If there’s one element of a wedding that we adore, it’s flowers! From the bouquet and button holes, through to the aisle and venue décor, we love to see how couples use petals to pretty-up their big day.
Deciding on a whimsical floral theme for their celebrations, today’s bride and groom Laura and Mark, certainly didn’t hold back on the blooms. Beautiful peonies, gypsophila, roses, daises and green foliage featured in their stunning arrangements and centrepieces, plus there were blossom trees, a petal-lined aisle, flower wall backdrop and even floral love letters. Now that’s a whole lot of petal pretty!
With images by Brides Up North Sponsor, Nik Bryant Photography.
laura says:
Mark and I got engaged at home on 28th February 2016. It was Mark’s 30th birthday and we had a family gathering at our home. We had a lovely evening and after everyone had left and we had done the cleaning up Mark proposed.We got married on 26th May 2017, which turned out to be a super-hot day! The date had no significance to us before our wedding, however we had both said that ideally, we would like to get married in May as we both love springtime.
Our ceremony and reception took place at Beeston Manor in Hoghton, Preston. We trawled online looking at venues and visited about six. However, when we went to Beeston Manor we both knew that this is the venue we had been looking for. The venue itself felt personal. It didn’t feel like some of the larger, more intimidating venues we had been to see. We both felt comfortable and relaxed there, which was the sort of vibe we wanted for our wedding. The staff were so friendly and welcoming and we really got that family business feel for the place. They are clearly passionate about weddings and want to make the day special for couples who get married at Beeston Manor.
We didn’t set out with a specific theme for the wedding but fell into a whimsical, floral theme.
Our colour scheme was pinks and silver. I started looking at bridesmaid dresses and realised that all the dresses I liked were pink and silver, and so our colour theme was born.
I picked a ‘princess’ style dress. It was by Kenneth Winston from Lulu Browns Bridal Wear. It was beautiful. I loved it. Lulu Browns made the wedding dress shopping experience stress-free. I had seen the dress at a wedding fair and knew it was the dress for me! I tried it on and I felt fantastic in it, it was exactly how I wanted to look and feel on my wedding day.
I teamed my dress with a veil and a pearl and diamante headband, pink ombre Romy Jimmy Choos, pearl and diamante earrings and my great grandmother’s necklace.
On the day of the wedding, Ruby Red Lips took care of mine and my bridesmaids’ makeup and Vida Loca hair salon styled our hair.
Mark wore navy blue tails, with a champagne cravat and waistcoat, from John Francis Suit Hire, Harwood, Bolton. The waistcoat had small diamantes within the pattern.
The groomsmen wore navy blue tails and waistcoat like Mark, but they wore pink cravats.
My bridesmaids wore white and silver sequin tops, and pink skirts.
As our wedding transport, we hired two cars from Malvern Wedding Cars – one for me and my dad and one for my mum and bridesmaids.
Nik Bryant Photography captured our day. I met him at a wedding fair and got a really good vibe from him and knew that Mark would like him. You spend so much time with your photographer, it helps to like them. I looked at his portfolio with Mark and arranged to meet him. We would recommend Nik to anyone – he communicated with us right from booking him to shooting our wedding – he was fab! We are so pleased with our finished photographs, they are beautiful. We love looking at them and sharing them with our families.
We also had a videographer called Big Bear Wedding Films. We ummed and arred over booking a videographer and I am so glad we did. Josie and Ian were brilliant, they worked really well with Nik. Our teaser trailer and taster film were beautiful and our full wedding film has given us the chance to relive key moments from our day with friends and family.
A family friend, who is a retired florist, took care of my bouquet and our table decorations. My bouquet featured peonies, gypsophila, roses, daises and green foliage, as did the fresh flower displays.
Creative Cover Hire provided the chair sashes, flower wall, birdcage for cards, floating candles along the aisle, trellis arch at the top of the aisle and the blossom trees. Petals in Love supplied the floral ‘love’ letters.
Sally and Wendy Wedding Stationers supplied our stationary, which was floral and included gems and glitter.
As favours we gave our guests Cancer Research badges. My dad is in remission and so Cancer Research was our chosen charity to support. We loved seeing everyone at the evening reception wearing their badges.
We got out wedding cake from The Frostery in Upper Mill. The cake was stunning. Suzanne Thorp is so talented. The top layer was fruit, second was limoncello, the bottom was salted caramel. We also had a cutting cake, which was sponge.
The food supplied by Beeston Manor was beautiful. We had canapes of carrot cake, chorizo and red onion tarts, tomato bruschetta and smoked salmon. For our wedding breakfast we had deep fried cambembert to start, for mains it was a choice of lamb shank with mash and vegetables, or chicken in a mushroom and white wine sauce with roast potatoes and vegetable and for the vegetarians, vegetable wellington. For dessert, we had a trio of chocolate brownie, white chocolate and strawberry cheesecake and crème brulee.
Entertainment-wise, we had a saxophonist and guitarist duo (Mike Smith) who played during canapes and welcome drinks who helped with the relaxed vibe we wanted. Andy B was our DJ at night and he provided the photobooth and dancefloor too, both of which were a real hit.
We also had The Tall Toastmaster! He was brilliant he was so good at ‘crowd control’ organising photographs, making me and Mark feel relaxed. All of the guests said how much they liked him. He interacted really well with our guests and again bought another element to our wedding. I honestly don’t think that the day would have been the same without him.
As a special touch, Mark organised a surprise dove release. I had no idea that this was happening until I saw the doves in Beeston Manors grounds. The doves were supplied by Heavens a Dove.
Following our wedding, we would definitely recommend our choice of venue to other couples! Beeston Mannor was beautiful and the staff were so attentive to our needs. Everything that they did for us and our guests was above and beyond. The food was beautiful and the surroundings were stunning. The Beeston team clearly take pride in their business and the do it so well.
We loved every minute of our day. I think the doves were a highlight because it was so unexpected and a very thoughtful think of Mark to do. I also loved watching the sun set with Mark and hearing the speeches.
We went on honeymoon to Santorini the following day. Santorini was beautiful, we spent two weeks there at the Ira Spa and Hotel. It was so nice after the craziness of our wedding to spend time together and just reflect on our big day.
My top tip to other Brides Up North would be to make sure you and your new husband/wife try and spend some time on your own, just you two, so you can just take in the whole day that you have spent weeks/months/years planning. Mark and I did so while watching the sun go down and that was easily my favourite part of the whole day.
