Cross Keys & Polka Dots: A Real Wedding In Leeds – Laura & Mathew

Posted on: 30/10/2012

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We are right back on home turf this morning with a vintage inspired celebration in the centre of Leeds.  In a past life I used to work near the city’s Town Hall and used to love to see newlyweds celebrating on it’s huge stone staircase from my office window.

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Today’s lovely Real Wedding, with images from Jane at JB Creatives, is all about celebrating love with your nearest and dearest – a close knit celebration with your best people.  Oh, and some good pub grub. 

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With some pretty finishing touches and a nod to bygone eras, this small (yet perfectly formed) city wedding is just the thing to lift the spirits on a Tuesday morning. 

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Laura says:  We got engaged on Christmas Eve 2010 in our house. Mathew cooked us a lovely meal and then got down on one knee and produced a lovely engagement ring!

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He had asked my parents for my hand in marriage the day before so when we arrived round at their house to start our Christmas celebrations, they were ready with champagne and balloons.

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We made it official on 25th August 2012 at Leeds Town Hall. We wanted a small wedding so it was just close family. Following the ceremony, we had a meal at The Cross Keys on Water Lane in Leeds.  The following Saturday we had our wedding reception at The Cruck Barn, The Craven Arms in Appletreewick. 

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We wanted to get married locally and Leeds Town Hall is such an impressive building. The Cross Keys does fabulous food and the staff are lovely.Appletreewick has lots of childhood memories because I used to go camping at Mason’s campsite down the road from the pub.

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We travelled in style on the day in a cream vintage bus from the Yorkshire Heritage Bus Company.

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My dress was by Cymbeline and I got it second hand from The Wedding Mill in Saltaire. I realised quite quickly into my wedding planning that I didn’t like a lot of wedding dresses; I don’t like satin, ruching or strapless dresses. The dress I chose didn’t look very inspiring on the hanger but when I tried it on I knew it was ‘The One’ because it fitted so well and felt so nice to wear. I wanted a dress that I could walk and dance in confidently, and that dress enabled me to do both comfortably!

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I also had a lovely garter made by Nicola Wellard from the gorgeous Silver Sixpence In Her Shoe. 

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My bridesmaids wore dresses by Geri from Next and Mathew and his Dad wore suits by Chester Barrie.

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Many, many thanks to Jane at JB Creatives for the fabulous photographs of our wedding.   She has such a good eye for capturing a perfect shot. Mat and I particularly like all the natural photos of our guests at our reception. It was so nice to see the experience other people had on our day.  She is a joy to work with and is so friendly, professional and hardworking. I am desperately trying to think of the next big event we can have so we can get her back to photograph it!

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I had a theme of vintage of tea party. I collected teapots from charity shops and filled them with flowers for the table centres. We also used a selection of my late Grandma’s teacups as candle holders for the tables. I didn’t have a strict colour scheme but did incorporate quite a lot of pink!

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I made a lot of the things for myself but I did have a beautiful memory book, ‘I Do’ & ‘Love Is Sweet’ flags which we had in incorporated into to our table centres; and sweetie jar labels made by Vintage Twee. 

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Lots of family and friends contributed towards our wedding and as part of their Thank You gifts, I had rosettes made for them which stated their role. For example, my best friend Leanne did my hair and her rosette said ‘The Bouffant Boss’. The rosettes were from Vintage Twee. 

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We had a lot of help from our family.  My brother, Howard and his girlfriend, Helen performed for us. Howard plays the guitar and Helen sings. We also had a Ceilidh organised by the brilliant Aluinn Ceilidh Band.  Mathew’s cousin’s wife made our cake for our wedding day. She decorated the cake with a piece of my late Grandma’s lace. My friend Emily made a chocolate and Guinness cake version of the Cruck Barn for our party.

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The speeches were wonderful, and when my Dad said that I had walked back down the aisle as Mrs Johnson, it filled me with happiness and made it all seem real rather than just a dream!

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Mathew and I stayed at 42 The Calls on the wedding night and we sat wrapped in our fluffy dressing gowns reading our wedding cards and memory book. It was lovely and very moving to read our all the kind words from our families. We felt very, very lucky.

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After the wedding we honeymooned in Rio De Janeiro!

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My top tip for other Brides Up North would be to film your day especially the speeches. I loved watching back our wedding video and the more amateur the better!  In addition, don’t go on honeymoon straight after the wedding. All I wanted to do after my wedding was talk to people about their experiences of the day and read my cards and memory book!

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Congratulations Laura & Mathew!

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Get in touch to see your Real Wedding featured on Brides Up North, I would love to hear from you!

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Brides Up North UK Wedding Blog – Images © 2012 JB Creatives 

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