Real Weddings

blue beauty. justin alexander for an elegant wedding in north yorkshire – jen & rich

Rachel Hirst

An Elegant Wedding in North Yorkshire (c) Helen King Photography (50)

B-e-a-utiful is how we would sum up the gorgeous real wedding that we’re sharing with you on the blog today.

With no set theme to fuss around, bride Jen built her and Rich’s big day around her favourite colour (blue) with lots of blossoming blooms and foliage to enhance their already stunning choice of venue.

We love the relaxed simplicity to this wedding – from Jen’s slimline lace detailed gown to the flowing bridesmaid dresses and delicate cake table, all of which results in a classic and timeless celebration.

With images by Helen King Photography.

An Elegant Wedding in North Yorkshire (c) Helen King Photography (32)

jen says:

We got engaged in Venice. Rich organised a surprise trip and popped the question on our final night in Venice when walking back to our hotel through St Mark’s Square.

We set the date for 28th May 2016. The wedding fell on the Saturday of the bank holiday weekend at the end of May. It also happens to be my dad’s birthday. May is a beautiful month to get married in with decent weather and lots of green on the trees!

An Elegant Wedding in North Yorkshire (c) Helen King Photography (48)

Our ceremony was at Thornton Dale church followed by a reception at The Orangery in Settrington. The church is very special to Rich’s family. His grandfather was the church warden there for 20 years and is buried there along with Rich’s grandmother. It is also close to where my mum lives.

We didn’t have a theme for the wedding, we just wanted it to be elegant and traditional.

I chose blue as the main colour scheme as it is my favourite colour! The bridesmaids looked beautiful in their cornflower blue dresses.

An Elegant Wedding in North Yorkshire (c) Helen King Photography (35)

I wore an ivory Justin Alexander gown, which I purchased from The Wedding Room in Scarborough. I liked the simplicity of the gown and the satin waist band, which was really flattering. I wore the dress with a long cathedral-length veil.

Catherine Elizabeth did mine and my bridesmaids’ hair and makeup on the wedding day. She did a great job and the makeup lasted well the whole day.

Rich wore his military uniform for the ceremony and then changed into a morning suit for the reception.

An Elegant Wedding in North Yorkshire (c) Helen King Photography (30)

Helen King captured our day and we definitely recommend her to others. She is a brilliant photographer and made us very relaxed on the day and for our engagement shoot. Helen is lovely to work with and she felt like a friend attending the wedding.

An Elegant Wedding in North Yorkshire (c) Helen King Photography (22)

Kirsty Berridge of Minnie Bee’s, did our flowers. She did an amazing job of the bouquets and the venue. My bouquet included David Austin garden style roses including Kiera, Juliet and Akito roses, peach spray roses, pale pink and white peonies, blue cornflowers, nigella, soft powder blue delphinium pips, cream lisianthus and white freesia. Kirsty finished the bouquet with a selection of natural foliage (herbs, flowering mint, rosemary and lavender with eucalyptus and jasmine vines). The bouquet was tied with a ribbon and had pearl buttons on the handle. My ‘something old’ was a purple brooch of my grandmother’s which was within the handle of the bouquet so she could be with me on the day.

We wanted the reception flowers to be big and full of impact. Kirsty did a great job using roses, spray roses, peonies, echinops, cornflowers / nigella, delphiniums, hydrangea, lisianthus and freesia. She also used a selection of natural foliage. Lots of little pops of colour were created using orange strelitzia and peach anthuriums.

An Elegant Wedding in North Yorkshire (c) Helen King Photography (36)

For the favours, my mum made rhubarb and ginger jam, which we put out in mini jam jars and hand-tied with a ribbon.

Bernadett from Dreamworld Cakes in Newcastle, made our cake. She created a beautiful tiered, pale blue iced cake and then made a whole cake table for us with cupcakes, cake pops and meringues, which went down very well with guests and had lots of variety of flavours.

An Elegant Wedding in North Yorkshire (c) Helen King Photography (27)

James Brown did a great job of catering. We had a trio of seafood to start and lamb for main. We then served a chocolate cake for dessert which was made by a friend who owns Flotsam and Jetsam in Wandsworth (close to where we used to live in London) – this cake is Rich’s favourite and was served with cream and berries and a selection of other treats from our cake table.

An Elegant Wedding in North Yorkshire (c) Helen King Photography (45)

Entertainment-wise, we had lawn games during the day and then a band called Under The Covers in the evening. They did a great job and made sure the dancefloor was full all night. We also hired a mixologist to make cocktails in the evening.

An Elegant Wedding in North Yorkshire (c) Helen King Photography (4)

After our wedding, we would most definitely recommend The Orangery to other brides and grooms. The staff are really amazing and the venue is elegant and beautiful with gorgeous grounds for wedding photos.

Looking back there were so many highlights to our day. I loved the wedding ceremony and saying the “I dos”. Having our photos taken together was lovely as it was some alone time on the day. I also loved the speeches and our first dance was very special. Being able to celebrate with so many friends and family from all over the world. We continued the celebrations with a barbeque for family at Burythorpe House the day after the wedding.

An Elegant Wedding in North Yorkshire (c) Helen King Photography (43)

We went on honeymoon for two-and-a-half-weeks to Sri Lanka. There was loads to see and do! Gorgeous weather and a beautiful country.

An Elegant Wedding in North Yorkshire (c) Helen King Photography (53)

My top tip to other Brides Up North is – relax and enjoy your day. We also tried to stay hand in hand for the drinks reception as much as possible!

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