DIY

to the manor. a pretty, flower-filled teepee wedding at hornington manor – danielle & jack

Julia Braime

A Colourful Wedding at Hornington Manor (c) Alexandra Holt Photography (30)

When it comes to tying the knot it’s always great if you, or those close to you, have some fabulous skills you can use, not only to save yourself a few pennies, but also to make the day more personal and memorable.

Today’s bride Danielle is a baker, so not only did she bake her own wedding cake, but she also made her guests’ trio of desserts for the wedding breakfast (she admits she likes a challenge). Better still, Danielle’s Aunty is a florist so as well as lots of sweet treats, her wedding day was brimming with beautiful blooms all carefully arranged by her talented relative.

The day as a whole looks like an

incredibly loved-up

, emotional and fun-filled affair set against a well styled backdrop.

We must also congratulate the happy couple on the fantastic news that they are expecting their first baby in September. All together now…ahhhh!

With images by Alexandra Holt Photography.

A Colourful Wedding at Hornington Manor (c) Alexandra Holt Photography (6)

danielle says:

We got engaged at the place where we met! Jack took me back to London where we had met at a student ambassador event. He got down on one knee in a lovely snowy park and I had no idea. I cried. A lot! He had then arranged for all of my friends to be at the friend’s house we were staying a, and they had organised an engagement party to celebrate! Later we went for posh cocktails up a super high building in London. All in all, the perfect engagement.

A Colourful Wedding at Hornington Manor (c) Alexandra Holt Photography (11)

Our wedding day was 23rd August 2014. We chose the date because we wanted a summer wedding and also because it was a bank holiday weekend.

We got married at St Olaves Church in York. We chose it because even though neither of us are from York originally, it was now our home and where we wanted to bring our family up. The church was suggested to us by a friend and we went along to meet the vicar and congregation and they were all lovely. Our reception venue was the beautiful Hornington Manor where we had a Papakata tepee.

A Colourful Wedding at Hornington Manor (c) Alexandra Holt Photography (12)

We didn’t have a themeas such, we just went for a rustic/vintage feel. Coming from an arty background, we made a lot of the decorations ourselves and felt this made it extra special! We chose the style because neither of us really like anything matching, and it seemed to fit our creative personalities. We didn’t have a colour scheme either – just lots of it! Pastels mainly but some brights thrown in there too.

A Colourful Wedding at Hornington Manor (c) Alexandra Holt Photography (10)

I chose my dress from a bridal shop called Elizabeth of York in York. It was probably only the second or third dress I tried on and it was perfect! Lace all over, a long (ish) train and quite fitted at the top.

Jack and the groomsmen wore suits from Peter Werth while the bridesmaid wore dresses from Coast.

A Colourful Wedding at Hornington Manor (c) Alexandra Holt Photography (19)

We hired a vintage cream VW Beetle for myself and my dad to get to the church and the boys had a VW camper van in black. They were hired from LoveDubz Campers in York – the friendliest car company people ever! We also hired a vintage double decker bus for our guests. This was from Yorkshire Heritage Bus Company.

A Colourful Wedding at Hornington Manor (c) Alexandra Holt Photography (25)

Our photographer was an old friend of mine called Alex Holt. She is the most amazing photographer and I couldn’t recommend her enough. She gets shots when you don’t even know she’s there and every single one was perfect! They took my breath away – I couldn’t believe it was our wedding!

A Colourful Wedding at Hornington Manor (c) Alexandra Holt Photography (26)

Luckily, my Auntie is the best florist in the world, so she did my flowers for me. We had a lot of flowers! Mine and the bridesmaids’ bouquets were hand tied bouquets of wild flowers with lots of colours and variations of flowers. Beautiful.

My Auntie also did the reception flowers for me. I went along to the wholesalers and choose hundreds of flowers and then she worked her magic! We had lots of vases scattered over all of the tables, hanging bird cages filled with flowers and lanterns lining the pathway to our wedding reception filled with flowers too.

A Colourful Wedding at Hornington Manor (c) Alexandra Holt Photography (27)

As a baker by trade I’m a lover of all things sweet so for favours I used small jars with lids and filled them with yummy gourmet popcorn then labelled each jar with the guest’s name.

I made my own wedding cake as it’s what I do every day! We had a simple three tiered stacked cake and covered it in ribbons and fresh flowers. I didn’t want to make life too complicated for myself!

A Colourful Wedding at Hornington Manor (c) Alexandra Holt Photography (29)

Our wedding breakfast and evening food was provided by a company called The Hog and Apple. We had a delicious starter of ham hock terrine and a main of roast meats and posh veg! I made the trio of desserts myself (I like a challenge!) and we had mini cheesecakes, chocolate dipped strawberries and tiramisu heart stacks. The evening food was a hog roast which was divine!

A Colourful Wedding at Hornington Manor (c) Alexandra Holt Photography (28)

When our guests arrived at our wedding reception we had a beautiful acoustic guitarist/singer called Jonny Woodhead who played to our guests whilst they had arrival drinks. We then had a band in the evening called The Hot Jazz Biscuitsand they were amazing! We had our own laptop and playlist for after the band had finished. Perfect!

A Colourful Wedding at Hornington Manor (c) Alexandra Holt Photography (39)

As a special touch on the day my family had arranged to let a helium balloon off for my Mum who we lost when I was 18. It was a really nice surprise for me and made the day extra special.

A Colourful Wedding at Hornington Manor (c) Alexandra Holt Photography (46)

Our wedding reception was held in the garden of a Manor House called Hornington Manor near York and it was held in a teepee. The teepee company Papakata were truly fantastic and I would highly recommend them!We would highly recommend both our wedding venue and reception venue to other couples as they were fantastic. Hornington Manor is a great huge house that you can hire out. There are around 16 self-catering rooms where all the family could stay and made the long bank holiday weekend an extra special one!

A Colourful Wedding at Hornington Manor (c) Alexandra Holt Photography (47)

I think the ceremony was my favorite part of the day. Emotional, meaningful and perfectly suited.

A Colourful Wedding at Hornington Manor (c) Alexandra Holt Photography (44)

We went to Cornwall on our honeymoon which was lovely. Jack had hired us a camper van for a few of the nights which was a nice surprise and I then surprised him with a trip to Monza, Italy, to see the Formula 1 (he is a huge fan!) as it was his 30th birthday whilst we were away.

A Colourful Wedding at Hornington Manor (c) Alexandra Holt Photography (48)

My top tip to other Brides Up North would be to do as much as you can yourself without causing yourself too much stress! Don’t be scared to shop around either – there are things that you won’t want to skimp on but others that you might be able to get some good bargains on if you shop around!

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