April 2nd, 2013 |
Brides Up North: UK Wedding Blog
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It’s rubbish being back at work after the long weekend isn’t it?! And yes, it’s still rubbish even if you get to look at beautiful weddings all day long like I do – there’s always admin and invoicing to do in any business people… and let’s got even touch on VAT returns!
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So, it’s safe to say that we’ll all probably be in need of a pick-me-up. Right about now.
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Lucky for us, Cheryl and Peter’s gorgeous Real Wedding in the North East is a little ray of sunshine with pretty smiles, a pretty venue, pretty styling, and, well, just about pretty everything really. So let’s prettify our Tuesday afternoon, and be inspired!
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And go on, why not reach for the biscuit tin too? After the sugar fest that is the Easter weekend, surely more chocolate can’t really hurt us?!
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Cheryl says: Peter asked me to marry him on 4th September 2011 at my parents’ home (it was my parents’ wedding anniversary). We were married on 7th October 2012 at Beamish Hall in County Durham.
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We chose the venue as we loved the grand appearance from the outside and the traditional yet modern features of the inside. The big bay windows and the beautiful chandeliers won us over. In keeping with the venue, we opted for a modern vintage theme, with a simple yet pretty colour scheme of ivory with pearls and lace and antique rose bridesmaid dresses.
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I chose a dress by Madeline Gardner New York for Mori Lee from Brides Dream. It was an understated lace dress with a modern twist. My gorgeous headpiece was by What Katy Did Next.
I carried a mixture of roses in ivory and creams and a touch of vintage pink to match the bridesmaids by Nature’s Gift. The bouquet was kept very neat and feminine with stalks on show with a mix of hessian and lace as a bow.
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The ceremony was also held at the Hall and we chose to have a candle ceremony where there are three candles, two lit from the beginning to represent the two families and the our mothers were asked to light the centre candle which represented the families coming together.
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We had a harpist – Clare Bakewell - to play ‘When You Wish Upon A Star’ for the bridesmaids/groomsmen to enter to and then ‘Halo’ for my entrance. She stayed and played outside throughout the drinks reception too.
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We hand made our table names using wooden plaques with pearl bows – and each table was a different Walt Disney quotation.
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We chose a gorgeous four tier wedding cake with two layers of fruit, a layer of sponge and a layer of chocolate (we couldn’t decide)! The cake was iced in ivory with pearl drops and an edible vintage rose oversized bow on the top. We also chose cake pop wedding favours from Olipops.
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We had unique bespoke ‘peg’ dolls made to stand by the cake and these actually looked like us! These were made by What Katy Did Next who also created our ring cushion.
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For the evening entertainment we had a swing band – Jeff Dingle & the Moodswing Trio – who were amazing and I danced to ‘My Girl’ with my step-dad and our first dance was Paolo Nutini’s “Loving you”.
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After the wedding we honeymooned in Thailand.
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My top tip for other Brides Up North would be to enjoy every minute of your day, take it all in and appreciate all of your loved ones coming together.
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Congratulations Cheryl & Pete!
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Fancy sharing your own big day with Brides Up North? Here’s how.
February 19th, 2013 |
Brides Up North: UK Wedding Blog
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Have you been living under a rock?
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If not – and especially if you follow the blog over on Twitter and Facebook – you’ll probably have guessed that I am just a little bit excited about our newest SUPER show on the block, theBrides Up North Bridal Bonanza Grand Wedding Exhibition at the gorgeous 4* Hardwick Hall Hotel in Sedgefield, County Durham.
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Whoot!
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We are very proud to run OFFICIALLY the largest and most exciting FREE ENTRY bridal exhibitions in the North East (our last epic event at Hardwick’s sister hotel, Ramside Hall, attracted over 2,000 visitors in one afternoon – now that’s big!) with two specially choreographed professional fashion shows and almost (and sometimes over) 100 exhibitors at each, tempting on the day discounts and stuffed goody bags tailor made for each event. I might like things big and exciting, but I also like them personal.
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And yes, you read that right, the events are FREE ENTRY. Cos I love ya, baby.
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So, get the first of our huge North East events firmly in the diary (in indelible pen please) and come along to support the most fabulous wedding suppliers in your area – I only work with the best, dahlings – for an inspiration packed afternoon of all that is pretty, new and super gorgeous in the wedding industry. And the most important bit? Local to YOU.
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VIP Bride-To-Be registration is open at the North East’s Most Exciting New Bridal Event – The Brides Up North Bridal Bonanza Grand Wedding Exhibition at Hardwick Hall Hotel – Make sure to reserve your VIP Goody Bag while stocks last.
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Sunday 24th February 2013
The Brides Up North Bridal Bonanza Grand Wedding Exhibition
To register for a free Brides Up North VIP Bride-To-Be Goody Bag fill in your details below, marking “Hardwick Hall” in the subject line and quoting “VIP”. You can collect your VIP Bride-To-Be Goody Bag upon entry to the Bridal Bonanza.
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You can also email julia@bridesupnorth.co.uk if you do not wish to use the contact form. VIP Bride- To-Be Goody Bags are limited and subject to availability. We operate a first come, first served policy.
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And can I vouch for the beautiful 4* wedding venue that is Hardwick Hall Hotel? Well, I chose it to host my own wedding day back in October 2012 – a smattering of images below – and what’s a better recommendation than that?!
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My team and I work really hard for months in advance to make these events really special for our visitors (we started planning this event back in August)! Just some of the wonderful wedding people you will meet on Sunday 24th February 2013 include…
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Brides Up North (of course!), Beckwith Events,
Belle Bridal Magazine,
Cavanagh Couture,
Celebration Cakes,
Chiyo McMillan Photography,
Cordelia & Co,
Damian Hall Photography,
Dandy Events,
Daniel Lewis Photography,
Debenhams Wedding Gifts Metro Centre,
Eve Photography,
Exclusively Yours,
Gray Events Ltd,
GS Studio Photography,
GW Holmes & Son, Ideal
Photos,
IsaBelles Brides,
Just Perfect,
Kellen Dance Academy,
Kellys Event Boutique,
Limelight Photobooth Hire
, Little B Stationery,
LMS Events & Entertainments,
Lovedub Cars,
Martin Ker Photography,
Mia Sposa Bridal & Menswear,
Mobeus Jewellers,
Nigel Playle Photography,
Paul Lytton Magician,
Pure Wedding Stationery,
Roger Burlison Photography,
Rosemount Designs,
Ruby Shoes,
Sarah Ford Textiles,
Sareli Jewellery,
Snaparazzi Photo Booths,
The Psyche Department Store,
The Wedding Guide,
Village Photography,
What Katy Did Next,
Grange Photography,
Wild & Wonderful,
Kiss The Bride Magazine, Love Is Sweet Company,
Greenwoods,
Vision Hair & Beauty,
Wedding APP UK,
Wedding Pages,
Enchantments Florist,
Susan’s Bridal,
Millennium Limousines,
Elliott McCarthy,
Glitz and Glamour Hair & Makeup,
LPG Endermologie Clinic,
Jeff Dingle,
Everything But The Dress,
House Of Fraser, Molton & Brown and many more… .
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So, with that lovely lot waiting for you en masse, we’ll see you on Sunday!
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NEW EXHIBITORS – we are about to close sales for this season. To be a part of the magic and for exhibitor and pricing details please email me at julia@bridesupnorth.co.uk ASAP. Front page ads are just about to run across every huge title in the North East area.
January 30th, 2013 |
Brides Up North: UK Wedding Blog
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I reckon a dash of sunshine is just what the doctor ordered on a cold January morning. Step forward Steph, Dan and their beautiful flower filled Summer wedding in the North East. Let’s get mellow with the yellow as we start the descent to the weekend.
Steph says: We got engaged on 14th May 2011 in Newcastle – I had a long wait as we are childhood sweethearts who had been together for 11 years prior to our engagement!
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We were married on 11th August 2012 at Crook Hall and Gardens which is a hidden gem in Durham. We had the venue until 6pm, we then went to the Gala Theatre in Durham for our evening reception.
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Right from the start we wanted an informal and rustic wedding so we went on the search for a barn conversion… despite having the Northumberland countryside on our doorstep there appeared to be a gap in the market for this up North as we couldn’t find one! A friend recommended Crook Hall and Gardens and as soon as we went there for afternoon tea we were sold! It’s a beautiful and unique venue with the most stunning collection of gardens and quirky decor. The medieval hall that we were married in was the perfect substitute to a barn ceremony. Crook Hall was so different to any wedding venue we had previously visited and we instantly fell in love with how beautiful it was.
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My mum and dad surprised me with a Beaumont vintage car to take me to the wedding.
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It took me ages to choose a colour scheme – I didn’t want to choose a colour at first as I thought it would limit me in the hunt to find bridesmaid dresses! Eventually we found some navy bridesmaid dresses and then through my obsession of scrolling through Pinterest I found a picture of a girl in a navy dress and yellow shoes. From this point my colour theme was navy and yellow! The bridesmaids wore navy dresses and mustard shoes, we had yellow in our flowers and yellow balloons!
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As already stated, I have an obsession with lace therefore it was never an option to even consider not having a lace dress. The dress I chose was a Justin Alexander dress 8530. It is a beautiful lace mermaid gown with a bateau neckline. The dress comes with a veil but I purchased a separate lace edged cathedral veil from Joyce Jackson called Orlando that I fell in love with in the bridal shop – Mia Sposa Bridal & Menswear in Newcastle.
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The shoes were a beautiful vintage style lace up pair from Rainbow Club called Clara.
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My brother in-law’s sister played the harp as guests were coming into the wedding. She also played Canon in D as we walked back down the aisle after our ceremony and during our drinks reception following the ceremony.
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I carried a vintage style hand tied bouquet including ivory rose, lisianthus, freesia, yellow dill, achilliea which was bound with lace. My bridesmaids had simple hand tied gypsophila. The groom and groomsmen wore buttonholes with an achilliea and beargrass loop.
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The bridesmaids wore beautiful but simple lace navy dresses from Monsoon and their yellow suede shoes were from Clarks. The groom and groomsmen wore navy suits hired from Waltons Menswear.
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My vision from the start was to provide a rustic / vintage theme. Anyone who knows me is aware I have an obsession with lace and so there was no doubt that lace would also play a huge part in my theme! We made lace chair ties, lace covered jam jars, put lace around the bouquets, the bridesmaid dresses were lace and obviously I had a lace dress!
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I loved the idea of homemade décor and personalised touches that we could keep hold of for years to come. We spent time searching craft markets for decorative inspiration and spent months collecting jam jars and milk bottles that we could decorate with lace, twine and buttons. My sister made old fashioned luggage tags and stamped them with messages and my friends and I made homemade raspberry jam as name places and favours. For our table names we painted the glass of old fashioned photo frames with black board paint and wrote the table names in chalk paint. We also hung slates in the gardens with extracts from our readings on and used an old fashioned vintage suitcase for our cards and gifts.
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As we had the venue booked from 11.30 and our ceremony wasn’t until 12.30 we had lawn games for the guests to enjoy in the gardens as we wanted them to make the most of the venue and spend as much time there as possible.
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We had decorations hanging from the trees and this made for some beautiful pictures when we were cutting the cake. We used Ladybird Cakes from Tynemouth and had a three tier cake made of carrot cake, raspberry and white chocolate, and lemon sponge.
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I absolutely loved the whole day and it genuinely exceeded all my expectations! However there are two parts of the day that stand out as my favourite. The first being when my friends and I are having fun in the gardens while trying to find our way through the maze with the balloons.We used two yellow balloons to add an element of fun, a flash of colour and we also wanted it to express our informal theme of the day. It provided some excellent photo opportunities! There is a great photo of my friends who surprisingly all agreed to lie down in the grass to capture an amazing photo of their legs poking above the flowers!
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My other favourite part was when Dan and I managed to have time with just the two of us in the gardens as the sun was setting – Sean has managed to capture the most amazing pictures we could have ever asked for! You spend most of your wedding day speaking to everyone else but each other so it was nice to have some time to savour the moment and enjoy our own company as Mr and Mrs!
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As part of our photography package we purchased the Photo Peg to entertain the evening guests. This was an excellent alternative to a photo booth! Polaroid pictures were taken of the guests holding a large vintage frame and they held up a chalk board with a message for us. The polaroid’s were then pegged on a ‘washing line’ and at the end of the night the guests could take the pictures home as a keepsake.
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We used Colin Cook – The North East Wedding DJ who provided our evening entertainment and mood up-lighting and The Vintage Tea Company for hire of bunting, cake stands and crockery for our floral decorations in the evening venue.
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After the wedding we honeymooned in Thailand – we spent time in Bangkok, Koh Samui and Koh Phangan.
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My top tip for other Brides Up North is don’t feel pressure to conform to the norm! Our wedding may not have been the most traditional but we made it personal to us and we made sure that it was fun! Make sure you set time aside in the day to spend time with each other – you’ll be surprised how little you’ll see of each other!! Spend time searching for an amazing photographer… Sean has taken the most beautiful and unique pictures which has provided us with memories to last a lifetime!
December 10th, 2012 |
Brides Up North: UK Wedding Blog
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The wonderful Lee Scullion Photography was once part of the photographic team who shot my own real wedding. I will be forever grateful to him for furnishing my husband to be with Lucozade and Mars bars to make sure that he made it to the altar without throwing up or passing out (come on Alan, man up!) and also managed to get some amazing shots in the process.
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This afternoon, his talent’s are evident once again as he shoots the breath taking Real Wedding of North East couple Laura & Matthew.
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Laura says: We got engaged on19th January 2012 at a gorgeous little place that Matthew took me to for our first valentines date together. We like to keep the location of our special place a secret as it’s a really quiet, unspoilt place that is almost like a little heaven for the two of us. It was a total surprise (even though I had been pestering Matt to pop the question for about 5 years)!
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We got married on 9th August 2012. We didn’t want a long engagement and with me and a lot of our family and friends being teachers it had to be in the school holidays. I really wanted a summer wedding and i just couldn’t wait until summer 2013! We booked our venue- Lumley Castle in Durham – just three months before the wedding date! Planning the whole thing in three months was great fun!
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As soon as we walked into Lumley Castle we knew it was where we wanted to get married. We had looked at lots of other beautiful venues but this place just took our breath away as soon as we saw it. We loved how grand and over the top it was. It was quirky and yet fairy tale at the same time. The rooms all had their own personalities and we loved that we could have a different room for each part of the day- Ceremony, wedding breakfast and evening reception. We wanted our wedding to be an event and not just one day so the fact the Castle was a hotel too was a real bonus so that we could have all our family and friends in one place.
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As with the Castle our theme was quirky fairy tale! We had all the ingredients needed for a traditional fairy tale wedding but with a little twist. Our colour scheme was Ivory and black (Matthew is a devoted Newcastle United fan!) and I liked how classic the colours looked together.
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My dress was an absolutely beautiful Benjamin Roberts creation. The moment I put it on I knew it was the one. It was tight fitting and very simple at the front with just a little detailing on the bust. But when i turned around the dress had the most amazing ruffled train that i have ever seen. I just loved it! I bought my dress from Elizabeth of York.
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My beautiful hair piece and bandeau veil was made from www.lilybella.co.uk and my jewellery was from the Alan Hannah Devoted collection.
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My two little bridesmaids wore a gorgeous Ivory gown from the Jenny Packham NO1 collection which had lots of ruffles to match my dress perfectly. My daughter was my youngest bridesmaid and we really struggled to find a dress small enough to fit her so we had hers altered. My maid of honour (my sister) wore a black gown from Coast which we had altered to create a fishtail bottom.
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Matthew and his groomsmen wore grey three piece suits with black neck ties which were from a boutique in York. And my little page boy (my nephew) wore a similar three piece suit from a children’s boutique in Sheffield.
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I carried a hand tied ivory bouquet with hydrangea, Norma Jean roses, ivory peony roses and a gypsophila collar with pearls scattered throughout which was tied off with ivory satin ribbon. My Bridesmaids carried all gypsophila hand tied bouquets with black satin ribbon. Our florist – Claire De Lune – was great! She created everything I dreamed of and made my vision of a really original ring cushion made from moss come to life!
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There were so many special moments during the whole day but i think the best for me was the moment I walked down the aisle and saw Matthew. I had the most amazing feeling of nerves and excitement and just felt overwhelmingly happy.
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We wanted our wedding to be really personal to us so we added lots of extra touches. I created my very own sweetie table and photo booth for the wedding reception, making and buying all the little jars, props and things we needed. My mum and I made hundreds of paper pom poms to hang in the dungeon room for the evening reception. I made our own table confetti by cutting heart shaped pieces out of old romance novels.
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For our favours we wanted to do something really personal to us so we donated money to the MS Society on behalf of our guests and had little cards made that we attached a pin badge to for every guest. The charity is something really close to our hearts so that was a really special touch for us.
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I had the whole family saving their used glass jars for us and we used these to scatter tealights all over the venue. We tied black string around the jars and filled them with black sand and it created a real magical effect within the Castle and outside on the terraces.
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Our photographer was Lee Scullion. Lee was so fantastic on the day and our images are just perfect. We really couldn’t have asked for anymore from him. The photos were so important to us and I literally cried like a baby the first time we saw them!
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Our wedding dvd was by Fullmotion. Again we can’t thank Joe enough, we hardly knew he was there on the day!
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Our cake (by HQ Cakes) was three tier with the bottom two tiers being lemon sponge and the top tier chocolate. The cake was decorated with white chocolate cigarillos and ivory dusted rose’s finished off with black satin ribbon. It not only looked but tasted amazing.
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For entertainment we chose to go with a DJ. As I’m a dance teacher it was really important to me that everyone was up dancing all night and we had a great time.
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I also spent ages creating a slide show which we showed to our guests after the speeches. It was done like a fairy tale story with lots of embarrassing pictures of Matt and I growing up and photos of our bridal party and families. It didn’t go exactly to plan on the day as the music wouldn’t work to go with it and a voice mail message actually came on half way through it! But it was still a great part of the day and I’m glad I took the time to put it together to say thank you to our families.
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During the evening reception we invited our guests to set off Chinese lanterns from Night Sky Lanterns. We handed pens round and everyone wrote special messages on them for the two of us. Our guests set white lanterns off while Matt and I set off a red love heart lantern.
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We went to a beautiful beach front hotel in Pathos for our honeymoon. We took our little girl Sofia with us as I just couldn’t bear to leave her for so long. A month later Just the two of us went on a short break to Rome which was really romantic.
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I think my main tip for other Brides Up North would be not to get stressed about the little details in the run up to the big day. I found myself having many a sleepless night about silly things like whether or not I should pay extra to have ivory table linens instead of white as our theme was ivory and black and not white and black! I honestly think that on the day I wouldn’t have cared if the table linens were purple! Everyone is there to celebrate two people getting married they are not bother about the tiny details! You really have to just relax and enjoy the day as its over so quickly!
Carly and Daniel chose a classic colour scheme for their elegant celebration and let their stunning venue, chic sense of style and tasteful details lead the way. Stunning.
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Carly says: Daniel proposed at Edinburgh Castle on 31st October 2009 and we were married on 22nd September 2012 at Wynyard Hall Chapel and Wynyard Hall.
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Danny proposed in Edinburgh and it is one of our favourite places to visit so we chose the city as our theme. Our table plan was set around Edinburgh- the top table was the Castle and all the other tables were our favourite landmarks in Edinburgh. We chose a romantic colour scheme of sage green and gun metal grey.
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For my wedding dress, I chose a Ronald Joyce design called Dakota from Christabel & Keats in Hartlepool and I carried a bouquet containing roses, orchids and eucalyptus by Valerie Rose. I really let my florist go to town and just asked for seasonal flowers to tie in with our colour scheme.
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My bridesmaids wore mid length strapless sage green dresses from Coast, and they looked gorgeous!
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I enjoyed the whole day from beginning to end: I loved entering the church to see everyone, and saying my vows to Daniel. I also had a fantastic time dancing the night away in the evening. I didn’t want it to be over!
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We chose Wynyard Hall as is a stunning place, location and excellent service. On the day, they had some help in dressing the event from Ivory White Events who were responsible for the chair covers and table coverings and Papercraft who provided our wedding stationery.
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I didn’t pay for a professional videographer, however we bought a camcorder and we asked someone to record the day. It was brilliant looking back and seeing bits that you may have missed.
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Instead of a message book we had a chalk board where people could write their messages for us. Gemma from GS Studio will then put these into an album for us. It’s a fun and surprising alternative to a guest book and we have some great messages to read through (some funny, some wise…)
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Daniel’s father sang some old songs with his guitar during our wedding breakfast, and my sister (chief bridesmaid, Stephanie) sang some modern love songs after our first dance to kick the evening party off. We also had a casino as part of our entertainment.
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After the wedding we honeymooned for four nights in Las Vegas, then we flew to Cancun, Mexico for eight nights – complete bliss!
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My top tip for other Brides Up North would be just to relax and enjoy every minute of it!
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Congratulations Laura & Matt! 
Congratulations Carly & Daniel! 
