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We first met Yorkshire couple Lindsay and Matt when they shared their sweet York engagement shoot and love story on these pages a few weeks back, and this afternoon they are back on the same streets to recap their very vintage, deliciously DIY, rock and rolling 1950’s influenced wedding. 

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Strike up the jukebox!  With images by Hayley Baxter Photography. 

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Lindsay says:  We got engaged in December 2011 at the La Rosa Boutique Hotel in Whitby. I had been wanting to stay at the hotel for ages due to its cool quirkiness and ‘vintage-ness’. It was a surprise, Matt had wanted to propose on the balcony overlooking the harbour but when we arrived there wasn’t a balcony!

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We were married on Saturday September 1st 2012 at  York Registry Office with a reception at St Williams College, York.  We had been there previously for a Vintage Fair and had seen how beautiful the building was. From a practical point of view it was also ideal, being right in the centre of York. The amount of space meant we could do a variety of things in the different rooms and private courtyard.  We opted for a vintage theme. 

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I chose a 50’s style Vivien of Holloway halter neck dress with a navy petticoat, navy shoes and navy ribbon belt. I also had a little birdcage veil which was from www.lilybella.co.uk. I knew from the start I wanted a birdcage veil but found it really difficult finding one that I liked. 

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My hair was put up at The Lounge in York by my usual hairdresser Lou. Matt couldn’t believe how many hairgrips came out of my hair at the end of the night, but it certainly stood up amazingly well throughout the day.

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I carried a bouquet of cool water and avalanche roses with eucalyptus, tied with an ivory ribbon and pearl detail – all from Dutch Nurseries in Haxby, York.

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The bridesmaids wore long navy dresses from M&S (one of the bridesmaids was pregnant so the dresses needed to be practical as well as elegant). Matt wore a navy suit with waistcoat from Slaters. He also had a pocket watch which he was very proud of!

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Rather than a wedding car, I arrived at the registry office in a rickshaw provided by The Green Cab Man. Given the traffic on a Saturday in York is awful, it was also the quickest way to travel! It was one of my highlights when the registrar said it was the first time they had a bride turn up in a rickshaw.

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Before the wedding we set up a wedding website using www.gettingmarried.co.uk. It was free and would recommend it as you are able to put more details than you can on an invite. We had lots of people from out of York so it was good to be able to put hotels details up and directions. You could also use the site for your wedding list.

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Hayley Baxter was our photographer and did an amazing job. She has this great ability to organise people without coming across as being bossy, she manages to make people feel at ease in order to get the best photos. She even managed to pull in a character from one of the York guided Walks to pose with us for a picture!

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Morwen, the manager at St William’s College, was our wedding planner, and did a fantastic job organising and setting up our wedding. There wasn’t anything we wanted to do that she and her team couldn’t accommodate. Bradshaws of York were our caterers and again were excellent. They work in partnership with the College and you could tell they had a wealth of experience catering for weddings.

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We made our own wedding favours in the form of gift bags on the tables. Each female received a vintage brooch, whilst the men had football pin badges according to the team they support – the boys pins went down way better than I thought they would and everyone seemed to be touched by the thought and effort which went into them. In the bags we also put in bubbles, fortune fish and a lottery ticket. We went a bit crazy on the favours but it was really worth it! We spent a full Saturday lining all the bags with navy organza and decorating the personalised tags, they also doubled as the table place names.

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For the wine glasses on the tables I made individual wine glass bead charms and I also decorated the napkins with ribbon and beads.  We also used my 50’s Babycham glasses for the toast and Cherry B glasses for the welcome drinks, just to add to the vintage feel! It took forever to collect them but was so much fun, we are now trying to work out what to do with them all.

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The table centres were different vintage themes which were then named after records. The top table was “Toys in the Attic” which had lots of old toys on, one of which was Matt’s dad’s old teddy bear called big ted (he is actually not that big). One had a singer sewing machine, another a typewriter and one was travel themed.

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For a card box we used an old suitcase lined with ivory fabric and and Lexicon cards for the sign. The suitcase had originally belonged to Matts great great granddad and had his initials on it, it was really special to be able to use things which had been in the family for so long.

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For decoration we spent weeks and weeks going to car boot sales and collecting little cut glass bud vases which we had roses in. We also collected lots of old wood candle stick holders which we had as part of the table centres and around the room.

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I did originally contemplate making the bunting but the room was so big and I knew it would take forever so instead we bought some cut paper bunting and I was pleased with how good it looked.

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It took two big cars jam packed full to take all the stuff to the venue, Morwen the manager said we had far more bits and pieces than most of her brides and grooms but never complained.

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One of the things I enjoyed the most was thinking of all the details but I have to admit it would never of happened if Matt was not involved. I’m good at the ideas but not always so good at the practical things like making them happen!

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In the other room which I nicknamed the Pink Flamingo room we had a sweetie bar, little card tables which we had put vintage games on and Hayley had her photo booth set up in there. The sweetie bar was another excuse for to go to car boot sales and collect things as we used pretty cut glass bowls.

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In the room with the bar we put up two photo posters, one with lots of pictures of Matt when he was little and all his family and one for me and my family. They were really good conversation starters. In the bar room we also had little leaflets with hangover cures one which also had a picture of Matt’s granddad with his old cure of the hare of the dog!

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We had a cheese wedding cake from The Cheese Shop on Gillygate in York. It was made up of five different cheeses.

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We had a jukebox so guests could choose the music. It came from Speciality Music in Wyke. The jukebox was delivered and collected and was very reasonably priced. There also wasn’t a song we requested that couldn’t be provided. We also had a limbo contest on the dance floor which went down a storm! It was amazing how good everyone was at organising themselves and most of the guests got involved in either competing or at least clapping on others. In the smaller room Hayley set up a photo booth, complete with fancy dress items and props. This was probably the biggest success as all the guests got involved and had a great time!

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For our first dance we did a rock and roll dance. We had had lessons the year before and worked really well with my 50’s dress.

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After the wedding we honeymooned in California, flying into San Francisco and then driving to Napa, Los Angeles and, finally, Las Vegas!

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My top tip for other Brides Up North would be that you don’t have to spend a fortune to have a unique wedding. Thinking outside the box can make it more unique and special, and cut down on the cost.

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Congratulations Lindsay & Matt!

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Contact Brides Up North to see your own Real Wedding featured on these swirly silver pages!

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Brides Up North UK Wedding Blog – Images © 2012 Hayley Baxter Photography

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