This afternoon’s real wedding is all about simplicity, elegance and class!
Taking place in Manchester, Caroline and Matthew chose the city’s stunning town hall for their ceremony followed by a reception at the Radisson Blu Edwardian hotel.
Keen to stick to a simple and neutral palette, Caroline chose beautiful white and green flowers and mink bridesmaid dresses to complement her stunning ball-gown style dress, which made her look every inch a princess!
With images by our talented Brides Up North Sponsor Zen Photographic.
caroline says:
We got engaged while on holiday in Mexico. One evening, just before it went dark, we were walking along the beach to dinner, it was a beautiful evening and there was no one around. Matthew asked me to move a large palm tree branch out of the way to take a picture. I moved it to reveal the words ‘marry me?’ written in sand on top of a large leaf, I turned around to find Matthew on one knee with the ring in his hand. When we returned back to the hotel our room had been filled with rose petals, champagne and chocolates. It was perfect!
We got married on 8th August 2015 at Manchester Town Hall. The building is so beautiful we fell in love with it as soon as we went inside. We lived together for the first time in the city centre so it felt like a special place to get married. The wedding breakfast and reception were held at the Radisson Blu Edwardian hotel just a stone’s throw away from the town hall. We loved the look and feel of the hotel and the history of all the musicians who had performed there when it was the Free Trade Hall.
We didn’t have a theme as such, we wanted to keep in style with the elegance of the Halle Suite at the Radisson so chose white flowers and lots of candles. Our colour scheme was a mink colour for the bridesmaids’ dresses and groomsmen’s cravats. We wanted everything to be neutral.
My dress was an ivory Victoria Jane by Ronald Joyce ball gown design. I first saw it at a wedding fair and had to track it down to try it on as I was with Matthew at the time so couldn’t do it there! It was the first dress I tried on and I instantly loved it. I think I only tried on four other dresses of varying styles but nothing compared to ‘the one’. My dress was from Bride 2 Be in Leigh. I work in Leigh and it was a shop I used to enjoy driving past to look at the beautiful dresses in the window and just happened that they stocked the design I was after!
On the day of the wedding my makeup was done by Make-up by Emma Williams. She was so lovely and a very calming influence during such a busy morning. Mine and my bridesmaids’ hair was taken care of by the girls at Elysium Hair and Beauty in Salford.
Matthew wore dark grey tails from Moss Bros with an ivory cravat, while the groomsmen wore grey suits and mink cravats.
The bridesmaids’ mink dresses were a one-shoulder maxi design from Eloise’s Secret Closet. My niece Ella was flower girl and her dress was from BHS, which she chose herself.
On the morning of the wedding, my bridesmaids, my parents and I got ready at our house. My dad and I travelled from there to the ceremony in a vintage Royal Windsor and the bridesmaids and my mum followed in a limousine from Rollers Wedding Cars.
Our photographer was Zen Photographic. We wanted a photographer who was familiar with the town hall to capture it in all its glory. We met Zenna at a wedding fair and liked the style of her photos so met up with her a couple of weeks later. She was so friendly and professional and her photographs are stunning. We would definitely highly recommend her. She put us at ease on an engagement shoot prior to the wedding so by the time the big day came we were quite happy and comfortable being photographed.
I carried a white bouquet with a mixture of flowers and the bridesmaids had white roses and gypsophila. The flowers were provided by Bud Creative based in Manchester city centre.
In terms of decorations, we had a large floral top table display and each table had candelabras and three vases of white roses and gypsophila with tea lights. All the decorations were provided by Bud Creative. We had a vague idea of what we wanted but they did such a wonderful job of putting it all together we were blown away as it exceeded our expectations.
As favours we gave heart shaped chocolates which we made ourselves and the children had activity packs to keep them busy during the speeches.
Our cake was made by Paul Dooley my friend’s husband. He makes delicious cakes. It was a simple white cake with pearls and mink ribbon decorated with flowers to match the rest of the room.
As guests arrived at the hotel they were welcomed with canapés and champagne. For our wedding breakfast we chose ham hock to start followed by pork and all the trimmings, and chocolate torte to finish. We really enjoyed sampling the menus at the Radisson but found it so difficult to decide what to pick as everything was so nice!
For our wedding entertainment we wanted a band as we both love live music. We chose The Kickstarts through Warble Entertainment; they were fantastic and had everyone up dancing. They even sang our first dance song Take Over The World by The Courteeners, which was very special.
We also wanted something for our guests to be able to take home with them as a keepsake from our day so booked Dub-ble Take inc Paul’s Caricatures. Our guests loved his drawings and we got a special one to frame.
We would absolutely recommend our choice of venues to other couples. The town hall speaks for itself, it’s just stunning inside. The Radisson Blu Edwardian is a beautiful hotel and the staff couldn’t have done enough for us. Elissa, the event co-coordinator, and her team were amazing. She ensured our day ran smoothly and added little personal touches along the way to make it extra special.
It’s difficult to pick a favourite part of the day as it was all so wonderful; I smiled none stop all day! Obviously seeing Matthew standing waiting for me at the end of the aisle is a very special memory. Being surrounded by our closest family and friends and seeing them enjoy the day also made us so happy.
After the wedding we went on a minimoon to Mottram Hall for a spa break to wind down after all the planning. We then went on our main honeymoon three weeks later, which was nice as we didn’t have to rush to pack. We began in Las Vegas where we took a helicopter to the Grand Canyon, hired a car and travelled to Death Valley, Lake Tahoe, San Francisco, Paso Robles (wine tasting country) and finally Los Angeles. It was amazing we had the best time and managed to fit in so much but still had time to relax. It was organised by Trailfinders who made it stress free.
Prior to the wedding we were advised by other couples to pick a good photographer – a tip I would definitely pass on to other Brides Up North. I’d also say, try not to get stressed out, just plan things as you go along. Do things your own way – you don’t have to stick to tradition if you don’t want to. It’s your special day so do what makes you both happy.
