Ahead of our Brides Up North Big Valentine’s Super Show at the spectacular Ramside Hall Hotel & Spa this Sunday, we’re sharing the beautiful wedding of Emma and Lee at the much-loved North East venue to showcase first hand what a stunning setting it is.
Picked by today’s couple for its fairy tale like appearance, varying choice of rooms, exemplary service and delicious food, this is certainly a venue that ticks all the boxes; catering for weddings of all sizes, not to mention luxurious accommodation, an award-winning spa and premier golf course all on site!
We adore bride Emma’s choice of a contemporary wedding with a classical touch, featuring a dusty pink and white colour scheme and an abundance of lush greenery – and what about those blossom trees and statement flower wall too?!
To find out more about how Ramside Hall could tick boxes for your big day celebrations too, be sure to join us this Sunday 9th February, 11am to 3pm, FREE ENTRY, for a blow-your-socks-off kind off bridal event. In addition to being able to view the venue and meeting its incredible team, we will also have 60 + of the region’s very best and most beautiful wedding suppliers in attendance to take care of every wedding detail. And as if all that wasn’t enough, there will be two Brides Up North ‘Curves Are Cool’ POWER bridal catwalk shows so you can find your dream dress too.
Click here for full event details and pre-registration to secure yourself speedy entry and a glossy goody bag.
Now on with the wedding day pretty…
With images by LSM Photography
Proposal
Emma says
: We took our little boy to spend Christmas in Yllas, Lapland in 2016. On Christmas morning we got up and opened a few presents before getting ready for a day of festive fun and meeting Santa. Once ready Lee asked if we wanted to go for a walk before the bus picked us up. As we approached Santa Clause’s house just down the road, I turned around to Lee on one knee with the most beautiful ring in his hand. It was the most magical proposal shared with our son.Setting
Our wedding took place on Saturday 7th July 2019, at Ramside Hall in Durham.
Ramside was the first and only venue we visited; we knew it was the perfect venue as soon as we drove into the beautiful grounds. The hotel is stunning, and the gardens are picture perfect. After attending a couple of wedding events there with our family and friends, and speaking to the Hall’s staff, we decided to book and not look anywhere else.
Theme
We wanted a very relaxed wedding that was modern but with a classic touch as I wanted minimal decorations and the same colour to flow through all aspects of the day; from invites to table décor.
We went for dusty pink and white with lots of greenery tied in – it all looked amazing.
Dress
Looking for the right dress was hard as I had just had my second child around six months before going dress shopping, so I didn’t feel my best in anything I tried on. I was in Wendy Coles Bridal and after trying on a number of dresses I started to worry that I wasn’t going to find anything. As I was about to leave Wendy pulled out Ronald Joyce’s Nicolette dress and I instantly fell in love. The boned bodice and illusion back was so flattering.
Groomswear
Lee and the groomsmen wore a Mark Darcy tan tweed, three-piece suit from Master Debonair. The tweed went really well with the dusty rose bridesmaid dresses.
Bridesmaids
The girls wore an off-the-shoulder dusty pink dress with a small train. I had the dresses handmade as I struggled to find any dresses in the exact colour tone I wanted.
My daughter, and only flower girl, wore a lovely white dress from Brides Dream in Walker.
Beauty
Our hair was done by Marie at Loco Hair and Beauty.
My makeup and two of my bridesmaids’ makeup was done by Makeup by Melissa at All Dolled Up and the other bridesmaid were by Makeup by Katie. Both makeup artists and hairdresser were absolutely amazing.
Photography
When looking for a photographer I knew I wanted clean, bright and bold photographs. I chose LSM Photography as the photographs on Lyndsey’s website were absolutely amazing and she was recommended by a few different people.
After meeting Lyndsey, I knew we would work well with her. I don’t like getting my photograph taken and don’t feel photogenic at all and het she made us feel very comfortable.
I would recommend Lyndsey to anyone looking for a photographer, she is very friendly and easy to get along with. She is professional and brilliant at what she does.
Videographer
We always knew we wanted Jon at Top Table Films as our videographer ever since first seeing his work. The videos you get are absolutely outstanding and it captures the whole day. It is so lovely to look back on.
Styling
I decided on silk flowers rather than real. My bouquet was made up of dusty pink and white roses with greenery.
Vera at VIP For All Your Special Occasions dressed our room and provided all flowers. I wanted the room to look elegant with a mix of greenery, flowers and candles. I chose Perspex boxes surrounded by greenery and roses with floating candles on top for the tables and a similar design for the top table.
A starlight backdrop was behind the top table with blossom trees at each side. We then had lanterns and flowers going up the stairs to Ramside which I absolutely loved. Vera dressed the room and provided the centrepieces, backdrop, lanterns, trees and flowers.
Posh Chair Covers & Bows provided our chiavari chair and were amazing to deal with.
I also ordered a flower wall from Fiore Flower Walls, which they set up for the whole day and night and then took away again the day after. They were brilliant.
Favours
We gave antique key bottle openers to the men with a tag on saying “The key to happiness is love and the ability to open a bottle” and a little jar of mints for the ladies with a sticker on saying “Mint to be”. For the children we had a box filled with colouring books, pens and sweets.
Cake
Our cake was a simple yet elegant three-tier design in plain white dressed in flowers to match my bouquet, which was made by Bizzywizzin Cakes.
Catering
We chose a traditional dinner as it’s my favourite meal and something most people like.
We went with cocktails and beer for the arrival drink so it was a choice for both men and women and then with the meal we had a choice of wine and fizz for the speeches.
Entertainment
DJ Chris Smith was with us for the whole day. He played our music choices for down the aisle, a soft playlist for the day and meal, and then music into the night-time.
We also had magician Glen Ward to keep guests entertained.
Special touches
My maid of honour and best friend Vicky helped me make a lot of personal touches such as the favours; a welcome sign using photographs, signs and a wooden ladder; a remembrance table with photographs of our loved ones who sadly weren’t there to share our day; plus all the stationery from the invites to the name cards. Vicky became my wedding planner and organiser, and I can’t thank her enough.
Thanks to
I would recommend Ramside Hall to any couple. There is a package to suit all with a blend of contemporary and traditional styles. The gardens are fantastic with amazing photo opportunities; the events team are amazing and all staff on the day can’t do enough for you; the food was lovely and although they do have more than one wedding at a time you wouldn’t realise this on the day. Also, the castle look on the front of the hotel grounds gives the setting a fairy tale feel.
Our day would not have been possible without our parents, we will always remain grateful for everything they did and continue to do for us.
Best bit
I loved getting ready in the morning with five of my best friends. It was such an incredible experience to share with them all and they were such a big part of my planning. I can’t thank them enough.
Having our closest friends and family all together in one room for us was absolutely incredible.
Our friend Rebecca did a reading for us during the ceremony which was lovely. She has been in my life for such a long time and it was an honour for her to do that. Our son, who was seven-years-old at the time, stood in front of everyone and did a reading too – I couldn’t have been more proud.
I remember standing in the middle of the room near the end of the night and just looking around thinking our fairy tale is now complete. We have our amazing children, had just bought our family home and then the final piece of our puzzle had just happened – our wedding. I don’t think I will ever experience such a feeling again.
Honeymoon
As we didn’t want to go away without our children we decided to go to Spain. Then our whole family decided to book to so we shared our honeymoon with around 22 of my closest family members and we couldn’t have had a better time.
We went to Menorca for a week and it was more like an extended part of our wedding. It was absolutely fantastic having my nana, aunties, uncles and cousins there with us along with their children.
Advice
Enjoy every second of the planning with your closest friends and family as it really is such an amazing process.
Try not to concentrate too much on the little things as you really don’t notice them on the day.
Finally, do what makes you happy and enjoy every minute of it as it really does go over so quick.
To help with the planning of our wedding, I was always reading the real-life weddings on Brides Up North – the website is a great place to hear other people’s experiences and gain tips. I also attended the Brides Up North wedding shows at Ramside Hall, which were a great help too.
