I’m so delighted to be sharing Amy and Ethan’s stunning Woodhill Hall wedding with you today. Their wedding theme was spring meadow with wildflowers and hints of sage green. Everything is happy and colourful, and Willow and Vine‘s styling with florals and foliage is out of this world. Joss’s images are – as always – beautiful, authentic and joyful. It’s lovely to read Amy & Ethan’s glowing review which confirms Joss Denham Photography as one of the North East’s favourite wedding photographers. The happy pair are gorgeous, the vibe of this entire wedding is laid back and full of fun, and the flowers are jaw-droopingly amazing!

One little piece of advice from Amy & Ethan before we dive into their words and see their wedding play out in those glorious photos: “Take the time to pick suppliers/vendors that align with your vision and you feel represent you. Being able to put our trust in those playing such a big part on our wedding day allowed us to relax, spend time with our guests and have THE most fun which in turn means your guests have the best time!”

Suppliers websites & insta handles:

Venue: Woodhill Hall
Florist: Willow and Vine
Make Up Artist: Blade and Blush
Dress Boutique: You Are Precious
Dress Designer: Madi Lane Bridal
Suit Designer: Gieves And Hawkes
Live Music: Glen Roughead
DJ: Bride and Groove
Ice cream: Di Meos
Photobooth: Ag Events
Live Music: Helena Pearson

Wedding photographer’s website

North East and Northumberland wedding photographer Joss Denham Photography.

Wedding photographer review

World class – Theres not much more to say!

We have so many images we will continue to treasure forever and ever. To say we are the awkward camera shy people we are amazed at the amount of gorgeous images Joss Denham has provided. From the candids to the portraits we couldn’t be happier. So many special moments captured forever pretty much sums it up!

Joss integrated into the day seamlessly – such a chilled guy with a great personality. All our friends and family commented on just how lovely he was and the effort he went to to remember names. Half of the images we have I don’t ever remember seeing Joss – which is a testament to how unobtrusive he was. The perfect blend of being in the background but also being super friendly and putting everyone at ease with subtle direction.

Would recommend to anyone who is considering documentary style wedding photography and especially those who are less comfortable in front of the camera. A big bonus was how quick we got our gallery – we were astounded!

Venue name + review

Woodhill Hall

The concept of a wedding weekend drew us in for an open day. The wooded drive was what originally sold us when we first visited, not to mention the elephants and the wow factor (neither of us stopped smiling after our first visit)

There was enough accommodation for family with bedrooms full of personality and we loved that the venue had a separate room for each part of the day and felt it would flow nicely. The staff were also fabulous.

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

Amy: I ended up with the opposite of what I thought I was going for but as soon as I put it on I felt bridal and super happy! I went through the motions of every style, I even wanted to try a poofy meringue dress to indulge in feeling like a princess (definitely not me though). I must have tried around 25-30 dresses on before ending up at YAP where Ruthy pulled out a sister dress to the dress I had originally gone to try and that was that!

I wanted a super intricate veil which was super expensive, instead went to trusty Vinted and got a brand new veil second hand and mum and grandma painstakingly added pearls and extra lace to meet my vision – they made it all the more special. For my evening dress, I always wanted to try making a wedding outfit so decided to make my own short puffy evening dress! It took a bit of trial and error but finished it 5 days before the big day and turned out perfect! I couldn’t have missed out on getting some matching personalised converse for the evening either!

Black tie and tails didn’t feel right for Ethan. He wanted something light and summery but didn’t want to feel like he was going to the office. He came across Savile Row tailors Gieves and Hawkes and they sold the dream of a tailor made suit. He spent one afternoon going through fabric samples and landed on a prince of wales check with a red lining which fit the bill of something a bit different and very him.

It took a while to land on groomsmen suits as all we had to go off was a vision and a tiny swatch. Groomsmen were travelling from far and wide and had to pray all suits would fit and work well together – it wasn’t until the morning of the wedding everything fell into place and thankfully they all looked fab.

Florist name + review

At the first open day we attended at Woodhill Hall we met Margaret from Willow and Vine. We spent a good 20 minutes chatting to her about the arrangements she had brought and the work she does and more importantly got to know her and how fab her and the team were!

We spent countless hours in the run up to the wedding sitting and chatting over a cuppa and biccies not only about our wedding vision but about life, sharing funny stories. Our vision was spring meadow, wild flowing flowers, lots of colours and happiness. Margaret more than met the brief. We couldn’t stop happy dancing when the girls brought the bouquets on the morning of the wedding, and through every room the florals were perfect.

Wedding cake

Cake originally wasn’t in the plan but Amy’s mum wanted to see a cake cutting. We ended up with the biggest box of gorgeous cake samples in so many flavours and agreed a cake was for the best!

After trying everything from lemon cake to salted caramel we settled on red velvet for one tier and chocolate cake with an oreo crunch buttercream for the second tier and god was it tasty. We wanted to keep things simple so stayed with a white buttercream covering with a hint of pastel peach smudge and gold leaf with some added florals.

Catering

Catering provided by Woodhill was second to none.

From the Friday night lasagne and curry to the canapes and wedding breakfast the food was exquisite. To top it all, the mother of the groom is coeliac and to keep things simple the chef cooked all meals gluten free. You would never have guessed that sticky toffee pudding was GF, it was the lightest yummiest pudding ever!
Allergies and dietary requirements – nothing was too much to ask.

So many people commented on the food and how fab it was. Still unsure how the chef cooked so many sirloins to perfection!

Big shout out to the evening food – personal pizza boxes, you can never go wrong after a few drinks. At the end of the night we ate lots of pizza and slices of cake and sat looking through the photobooth guestbook laughing at all the fab pictures!

Di meos – couldn’t not have the best ice cream in Newcastle. Went down a treat and was the perfect addition on such a sunny day. Holds a special place in our hearts, had many an ice cream date and pizza at Di meos. Come wind rain or shine we are always down for ice cream and as soon as we got engaged it was one of Amy’s non negotiables!

Entertainment

Helena – harpist for the wedding ceremony, playing the most gorgeous songs, there was a heavy country theme to a lot of the music and of course we had to have Shania twain as the entrance song. Sadly we couldn’t have Lizzie Mcguire as our exit song but Helena did a fab rendition of Bruno mars and we made up for the lack of lizzie mcguire at the wedding breakfast entrance! This truly is what dreams are made of!!

Glen – top geezer, provided some great vocals and good vibes for the sunny drinks reception. Not to mention the added photography. We both agreed we wanted a live first dance song, and so he stayed on to do a live set at the evening reception making it all the more special.

Bride and groove – shout out to the best DJ managing to mix country with pop, r&b and a sprinkle of ABBA (for grandma). Couldn’t have asked for a better evening full of dancing and fun. He even obliged in playing the iconic DDID by Trey Lewis! Also a shout out to the photobooth for providing some hilarious photos!