North East Wedding

simple pleasures. a beautiful wedding at Blackfriars – kate & andrew

Julia Braime

an intimate wedding at Blackfriars (c) Duncan McCall Photography (20)

We’re in the North East this afternoon as we join Kate and Andrew for their beautiful and intimate wedding at Blackfriars in Newcastle Upon Tyne.  Not the keenest couple ever to dash down the aisle, when they finally ‘got around to it’ they definitely did it

in style

.  Just look at the cut of that dress.  Audrey Hepburn, eat your heart out.

Images by Duncan McCall Photography.

an intimate wedding at Blackfriars (c) Duncan McCall Photography (2)

kate says:

 Back in 2010, we had a short break away to Bath. On my birthday we took a trip to see Stonehenge. After a secret chat with one of the security staff, Andrew persuaded me to hop over the barriers where we dashed up to the monument and Andrew got down on one knee to propose!

an intimate wedding at Blackfriars (c) Duncan McCall Photography (7)

We got married on 21st June 2014. We had been engaged for a long time and had never made any serious wedding plans, knowing we would get around to it one day. Unintentionally we stumbled across the perfect wedding venue and spur of the moment booked it! We always knew we wanted a summer wedding so we thought the longest day of the year would be perfect.

We got married at Blackfriars Restaurant in Newcastle Upon Tyne. We loved it as soon as we saw it (we didn’t even look at any other venues!). It was local for all of our family and friends, and Andrew is very keen on history so it made sense to get married in a 13th century friary! We always wanted a small, laid-back wedding and what with their reputation for amazing food, we knew it was the venue for us.

We didn’t really choose a particular theme – as Blackfriars Restaurant was such a stunning setting, we tried to match everything to suit the venue. We went for a simple vintage look, with lots of lace, flowers and foliage and chose a nude/taupe colour scheme, with lots of ivory lace and hints of dusky pink.

an intimate wedding at Blackfriars (c) Duncan McCall Photography (11)

I wore a full length ivory lace fish tail dress made by White Rose. It was bought from Truly Madly Deeply in Monkseaton. This was accompanied by a handmade Swarovski floral head piece, also purchased from Truly Madly Deeply.

My bridesmaid wore a full length nude/taupe coloured dress with a cinched in waist. This was made by my Auntie who is a seamstress.

Andrew wore a three piece grey morning suit, teamed with a wing collared shirt and nude coloured cravat. This was hired from Slaters Menswear in Newcastle Upon Tyne.

an intimate wedding at Blackfriars (c) Duncan McCall Photography (17)

As the ceremony and the reception were all based at the same venue, there was very little travelling for our guests. I arrived in an ivory and black vintage-style Regent Convertible, provided by AB Wedding Cars in Newburn.

an intimate wedding at Blackfriars (c) Duncan McCall Photography (21)

All of the flowers were provided by Katherine’s Florists in Newcastle Upon Tyne. My bouquet was hand tied and very rustic, made up of mainly ivory and dusky pink roses with a lot of foliage. My bridesmaid carried a smaller version of the same bouquet.

To decorate the venue, we worked with a lovely lady called Dot from Katherine’s Florists, whose son had previously got married at Blackfriars Restaurant, so she knew the place like the back of her hand! We had three large floral arrangements and used rose petals and trails of ivy to decorate the room. For further decoration to the venue we used a huge amount of church candles and trimmed the chairs with ivory lace.

an intimate wedding at Blackfriars (c) Duncan McCall Photography (23)

Our photographer for the day was Duncan McCall Photography. Duncan made us feel so relaxed and he captured every little memory from our big day. Amazing service and we were overwhelmed by the finished album. We have already been recommending Duncan to all of our family and friends.

an intimate wedding at Blackfriars (c) Duncan McCall Photography (29)

We had a traditional three tiered fruit cake with ivory icing. It was decorated with ivory and dusky pink roses to match the flowers. This was made by the Andrew’s mum!

an intimate wedding at Blackfriars (c) Duncan McCall Photography (30)

Blackfriars Restaurant is known for its fantastic food, so together we created a three course menu for our wedding breakfast. This consisted of a North Sea Fishcake to start, Northumbrian Roast Beef, Yorkshire Pudding and spring veg, and Sticky Toffee Pudding and ice cream for dessert! All of the ingredients were locally sourced. This was accompanied by a choice of wines we had selected, along with Prosecco for toasts.

As we wanted a laid-back reception we treated our guests to a bacon or sausage sandwich later in the evening (both the sausage and the rolls were handmade at Blackfriars Restaurant that day)!

an intimate wedding at Blackfriars (c) Duncan McCall Photography (31)

For the evening reception we created our own candy buffet, with all of our favourite sweets! Throughout the day we added lots of special touches to make the day as personal to us as we could – from asking our family and close friends to take part in readings during the ceremony, to providing guests with a small scratch-card quiz on love and marriage before the wedding breakfast (this was an after-thought and went down very well with our guests)!

an intimate wedding at Blackfriars (c) Duncan McCall Photography (35)

We provided the entertainment ourselves by creating our own music playlist for guests to join us on the dance floor at the evening reception.

an intimate wedding at Blackfriars (c) Duncan McCall Photography (37)

We would like a special mention to Toni & Guy hair salon in Newcastle Upon Tyne, who styled both our hair for the big day. Their service was fantastic and we were both really pleased with the results.

We would also recommend Dressmaking by Kaylean in Newcastle Upon Tyne who provided the alterations for the my dress.

an intimate wedding at Blackfriars (c) Duncan McCall Photography (43)

We would definitely recommend Blackfriars Restaurant to another couple. The service was outstanding and they made us feel so special all day. The wedding coordinator, Lee, never stopped all day and made sure every small detail was just perfect.

Our favourite part of the day was later in the evening when we were having our photographs taken up on the balcony at Blackfriars. It was our first proper chance to relax and chat to each other as husband and wife. The weather was perfect and we were looking down into the terrace garden watching all of our family and friends having a great time – it certainly made us smile for the photographs!

an intimate wedding at Blackfriars (c) Duncan McCall Photography (47)

We went to Rome for our honeymoon! Ever since we first met we always wanted to visit Rome to enjoy the amazing food, sunshine and soak up the history. It lived up to our expectations and more, and was the perfect romantic city to spend our honeymoon in.

an intimate wedding at Blackfriars (c) Duncan McCall Photography (48)

The top tip that Andrew received before the wedding was to just remember to not be nervous, as chances are he had already made a bigger fool of himself in the past in front of everybody who was present at the wedding! We would certainly recommend this to any future bride and groom!

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