North West Wedding

glam romance: ronald joyce for a classic wedding at 30 james street, liverpool – katie & tom

Aislinn Thompson

A Glamorous Wedding in Liverpool (c) Madison Picture (35)

Glamorous would certainly be a key word to describe today’s featured wedding between Katie and Tom, with a classic black and white theme carried through the suits and dresses and highlighted beautifully with the all-white flower scheme. There’s a stunning contrast between the white roses and hydrangeas and the deep green of the foliage in the table centrepieces, which, combined with the plush surroundings of the Titanic-themed venue (velvet curtains, sparkling chandeliers – even a padded door into the ceremony room), gives a clear vision of opulence.

Katie and Tom make a picture-perfect couple. Katie’s Ronald Joyce gown with its fishtail silhouette and beautiful lace detail chimes beautifully with the high-end theme and we’re loving the tuxedos on the chaps. Such a classic choice and always guaranteed to add a debonair vibe to the groom’s party. Unusually, Katie went for black fishtail gowns for the bridesmaids and these work so well – the whole look is timeless. A fishtail is also super flattering on all body shapes and, when you have six bridesmaids to dress, it’s a great choice to ensure everyone feels and looks gorgeous.

Complete with a jaw-dropping proposal (we haven’t heard of many grooms hiring an entire venue just to pop the question!), Katie and Tom’s wedding is definitely a lesson in how to style a classic wedding. We’ll let Katie tell us more …

With images and video by Madison Picture.

Katie + Tom, 30 James Street 07.06.18 (Teaser) from Madison Picture on Vimeo.

katie says

: We got engaged on 14th March 2014 in London. We went away for the weekend for my birthday and Tom booked out the Trafalgar St James hotel rooftop bar just for us. With incredible views over city centre London he got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife. The staff then brought us champagne, macarons and strawberries. We then had a meal in the oldest restaurant in the city, Rules, and finished the evening with a trip to the theatre to watch Les Misérables. The perfect day!

A Glamorous Wedding in Liverpool (c) Madison Picture (11)

We got married on 7th June 2018. It is a special day for us, as we got married on our eleventh anniversary together as a couple. During the planning of the wedding, I loved looking at the real weddings section of the Brides Up North blog to gain inspiration for our day – and looking at the amazing wedding dresses! It got me so excited about the big day to come.

We got married at 30 James Street hotel in Liverpool – we had the full ceremony and reception there. We live quite close to Liverpool and absolutely love the city. The building is the former White Star Line headquarters and is Titanic themed – the building has lots of history but has been restored with a modern, glamorous feel. We would recommend the venue as it has a lot of character and history – the grand hall is beautiful and spacious. We also liked the fact the bar was in the same room – it kept all the guests in one room and partying.

A Glamorous Wedding in Liverpool (c) Madison Picture (29)

The theme came from the hotel as it is the ‘home of the Titanic’, so we didn’t add any extra theme to our wedding, as the building itself is enough. The colours we chose were black and white. The groom and groomsmen were all in black tuxedos and the bridesmaids were in black fishtail gowns. We had all-white flowers for bouquets and centrepieces and it all looked classic and simple, yet glamorous.

A Glamorous Wedding in Liverpool (c) Madison Picture (50)

For my dress, I wore a white fishtail gown with sparkle, beading and lace by designer Ronald Joyce. I always knew I wanted a fishtail gown and chose it as it went really well with our venue and made me feel amazing.

A Glamorous Wedding in Liverpool (c) Madison Picture (46)

Tom and his groomsmen wore a black tuxedo with braces and a bow tie from Moss Bros.

My bridesmaids wore a black fishtail gown purchased from Jane Norman. It wasn’t a traditional bridesmaid dress but it looked amazing on the day. My flower girl wore a white flower petal dress from Marks & Spencer.

A Glamorous Wedding in Liverpool (c) Madison Picture (5)

Our makeup was applied by Cheshire-based make-up artist Anna Lewis and our hair was styled by Cheshire-based Jasmin Lloyd. They were both absolutely amazing and I couldn’t recommend them enough.

A Glamorous Wedding in Liverpool (c) Madison Picture (17)

Our photographer was Madison Picture. I would absolutely recommend them; they were the best thing we chose regarding our wedding. They were friendly yet completely professional and made us feel totally at ease. We had amazing pictures inside the hotel but also on the historic Albert Dock and in front of the Liver Building. We had our pictures back quicker than expected and they were amazing. They captured everything we wanted, and we couldn’t be happier.

For our video, we also used Madison Picture. We were sent our teaser trailer a couple of days after we were married and loved it. They used the perfect part of the speeches and made sure all our loved ones were in the video. Both Nick and Paul didn’t stop all day and worked extremely hard. They got all our wedding pictures and videos to us as quickly as possible. We couldn’t recommend them enough.

A Glamorous Wedding in Liverpool (c) Madison Picture (20)

When it came to the flowers, my bridesmaids, flower girl and I all carried a bouquet of white roses by flower shop Simply The Best, based in Ellesmere Port.

For the aisle and table decorations, we used Wirral-based provider White Events. We had white flowers with greenery in the centre of our tables and on plinths down the aisle. White Events did all our centrepieces, arranged the DJ and sorted the dancefloor. It made it really easy to get most of the added extras from the same supplier, which takes a lot off your mind when you have so much to think about when planning a wedding.

A Glamorous Wedding in Liverpool (c) Madison Picture (25)

We chose a cake from Ann at Cakes Individually Iced. It was a white and gold four-tiered cake: we chose a Madeira tier, carrot cake tier, chocolate tier and lemon drizzle tier.

For the wedding breakfast, we had a three-course meal of soup, followed by chicken, potatoes and vegetables, and a sticky toffee pudding for dessert. White and rosé wines were provided by 30 James Street to complement our food choices. We went with food we enjoyed the most whilst thinking of what our guests would like also.

A Glamorous Wedding in Liverpool (c) Madison Picture (38)

In the evening we had a DJ for our entertainment. We love a party and wanted all our guests to dance the night away to our favourite songs.

As a special touch to the day we had was a toastmaster called Dave who works at 30 James Street. He kept the day moving and was there for us if we needed anything. He kept the guests entertained with laughter and jokes whilst waiting for us to have photographs and waiting on the food. He was such fun and we had such positive comments from guests about how lovely, funny and helpful Dave was. He went above and beyond – big thank you Dave!

A Glamorous Wedding in Liverpool (c) Madison Picture (37)

When it comes to both mine and Tom’s favourite part of the day, we both said it was seeing each other for the first time. When the doors finally opened, and I could walk down the aisle to marry my best friend with all our family and friends there with us I had the best feeling.

A Glamorous Wedding in Liverpool (c) Madison Picture (49)

For our honeymoon, we went to the Maldives for ten days and stayed on Kuramathi Island. We stayed in a Thundi Water Villa, which sat on stilts in the ocean and gave us our own private pool. It was ten days of paradise and the most beautiful place we have ever seen. The staff were incredible – they couldn’t do enough for us – and the food was the best we have ever had. We couldn’t recommend this island enough to other honeymooners looking at going to the Maldives.

A Glamorous Wedding in Liverpool (c) Madison Picture (45)

My top tip for other Brides Up North is to choose a videographer to video your day if your budget allows. The day goes by so quickly and, when the wedding and honeymoon blues set in, it’s lovely to sit and watch it back. There are lots of parts you miss during the day and our amazing videographer managed to capture those special moments.

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