Let our lovely couple and their floral-colour-burst wedding bring a smile to your face this Friday! Michelle & Ludwig married at Blackfriars in Newcastle and chose Erika Tanith Photography to capture their day.

Wedding photographer’s website

Erika Tanith https://www.erikatanithphotography.co.uk/

Wedding photographer review

When we were searching for a photographer, it was Erika´s photojournalistic style that caught our attention. We prefer natural shots to poses and knew we would need someone who could capture a flying bird. On the day, Erika was fantastic at capturing the many different moments of our day from people socialising to the owl flying down the aisle. We did a few posed shots, but mostly we relied on Erika catching the action.

Venue name + review

Blackfriars in Newcastle (https://blackfriarsrestaurant.co.uk/) Their team was really excellent with organising the event. They helped us identify our florist, the person who made our cake, and even assisted with last minute seating when 3 guests cancelled due to COVID. Blackfriars was both the location of our wedding ceremony and our reception.

The people we invited had a range of dietary needs (gluten free, vegan, halal, low sugar, no alcohol) and, while Blackfriars does not have specific menus for every diet, they were able to accommodate everyone through 5 courses. We were told by various people that something always goes wrong on the wedding day, but nothing did for us. With Blackfriars help, we had an excellent team in place who all worked really well together, leaving us free to enjoy our day.

Florist name + review

Kate Norris at Northumbrian Flowers

We really enjoyed working with Kate. We put together some examples of bouquets and flower arrangements we like and she used that as inspiration to come up with the perfect flower arrangements for the venue, tables, and my bouquet.

 

Your best moment or memory

Our favourite moment was the owl ringbearer flying down the aisle. We kept it a secret from our guests and it was great to see their surprise! Between the ceremony and reception, everyone had a chance to see and pet the owl, Bilbo, and even hold its owl friend, Fuzz.

Tell us anything you did differently – we love hearing about NEW traditions (or none at all!)

A lot! Besides the owl ringbearer, we also decided to walk down the aisle together. We make all major decisions together and so we decided that was the right entrance for us. Also, as you will see below, we skipped a number of other traditions (e.g., first dance or any other dances, having a wedding party).

Ahead of the wedding, we didn´t do hen/stag nights or a bridal shower, but instead borrowed from German tradition and had a Polterabend with a twist. Normally, Polterabend involves the couple with their friends and family smashing ceramics to bring luck to the marriage. We smashed ceramics by going clay pigeon shooting with everyone at Dinnington (https://thebigshoot.co.uk/en/venue/oVenue-3732_oVenAct-5).

Owls – We used Barn Owl Ring Bearer in Durham to have an owl ringbearer. Bilbo, our owl, did a great job. A fun moment of our wedding was after Bilbo delivered our rings to Ludwig, he wanted to stay up front with us. We also booked a smaller owl, Fuzz, that all our guests, including children, could enjoy holding and posing with for photos after the ceremony.

Car – Last minute, Ludwig arranged for a historic car to take us to Blackfriars. Fortunately, Classic Wedding Cars was available with a classic Beauford. Our driver, Clive, was excellent, even when we realised we had to make an unexpected detour!

Rings – Gavin of Gavin Shelley Jewellery Design in Durham. Michelle drew up the design and Gavin helped us choose the perfect metal to use before transforming the design into our wedding rings.

Tell us a little about your outfits – both of you!

Ludwig (from near Munich) decided to go for a Bavarian tracht-inspired suit reflecting his heritage. Michelle´s dress was handmade by her friend Emma. Before the wedding, Michelle picked a sewing pattern, then Emma and Michelle met up in London on a fabric shopping trip. Michelle helped cutting out the pattern, but the rest was Emma!

Dress or suit shop name + review

Suit: Chiemseer Dirndl & Tracht Dress: Emma!

Cake maker name + review

Enjoy Bakes
When looking at their website, we found the exact style of cake we wanted. So it was just a matter of specifying the size and number of tiers. They picked a beautiful selection of edible flowers for our cake and the cake itself was delicious! Everyone enjoyed it!

Stationery maker’s name + review

Cartalia
We chose a wedding invite that reflected the fact that many of our guests would be flying to attend our wedding. Cartalia has a beautiful passport wedding invitation collection that is customizable.

Any crafty projects or homemade styling touches?

Our friend, Emma, made Michelle’s dress. Michelle designed our rings based on the sand dunes of the desert in Kuwait where we met. Gavin of Gavin Shelley Jewellery Design in Durham transformed the design into our wedding rings. To the passport invites, we added the Blackfriars menu options printed on airmail paper and sent everything in regular airmail envelopes.

Music

The evening we got engaged, we went to a concert of Vivaldi´s Four Seasons, so we had that as the background music to our wedding ceremony. Although we walked in to a segment of Holst´s Jupiter. For the reception, we enjoyed a five course meal. As music in the background, we put together a playlist of bardcore music, which is popular music played with medieval instruments (see for example Algar the Bard, Hildegard von Blingen, and Cornelius Link).

Wedding planner name + review

We just worked with Blackfriars who have people to help with organisation. Specifically, we worked with Laura and Daniel who were both really helpful with answer our questions and ensuring we had everything we needed for our wedding day.

Hair + makeup

Michelle did her own makeup and Michelle’s mother did her hair with help from her friend, Steph.