WWW readers Faye and Adam chose The Hospitium, York to hold their old fashioned feel wedding. There day was full of romance, pretty blooms and glamour.

Faye looked utterly beautiful in her lace dress and Jo Barnes Vintage headband with statement red lips and nails. While Adam opted for a home made blue suit with polka dot tie and brogues.

There were some lovely touches such as the winning key box and fun card glasses. So lovely.

Thanks so much to Jason Baughan for sharing his wonderful images with us today.

 

The Proposal… We visited Prague in February and on a perfectly sunny and cold crisp day as we walked across Charles Bridge Adam got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.  As soon as it sank in and we started telling all our friends and family we were so excited and decided to plan our wedding as soon as we could. The ring was stunning and Adam had sneaked off to the diamond quarter in Birmingham to get it made, he chose the diamond, band and clasp separately and it is perfect

The Vision for the Day… We wanted a relaxed but fun and personalised celebration. It was important that the day reflected our personalities and that all our friends and family had a fab day and night. We both have quite large families who are not adverse to a bit of partying so we wanted a really good knees up ! A lot of our family and friends came over on the Friday night and we made it a bit of a 2 day event. The overall look we had in mind was a mix of old fashioned romantic vintage with English country garden touches, we didn’t want a particular ‘theme’and just included items and ideas that we both liked.

The Planning Process… We had about a year and a half to plan the wedding and I treated it as mini project/weekend hobby. I work in design and so it was really important for me to make as much as I could myself so I really enjoyed the whole planning process. If I am the creative one Adam is the organised one, he works in planning and so an excel spreadsheet and bar chart(!) was inevitable. It sounds geeky but it was a really useful tool to track our spending and also made sure we didn’t forget anything or  leave it all to the last minute

Budget… We set a budget of £12,000 initially which quickly rose to £15,000 however we knew this was our absolute max and would mean saving as planned right until the last month. We felt £15,000 wasn’t too excessive for a day guest list of 100 people but also meant we didn’t have to compromise on much, we ended up bang on budget with the help of Adam’s bar chart!

The Venue… We live in Leeds with a lot of family from Huddersfield and looked at quite a few venues in these areas but nothing seemed quite right. My parents have a B+B in York city centre so we are quite familiar with the city, visiting on the odd weekend here and there. One day we were walking through the museum gardens on our way to do a bit of shopping and noticed a charming medieval building at the bottom of the park. The Hospitium is a split level 14th century building and as soon as we saw it we were hooked, nestled in amongst the stunning gardens of the museum park and steeped in history it was perfect for what we wanted for our day. We are not particularly religious and so a church wedding would have felt a little hypocritical and stuffy but we wanted something a little bit different to the usual hotel venues of non religious marriages. The vaulted beamed ceiling of the building added a wow factor for our wedding breakfast room, the feature red wall was a slight compromise as it didn’t exactly fit in with our muted, vintage pink colour scheme but I got over it! The staff were completely professional, friendly and a delight to deal with on and in the run up to the big day.

The Dress + Accessories… Rather conveniently for me my great Aunt owns a wedding shop (Heavenly Reflections in Milnsbridge, Huddersfield), and she very patiently and generously helped me find my beautiful dress.  Although I had a decent idea in my head of what style I wanted, it turned out to be a bit of a long process as although I adored the dress it took me a while to fall in love with it on me. I can be quite indecisive at times and the sky high pile of wedding magazines I had accumulated, confronted me with never-ending images of wedding dresses which did not help with the initial uncertainty I had about my choice. I have since read that this feeling is quite common for brides and after a few alterations and a lot of cups of tea in my Aunts shop the dress was perfect. So brides trust your first instincts and do not worry if you are having second thoughts about your dress-it will be perfect in the end!

I bought my shoes from eBay but they were unworn second hand Rachel Simpson wedding shoes. I loved the 20’s inspired fan design and T-bar strap design and coincidently the pink colour of the fan matched my bridesmaid’s dresses perfectly.  My veil (which I forgot to put on and had to send my brother to get it from my hotel room after the ceremony) was simple with just a hint of matching  lace detail and I wore it with a 1920’s inspired headband from the very talented Jo Barnes Vintage. I finished my look off with flicked eye liner, a slick of red Lippy and glossy post box red nails- every girl needs a bit of glamour on their wedding day!

Groom’s Attire… Adam was adamant from the outset that he wanted a handmade suit and he was very happy with the finished product crafted by the brilliantly talented Kristoffers in Leeds. The tailor specialises in mod style suits and created a very smart Italian cut 3 piece blue mohair suit which Adam looked very handsome in.  He finished the suit off with a crisp white shirt, polker dot tie and Brown Grenson Brogues. My wedding present to Adam was silver working pocket watch dating back to 1912 and this finished of his look perfectly.

The Readings + Music… We are both very much into our music and so it was important to us that we created our own play list for guests entrance and reception drinks. We chose a selection of songs including songs by Jake Bugg, Elbow, Beatles, Warpaint, The Kinks and Lana Del Rey. I walked down the aisle to an acoustic version of Massive Attack’s Teardrop by Newton Faulkner which was beautiful; we walked out to Miles Kanes uplifting ‘Re-arrange’. Our fist dance (which didn’t happen until 10pm because everybody was outside partying in the glorious summer weather!) was to Cranberries ‘Dreams’ it is as close to ‘our song’ as we could get. We are known to regularly get up and throw a few shapes out together when we have had a drink or two and so it was exactly the same on our wedding night! It wasn’t really what would be described as a slow romantic dance but it was perfect for us and everyone joined in which we loved.

My dance with my dad was to My Girl by the temptations (I had given him a hand embroided hanky with the words ‘I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day’ as part of his present earlier in the day). It was hard deciding what to choose as I wanted something sentimental but not too cheesy; the song was perfect on the night.

We had 3 readings during our service, one from our usher Elliot who memorised a passage from Les Miserable and did a brilliant job in delivering it. We were also lucky enough to have my beautiful sister do a lovely reading taken from ‘Captain Corelli’s Mandolin’ by Louis de Bernieres called Love is a temporary madness. Finally we had another one of bridesmaids, our friend Philippa who perfectly read a very quirky poem that she had found.

Beautiful Bridesmaids… My stunning bridesmaids were my best friend Lynsey (who did an amazing and tear jerking speech for me at our wedding breakfast), my sister Sophie and my two friends Natalie and Philippa. The bridesmaid dress shopping was surprisingly very easy, it was the first dress we tried and was a pale muted pink lace dress from Phase Eight, and to top it off it was in the sale!

I also had 3 adorable flower girls who looked like they had stepped right out of a midsummer’s night dream. They wore beautiful flower crowns in their hair which were created by our florist and we got their pretty dresses from Monsoon.

Our two pageboys looked very handsome in Monsoon trouser and waistcoat sets finished off with mini brown brogue style shoes.

The Flowers… As soon as we set step inside  our florist’s antique and taxi dermy adjourned home we knew we were onto a winner! Katherine of Fleur Adamo was charming and completely on our wave length. She created the most beautiful vintage –Esq. table centre pieces using English country blooms arranged in and amongst various antique pieces. My bouquet was one of the prettiest things I have ever seen, and had just the right amount of colour nestling amongst stunning white peonies. The bridesmaid’s bouquets were white hydrangeas which I love the delicate, pretty look of. The flower girls looked completely angelic as they scattered flower petals down the aisle wearing their intricate flower head bands that Katherine created for us. I would recommend Katherine in a heartbeat, she told us about a brilliant antique fair in York from where we got a lot of our dressing items from and she was a dream to deal with.

The Cake… We were not massively bothered about cake and it was one of the least important priorities on our list, we didn’t want typical flouncy tired wedding cake so instead opted for 3 different offerings.  We had a carrot cake (which was topped with a home made cake topper I modelled from trusty fimo!)  and mini macarons rested on a card vintage inspired cake stand. We also had a 3 tier cheese wheel cake which was supposed to be dressed with figs, grapes, crackers and chutneys however due to the very warm weather this was left in the fridge and not put out until the evening buffet-  I have been reliably informed  that it was very tasty though!

Your Photographer… Our photographer was recommended to us by a friend and my sister who is getting married in December has also booked him. Jason from Jason Baughan photography was lovely to deal with and had an informal documentary type style which is exactly what we were after. He looked and acted very professional on the day, we didn’t notice he was there half the time but was ever present in the background snapping up all the natural and unrehearsed moments.

The Details + Decor… As I work in Interior Design I was very keen to design as much of the detail as possible. I created all the wedding stationery which included little RSVP cards which had photos of Adam and I holding up a ‘Yes’ card and a ‘No’ card that people could tick. We also asked for people’s song request so that everyone could get up and have a good dance.  I made ‘Order of the Day’ cards and designed the menu cards which all had a similar country garden theme.

The table pan was made up of album covers which had guest names instead of song titles; the albums were some of our favourites and corresponded with the framed table number cards which had lyrics on taken from a single which was on the appropriate album. The name cards were vintage keys (which involved a lot of ebaying)  with tea stained luggage tags tied with pink ribbon. One of the keys opened a decoupaged box at the back of the room which was full of lots of mini treats such as champagne, chomabrd liquor, a china cup, lip-gloss, candles, and mini chocolate and retro sweets. For favours we had popping candy fizz whizz for the boys and love heart dib dabs for the girls.

The top table had vintage glass bottles with luggage tags tied around the neck, inside was a hand written note from me and Adam which was personal to each person thanking them for their love and support.

The top table was decorated with country style bunting and the table centres were made up of a collection of random antiques we collected over the months leading up the wedding which were arranged with old LP’s and Old books entwined with beautiful flowers  that our florist arranged. The tables also had confetti sprinkled on which was made from old fiction books cut into heart shapes (eBay). Adam loves reading and we both love our music so we tried to filter this into the décor.

We also included fancy dress items and card glasses which our guest had a bit of fun with.

One of my favourite things was some little transfer tattoos that I designed and got printed up which were put on a cut glass cake stand we bought form a charity shop. I also loved the framed pictures we displayed of our parents and grandparent wedding days, it emphasized the importance we hold on marriage and commitment and also was nice to have photos of my grandparents for everyone to see as they are sadly no longer with us.

My maids surprised us and set off some heart shaped Chinese lanterns in the evening which was a lovely surprise, they also put lots of hen do pics up in the ladies and made a wall for people to write good luck messages on.

The Honeymoon… We decided on Italy for our honeymoon and went to Rome for 3 nights and Sorrento for 7. We really wanted somewhere that had good food, good wine and good weather so it seemed the perfect choice.  Rome is a really buzzing city with lots to see and do and it was nice to relax in the stunningly romantic surroundings of Sorrento after our busy city trip.

Memorable Moments… The whole day was memorable but a few things that stand out are: my dad welling up when I gave him his present ( a framed picture I had made which thanked him for all the things he had done for me throughout my life), seeing Adam’s teary face when I got to the bottom of the aisle, the fantastic heartfelt and hilarious speeches, everyone having a good old party and being sat at in a big group under an old oak tree in the gardens at midnight surrounded by fabulous and very merry friends .

Advice for Other Couples… Enjoy planning the day but don’t sweat the small stuff, just do what you want to do –it’s your day but don’t stress about it. I looked at my wedding as big party and celebration of Adam and I’s love with all the people I loved the most in the world, all the extras were just frills and decorating that were there because I enjoyed creating them. As long as you focus on what is right for you then you won’t go far wrong. I also would recommend just taking a moment to look around you amidst the big day celebrations and really appreciate and enjoy what you have in your life, be thank full that you are lucky enough to be marrying the love of your life.

Finally I would recommend that you get a friend to do the wedding video. We asked Sean-one of our ushers and he did a fab job recording our day, we have a very funny, heart warming and genuine record of our big day-  and it was pretty much free!

Credit Where Credit is Due…

Heavaenly Reflections- http://www.heavenlyreflectionsdesignerbridalwear.co.uk/

Jo Barnes Vintage – http://www.jobarnesvintage.com/default.html

Jason Baughan photograpghy-  http://www.baughanphotography.co.uk/

Fleur Adamo  florist-  http://www.fleuradamo.co.uk/

Bradshaws Caterers- http://www.bradshaws-caterers-york.co.uk/

Ebay

Etsy

Printer- http://www.printed4u.com/

Venue- http://www.yorkvenues.org.uk/weddings/the-hospitium.html

 

Beautiful indeed. Thanks so so much to Faye and Adam for sharing their lovely wedding with us today XOXO Lou