North East Wedding

totally together. enzoani for a bright & cheerful wedding at slaley hall – kate & michael

Rachel Hirst

A Bright & Cheerful Wedding at Slaley Hall (c) The Old Bakery Studio (29)

Having waited nine years for a proposal from her beau, today’s bride Kate more than deserved her big day, which took place up in the North East.

Keen to make the wedding a reflection of her and Michael as a couple, Kate simply picked their favourite things to incorporate into the wedding – right from the styling and décor, to the food and entertainment choices.

The result is a personal and happy day, full of laughter and smiles – just as a wedding should be!

With images by Chris Bishop of The Old Bakery Studio.

A Bright & Cheerful Wedding at Slaley Hall (c) The Old Bakery Studio (9)

kate says:

: We had been together for nine years when Michael proposed – I was beginning to think that we would never get married. Michael had always made it clear from early in the relationship that no amount of dropping hints or talking about it would make it happen any quicker, he also made it very clear that he would never propose to me on any important dates like anniversaries, birthdays, Christmas etc. It would be when he felt it was right and when I least expected it.

Years went by and still no ring – then Valentine’s Day 2014 arrived. We always make a bit of a thing about Valentine’s, we go for drinks and Michael organises a lovely romantic meal somewhere and he always buys the best gifts, so I was looking forward to it. We woke up and I gave Michael my gift which he liked, but after opening it he rolled over and went back to sleep which annoyed me. When he eventually woke up he gave me my present – two candle holders with a love heart on the front, which were lovely but one of them had a big chip and the other one had a bit crack. Michael said I didn’t think I would mind and on the upside he got them for 70% off. I could feel my blood getting warmer! He then gave me a set of cupcake cases, and said, “I know you are on a diet but I thought you could make me some of your nice cupcakes”. I was really getting a little more annoyed by this point. I started to get ready, as I was in the bathroom I could hear Michael on the phone, he was saying “have you not got room for two? Ok no worries, thanks anyway” now I was really annoyed. I asked Michael make me a cuppa and he replied “oh can’t you make it, I’ve boiled it you just have to make them”. I was so annoyed that I stormed into the kitchen looked at the kettle, it had no water in it so I grabbed it and stormed back to the bedroom to explode at him. As I entered the bedroom shouting about everything I looked down and Michael was there completely naked on one knee! I dropped the kettle and started to cry! He said “will you marry me?”, I said yes and then he said, “I wanted to make it the worst Valentine’s Day ever so I could completely shock you, and catch you at a time when you were least expecting it”. And that he certainly did! Best Valentine’s Day ever!

A Bright & Cheerful Wedding at Slaley Hall (c) The Old Bakery Studio (32)

We set the date for 26th August 2015, and got planning straight away. We have lots of family and friends that work in education so we wanted a date in the summer holidays, and we went for a weekday (Wednesday) as the price was so much cheaper than the weekends.

Our chosen venue was Slaley Hall in Hexham. We had been to look at a few other venues before this but nothing that blew us both away. We went to Slaley Hall when we were passing from another wedding venue on the off chance that someone would be able to show us around. As soon as we drove up the drive to the venue we both knew that this was it. We loved it from the minute we saw it and booked it that day.

A Bright & Cheerful Wedding at Slaley Hall (c) The Old Bakery Studio (11)

We didn’t have a particular theme or style for the wedding but I did want to make sure that every element of the day completely represented us both; individually and as a couple. We wanted to put our own personal stamp on things to make it completely special to us.

I didn’t want a colour scheme running all the way through the wedding, like all the men’s ties matched to the table decoration etc. I just wanted it to be bright and colourful and to represent both of our personalities. We chose to have lavender bridesmaid dresses because that was the colour that my eye was drawn to first. I made the buttonholes for all the men myself by hand and they were comic book print so lots of colour.

A Bright & Cheerful Wedding at Slaley Hall (c) The Old Bakery Studio (13)

I got my dress from Casamiento Bridal in my hometown of Barnsley, South Yorkshire. It was by Enzoani. A floor-length, A-line gown with hand stitched lace appliques and jewelled belt detail.

Michael wore an ivory tuxedo dinner suit with black dress trousers, white shirt and black bow tie. This was all hired from Greenwoods. The groomsmen wore the same as Michael, but all in black.

My lovely bridesmaids wore six-way convertible dresses in lavender grey from forherandforhim.com, all made to measure.

A Bright & Cheerful Wedding at Slaley Hall (c) The Old Bakery Studio (20)

For my bouquet I had a combination of daisies (to represent my late grandma), lavender, tea roses and mint. Gwen, the house florist from Slaley Hall, provided all the wedding flowers, including those for the centrepieces. I bought a big wide vase for each table that she put a selection on flowers in. Then for each table I made my own decorations. I used old jam jars and old Newcastle Brown Ale bottles; covering some in glitter, some had Ikea fairy lights in and some were decorated with string. I made my own confetti for the table too out our old favourite book and using a heart shaped hole punch. Instead of table numbers, I did letters that when put together spelt out our new surname ‘Lockharts’. Each letter I decorated in a different way that represented me and Michael. One was of all our favourite films, one was our favourite TV programmes, one was red with the Barnsley emblem on it, one was pink glittery etc.

A Bright & Cheerful Wedding at Slaley Hall (c) The Old Bakery Studio (38)

We didn’t have favours on the tables but we did have a sweet table at the evening reception that guests could help themselves to. We also had a photo booth from fabulous company Snaparazzi, which allowed guests to take as many keepsake pictures as they wanted, as well as sticking a copy in the guestbook and leaving a comment.

For our wedding cake we decided on a three-tiered, dirty icing cake provided by The Great British Cupcakery. The bottom layer was rainbow layered in lemon flavour, the middle tier was lime and passion fruit and the top tier was chocolate and peanut butter. It was made complete with flowers by Slaley Hall house florist and a Lego bride and groom topper that featured on our save the date cards.

We also had some fabulous comic book themed cake pops made by Dream Pop Bakery, for guests to have with cocktails at the drinks reception, which was a really special touch to the day.

The wedding breakfast comprised of warm chicken salad to start, feather blade of beef with horseradish mash and seasonal vegetables for main and a pudding of raspberry brulee. All the choices were what we love as a couple together.

A Bright & Cheerful Wedding at Slaley Hall (c) The Old Bakery Studio (24)

We decided on the resident house DJ from Slaley Hall to provide the entertainment at the reception as he took requests and Michael wanted to play a surprise song for me on the night. The DJ was great at organising it all. We also had some giant light up “K&M” letters supplied by Coco Luminaire, who were fantastic, and up lighting provided by Coolblu.

A Bright & Cheerful Wedding at Slaley Hall (c) The Old Bakery Studio (33)

Following our wedding, I would definitely recommend Slaley Hall to anyone who is getting married. The fantastic team of staff there look after you from booking to after the wedding. We stayed on at the hall as a little treat for four days and even thought there were other events going on, and other weddings to prepare for at the weekend, they looked after us and made everything extremely special from start to finish. It also has beautiful surroundings and is the perfect place for families having a good party. All our guests stayed at Slaley as it holds enough rooms. It was extra special having everyone there with us.

A Bright & Cheerful Wedding at Slaley Hall (c) The Old Bakery Studio (40)

I loved every single minute of our wedding. I was taken care of really well, but I really loved and will remember forever the look on Michael’s face when he saw me for the first time. Truly priceless! Thanks to amazing family, friends and team at Slaley, I was able to just sit back and take the whole day in.

A Bright & Cheerful Wedding at Slaley Hall (c) The Old Bakery Studio (50)

We went on honeymoon to Mexico and stayed at the El Dorado Seaside Suites, Riviera Maya. It was out of this world. We had an amazing ground floor room looking out onto the beach. We went on plenty of excursions, from swimming with stingrays and sea turtles to visiting Chichen Itza and swimming in the underground Cenotes. A truly perfect honeymoon.

A Bright & Cheerful Wedding at Slaley Hall (c) The Old Bakery Studio (48)

My top tip to other Brides Up North would be – keep calm and don’t go mad. It is so easy to see all the beautiful things on offer and want to incorporate everything. I recommend getting a scrapbook and spending a little bit of time getting ideas and discussing what you both like. Remember a wedding is about two people joining together, make it a story of your relationship. On the day, enjoy it! What will be will be, don’t worry about the little things, just focus on your amazing day.

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