapless and it has lace and beading scattered on the top. It was fitted to the hip but then had a skirt that was big enough but didn’t drown me. I then had some crystal shoes made from a seller on ebay to match which I had always wanted.

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I had 2 adult bridesmaids who were understandably concerned about having to wear fuchsia and orange dresses. Whilst looking for wedding dresses we visited Swanky Bride in Hipperholme and saw they had Dessy dresses. After trying on fuchsia and orange dresses it was an easy decision that it would look too bright. It was then that I decided to have the bridesmaids in ivory but with hints of colour. They had matching strapless chiffon dresses which were calf length. To make them different and incorporate the colour scheme one had a fuchsia sash and the other orange. They then wore matching colour shoes to tie the look together.

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My favourite part of the day was walking down the aisle and seeing Mark’s face. Mark said his favourite part was getting to see me walk all the way down the aisle!

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With our theme being ‘bright and summery’ we had visions of a sunny day with everyone relaxing outside. We decided to take a risk on pleasant weather by hiring sofas, leather cubes and tables for the terrace. The risk paid off! We had amazing furniture and amazing weather. We shopped around and found a company called black cherry events who were more than happy to help and provided funky comfortable furniture for a great price compared to other suppliers.

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Damian Hall and Charlotte were worth every penny we paid. We loved them from our first meeting and knew they were the photographer for us. Our pictures are amazing and Damian captured the day perfectly with a fun attitude and creativity. On the wedding day I don’t think I have ever met anyone more organised than Charlotte and a more tolerant photographer than Damian who didn’t mind the ushers jumping on top of each other (and him!)

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We tried to make our day a bit different by making it a bit more quirky and fun to reflect us. I handmade all the stationary and made our own confetti cones. For table numbers I ordered 3d wooden numbers from Ebay which we painted pink. For programmes we made cootie catchers in our colours to go on the ceremony chairs. Instead of a table plan I wanted something different so decided to make escort cards. This evolved into me cutting out thousands of petals to stick onto swirl lollipops to make them into flowers. We then planted grass in coloured pots and put the ‘flowers’ in with guests names on and the table they were sitting.

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I had seen thumbprint trees for sale on the internet but decided to make our own in our colours. I made the tree using clipart, added the monogram of our names I had made and sent it to Photobox to be enlarged and printed. I then purchased pink and orange inks to go with it.

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Instead of hiring expensive lanterns for outside I made my own using jam jars which I bought from an online wholesalers and candles from Ikea. I then poured pink and orange sand into them. These were used outside whilst we had the evening barbeque.

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Because our cake was fruit we spoke to Christabellas Cupcakery about providing some colourful cupcakes for the evening to complement the cake.They had previously made the most amazing and yummy cupcakes for my bridal party before the wedding so we were excited about what amazing designs they would come up with for the wedding. They didn’t disappoint and made cupcakes in fuchsia and orange cases with handmade decorations on top to match.

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In the evening we hired The Mansion’s recommended D.J who was excellent.  We love holidays where we have lots to see and do so we decided to make our own city tour. We went for 16 days and went to Barcelona then Paris then Krakow.

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My advice to other Brides Up North would be do your homework and be creative. Look for inspiration then make it to reflect yourselves. It’s lots cheaper and makes the day extra special when people compliment things you have made and get excited by the small, individual touches you spent ages planning!

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Brides and Photographers, get in touch to share your Real Wedding memories on the wedding blog.  Contact Brides Up North. 

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Brides Up North UK Wedding Blog – Images © 2011 Damian Hall Photography

Damian Hall Photography is a Brides Up North Featured Supplier but this is not a sponsored post

Contact Brides Up North to submit your business as a Featured Supplier

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