Bloomin’ Gorgeous! A Real Wedding In The North East – Kelly & Anthony

Posted on: 23/05/2012

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Today’s beautiful Real Wedding, sent to me by Brides Up North Featured Supplier Helen Russell Photography and real bride Kelly is one of my favourite yet – the beautiful blooms, the cute bridesmaids with their flower garlands and ballet slippers and the bride’s beaming smile – but not least because it took place at one of my very favourite North East venues: the cool and quirky As You Like It in Jesmond.

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As You Like it was also the venue for the latest (and super fun!) Brides Up North Tweet Up networking event for the wedding industry, and you can see all those images here, but for today, it’s the setting for Kelly and Anthony’s really very special big day. 

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Kelly says: We got engaged after 10 years together on April Fools Day 2011, and it was after noon so it wasn’t an April Fools! We were married on 5th April 2012 at As You Like It, Jesmond. 

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We wanted somewhere informal, beautiful, with great food and service and as soon as we visited As You Like It we knew it was the place for us. It really exceeded our expectations

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We chose a vintage style country garden-ish theme! I didn’t want it to be too matchy matchy, I wanted mixed florals and a modern vintage style. 

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I got my dress from the last bridal shop I visited after I was nearly giving up all hope, I found it in Confetti in the Metro Centre. I loved it because of the lace overlay and the scalloped edge train.  .

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I was in love with my bouquet, we used Helen from Bels Flowers and we were just on the same wavelength, she totally got what was in my head and I was so happy with my bouquet, a massive bunch of peony roses with loads of other flowers mixed in. I’ve never seen a more amazing bouquet (but I admit I am biased!)

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My bridesmaids’ dresses were from Monsoon and they looked so perfect on the day, finished off by the beautiful fresh flower head garlands. I had two baby girls attend the wedding and got them the same dress so they were also part of the day.

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I loved saying our vows, when we picked them at home we didn’t say them out loud and then when we were there during the service saying out load in front of our family and friends they felt so special. There is nothing like that feeling of marrying your best friend and we were just overwhelmed with everyone making it such a good day with a happy joyful atmosphere, they are the things you can’t plan.

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I used Simply Bows and Chair Covers for the beautiful ivory chair bows and I got some lovely items from e-bay like Romeo and Juliet thank you gifts and an engraved pocket watch for our hard working best man. I visited second hand shops to get some beautiful crockery for Helen to fill with flowers to decorate the tables.

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My cake was a wedding present from my beautiful friend Andrea, it was stunning and tasted delicious, it had two fruit layers and a lemon layer and was finished off with a beautiful fresh flower posy from Helen.

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We used the As You Like It DJ Paul and I asked him to play a mix of soul, sixties, indie and Britpop. It was a huge success with the dance floor filled all night after our first dance, At Last by Etta James (because we love that song and it only took us 11 years to tie the knot).

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Honeymoon wise, we’ve got Bali to look forward to in July, which feels like forever away! We cant wait to escape and have some special time just the two of us in a magical place.

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My top tip for other Brides Up North would be not to underestimate how important good photography is, we were most nervous about this as we don’t enjoy having our photo taken, but Helen put us at ease and had fun with us and when we saw the photos we were both taken back to the special parts of your day that you can forget about as it really does go as fast as people say it does. Now we have those moments to treasure forever.

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Congratulations Kelly & Anthony!

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If you would like to share your Real Wedding on the wedding blog, contact me today. 

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Brides Up North UK Wedding Blog – Images © 2012 Helen Russell Photography

Helen Russell 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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