Ryan & Katy’s timeless Yorkshire wedding, with Heather Butterworth Photography

Published by Claire Gould on December 6, 2021

A glorious wedding on a rainy day… and proof that rainy day weddings can make for the most stunning photographs and memories of your day! Katy and Ryan look fab – her dress from Ava Rose Hamilton is so incredibly beautiful and she looks amazing. I do love a groom in glasses – Ryan’s happiness absolutely shines and the pair are just gorgeous together. Do scroll down and read their English Wedding interview, as it’s a beauty! Huge thanks to lovely Heather Butterworth Photography for submitting this wonderful wedding to the blog. Happy Monday everyone!

Katy & Ryan’s wedding took place at a stunning new (this year) wedding venue in Yorkshire: The Oakwood at Ryther. It was an intimate candle lit wedding with stunning flowers with a flower arch and Katy had thought of so many details including thoughtful gifts for her family and bridesmaids. The weather was terrible! but watch out for the stunning wild weather photos as dusk which Katy & Ryan loved (they weren’t scared of the rain at all).

Wedding photographer’s website

https://www.heatherbutterworthphotography.com/

How did you choose your photographer?

We scoured the internet, social media such as Instagram and Facebook and couldn’t quite find the right person. Then we found Heather & her beautiful work and we just knew it had to be her. We got in touch and luckily Heather was available on our wedding day.

Were you pleased with your wedding photographer? Do tell… we love a brilliant review!

After two cancelled destination weddings, to then re plan a whole new UK wedding in less than 6 months was overwhelming. When we stumbled across Heather and her work we just knew it had to be her. I can’t put into words how grateful we are for the most amazing pictures and memories created of our special day. It was everything we could have wished for & more. Heather & videographer James literally went above and beyond for us, our guests and they made it so very special (as well as capturing all the special moments) they seamlessly blended in but yet were such a big part of the day. Family & friends raving about them both and greeted us at every photo opportunity with warmth, kindness, direction- everything you’d want in a photographer. They may have been a wedding supplier but really they were a big part of the day & certainly made the day. The pictures and video are out of this world – Heather & James are both so talented. The best in the business and have given us the memories to cherish forever.

Videographer details if applicable – and any thoughts for other couples about having a wedding video?

James (Heather’s husband) was our videographer and wow- absolutely fantastic. When we watched the video from the wedding the tears were streaming (happy of course) the whole time. We knew we always wanted a videographer, to have a video of
your special day is priceless- you forget so much on the day but now we have it captured to watch and cherish.

Tell us about your venue – what made this place special for you?

We got married at the Oakwood at Ryther. We love North Yorkshire and one of our bridesmaids (former wedding planner) liked the venue on Facebook so I quizzed her. It was a brand new venue and absolutely breathtaking and we fell in love with it as soon as we initially visited! It was a place where friends & family could stay the night before, who due to covid haven’t been able to be together for a long time. To be able to spend the night before and the wedding with friends & family was incredible. The owners and staff at Oakwood were exceptional each and everyone. They went above and beyond and when we initially searched for venues there wasn’t another which compared. The warmth we received when first visiting was second to none.

Did you love wearing your outfits? How was the dress / suit shopping experience?

I absolutely loved my dress. It felt bittersweet every time I went for a dress try on due to not knowing if the wedding was going ahead. But when we knew it was this is when I felt like a bride. I got my dress from Ava Rose Hamilton- who are incredible. Ryan & the men had a change of suits for the UK wedding and bought them from Joshua Adam’s menswear. Ryan is a bit last minute with everything so I was quite surprised when he picked he suit in good time!

Did you hire a florist? Tell us about any floral amazingness

Oh goodness another amazing supplier Emma from the Petal Studio… so so so talented. Absolutely amazing in every way. Emma brought our vision to life and made it even more fantastic than we could have imagined. Another best in the business supplier!!!

Did you hire a wedding planner?

No we didn’t I thought I’d use my two precious planned weddings as experience and just go for it myself (thanks Boris!)

As cake lovers here at English Wedding we’d LOVE to know who made your cake, and how delicious it was?

Alice from Alice’s cakes and bakes- not normally a wedding cake maker but an amazing baker who I begged to make it. Alice was amazing and the design was incredible. We opted for a two tier cake with lemon sponge on the top and biscoff for the base- yum!

Tell us about any special personal touches, or creative projects you made yourselves

I decided to do most of the decoration myself, I’m very organised and love being creative. So I took to Etsy to download templates and off I went. I made personalised door welcome hangers for each guest (so they’d remember their rooms after a few glasses) welcome signs for the rooms, menus, card & gifts sign, table signs, personalised framed poems for parents. The details really mattered to me as I wanted each and every guest to feel special but they also noticed every detail. I loved finding templates, personalising them, printing them and making the signs. For the bridesmaids we all had matching gowns for the morning to wear whilst getting ready and each member of the bridal party had a personalised gift bag (Etsy and Amazon became my best friends)!

Did you personalise your vows or have any wedding readings? What were they?

Yes we had a choice of vows and decided to go with the ones which suited us these were choices from North Yorkshire County Coucil. We had three readings which were ‘on your wedding day’ – author unknown, ‘The Meaning of Love’ – Krina Shah and ‘Marriage is’ – Emily Matthews.

What was your first dance song? Why did you choose it?

It was Kodaline – The One. The groom chose this one – I’d never heard of it before and said that’s the way he felt about me.

How did the pandemic affect your wedding plans? Do you have any advice to share with couples planning their weddings right now?

Well it ruined two weddings and I’m not going to pretend it’s easy. When you’ve looked forward to it your whole life you feel silly for being so disappointed when it’s cancelled. But my advice would be to not give up, your day will come whether it’s months or years after. The feeling when you are finally walking down the aisle and seeing the happiness in your loved ones faces is worth it, worth the heartbreak and temporary sadness. I would also say not to over think parts of the wedding I was getting so stressed on things like favours and really it doesn’t matter. Your day is about you both- do what you want and don’t listen to opinions!