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Did you catch this morning’s cute and quirky stop motion film from today’s Real Wedding?  Go catch up first by clicking here.  This afternoon we join Meredith and Leigh for the main event and full wedding feature, coordinated by Andrea of Fabulous Day and including a whole host of talented Brides Up North Featured Suppliers.  Enjoy this perfect and personal Yorkshire celebration. 

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With images by Gary Micklethwaite Photography. 

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Meredith says:  We’ve been together over 11 years and we knew we’d eventually get married – we just had to get the timing right! Last January while on holiday in Sri Lanka we went to a jeweller I had wanted to visit. While we were designing a ring for me Leigh asked, ‘Do you have any wedding-like bands that will match it?’ He then looked at me and said, ‘Well, might as well get the engagement ring and the wedding band together!’ So, not an official on- the-knee-will-you-marry-me proposal, but we were both over the moon none the less! We were officially engaged!

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We were married on March 2nd 2013 at Denton Hall, Ilkley, West Yorkshire.  We fell in love with Denton Hall instantly and knew our guests would, too! Aside from its obvious beauty and gorgeous grounds, it was ideal as we could hold the ceremony and reception all onsite – not to mention it provided enough accommodation for all of our family and friends! It was exclusively ours for the weekend and we could relax and entertain our family and friends hassle free. It was perfect.

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We tried to keep in mind ‘elegant, relaxed, and fun’ when planning the wedding weekend. Friday night we had a BBQ catered by Box Tree Events for all the guests as well as a ceilidh band – it set the perfect relaxed atmosphere for everyone to get to know each other as half of our guests were from the UK and the other half flew in from America. By Saturday, everyone was mingling and dancing away like they were old friends!

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For Friday night we went with colourful spring flowers, and for the actual wedding on Saturday in an attempt to pay homage to Denton Hall we chose a Georgian scheme of burgundy, light sage, charcoal, and ivory.

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I had my gown custom-made for me by Bridal Apparel in Rawdon. I live in Singapore and was having trouble finding a dress that I actually liked and would fit me. I had an idea in my head of what I wanted (ivory, v-neck, ruching, no bling) and it was proving fruitless in Singapore. When visiting the UK last April for one of our best men’s wedding his bride suggested Bridal Apparel as that was where she got her gown and it fit her beautifully.

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I went there the next day and I’m so happy I did. Susan and Jodie completely understood what I wanted, and even more importantly understood my shape and what would be most flattering. So, we designed my gown one afternoon and then I flew back to Singapore not to return the UK until December for a brief visit. That meant that they’d have from May to December to make my gown, I’d try it on in December, then I’d be back less than a week before my wedding for final alterations. Because I completely trusted Susan I knew the gown would be great and I wasn’t worried at all. Sure enough, it was everything I had envisioned and was hand delivered to the Bridal Suite at Denton Hall Friday night. I also got my shoes from them: simple satin pleated courts –perfect for the gown, and hired my stunning side tiara from them!

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I also had a reception dress that I changed into after the first dance; I wanted something fun and completely different from my gown! It was a white strapless chiffon short/long dress I found while visiting California in November. I wore 6 inch platforms with crystals with this dress (well, the platforms lasted about 20 minutes then I was rocking out barefoot!).

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Sarah from Leafy Couture is the flower whisperer! I told her I wanted ‘Simple, white, not too big, stems showing.’ She made me exactly that: a beautiful white ranunculus bouquet hand tied with ivory satin and a few accent crystals.

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I didn’t have any bridesmaids, but Leigh had two best men and two ushers. They all wore traditional morning suits that we hired from Bridal Apparel as well. They all looked so dapper and handsome!

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Our reading was ‘A Lovely Love Story’ by Edward Monkton, which is about dinosaurs. While getting ready in the Bridal Suite I was surprised to find a couple of dinosaurs –how did they mysteriously get there? After the ceremony I learned that my friend that did the reading snuck them in there as a surprise. I love that they made it into the photographs!

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I seriously couldn’t have planned and executed the wedding without Andrea Swift from Fabulous Day wedding planning. I always had complete confidence in her throughout the entire process. I even felt guilty at times as though she was doing all the work and all Leigh and I had to do was show up to a fantastic wedding!

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Box Tree Events took care of all the food and everyone was completely blown away not only by the quality and deliciousness of the food, but also it’s presentation as well as the professionalism of their staff. Rena and Simon Gueller and Michelle Hudson are certainly the best at what they do: Box Tree Events and Denton Hall are a match made in heaven.

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Steve and Hannah at Denton Hall were so accommodating and really made us feel at home for the weekend. Nothing was too much trouble for them.

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Gary Micklethwaite was our photographer. Gary and Heidi were so much fun! We love the way they were able to capture the weekend in such a natural way. We never even knew they were there –they were ninja photographers! We were amazed when we saw how gorgeous the photos turned out.

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Cornerstone Cinema looked after the videography of ceremony and speeches and stop motion of Friday night and all of Saturday. Wow, wow, wow! Gary told us about Cornerstone Cinema wanting to do a stop motion piece of a wedding and asked if we would be interested as it would be their first official stop motion piece (though they have done tons of traditional videography). As Gary was describing stop motion we grew more and more excited and exclaimed, ‘Where do we sign?!’ Needless to say, we are beyond ecstatic with the results. It really captures the love, energy, and fun of the day and we feel like we’re reliving it everything we watch it.  Click here to see the finished film.

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Because we had a number of guests flying in from overseas, we wanted to put together a welcome bag with local stuff for that was waiting for them in their rooms when they checked in. In a heart covered hessian bag from British Heart Foundation we included handmade chocolates from Patisserie Viennoise, Yorkshire Crisps, English Heritage Hangover Drops, a Yorkshire-English dictionary, bottled water, and umbrellas. We had the most incredible weather that weekend so they never even needed the umbrellas!

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Ambience Venue Styling provided the burgundy chair sashes for the ceremony and the runners for the dining room, the adorable wedding post box with our names on it, and the bay trees.

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Leafy Couture made my flower dreams come true. Sarah provided the most beautiful flowers and centrepieces. I was sorry that I couldn’t take any home with me on Sunday but our guests that did said they were still looking great a week later!

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Patisserie Viennoise in Otley made us the most scrumptious cake ever. It was vanilla sponge with vanilla buttercream and raspberry, and a vanilla buttercream frosting. The cake was so moist and the buttercream was so creamy! Naturally we served it Saturday night, but we also provided slices in takeaway boxes to guests as they checked out on Sunday. We also got out favours from them: handmade chocolate truffles!

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Hipswing provided The Sturdy Beggars, the ceilidh band Friday night, John King, the guitarist who played during the ceremony and drinks reception, DJ Craig for dancing the night away, the sparkling LED dance floor, and the lighting. We couldn’t have been more pleased with everything they provided and would use them again in a heartbeat.

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In the evening, we also had a caricaturist – Mick Hollinworth. We had a comfort break after dinner in the bar for about an hour and a half, and Mick was drawing caricatures of our guests the entire time. I don’t think the poor guy stopped for a single minute. He was great!

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Leigh says he doesn’t like to dance so we agreed not to do a first dance. The music had just started and my girlfriends and I were dancing. All of a sudden the DJ said something towards the extent of, ‘…the bride has no idea…’ and the next thing I knew, the floor cleared and Leigh surprised me with our first dance! Yippee!

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I have a few favourite parts of the day!  When I entered the ceremony and saw everyone’s smiling faces then I saw Leigh’s smiling face at the end of the aisle, having the dining room filled with laughter during the speeches, our first dance to ‘It Must Be Love’ by Madness, waking up Sunday morning in the Bridal Suite as husband and wife and munching on the wedding cake Andrea had left us as a surprise (we didn’t notice it on Saturday night when we got to the room)!

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After the wedding we spent a few days up in the Lake District, and then went to Tuscany for a week.

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I have two tips for other Brides Up North. The first is to hire a professional planner that you have complete confidence in, and the second is don’t forget what the whole wedding thing is about. Because of Andrea the entire wedding from planning to Sunday morning was completely stress-free and relaxed.

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I never put pressure on myself expecting the wedding weekend to be perfect without any hiccups. I adopted the mind-set of, ‘If we have family and friends, booze, food, and a registrar to marry us, nothing else matters.’ And, it’s completely true! Ironically, the weekend ended up being perfect. It was the best weekend ever and I married the love of my life. 

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Congratulations Meredith & Leigh!

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Fancy seeing your own Real Wedding featured on these pretty pages?  Don’t be shy! Get in touch – here’s how.

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Brides Up North UK Wedding Blog – Images © 2013 Gary Micklethwaite Photography

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