My dream wedding would be: a venue high in the mountains with epic views of lakes and fells, locally made craft beers, and a pac-man arcade game, then doughnuts. A fun vicar would be an added bonus. The good news? It’s already been done – and gorgeous couple Christina & Chris made their Lakes wedding amazing. Honestly, everything about this day is 100% perfect – and just to add to the joy, today’s superstar couple have written the loveliest review for their Cumbria wedding photographer Mark Battista (at the top of their interview, just below).

This was very much a DIY wedding with friends and family contributing with flowers, cake and decor – and it has so much heart and soul for all the love that went into every part of the day. Thank you so much Christina & Chris for sharing your wedding story with us.

All images are by lovely Mark Battista Photography, based in Cumbria and capturing weddings across the North West and UK. I’m proud to say Mark is a member of English Wedding.

There are a few more photos in this blog than I usually add… because after their wedding day, paddle boarders Chris and Christina jumped into Coniston Lake in their wedding clothes! As Mark describes it, this was “Pure chaos. Pure joy. Absolutely epic.”

Wedding photography

Photographer’s website

Mark Battista – Lake District and Cumbria wedding photographer

Lake District wedding photographer review

This man works so incredibly hard to capture the most beautiful moments, and we couldn’t be happier with our choice of photographer! Great communication throughout the whole process. Mark really makes an effort to find out what you want from your wedding photographs. He was perfectly unobtrusive throughout the day, whilst still managing to capture so many amazing shots! Just an all round great guy who takes a huge amount of care and pride in his work. ~ Christina & Chris

Your Wedding Story

Your best wedding moment or memory

The whole day was perfect from start to finish, there’s no one memory that stands out the most. The ceremony was funny and engaging due to our great vicar, the venue was stunning, the weather stayed dry for all the important bits and was perfectly moody and wild when we were inside, the speeches were amazing, and the DJ kept the dancefloor full all night. Everyone seemed to have a great time, which is all that we wanted!

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

We had a pool table, table football table, and pacman machine in the marquee which were so great for keeping people entertained throughout the day.

We also made our own top table. Probably a very unnecessary stress to add to the chaos of organising a wedding, but it looked really beautiful and felt like a huge achievement.

We also jumped in the lake in our wedding outfits in the week after our wedding. Maybe a bit nuts, but it made for a great photo 😉

Wedding suppliers

Wedding venue name + review

Coppermines Mountain weddings. The most stunning location in our favourite part of the world. We didn’t really consider any other venues because we couldn’t think of anywhere else more perfectly suited to us.

Florist name + review

We had some amazing friends and family who all pulled together to do the flower arranging. We’re very lucky to know so many wonderfully creative people that were willing to help us out.

Hair + makeup name + review

Ely Hair and Makeup – a beautiful lady, inside and out who did an amazing job of hair and makeup up for me, my sister (and MOH) and mum. Very natural style, which is exactly what we wanted!!

Wedding cake maker name + review

Our friend Ellie did an AMAZING job of making our cake for us as a wedding gift. 3 tiers with 3 different flavours. It was both beautiful and delicious!

Wedding wear

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

Our colour scheme was dark green and copper colour (for the coppermines), so Chris wore a dark green suit with copper coloured tie. He looked very dapper 😉

I (Christina) looked in a number of different shops in the UK for a dress but was struggling to find the right thing. With my sister living in Canada, she didn’t get to come to most of my dress appointments, so when my Mum and I decided to book a last minute trip to go and see her, it seemed like a trip to a dress shop in Vancouver would be a nice idea. I didn’t expect to find anything to take away, but I thought it would be a fun thing to do with my Mum, sister and cousin. It was SO much fun, and to top it off I found my dress! Simple and fitted with a plain skirt, open back and halterneck. I love it!

Styling and personal touches

Almost everything was handmade, mostly by our amazing families and friends. We all stayed in the Coppermines holiday cottages in the week leading up to the wedding and everyone pulled together to decorate the marquee, lay the tables, make signs, make desserts, and help out in any way they could. We’re so unbelievably grateful to everyone who helped and offered help in the months, weeks and days leading up to the wedding. There’s too many people to mention, but we couldn’t have had such an amazing day without everyone’s help!

Wedding ceremony

Our ceremony was held at St Luke’s at Lowick. A beautiful church with a great vicar, Brian Streeter, who did a wonderful job. Everyone commented on how funny, meaningful, and engaging the ceremony was!