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Today’s stunning wedding - at Brides Up North Featured Supplier venue Bolton Castle – looks oh so Wintery, but actually took place at the end of March over the Easter weekend. Remember that cold snap? Luckily Gemma and Asa were well prepared in their gorgeous castle setting for their Yorkshire meets Scotland celebration with some roaring log fires and a helpful piper ready to lend the bride his cape!
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With images by Richard Wynn-Davies.
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Gemma says: We got engaged on the 10th of December 2011. It was a Saturday morning and we decided to go for a walk – nothing out of the ordinary there! We walked up to Mill Gill which is a beautiful waterfall just outside Askrigg and five minutes from our house. While we were standing there Asa said that he had been thinking about things recently so I quickly asked him what he had been thinking about… he then said there was something he needed to ask me so I quickly turned and said “Ask me what, what’s the matter?” His response was “Well if you will shut up for a minute and let me talk I will ask you!”… at that point he got down on one knee and asked! What a total and fantastic surprise (the answer was yes – once I stopped crying)! We carried on up the hill and were the only two in the world who knew! By the time we got home it was lunchtime and we had cheese on toast with champagne – brilliant!
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We were married on 30th March 2013 at Bolton Castle, Leyburn. Its beautiful Medieval Castle where Mary Queen of Scots ‘stayed’ for six months! The venue is somewhere out of the ordinary without being too ostentatious. We pretty much had free rein to set up and decorate as we wanted, there were no hidden charges for bedrooms and the atmosphere was just fantastic!
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We had a joint theme of Scotland and Yorkshire. Everything had to be rustic to show off the castle perfectly. We chose a colour scheme of white and burgundy with Blackwatch Tartan making an appearance!
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I had a beautiful white halter neck wedding dress from the online suppliers JJ’s House. The dress was perfect Asa wore black tails with grey pin stripe trousers with white cravat from the online supplier Formally Yours.
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A special mention has to go to Hair by Becci. Becci did our hair and I don’t think she could have done anything better – it was just perfect for the dress, me and the setting!
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I had a simple bouquet of white roses for Yorkshire, thistles for Scotland and Tulips to tie in the burgundy and also for Spring! My bridesmaid Melissa had the same but slightly smaller. The buttonholes were thistles and white heather – for luck! We used Hutton Flowers of Northallerton who were fantastic.
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We had a piper for the day who welcomed the guests, piped me down the aisle and piped us into the breakfast for our first official engagement – an amazing experience!
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The day was spent giggling with my closest family and friends. We got married which was the main aim of the day and we introduced a lot of people to our beautiful village as well as Scottish dancing. If I had to pick one favourite moment then it was a moment during our first dance when I had a sneaky peak around me and everyone was smiling and looking so happy – it was just the most humbling feeling ever.
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Our fantastic photographers Richard and Caroline Wynn-Davies went above and beyond at every opportunity, this really comes through looking at how relaxed and happy we are in each of the photos – they truly are amazing people!
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There were special touches springing up all over the place all weekend! Our favours were homemade heart shaped shortbread (which I baked a couple of days before) and Yorkshire tea bags. We had Blackwatch tartan table runners over the tables which really brought warmth to the rustic castle.
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We both work for the Scouts and so named each of the tables after a Scout Activity Badge – caused lots of giggles!
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I baked and iced our wedding cake as when I looked around at prices I realised I could save an amazing amount of money – I’m a true Scot! We had one tier of Madeira and two of angus fruit cake (the fruit is soaked overnight in tea).
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We had a Ceilidh band made up of three local guys from Northallerton – they were amazing and taught us all the dances, everyone took part! The more commercial bands were an absolute fortune and very specific on how long they would play for. Nimmo Clark and the band played all night!
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We made the celebrations last the whole weekend! The Friday evening before we invited everyone to join us in the village pub for a drink so people met each other then and on the Sunday we put a big tent up in the back garden and invited everyone and locals from the village for the afternoon/evening to carry on celebrating.
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The week after the wedding a lot of family and friends had stayed so we got to spend time with people we don’t often see. We both work away a lot so once everyone had gone home we took an extra week off and… we stayed at home – it was perfect! The weather was rubbish so apart from short walks with the dog we just spent time together!
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My top tip for other Brides Up North is to keep it small and simple, don’t blow your budget, keep it personal – it is a very very special day so make sure that throughout the day there are things which show why you are perfect for each other.
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Congratulations Gemma & Asa!
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Brides Up North UK Wedding Blog – Images © 2013
Richard Wynn-Davies is a Brides Up North Featured Supplier but this is not a sponsored post
Contact Brides Up North to submit your business as a Featured Supplier
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Congratulations Lucie & Josh! 
