TODAY WE’RE WHISKING YOU AWAY TO A NEW NORTH YORKSHIRE WEDDING VENUE – AND AN UNVEILED NETWORK MEMBER, NO LESS – THAT’S STYLISH AS IT IS ENCHANTING.
Located in picture-perfect rural landscape, Alexander Weddings & Events venue Lake Henry offers all the beauty of a natural outdoor setting with the convenience of stunning canvas cover via four permanent tipis. The best of both worlds right there!
The vision of Lawrence Alexander, director of Alexander Weddings & Events, the aim was to create a venue that enables couples to have “your day, your way”. As such, the impressive tipi structures, which can accommodate up to 160 guests, provide a blank canvas for brides and grooms to really make their own.
From dreamy lakeside gatherings to laid back festival fun, Lake Henry can cater for all, though today we’re sharing the results of a gorgeous shoot at the venue that showcases how it can be styled to suit a luxurious theme of romantic elegance.
Leading the shoot was freelance event planner Nina Copely of Orchestrate Events, who is the wedding coordinator at Alexander Weddings & Events. Here, she talks us through all the fabulous styling details of the shoot and gives us more info on this truly unique venue, including its cool pod-style accommodation. Prepare for luxe decor and lighting, plentiful botanics and blooms, elegant attire, plus breathtaking countryside scenes, chic tipis and even firepits. Toasted marshmallow anyone?
With images by Damian James Bramley Wedding Photography.
Models The Foxtons.
CONCEPT
Nina says: We wanted to do a shoot to celebrate the opening of new wedding venue, Lake Henry, located in the heart of North Yorkshire’s breathtaking countryside. The theme was romantic elegance. Our aim was to reflect how tipis can offer a romantic and luxurious wedding setting, providing a different look to the rustic styling that tipis are often associated with. We also chose to incorporate a celebrant-led ‘wine blending’ marriage ceremony to mirror the unique style of the venue.
LOCATION
Lake Henry is nestled within ten acres of picturesque grounds and rural woodlands accompanied by lakeside views. The venue is made up of four permanent tipis that offer incredible space, height and light – the reason we comfortably cater for 160 guests. The large accompanying decking area provides spectacular views across the lakes. We made great use of both the undercover and open-air areas of Lake Henry for the shoot. Though the venue is outdoors, there is solid flooring throughout the structure, and so no need not worry about heels sinking into the ground.
STYLING
The dining area within the tipis was styled by Sarah from Styling Farm. The top table featured an abundant feast of florals, fruit and greenery using log slices, mercury votives, mercury taper candles, moss and a floral centrepiece arrangement to create a visually striking top table talking point. Two white blossom trees were placed at either side of the top table, which framed the look out onto the backdrop of the lake.
The centre tables were dressed in two different styles. One featuring greenery runners with simple classic mercury taper candles clustered along the centre. The other featured long lengths of ivory chiffon dotted with votives, moss pots and candelabras.
Two round tables were styled with silver candelabras with fresh floral greenery wreath at the base, echoing the florals used on the rest of the tables. The third table featured a centre bowl of faux florals that match the rest of the blooms.
Glass charger plates, silver cutlery, glassware and white napkins supplied by Event Hire UK added to the overall romantic look.
The ceremony area was styled with two white blossom canopy trees with hanging teardrop glass tealights to create a focal point for the top of the aisle, which was lined with vases and floating candles. There was also a suspended flower chandelier overhead, incorporating faux roses and hydrangea, and we used a large whisky barrel for the wine blending ceremony.
Outside, the tipi was styled by Yvonne Dennis Event Flowers using garlands of eucalyptus, bay trees and candles and lanterns stood upon wooden crates. To add to the ambience for the evening, large rustic sherry barrels with candles were also incorporated.
The cake, made by The Flamingo Bakery, was a four-tier buttercream creation, iced with a rustic top edge and finished in edible silver leaf. The design was finished with fresh flowers and foliage provided by Yvonne Dennis. The favours – individual Madagascan vanilla biscuits topped with hand embossed white icing to read ‘Happily Ever After’ – were also made by The Flamingo Bakery. The biscuits were finished with a metallic hand-painted heart to tie into the silver used on the cake, and each was individually boxed, tied with ribbon and complete with a bespoke thank you message tag.
The bridal bouquet and buttonholes were created by Yvonne Dennis. The hand-tied bouquet had an emphasis on different foliages, including several varieties of eucalyptus, rosemary and myrtle, to complement the rustic style of the tipis. Flowers incorporated included garden style roses, astrantia, eryngium thistles, astilbe, and lisianthus. Matching buttonholes were created using eryngium thistles and astrantia.
The magic mirror, supplied by Hire A Magic Mirror, with ivory blossom frame and ivory floral arch was in keeping with the romantic styling and worked well with the blossom trees and floral letters, supplied by Blossom Tree Hire Co.
ATTIRE
Our ‘groom’ wore Marc Darcy tweed suits, supplied by Bakers Tailoring and Haworth Menswear, which worked in perfect harmony with the outdoor setting.
The three gorgeous bridal gowns, meanwhile, were provided by Victoria Robson Bridal. These included a full lace, long sleeve Pronovias dress, a V-neck tulle skirt gown by Maggie Sottero and a lace, long sleeve with crepe front design, again by Pronovias.
BEAUTY
Beauty-wise, hair and makeup artist (and UNVEILED Network Member) Chrys Chapman was keen to keep the look relaxed, embracing the boho spirit, but with a little touch of glam. She created a bit of texture in the hair and gathered it in a low, deconstructed bun, with loose tendrils to frame the face, keeping the look soft. For the makeup, Chrys focused on creating a glowy complexion and delicate, blush-toned smokey eye, which allowed the bride’s natural beauty to really shine.
EXTRAS
Alexandra The Violinist delighted us with captivating music, which added emotion to the ‘ceremony’ and set the tone of the occasion. Alexandra’s music is wonderful for drink receptions and wedding breakfasts when she can mingle among the guests performing. Alexandra added an extra special touch when she performed for the first dance, creating a unique ambience that made the moment feel truly magical.
Qualified celebrant and UNVEILED Network Member, Deborah of True To You Celebrancy, created a visually stunning yet intrinsically meaningful wine blending ceremony for our couple. We chose wines with flavour notes to represent each of them. Both of the wines are then poured into a single carafe to symbolise the joining of the couple forevermore. There are endless possibilities for unique symbolic elements to be incorporated into a celebrant ceremony, and a wine blending is just one of those. Not everybody wants or needs a symbolic element such as this is within their wedding ceremony, but if you do, a celebrant is trained and experienced in how to construct these in a way that is true to you.
RESULTS
The contributing suppliers were all Northern-based, and their styles came together perfectly on the day to achieve the romantic elegance brief.
As the shoot took place in December, we were very fortunate that, although very cold, we had clear blue skies, and the sun was shining. The fire pit was a good source of warmth in between capturing the shots!
Lawrence Alexander, Director of Alexander Weddings & Events, was keen to make sure that all the suppliers who worked on the shoot were well looked after as this was the start of building lasting relationships to work together on future weddings at Lake Henry.
Finally, we’re excited to share that Lake Henry will soon have its own exclusive-use accommodation onsite so couples and up to 80 guests can enjoy more time together and keep the celebrations going. Designed in a horseshoe shape around a communal hub and firepit, the stunning pods will offer home comforts but with a cool festival vibe.
