It’s holiday season here on the blog, and as the editorial team take a short break, we’ll be leaving you with a reduced blogging schedule so that you still get your daily dose of wedding lovely. Usual service will recommence on Monday 6th January 2020 but in the meantime watch out for recaps of some of our favourite Real Weddings from the latter half of 2019.
Drop in every day for the very prettiest, most unique wedding inspiration and – if you are a Brides Up North bride – to see if your real wedding was one of our top picks.
We have a beautiful summertime wedding for you today with bride and groom, Jade and Jack, opting for a relaxed afternoon-tea-style celebration, filled with blooms and sunshine.
The couple’s quintessentially English wedding took place in August, with the couple swapping their ‘I do’s’ at the Medieval-built Danby Castle. Their setting within this historic venue? A gorgeous rustic barn, complete with authentic brickwork, twirling strands of fairylights and illuminated ‘love’ letters on the dancefloor.
Whilst there wasn’t a theme per se behind the day, there was a lot of flowers, in all varieties and colours. Whether you want a floral-fix, are planning your own country-charm wedding or simply want to look at some truly gorgeous photos, you’re going to want to read on people!
With images by Benni Carol Photography
Proposal
Jade says
: We went to Reykjavik in Iceland for a city break and had all the best intentions to go on all the amazing tours.Initially, we were going to try and go on a helicopter ride over the volcanoes but when we realised the price, our plans had to change quickly. We were always planning on going to the Blue Lagoon so Jack decided to propose in there. As soon as we got to the reception, it explicitly said we weren’t allowed to take jewellery inside – so Jack had to come up with a new plan!
Once we’d finished in the Blue Lagoon it was dark outside, so upon leaving Jack asked me to come and “check this out” next to a dimly lit lamp. When I walked over, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! Of course, I said yes. We celebrated the following day, people-watching in The Lebowski Bar – I think we were there for 12 hours!
Setting
Our wedding date was Saturday 4th August 2018. I’m a little bit of a control-freak, so I searched for the warmest day on average and chose the Saturday closest to that.
We had our ceremony and reception at Danby Castle, Danby, Whitby. We’d been to see a couple of venues that we weren’t 100% set on. Danby Castle is set over the moors with extraordinary views and historic charm.
It was the views that sold it to us first – and then as we explored the castle ruins and the newly-built barn, we couldn’t say no! We’d walked through the chambers which Henry VIII used to sleep in when he went hunting in the nearby forest (Jack is a history buff, so this was perfect). This led out to the court room. Whilst we were in there, I pretended to walk down the aisle and ended up shedding a few tears – I knew it was the one.
The attention to detail and the work put in by Carolyn and the team was exemplary and I couldn’t have chosen a better suited venue for the best and happiest day of our lives. With the weather on our side, we spent most of the day taking in the views surrounded by those we love most – it was truly magical!
Theme
Flowers, flowers and more flowers! We both adore wildflowers, so we used those as a main feature on everything – from bouquets and centrepieces, to our seating plan and name places. We opted for a bright colour scheme and added a few extra quirks that were our own personal style such as tea caddies to complement the afternoon tea vibe.
Dress
I chose a dress that I never thought I would. Before the alterations, it was a complete princess dress with a long train. I’d spent an hour parading around in another dress that I was going to purchase, and then I said, “I’ll try another one on, just in case” and that was it. I had it on two minutes and I bought it.
The dress was vintage, purchased from Bexbrides in Hurworth alongside a vintage jacket. I had it altered to be higher at the front, but still have a long(ish) train and added a bouncy, blue petticoat underneath.
Groomsmen
Jack and his ushers hired a suit from Review Menswear in Stockton.
Bridesmaids
I had two bridesmaids who both wore beautiful dresses from ASOS. They fitted perfectly with our flower theme whilst also still being a little bit subtle.
Beauty
Meg Murray Make-Up in Stockton did my makeup for the day!
Transport
On the day, we hired a white vintage VW Beetle Convertible from Cherished Cars.
Photography
Benni Carol Photography were our photographers and I would, of course, recommend them to anybody.
The photographs from the day are beautiful and that’s thanks to Benni and Carol, and their amazing personalities – not to mention their skills! We had the same ideas about the types of photos that we wanted and their style suited us perfectly. Everybody felt at ease and none of the photographs were intrusive – the overall ‘look’ is majorly natural with genuine emotions.
Styling
I had the most amazing bunch of wildflowers handpicked that week by Ruffled Flowers. I cannot stress how perfectly talented this florist is – to the point where I feel emotional talking about how beautiful they are! Ruffled provided all the flowers for the day, from buttonholes to bouquets and milk churns to decorative edibles on the cake.
As part of the eco-friendly feel, we dried out lots of lavender picked from the parents of the grooms’ garden, which was used as confetti once we walked out of the ceremony and wrote out own vows.
Favours
We gave guests wildflower seeds in biodegradable seed pouches!
Cake
We chose a rustic naked cake from That Cake, Redcar. We’d ordered from and eaten his cakes before and knew how talented he was, so we just asked him to do his thing!
Dining
We didn’t choose any specific wines; instead, we asked for cocktails and beers for after the ceremony. The theme of the whole day was relaxed and so we chose an afternoon tea for the wedding breakfast, with a mixture of sandwiches, savouries and sweets that just kept on coming.
For the evening, we wanted a bit of finger food, so we had oven-baked pizzas and wedges.
Entertainment
We wanted entertainment that would go with the relaxing theme of the day and then a little party on the night. We hired John Gatenby Music to provide an acoustic session outside throughout the day in a relaxed atmosphere and also enlisted our friend, Sam Gamesby, who is a DJ, to provide us with our night-time entertainment.
Best bit
People always told me that I’d never had time to sit down and enjoy the wedding but that wasn’t the case. The most amazing part of the day was early evening – everybody was sat outside listening to our acoustic artist, enjoying the sunshine, talking and drinking. I could stay in that moment forever.
Honeymoon
We went to Norway and Sweden for our honeymoon. The idea was to go to Sweden to see Arctic Monkeys at Way out West Festival in Gothenburg but, flights were cheaper to go to Norway, so we had a mini road trip!
We visited Oslo for a couple of days before heading down to Gothenburg. It was the most surreal experience, and Scandinavia is one of my favourite places in the world, everything about it was perfect.
Advice
My top tip for other Brides Up North would be – relax. Don’t sweat the small stuff. We were that laidback we were almost horizontal when planning the wedding, and it made it such a wonderful experience.
You’re not likely to ever get the opportunity to plan your wedding again, so enjoy every moment of it. Don’t put too much effort into making everybody else happy, it’s all about the celebration of your love, and you are the ones who matter.
Remember to let loose, be creative, and enjoy your day! Also, make sure you take time on your day to sit back and take it all in. You won’t get those memories again.
