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Welcome to another week Brides Up North! 

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How was your weekend? After a busy week spent planning next season’s wedding shows and events – and an even busier week anticipated ahead – I took some much needed time out to relax and recharge with friends and family.  Sometimes, the quietest times with the ones you love are the best times of all. 

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Still, I wouldn’t leave you hanging out here all alone, would I? Did you manage to find some time to catch up on the weekend’s blog posts here on Brides Up North?

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We are forging straight ahead with even more beautiful today, as we take a trip to Hazlewood Castle in Yorkshire, for the colourful and romantic nuptials of Holly and Lewis, shot by my super stylish friend and colleague, the lovely Cat Hepple.

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Holly says:  We got engaged on 24^th March 2011 at Middlethorpe Hall, Bishopthorpe. Lewis wanted to propose in the gardens but I was too cold and wanted a drink so spoilt his romantic plans. We made up for it by going back for our engagement shoot with Cat in the gardens.

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We got married on 25th August 2012 at Healaugh Church with our reception at Hazlewood Castle.  The Castle is a beautiful building and surroundings, close to our home and the church and it has a good reputation for service and food.  We chose a colour scheme of fuchsia pink and turquoise blue. 

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I tried so many different styles and couldn’t decide between the “big” wedding dress and a tight fishtail. My Mum came up with the idea of having 2 skirts so Julia Perry-Mook made me my full skirt for the day and then for the first dance I changed into a fishtail skirt much to everyone’s surprise!  I had a trailing bouquet of pink cala lilies, roses celosia and amaranthus. 

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The men wore traditional top hat and tails from Moss Bros. Lewis and the Best Man had waistcoats made by Julia in the blue and my Mum made all the men cravats and hankies in the pink and the blue. The bridesmaids’ dresses were also made by Julia to tie in with my dress. They wore a halter neck dress using the same lace as my dress with a fishtail skirt.

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My childhood dream was to travel by horse and carriage and I was lucky enough for this to become a reality. The bridesmaids didn’t know that we had booked a second carriage for them. Lewis and the boys arrived on a tractor and trailer which we had decorated with bunting made in the colour scheme. We also hired a vintage bus from The Yorkshire Heritage Bus Company to get our guests from their hotels to the church and from the church to the venue.

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My Mum and friends had been collecting and drying flower petals from their gardens so we had our own home made confetti which we gave to all the ladies to throw. It was really lovely and cost nothing but looked very pretty. 

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Friends played and sang us out of church to ‘You’ve got a Friend in Me’ and as we came out of church we had The New York Brass Band playing and our ushers handed out glasses of champagne and homemade shortbread.

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My favourite moment was coming out of church as husband and wife and having a brief moment of “us” time, followed by being surrounded by all our family and friends congratulating us.

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We left the church in the horse and carriage but were ‘ditched’ along the route and had to ‘hitch’ a ride to the reception on the bus, much to the surprise of all the guests. We travelled along having a sing song!

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I wanted something a bit different and wacky so went for a ‘wonky’ cake. The bottom tier was designed to match my shoes – the Paul Smith stripe – with the rest of the tiers bringing other elements of the wedding in: hearts and pink and blue.

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On the back of our heart shaped place names we had found quotes which were appropriate for each of our guests and also on the menu boards on the tables.

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During our drinks reception at Hazlewood our band played again and we had giant garden games on the lawn for our guests to enjoy.

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We also had a photo booth in the evening from Booth Revolution which added lots of fun and has provided some lovely memories of our guests a little more “relaxed” late on into the evening!

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After the wedding we went on honeymoon to South Africa for a week and had an amazing time on safari near the Kruger National Park followed by a week in Mauritius to relax and enjoy some sun.

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My top tip for other Brides Up North would be that if you see something you like buy it no matter how early, as it may not be there when you next look. It also spreads the cost of the wedding!

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Congratulations Holly & Lewis!

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Get in touch to see your own big day featured on Brides Up North!

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Brides Up North UK Wedding Blog – Images © 2012 Cat Hepple Photography

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