Today’s real wedding is a light-hearted and loved-up celebration featuring an elegant colour scheme, a gingerbread-topped cake and the sweetest little flower girl we ever did see!
With images by Sarah Horton Photography
lucy says:
We got engaged on 25th March 2015, while at Center Parcs in Whinfell. Our daughter Ruby was playing and one of her toys was the box that had the ring in. I asked what the box was and then Neil popped the question.We set the date for 29th May 2016, as I’d always wanted to get married in May.
Our chosen venue was The Grosvenor Pulford Hotel & Spa in Chester. We had seen a few venues but fell in love with this one the moment we saw it. We loved the gardens and the general feel of the hotel. We wanted to get married where everyone could stay over and truly relax.
The wedding theme was gingerbreads! I have a Gingerbread Man teddy from Shrek, which I love, and Neil is ginger, so it seemed fitting to have this as our theme. The invitations had gingerbreads on them as did the table plan, and we even had a gingerbread bride and groom on top of the cake.
Our colour scheme was silver/grey. Mainly picked from the colour of the bridesmaids’ dresses and it worked really well with the suits and venue style.
For my wedding dress I chose a beautiful, full-length gown in ivory. It was bigger than I thought I would have chosen, but I knew it was the one when I saw it. I bought it from a discount wedding dress store in Stockport, The Bridal Factory Outlet, and would really recommend them.
Neil wore a slim fit suit in navy blue from Platt’s Menswear & Formal Hire in Crewe. The quality was brilliant and the staff were excellent in their service throughout – I couldn’t recommend them enough!
The groomsmen also wore suits from Platt’s and the page boys’ suits were from BHS.
The bridesmaids all wore full length dresses from China bought on eBay. They were great value for money and looked fab on the day. We got Ruby’s flower girl dress from Mothercare.
Neil stayed at the venue the night before the wedding with his best man, while I travelled up on the wedding day after getting ready at home. I arrived in Neil’s Land Rover Discovery, which was decorated with personalised wedding ribbons.
Sarah Horton was our wedding photographer and we would highly recommend her. She has previously photographed our daughter and we loved the pictures. Sarah made us feel comfortable and was approachable throughout the day and let us have input in our pictures. She edited the pictures really quickly as well and we are really pleased with the quality of the photographs, everyone has commented on them!
Our wedding flowers were provided by Liz Wilson, a local florist from Nantwich, who works from her home. My bouquet had cupcake roses, which were a pale pink and then cream roses, with eucalyptus leaves round the outside. The bridesmaids had cupcake roses with gerber flowers in their bouquets, while the men had cream button holes.
Liz also created a floral display for the signing of the register table, which was then moved to the top table for the reception. Instead of flowers the other reception tables as candelabras as the centre pieces.
As favours we gave out wildflower seed bags from the British Heart Foundation as this charity means a lot to us, due to our daughter having open heart surgery aged five-months at Alder Hey Hospital. We also made a donation to the Cheshire Down’s Syndrome Society on behalf of our guests.
Our wedding cake, made by our friend Gemma Mellor, was a three-tier design with a gingerbread couple on top and gingerbread hearts round the outside.
For the wedding breakfast, we had a three-course meal which we selected from the hotel’s wedding menu and it was nothing short of perfect! The highlight being the 24-hour braised blade of beef main.
Entertainment-wise we had the Matt Stafford Duo to perform, which without a doubt was the best decision we made. We have seen them a number of times at other weddings and charity functions. We knew we wanted them from the off and the party atmosphere they created for the evening made it a celebration that everyone enjoyed and danced along to. He even had Neil on stage for a couple of duets, which made his night!
We also hired a photo booth for the reception, from Boothique, which went down really well with all the guests. Boothique they were really helpful prior to the wedding with choosing the booth and we got a couple of extras thrown in!
After our wedding we would definitely recommend The Grosvenor Pulford Hotel & Spa to other couples as it is everything you could need. Everything ran to plan and our master of ceremony (Maurice) was superb. He made sure everything ran smoothly but was also a great personality who everyone knew on the day and was very much part of our wedding.
Looking back, I’d say the first highlight of the day was Ruby walking down the aisle, we were so proud of her and our photographer captured the moment perfectly. The second highlight would be the night do with the band where we could fully relax and dance the night away.
After the wedding, we went to Abersoch on a ‘familymoon’. We were so lucky with the weather it was gorgeous, like being abroad, so spent our time on the beach every day.
My top tip to other Brides Up North would be – try not to get too stressed, it will all flow on the day. Just have fun and made sure you make the decisions, nobody else.
