Colourful Wedding

flowers in her hair. a relaxed wedding at Lumley Castle – kate & mike

Julia Braime

a boho wedding at Lumley Castle (c) Chris Parkinson Photography  (27)

Today’s real wedding is something special.  A little bit wild, a teeny bit untamed, but altogether natural and entirely beautiful.

I’m completely in love with Kate and Mike’s

happy go lucky

approach to planning their gorgeous big day and the oh so pretty result.

Blooming lovely!

With images by Chris Parkinson Photography.

a boho wedding at Lumley Castle (c) Chris Parkinson Photography  (1)

Kate says:

We got engaged on a bench at Kew Gardens on October 18th. We were living in London at the time and it was raining on the day, so I was pretty sceptical about a picnic at Kew – especially as Newcastle United were on TV. But Mike convinced me the rain didn’t matter so we headed out with a rucksack. Mid afternoon we picked a bench for our picnic and Mike knelt down in the wet grass with a beautiful ring – 2 rings intertwined with 22 diamonds, I have a bit of an obsession with even numbers! I’m sure he never doubted that I’d say yes.

We got married on 8th August 2014 at St Philip and St James Church in Witton-le-wear. I have lived there since I was a little girl, so it was really important to me that we were married at that church. The morning we got married the village green was lined with people waving and wishing us well!

a boho wedding at Lumley Castle (c) Chris Parkinson Photography  (10)

Because we got married in the village church the ceremony was filled with special touches, a poem my mum wrote and a reading from Mike’s father, and my next door neighbour rang the church bells. Olive and John opened the Dun Cow, our local pub, for all our friends to gather before the service.

The reception was at Lumley Castle in Chester-le-Street. We booked the venue without ever having seen it, as we were living in London at the time. We sent our Mums along to check it out and trusted their judgement completely. It was great seeing the castle for the first time knowing that was where we would be having our reception, as we got to experience it through the eyes of our guests.

a boho wedding at Lumley Castle (c) Chris Parkinson Photography  (8)

We never planned on having a theme and were just picking stuff we liked. Then at the church the vicar gave a sermon and commented upon the proposal at Kew Gardens, the wild flowers, hand dried confetti and floral illustrations on the order of service, and at that point we realised that maybe there had been a theme without us realising. The whole day had a bit of a pagan feel to it, from the flowers and dress to the centrepieces and castle.

There was a lot of green and pink in our colour scheme with the combinations of wild and botanical flowers, but that happened by accident.

a boho wedding at Lumley Castle (c) Chris Parkinson Photography  (11)a boho wedding at Lumley Castle (c) Chris Parkinson Photography  (15)

Mu dress was from Happily Ever After in Darlington. It was the third one I tried on. I just felt really comfortable in it and I wanted something that didn’t cover my tattoo. I’ve always loved flowers and wear them in my hair all summer, so the floral detail at the waist band was what attracted me to the dress.

My bouquet was from Eliza Blooms in Darlington. She was just fantastic and really understood the natural, unstructured look I wanted. Daisies and pink peonies were the main flowers, with lots of greenery.

Mike wore a traditional suit from Moss Bros, with a sage green pocket scarf and cravat. He looked hot!

a boho wedding at Lumley Castle (c) Chris Parkinson Photography  (16)

The bridesmaid’s also wore dresses from Happily Ever After. The girls loved the mesh detail at the neckline and the flared layers. The groomsmen also wore suits from Moss Bros, but they ditched the cravat and waistcoat for the evening!

a boho wedding at Lumley Castle (c) Chris Parkinson Photography  (18)

We travelled in a vintage Rolls Royce, which was hired from Elite Cars in Etherley. The driver was actually my dad’s mechanic and he was great! He had a constant stream of polos and jokes to keep up relaxed.

We arranged a vintage bus to take our guests from the church to Lumley castle, which we booked by making a donation to the North East Bus Preservation Trust. It was a beautiful bus and we bought a crate of mini prosecco for our guests to drink on the journey!

a boho wedding at Lumley Castle (c) Chris Parkinson Photography  (19)

Chris Parkinson was our photographer. He lives in the village and was recommended by a friend. I love his photographs, they are really different and very artistic. I am quite creative so it was great to meet someone who I knew would do something original. The photographs are so lovely and so unique, it really feels like he captured the essence of the day.

a boho wedding at Lumley Castle (c) Chris Parkinson Photography  (21)

My mum and I picked the flowers for the church the morning before in a wild meadow near our village. It’s a memory I will never forget: of me and my mum amongst a field of wild flowers, grasses and hundreds of butterflies. My mum’s friends brought flowers from their gardens to decorate the church. The pew ends were made of poppies, corn flowers and ferns and then the arrangements consisted of daisies, cow parsley and dried grasses.

Mike and I made the woodland centerpieces ourselves. We went to the beach with Mike’s father and his wife to collect driftwood, then arranged these amongst ferns, succulents, birds nests, orchids and moss. We wanted the centrepieces to look like they had just been lifted from the forest floor.

My mum and dad made all of the confetti. It was lovingly hand dried petal by petal. It was stunning when everyone threw the confetti – 20 seconds that had taken 9 months of preparation!

a boho wedding at Lumley Castle (c) Chris Parkinson Photography  (23)

We didn’t have favours – we bought everyone an extra glass of wine!

a boho wedding at Lumley Castle (c) Chris Parkinson Photography  (29)

The cake was from Marks & Spencer – a beautiful surprise from my mum!

a boho wedding at Lumley Castle (c) Chris Parkinson Photography  (31)

We would definitely recommend Lumley Castle. It was so well organised and that’s exactly what we wanted planning a wedding from London. Our wedding coordinators were lovely and really understood what elements of the day were important to us.

a boho wedding at Lumley Castle (c) Chris Parkinson Photography  (35)a boho wedding at Lumley Castle (c) Chris Parkinson Photography  (36)

We loved the ceremony, it was just so special to have it in the village church. We both thought we’d be such a mess and wouldn’t be able to stop crying, but we just smiled and laughed our way through.

The first dance was also pretty special. We chose ‘She Bangs The Drums’ by the Stone Roses. About a minute into the song we realised we couldn’t get away with swaying along to the music so all our friends joined in. After seeing the Stone Roses live with our friends a couple of years ago it felt extra special to relive the moment.

a boho wedding at Lumley Castle (c) Chris Parkinson Photography  (37)a boho wedding at Lumley Castle (c) Chris Parkinson Photography  (42)a boho wedding at Lumley Castle (c) Chris Parkinson Photography  (43)

My top tip for other Brides Up North would be to smile and don’t get hung up on the small stuff, it really doesn’t matter. Spend as much time together as possible on the day and if it doesn’t go as according to plan laugh if off!

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comments

  • Tori Ross
    October 26, 2014 | Permalink | Reply

    How do I submit my wedding for real brides please?

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