Getting your Monday off to the most gorgeous of starts, we’re sharing the dreamy big day of newlyweds Nicola and Richard, which took place at stunning North West venue, Ashfield House.
What initially captured our attention (and will most probably steal yours too!) is Nicola’s amazing choice of dress – an halterneck collard Jesús Peiró creation with a daring yet elegant slit at the front and beautiful bow at the waist. It’s a wow-gown for sure and one that Nicola absolutely rocks!
Second to ignite our starry eyes are the blooms – an abundance of striking but soft gypsophila cloud type arrangements; from the dainty bouquets to giant orb decorations studded with blush roses. So simple, so lush!
All in all, this glorious wedding has our swoon-metre set at high throughout with the detailing and attire coming together perfectly for a stylish and sophisticated affair!
With images by Bobtale Photography.
nicola says
: We got engaged on my birthday, 9th September, in 2016. Richard was meant to propose in a restaurant during my birthday meal; however, he lost his nerve and then dropped to one knee as soon as we walked through the door at home! Our two beautiful girls, Maisie (seven) and Florence (four), were also there.
We got married on 5th April 2018. We wanted a spring wedding and it fitted with the school holidays as I’m a teacher. We also wanted to have a minimoon in April and then a bigger honeymoon in the summer!
We held both our ceremony and reception at Ashfield House, Wigan. We live local to the venue and we often take the children to play in the grounds/park attached. The venue has won numerous awards recently, including best wedding venue (town and city) at the UK Wedding Industry Awards. We would definitely recommend it to other couples. The wedding planner, Josh, was fab. He oversaw everything so that Richard and I could just enjoy the day. The venue is beautiful, and all the guests commented on the décor, food and atmosphere.
We didn’t have a theme as such; rather, we wanted to keep the day very simple, classic and elegant. However, we did want to give it a modern twist. The colours we chose were navy blue, white and a very pale blush pink, as Richard really wanted a navy blue suit, so we tried to fit the rest of the colour scheme to that. I wanted simple, white gypsophila flowers from the moment we started to plan and, to tie the blue and white together, we then introduced pale blush pink.
My dress was by Jesús Peiró from Lovebird Brides in Ilkley. I saw the designer featured at a Brides Up North wedding show and I loved the style – very clean lines and simple but dramatic at the same time. I then looked at all the dresses available from the designer and fell in love with it! I only tried that dress and one other on – I knew straight away this was the dress. I love the modern look and clean, simple lines; however, I also feel that it won’t date as it is a classic shape.
I had my makeup done by a fantastic girl, Makeup by Rebecca G based in Widnes. She came to the venue and worked all morning applying makeup to me, my bridesmaids and my mum. All our hair was done by Hair by Vision, based in Wigan.
Richard wore a bespoke, navy, double-breasted two-piece suit handmade by Wayne Hobson of Hobson Bespoke in Bury. He also wore a pink blush shirt by Tiger of Sweden, which only arrived the day before the wedding(!), and the Bordeaux Giovanni monk shoe by Poste at Office. His tie, handkerchief and socks were all pink/navy by TM Lewin. The best man wore the same suit as Richard.
I had three adult bridesmaids and five flower girls. The adult bridesmaids wore a navy blue, lace floor-length dress from Debenhams. The flower girls wore matching white and pale pink dresses. These were from Matalan!
Our photographer was Robyn from Bobtale Photography. She was fantastic – so calm and unobtrusive. She managed to get fantastic natural and unforced pictures. We would definitely recommend her.
For my flowers, I had a bouquet of gypsophila. The florist, The Rose Boutique, created a big fluffy ball, which matched the huge door decoration – it was like a massive fluffy cloud of gyp! The bridesmaids had a bouquet of gyp and pale pink roses and the buttonholes were also a mix of gyp and roses. The florist followed the styling through to the ceremony room with gyp vases and candles. There were two huge centrepieces, used in the ceremony room and on our parents’ tables, which were also huge balls of gyp, studded with pale pink roses and mounted in very tall, clear glass vases. On the tables, we had a mix of tall and short vases with either pale pink roses or gyp and candles.
For the favours, as both of our families have been affected by either Cancer or Alzheimer’s disease, we decided to give charity brooches/pins. Guests were given Cancer Research lucky horseshoe pins or the blue Alzheimer’s flower.
Ashfield House is renowned for its fantastic food and is one of the reasons we chose the venue. We gave guests the choice of goats’ cheese cheesecake with bloody Mary foam or chicken parfait with pistachio crust to start. Then it was either roast beef with the trimmings or chicken with dauphinoise potatoes and bacon and cabbage for mains. The dessert was a choice of Bakewell tart and cherry kirsch or chocolate mousse with honeycomb. We had champagne or beer for the reception drinks, along with a ‘gin cupboard’.
For the entertainment, we hired singer and guitarist Kieron Riley for the afternoon reception. We gave him a list of very eclectic songs! He was brilliant. We also hired a DJ for the evening – again, we gave him a long list of songs we wanted him to play. The music was very important to us – we spent a long time thinking of songs that meant a lot to us and were songs that would get people to dance! We had a ‘house’ party at 10pm. Our best man is a DJ and he put together a set of our favourite house/dance tunes. The dancefloor was full at this point!
Looking back, I loved every part of our day! I loved getting my hair and makeup done with my bridesmaids and a few glasses of fizz! The ceremony was really beautiful and it was wonderful to share such an important event with our family and friends. But the best part, I think, was the time after the meals and speeches where we could speak to all of our guests and greet our evening guests.
Instead of a honeymoon, as we have two small children we decided to have a minimoon. We went to Fuerteventura, which was lovely – it was fantastic to spend some quality time with each other. We have our own place in Murcia, which we will be visiting during the summer.
My top tip for other Brides Up North is to relax. On the day itself you can’t do anything else. Just go with the flow – if the timings are out, it doesn’t really matter. No one else will know. Also, try to take a few minutes on your own to process what you have just done!
