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Over the festive period I’ll be recapping some of my very favourite Real Weddings from the last 12 months on the wedding blog. It’s been a tough choice! In true Brides Up North style, each wedding featured on these pages is unique, beautiful and gorgeously personal. It’s been an exceptionally fabulous year! Enjoy…

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Now, I know I say this a lot (pretty much every time I open my inbox), but today’s Real Wedding sent to me by North East Wedding photographer Phil Smith Photography and real bride Sarah has to be one of the most gorgeous big days that I. HAVE . EVER. SEEN.  I just love it all, from the vinyl table names to the heart shaped balloons to the bride’s beautiful birdcage veil.

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Sarah and Dave: your wedding truly rocked. 

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Sarah says:  We got engaged on 27^th July 2010. Dave took me out for my birthday for a meal but had booked a suite in a nice hotel on the Quayside in Newcastle Upon Tyne as a surprise. He tried to get me to go for a walk so he could propose on one of the bridges after the meal but I had eaten too much and just wanted to lie down, ha ha!

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Luckily he had booked a suite which had a full glass wall overlooking the whole Quayside so he got down on one knee in front of the view and I was so excited, it was totally unexpected. I said yes immediately and cried!

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We were married on 29th June 2012 at The Alnwick Garden in Northumberland.  Neither of us had been before and we had gone to look at the Castle as a possible venue and they told us we could get married in the gardens too if we wanted to have a look while we were there so we did. As soon as we walked in we both turned to each other and said “this is it!”. 

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We chose a bright garden theme to match the venue and incorporated our love of music. Very muted greys and ivory outfits but then really bright exotic flowers and décor to set them off.

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I chose a wedding dress called Lizana by La Sposa from Darcy’s in Morpeth.  It was strapless with a fitted long bodice and a mermaid kick out at the bottom, no bling just nice fabric detail and a little edgy like me!  I had emerald green shoes with custom made shoe brooches under my dress.

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My bridesmaids wore strapless floor length gunmetal grey dresses from Debenhams.

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Our necklaces, my veil, jewelled hair combs, shoe brooches, and wish box were all custom made by Kathryn Russell.

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I carried a teardrop bouquet in exotic bright flowers with green orchids and glorosia lilies by Fern of Morpeth.

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Our friend Ben (the singer in Dave’s band) sang an acoustic version of “Grow Old With You” from The Wedding Singer during our ceremony.

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We wrote our own vows and didn’t show each other so they would be a surprise on the day. Dave totally blew me away with the emotion he showed and his words were perfect despite having to pause a few times to compose himself. He had the whole room in tears and he made me feel like marrying me meant the world to him as he is not usually an emotional guy.

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We decorated the venue ourselves using giant flowers that used to be part of the NewLook summer window display!  I went round all the North East NewLook stores to ask if I could have them the year before and they were donated to the gardens after the wedding to use for charity event.

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We had music themed table names on vinyls and made badges which were put onto handmade rosettes which said “This Wedding Rocks” and were used as napkin ties. 

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We also had a remembrance table with candles to remember those who couldn’t be with us (especially my Dad) – my Mum gave me away.

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We had a five tier sweet cheesecake from The English Cheesecake Company in London.

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Our friend’s band – The Monologues – were amazing and kept us entertained all night long!  We made our own playlists for ceremony, wedding breakfast and in between band sets.

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We learned a special dance and had a few lessons prior to the wedding to make our first dance perfect.

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In the evening we also had Pop Up Studios, with props and blackboards for our guests to write messages on for us to go into a guestbook album.

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After the wedding we jetted off to Thailand: Bangkok three nights, Chaing Mai five nights and Koh Phi Phi Island for the last ten! Amazing!

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My top tips for other Brides Up North would be don’t get hung up on the little things, if there is something you cant afford to do or a piece of décor you cant get hold of no-one will know it isn’t there except you! Also try to steal away some time to spend with your husband after the ceremony, it’s a big deal and you should reflect and share the special moments of the day together away from the crowds. Because of our venue our photographer had lots of places to take us around the site for photos and because of his unobtrusive and relaxed style he did a lot of the shots at a distance which gave me and Dave the chance to chat and take it all in away from everyone else. We really treasure this time we had together.

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Congratulations Sarah & Dave!

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Newlyweds!  You know what to do!  Contact me to share your Real Wedding memories. 

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Brides Up North UK Wedding Blog – Images © 2012 Phil Smith Photography

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