Bold & Beautiful Fun Personal Wedding

We’re heading to West Yorkshire today, and East Riddlesden Hall to be precise for Sarah and Jon’s big fun and personal wedding day. Everything took place on 23rd March 2019 with a ceremony at the church at which Jon’s mum is a vicar, St Peter’s Church, Addingham and followed by the celebrations at nearby East Riddlesden Hall. 

This pair really put a lot of effort into lots of personal touches and it really did pay off. I love the fact that Jon organised some surprise entertainment for the day that even Sarah didn’t know about, so special!

Sarah and Jon searched long and hard for their photographer and were very pleased to find M&G Photographic. We’re very pleased to share these beautiful images, thanks so much team! Enjoy WWWers!

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The Proposal

Jon proposed on the 24^th of June 2017. Jon organised a surprise champagne proposal on our morning dog walk. There was an acoustic guitarist playing our favourite songs in front of a picnic blanket in the park. Jon’s dad was on hand hidden away taking candid photos of the proposal so that we can look back on it fondly.

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The Vision

We knew it was going to be a big wedding as with Sarah’s family alone we had 80 guests! We wanted the day to be personal, casual and exciting. We had both always wanted to get married in a church and the rustic look of a barn gave the relaxed vibe we were looking for in the venue.

The Planning Process

The first step was to establish who was in charge (Sarah!). We then set about looking for a venue that could accommodate 150 guests for the wedding breakfast, this narrowed down our options nicely. Once we had found the perfect venue in East Riddlesden Hall, it was time to set a date. As Jon’s mum is the vicar we were able to easily check availability at the church.

We decided on a spring wedding as the church is surrounded by daffodils and we wanted it to be on a Saturday as we have several family and friends that are teachers and wouldn’t get time off midweek. Once we secured the date, East Riddlesden Hall provided us a preferred suppliers list which helped us decide on caterers, florist and lighting.

Then it was a case of going to wedding fairs and researching online. We booked the main suppliers and sent out save the dates fairly quickly and put wedding planning on hold whilst we moved house. We picked up wedding planning a couple of months before the big day and started to look at the details and personal touches.

Budget

£20,000 (not including the dress)

The Venue

St Peter’s Church, Addingham

East Riddlesden Hall, Keighley

Your Outfits & Accessories

Sarah found her perfect dress in York from a bridal shop called Andrea Bambridge. It was the second bridal shop she had been to on a day out with her step mum and four bridesmaids. She tried on several dresses but knew it was perfect from the look on people’s faces. The dress was much bigger than she had ever planned and was very traditional with lace sleeves by designer Jesus Peiro. Sarah wore a cathedral length veil, with white shoes purchased in the sale from M&S which were later changed for sequin slippers from Tesco for the evening!

Jons wore a three piece suit from Marc Darcy, it was a dark blue tweed. We chose the suits as they fit the rustic theme, were good quality and were reasonably priced. Jon wore a mink coloured tie from T M Lewin tied in an Eldredge knot, brown suede Loakes and a white Ted Baker shirt.

Beauty

Sarah and her bridesmaids their hair and makeup done by Alison Martin hair and make up.  Two make up artists came to the hotel Sarah stayed at the night before. Sarah wanted a loose up do and fairly natural makeup, the bridesmaids also had an up do to show off the back of their bridesmaid dresses.

The Readings & Music

Sarah walked down the aisle to Tenerife Sea by Ed Sheeran, he is a favourite for both of us so it was an easy decision. During the ceremony we had four readings including On Your Wedding Day, 1 Corinthians 13:1-8, I Belong in Your Arms and Winnie the Pooh, all which were read by our lovely family and friends. We chose three hymns for the service I the Lord of Sea and Sky, Be Still for the Presence of the Lord and Jerusalem, as it was a big service we wanted to choose hymns people would know and could sing along to. We also had two of Sarah’s bridesmaids playing the piano and saxophone during the registration and as we exited the church which made the music even more special.

The Flowers

When it came to flowers we really had no idea where to start. As soon as we met Lynne we knew she was the florist for us. She guided us through our options and we created a Pinterest board for inspirations. All the flowers were perfect on the day. We had a bridal bouquet for Sarah and smaller versions for bridesmaids, the step Mother of the bride and mother of the groom wore wrist corsages and the groom and groomsmen wore lovely rustic buttonholes. Lynne also decorated our tables and an Edison lighting board (supplied by Typical Type) with flowers which really gave it the wow factor.

The Cake

Our experience with Helen from Sweet Chic was amazing from the start. We met Helen at York racecourse wedding fair when we couldn’t agree on a style of cake. A couple of days later we received an email from Helen suggesting a consultation to talk through our options. The email was so personal and we were amazed she remembered us considering the amount of people she would have met that day! During our consultation Helen made us feel relaxed, we came away with a vision for our cake and laughed throughout the whole appointment. Jon even came away with four delicious cupcakes.  On the day, the cake looked fantastic, and more than lived up to expectations. It looked amazing and all four flavours tasted incredible.

Your Photographer

Finding the right photographer was initially overwhelming, there are so many to choose from and we had no idea what we were looking for. After doing a bit of research and thinking about what we wanted from our day we decided with 150 guests we didn’t want to be stood around for hours posing so a documentary photographer was the way forward. When we came across M&G photographic we knew instantly we loved their pictures and style. Patrick’s communication was quick and friendly from the start, when we met him and Holly at our engagement shoot we knew we had made the right choice. We have so many wonderful photos from the day and the photographers fitted in perfectly being almost invisible!

Your Filmmaker

We had convinced ourselves we didn’t need a videographer and it was just another expense but the more I thought about it the more I wanted to make sure I could remember every word that had been said during our vows and the speeches. A couple of months before the wedding I contacted our photographer who (thankfully) said the videographer was still available. Looking back it was one of the best decisions, the highlights video is perfect and having the full speeches and ceremony means we will remember these forever. The videographer blended in so well people didn’t even realise he was there! The video reduces me to tears every time I watch it and definitely believe this was money well spent.

Bridesmaids

Sarah had four bridesmaids, three childhood friends and her step sister along with a flower girl, Jon’s niece. The bridesmaids wore full length mink bridesmaid dresses with a lace back from Little Mistress and the flower girl wore a pretty white dress with matching ribbon.

Groomsmen

Jon’s three brothers and his best man made up his groomsmen. They also wore Marc Darcy tweed suits but only wore a two piece. Jons nephew was also a pageboy to add the cute factor!

The Details & Décor

To decorate the church we wanted something simple yet effective as the church itself is already stunning. We used helium balloons to decorate the path to the church and had helium balloons lining the aisle. The decorations needed to be quick and easy to take down after the service which was important as the church has to be returned to normal for Sunday’s service. The balloons were very effective decoration and also provided the kids with something to play with!

In the venue we had set up lots of things to keep the guests engaged. Outside we had a petting zoo provided by HART farm who brought alpacas and miniature donkeys alongside a whole host of other animals. Inside we had a brass band to kick the day off, followed by the acoustic guitarist from the proposal and then a DJ.

Around the venue we had various corners set up. We had a polaroid Camera in one corner where guests were asked to take a photo of themselves and stick it on a picture frame. We had a corner filled with childhood photos of us and a pick and mix corner. We also had a kids corner filled with balloons, cuddly toys, bubbles and drawing books to keep them happy during the speeches.

The tables were decorated by our florist but we had added little touches such as our homemade sloe gin as wedding favours, a pot full of ice breaker jokes to get tables talking and our name tags were mounted on corks shaped into bunnies, each painstakingly made by the step mother of the bride.

The Honeymoon

We decided we wanted our honeymoon to be a holiday to remember with some activities and some luxury. We booked our honeymoon through Kuoni which allowed our guests to contribute through our John Lewis Gift List allowing the guests the options to buy a gift or to contribute money. The experience with Kuoni was second to none, we browsed locations and discussed our options whilst drinking several glasses of prosecco. We decided on seven nights travelling Sri Lanka followed by 10 nights in the Maldives.

Memorable Moments

For Sarah the most memorable moment was arriving at the barn. It was a lovely spring day, she had been handed a glass of Champagne and was stroking an alpaca when she heard some music she wasn’t expecting. When she entered the barn there was a six piece brass band playing modern covers. It was a surprise Jon had arranged and really brought the barn alive, they were amazing and the reception drinks would have been very different without them!

For Jon the most memorable moment was seeing Sarah walk down the aisle in her dress. The dress had been a much talked about (in hushed whispers) top secret. Jon had no idea what to expect at all but was very pleasantly surprised! A close second of course was the fantastic food provided by Hog and Apple.

Advice For Other Couples

Start your day as early as possible, you only get to do it once! Add as many personal touches as you can and most of all, try to relax and enjoy your day.

Credit Where Credit Is Due     

What a beautiful day you had Sarah and Jon. Thank you so much for sharing everything with WWW. Rachel x