Gorgeous couple Lorna and Ben, chose a traditional church ceremony followed by a reception at the quaint White Hart Inn in Lydgate for their big day.
With a nod to boho chic and Scandi style (look out for the stag antlers!), a palette of gold and a hint of burgundy unintentionally emerged as the colour scheme for their celebrations. And as you’ll soon see, these styling elements all work together rather splendidly.
Special touches included a bagpiper, who played outside the church and piped the couple into the wedding reception; and a playlist consisting of tracks picked by all their guests. Their photographer also found a charming derelict mill for some rather special wedding shots, too.
If you’re a fan of lacey numbers then we think you’re going to be a little bit in love with Lorna’s exquisite gown, which she professes, is very Florence and the Machine-esque with its long sleeves. And it looks divine! It’s time for us to hand the blog over to bride Lorna now to recount all the highlights.
With images by Tim Simpson Photography
Proposal
Lorna says
: We got engaged in the North East of Scotland, in a small fishing town called Cullen, on 30th March 2018. Ben popped the question on the beach with my family around us (I had no idea it was going to happen). His original plan was to put the ring in our daughter’s hand (she was around 12-weeks-old) but she fell asleep!Setting
Our wedding date was 13th April 2019 – unlucky for some, but not us. We would have got married the summer after our engagement, but I knew that I wanted our daughter Edie to walk down the aisle with me, so we held off until the following April.
We got married in our local church in Dobcross, Saddleworth. The church is just a stone’s throw away from our house. It is such a stunning building and with living within the Dobcross community for several years, we always said that if we were to get married it would have to be in that church. Our reception was at the White Hart Inn, in Lydgate. We chose this venue due to the amazing food and the beautiful function room. We wanted our wedding to be local, so the reception was only a couple of minutes’ drive from our ceremony.
Theme
Our aim was for the wedding to be super laidback and for everyone to just have a really lovely day. I do have a little boho streak in me and that came through with my choice of dress. I also love Scandi style, so we had stag antlers on our top table (who were kindly borrowed from the lovely Mia from Mi Abode) and lots and lots of white candles and trailing greenery.
I never really had a colour scheme, it just sort of happened. I knew that I wanted my flowers to be mainly greenery with lots of eucalyptus! My dress had a silk underlay which was a sandy gold colour. The gold scheme then evolved, and I knew that I wanted hints of gold throughout, so my bridesmaids wore gold jumpsuits and my flower girls wore a hint of gold and leopard print. We also had flashes of gold in the room and on the cake. I really don’t know where the burgundy came from! It just happened.
Dress
My dress was from an amazing shop in Uppermill called Frock & Soul – it’s not there anymore (cry). It’s by Theia Couture, it’s very Stevie Nicks/Florence and the Machine with the lace and the long sleeves. It was the last dress that I tried on in the shop and I fell in love with it straight away.
Groomsmen
Ben wore a white plain shirt, chinos and Clarks originals desert boots (all from ASOS). He then styled that with burgundy braces, a dickie bow (also from ASOS) and he rented a tweed/wool jacket from Moss Bros in Manchester. The groomsmen wore the same as the groom.
Bridesmaids
The flower girl dresses were an absolute steal! I bought them last summer in the sale from H&M. My lovely seamstress then added some tulle to make the dresses that little bit more special. The bridesmaids wore gold jumpsuits from Topshop.
Beauty
Our hair was done by Jodine from House of Hair and Beauty, Greenfield. Makeup was done by Jessica Conway MUA.
Transport
We travelled from the church to the reception in our photographer’s campervan, stopping off on the way to capture some amazing photos.
Photographer
Our photographer Tim Simpson was incredible. We knew that he was going to be good, but he was literally unreal. The photos are insane, and we couldn’t recommend him enough. He just ‘got us’ and knew what we wanted. He took us to a derelict mill that he has sniffed out a few days earlier and the photos are better than we could ever have imagined.
Styling
My bouquet was hand-tied and consisted of mostly greenery; it had trailing ivy and burgundy amaranthus. Within the bouquet it also had thistles, protea, eucalyptus, white roses and cotton flowers. They were provided by Jodie and Vicky from Eden Floral Styling in Uppermill who were amazing.
Eden also provided the flowers for the wedding reception and Jodie and Vicky also helped to place the candles and stag antlers on the tables.
Cake
Our cake was divine! It was a three-tired round cake. The bottom and top layers were fruit and the middle layer was lemon sponge. It was made by Suzanne at The Frostery.
Dining
We had a plated or soup starter, beef, chicken or fish for main and a cheesecake or chocolate mousse for dessert. We wanted our guests to have a choice of meal, so we picked a variety.
Entertainment
We had two family friends who DJ’d for us. They had all the equipment so all we had to do was provide them with a playlist.
On our RSVP’s we left a space for our guests to request a song so that we knew the dancefloor wouldn’t be empty as each person had chosen a personal favourite track.
We also had a bagpiper that played outside of the church and piped us into the wedding reception.
Thanks to
The White Hart staff were so lovely, helpful and accommodating. They couldn’t do enough for us, they made us feel at ease and the whole day ran so smoothly.
Best bit
Of course, I enjoyed all of it, but I think my favourite part was (obviously) marrying my best mate in the presence of all my family and friends and then partying at night!
Honeymoon
For our honeymoon we returned to the place where we had got engaged in Scotland. All of my family came with us, so we carried on the celebrations the week after the wedding and ate and drank far too much!
Advice
My top tip for other Brides Up North would be to create a Pinterest board of things you like for your special day. I printed the images out and created a mood boards filled with how I wanted the day to look. You might find that your ideas might change along the way but that’s ok, just go with it and it will all come together perfectly on the day.
During the planning, I also loved reading the blogs and looking through the photos on Brides Up North to get ideas for my day.
Everyone probably says this, but honestly just enjoy the wedding day! Take time to step back and take it all in.
