Carrying on the pretty pink theme from this morning’s post, we’re sharing Emily and Richard’s gorgeous wedding day which featured a timeless colour palette of white and pale pink.
Brimming with inspiration for you brides-to-be, there are so many stunning elements Emily and Richard’s big day, which they wanted to be personal and elegant with a few
vintage touches
mixed in. Mission accomplished we’d say!With images by Helen Rose Photography.
emily says:
We got engaged on my birthday in May 2015, during a special weekend trip to London. It was after a very romantic evening meal at the Chiltern Firehouse in the top of their old fire tower.We set the date for 17th October 2015. I think autumn is the best time of year. The colours of the season and the crisp Yorkshire weather appealed hugely to me when choosing the date we were to marry.
Our ceremony was very traditional and very personal to us, held in our local church, which Richard also grew up attending. The vicar led the service, and the choir in their robes, made it all special. Our speakers read an excerpt from the bible and a Bruce Springsteen song we love called If I Should Fall Behind.
As a reception venue I always knew I wanted a marquee. Royd House Farm in Yorkshire is owned by Richard’s aunt and uncle, so we were thrilled when they’re offered their grounds for our reception. The house is set in beautiful countryside, and there are tiered levels that we used for the marquee and all the other aspects needed for the day. They have a decked area with a little summer house, surrounded by water and which we used for more photos. It felt so personal and we loved having this original venue.
The overall feel of the wedding was quite elegant and timeless mixed with a little vintage. I love white, and also wanted something a little feminine, but not overpowering, so added little hints of baby pink to form the colour scheme.
My dress was by Amanda Wyatt, which I bought from Elenor Rose Bridal, in Huddersfield. I had an idea in my head that I wanted lace and something that showed off my shape rather than lots of fabric. The ribbon belt had pearl details and when I chose my veil it had little pearls dotted elegantly all over, which tied in nicely. My shoes were Manolo Blahniks and were an oyster colour with diamanté square buckles on top. I also chose drop diamanté earrings from Liberty in Love.
Richard wore a black jacket and grey stripe trousers, which he loved – he looked so dapper. He wanted to wear a pink single Windsor knot tie, which was lucky as it was part of our colour scheme, and had a pink pocket handkerchief to match. He also wore a pale grey double breasted waistcoat from our local bespoke tailors, Owen Scott.
My maid of honour wore an evening length, pale pink dress with fluted sleeves purchased at the same time as my wedding dress from Elenor Rose Bridal. The flower girls wore white dresses with pale pink sashes and the page boys wore Peter Pan collared shirts, white trousers and pink cummerbunds, all from a lovely French company called Little Eglantine.
On the day of the wedding we travelled to the ceremony in a chauffeur-driven 1959 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud, from Halifax Prestige Wedding Cars.
Helen of Helen Rose Photography, who is an old friend of mine, captured our day. She had the style I was looking for; light, modern and relaxed – we were so lucky to have her available at just six months’ notice! She photographed exactly what we wanted her to, which really set our minds at ease knowing we could trust her with our special day. We were, of course, delighted with the outcome of our photos too and felt so lucky to have her and others who we are close to part of our day. I would completely recommend Helen to other couples, she gave such a good service on the day, but also the outcome of the photos were outstanding. Beautiful images and we have had so much good feedback from those who have seen them that I know the pictures are the best quality.
For my flowers I had a handtied bouquet consisting of pale pink roses white, hydrangeas, anemones and pale eucalyptus. The maid of honour and flower girls had posies of hydrangeas tied with lace. The flower girls also had wreaths of gypsophila on their heads, all from Finishing Touches Florist in Huddersfield.
To decorate the venue we used some white hydrangea, pale pink roses, pale green eucalyptus, white anemones, gypsophila, and a few David Austin roses in pale pink in tall glass vases, these were again from Finishing Touches. We also had some rose and champagne scented candles and also little Mercury ribbed or honeycombed tea lights dotted around tables, which I sourced myself. There were string fairy lights on our draped marquee lining, a little candy bar, and also a chill out area with beige velvet sofas and mirrored coffee tables, all of which was provided by Black Cherry Events.
As favours we gave the females a little clear box of pink and cream macaroons tied with little pale pink ribbons. These were made and provided by Eric’s Restaurant.
Our cake was made by my friend’s mum, Carol Sheard, who does this professionally, but again it felt personal to have this close connection and she really did wow us with her creation. The cake was so tall and huge, and every bake was so moist. The top tier was lemon drizzle, middle was chocolate fudge and bottom was fruit cake. She decorated it beautifully with white lace icing and sugar flowers on top in white and pale pink.
We love food so it only seemed logical to ask Eric Paxman, a celebrated multi-award winning local chef and restaurant owner of Eric’s Restaurant to cater for us (Richard’s aunt and uncle are also partners in his restaurant, so we wouldn’t have wanted to use anyone else). Eric is known for his fabulous and delicious menus, so we chose pressing of confit chicken, roast rump of local beef with Yorkshire pudding (it had to be done being from Yorkshire), and a trio of autumnal desserts. We also had a hog roast in the evening!
For musical entertainment, we had harpist Alice Kirwan to play as we greeted guests at our reception, which created a lovely romantic atmosphere. Our evening choice of entertainment really made our night! We chose The Mini Big Band after hearing some demos on their website. They are a ten piece swing band and we couldn’t have been more thrilled! They wore black tuxedos and looked and sounded the part and everybody absolutely loved them. It had always been my dream to have a swing band and they didn’t disappoint in the slightest!
My favourite part of the day was the service – I had been waiting for the moment a long time and thoroughly loved marrying Richard.
After the wedding Richard surprised me with a night in a luxury apartment, with some Laurent Perrier champagne waiting, which was lovely. We are going to Italy on honeymoon in May and will be doing a tour of various places in Rome, Florence and Capri.
My top tip to other Brides Up North is simply, do what you feel you should. Don’t have any regrets about what you didn’t do. From start to finish Richard and I were able to have a highly personal wedding as we were able to involve our friends who are also professionals in their field, which made the day all the more intimate and unique. We had so much fun and laughed ourselves silly from start to finish!
