A blue wedding dress and fabulous suit – both Vivienne Westwood and wonderfully alternative for our lovely couple today. We’re loving the glorious summer skies and a trip across the countryside in a vintage blue bus! This is a dream of a wedding in Cumbria, with fabulous images by our friend and English Wedding member Jaye-Peg Photography.
Wedding photographer’s website
How did you choose your photographer?
We searched online and chose the photographer because we liked her style.
Were you pleased with your wedding photographer? Do tell… we love a brilliant review!
We were very pleased with Jaye. She provided us with a professional service. She listened to what we wanted, she delivered it and added her own spin. She was very flexible and responsive. Jaye suggested and used a great route back from the registry office to get some fantastic shots.
Tell us about your venue – what made this place special for you?
We choose the Lady Gilfords House for its period features and picturesque setting. We hired a classic car and classic coach, there was space for these to park and have lovely photos too.
Did you love wearing your outfits? How was the dress / suit shopping experience?
We loved wearing our outfits and we thought they work well together. We both enjoyed the Vivienne Westwood shopping experience, they gave us a personal experience when we were choosing our outfits.
Did you hire a florist? Tell us about any floral amazingness
We used Brackens of Bowness in Windermere to create the wedding bouquet and buttonhole. They exceeded our expectations with the flower arrangements.
As cake lovers here at English Wedding we’d LOVE to know who made your cake, and how delicious it was?
Our cake was made by Silly Goose in Whitehaven. The owners, Ewa and Magda, designed and baked us a delicious, gorgeous looking two tier limoncello wedding cake.
Tell us about any special personal touches, or creative projects you made yourselves
We were keen to use sustainable gold for our wedding rings, a search for this brought Jaqueline and Edward jewellers to our attention. As well as designing and making our wedding rings Jaqueline and Edward offer a service to pan for your own gold in Scotland. The gold Magda and I found was incorporated into our wedding rings. It was a fantastic day out, hosted by Mark who gave us all the help we needed to learn gold panning and actually find some.
A personal touch for our guests was that we gave them a unique hand blended bottle of gin. We did this by visiting Whatahoot Distillery in Kings Lyn where they guided us through the process of selecting the ideal botanicals to produce the flavour we wanted. We then distilled, bottled and labelled it all at their distillery, we named our gin Magda and Pauls Wedding Gin. A bottle of this was given to each of the guests along with a mixer, all presented in a Liberty fabric lined pouch, hand made by Magda. Of course we kept a bottle or two for ourselves.
How did the pandemic affect your wedding plans? Do you have any advice to share with couples planning their weddings right now?
We had to changes dates 3 times, we would advise anyone going through this to communicate with all of the various people involved in the wedding.
Some changes were last minute.
Everyone we worked with were very understanding of the date changes and we did get there in the end.
Favourite wedding suppliers
Photography- https://jayepeg.co.uk/
Flowers- https://www.brackensofbowness.com/
Make up and Hair- https://www.instagram.com/bethcmakeup/?hl=en
Wedding cake- https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Local-business/Silly-Goose-106374150887087/
Wedding Rings- https://www.jacquelineandedward.com/
Wedding Favours Gin- https://whatahoot.co.uk/
Wedding Car- https://www.touchofclasscumbria.co.uk/contact-us.html
Wedding Classic Coach- https://www.cumbriaclassiccoaches.co.uk/
OK, so I’ve said this many times, but really today I would love for you to read today’s wedding blog SLOWLY. It’s the images, which are absolute proof that children lift weddings to the next level – and then some. Of course our bride and groom are absolutely stunning and this is a day filled with joy and celebration (and pre-pandemic happy hugs!) – but honestly, the kids make it. You will smile, and I hope you’ll chuckle as you scroll through this joyful and relaxed celebration. There simply couldn’t be a more perfect wedding to brighten your Friday and lift your spirits!
As always, I have to introduce a York Place Studios wedding with a note about authenticity – these guys capture real people whose weddings are a glorious mixture of happiness and love and real life. And that’s what’s magic about every wedding these London photographers capture. They’re multi award winning, they are massively respected amongst wedding photographers and we LOVE their street wedding photography style.
Grab a good old cup of builders tea as you scroll all the way through this brilliant Clitheroe wedding! And if you’re planning your day and haven’t booked your wedding photographers yet, we wholeheartedly recommend York Place Studios! They’re based in London and travel worldwide. They’re documentary wedding photographers with a unique and brilliant style, and we promise your wedding album will have a timeless quality in the sense that it will bring your wedding to LIFE every time you flick through… even in 50 years’ time. They even have a new package for micro weddings which I know will interest those of you planning a scaled back and intimate celebration.
“Kate and Matt’s wedding at Holmes Mill in Lancashire was full of these kinds of moments. The backdrop was perfect: an old textile mill bathed in natural light and full of interesting industrial features and fantastic reclaimed cinema seating to keep children and adults alike entertained! The pièce de résistance of this industrious setting was the drinks reception at the Boiler House, full of original mechanics, exposed beams, period character and a huge 1910 cross-beam in the centre. Add to all this plenty of children running around (bundles of joy and excellent sources for spontaneity!) and so many little moments between the adults and we quickly realised this was a pretty special venue and a pretty extraordinary wedding with lots of opportunities to create the characterful, layered and spontaneous images that we love and are known for.” ~ Dom & Liam, York Place Studios
Holmes Mill is a unique Lancashire wedding venue in the heart of Clitheroe. Hold your civil ceremony here, in an industrial old mill setting with reclaimed cinema seats for your guests – it’s just gorgeous! For your wedding reception, the Cottom Room with natural textured walls and exposed beams adds wow factor for an unforgettable celebration.
York Place Studios are English Wedding members
Web: www.yorkplacestudios.co.uk
York Place are London wedding photographers and videographers,
and if their sense of fun has grabbed your attention today you’ll be pleased to know they’re also London family photographers.
A heartfelt micro wedding in a refreshingly quirky setting, with the loveliest couple and breathtaking images from Cambridge wedding photographer Damien Vickers. We’ve fallen head over heels for Stradsett Hall, and we’re ALL about the dress & suit combo and the incredible greenery and floral styling. Lorna & Keanu are a gorgeous couple – don’t miss their interview below! 
Wedding photographer’s website
https://www.damienvickersphotography.co.uk/
How did you choose your photographer?
After browsing what felt like hundreds of websites we came across Damien’s website and social media. His bright and relaxed style seemed like they would be a perfect fit for the atmosphere we wanted on our day!
Were you pleased with your wedding photographer? Do tell… we love a brilliant review!
We could not have been more pleased with Damien and all of his photos! Every one of our guests has commented on how beautifully the photos turned out, and Damien himself was a joy to work with!
How did the pandemic affect your wedding plans? Do you have any advice to share with couples planning their weddings right now?
We ended up postponing our wedding by 2 weeks (which isn’t bad at all in the grand scheme of things) so that we could have 30 people instead of just 15, and we of course had to do any dancing outside! Luckily for us our venue had a courtyard that allowed for this. We would have loved to not have to see a sea of masks but in the end we where just grateful to be able to have a wedding at all! We would just advise to anyone planning a wedding with any restrictions still in place that in the end as long as you’re still staying true to what you want the restrictions don’t end up impacting quite as much as you would think!
Videographer details if applicable – and any thoughts for other couples about having a wedding video?
Our videographer was Mike Savory, https://mikesavory.co.uk/ Receiving our wedding videos back from Mike was one of the most exciting things ever! Reliving the day, seeing everyone and everything from another perspective was really wonderful and made the whole day come to life again! Having a videographer was something we wanted from the beginning and it was the best decision, especially choosing Mike who was amazing to work with and his work is outstanding!
Tell us about your venue – what made this place special for you?
We must have looked at every website and social media for every venue in Norfolk before finding Stradsett Hall… we immediately fell in love with the beautiful and unique orangery for our ceremony and just had to visit. When we arrived to look around the whole venue just spoke to us… it was perfect for the theme and styling we wanted. Not to big, not too small just right, as well as not being somewhere we had seen many other weddings!
Did you love wearing your outfits? How was the dress / suit shopping experience?
We both loved and enjoyed the experience of trying on our outfits and we both loved how they looked on the day. All of the guests were offering nothing but compliments regarding both the suit and dress! It was great fun and we’re both pretty sure neither of us will look that fancy again!
Did you hire a florist? Tell us about any floral amazingness
Our florist was Blooming Perfect florist and let me tell you everything was indeed perfect! Every single flower was beautiful, and something that really tied everything together. From the smallest cake flowers, to the to the biggest bouquet it was all just wonderful!
Did you hire a wedding planner?
Our wedding coordinator/event planner was Style and Joy events… The whole team was simply wonderful! They provided a great amount of relief when it came down to timings, organisation and overall execution of the day, as well as providing all our chairs, tables, custom wedding plan and signage, DJ and even a fully stocked sweet cart!
As cake lovers here at English Wedding we’d LOVE to know who made your cake, and how delicious it was?
Our wedding cake was created by Amber of Amber’s Bakes & Cakes. It was everything we could have hoped for and more. We never imagined a cake could be so perfect but it was both beautiful and delicious!
Tell us about any special personal touches, or creative projects you made yourselves
We actually ended up doing so much ourselves! We did all the centrepieces ourselves, we even made tiny clay mushrooms for all the tables. We made our own guest book and all the favours were drinks and chocolates made by family! The bridesmaids dresses were all customised by us and we chose all the ribbons for the bouquets!.
Did you personalise your vows or have any wedding readings? What were they?
Unfortunately due to covid we had a lot of restrictions when it came to our ceremony… that sadly meant not readings and no real going off script. It was still amazing to marry the love of your life, even if it did have to be a fairly quick ceremony!
What was your first dance song? Why did you choose it?
Our first dance song was “You’ll be in my heart” by Phill Collins. It was a song that both of us have loved for almost the whole time we’ve been together and we couldn’t really imagine it being anything else.
Favourite wedding suppliers
Coordinator- https://styleandjoyevents.co.uk
Hair and makeup- https://www.cherrieimogenmakeup.co.uk
Photographer – https://www.damienvickersphotography.co.uk
Videographer- https://mikesavory.co.uk
Florist- https://www.facebook.com/blommingperficflowers
Cake maker- http://ambersbakesncakes.co.uk
Even as a wedding blogger, you just don’t see this kind of beautiful that often. And I mean – my breath is taken, this stunning Scottish wedding is out of this WORLD! I stumbled across Richelle and Tom’s wedding via our lovely dressmaker member Felicity Westmacott. It goes without saying that Richelle’s dress is incredible; and indeed everything from this amazing (pre-pandemic) wedding is rocking my wedding bloggy world today – not least the brilliant couple who are the stars of it all.
They chose the stupendously talented Lina & Tom as their wedding photographers, and it’s been an absolute joy to read their review for their entire wedding photography experience. Do check out their website if you haven’t already seen the magic they create – it’s one of the best I’ve ever seen.
I also have to share this little note from Lina when she replied to my email about featuring this wedding – she put it simply and beautifully:
Felicity is a genius and the more people know it the better, Richelle’s dress was divine and this is literally one of our favourite ever weddings…
Wedding photographers’ website
How did you choose your photographer?
Initially Tom followed them on Instagram, then we happened to bump into them at the only wedding fair we went to – where Tom gave Tom a flyer with a tea bag on …. and they bonded over tea! A few meetings, calls and obsessing about cats later we knew they were the right choice.
Were you pleased with your wedding photographer? Do tell… we love a brilliant review!
They were amazing, from meeting up for a gin or two to discuss to travelling up to Edinburgh and the shots they took – everything was fantastic. We just wish we had confirmed them earlier so we could have had them at our party (a few days after the wedding down south) – not because the chap they got to sub in wasn’t amazing – but because we would have loved to have thrown some shapes with them on the dance floor. We cannot recommend them highly enough, they love an adventure, a dance and are a unique combination of talented, passionate and organised. Oh and I reckon they would DJ too if you asked them!
How did the pandemic affect your wedding plans? Do you have any advice to share with couples planning their weddings right now?
Luckily for us it was pre-pandemic. We did however watch our beloved suppliers struggle, so when we could, we helped out – buying additional photos from Lina and Tom, ordering takeout from our catering company and recommending the venue, and tech suppliers to others we know planning weddings in the area. Being in the events world we know how hard it all has been, and we hope that everyone planning was able to hold bookings where possible both customer and vendor sides.
Did you love wearing your outfits? How was the dress / suit shopping experience?
Tom: Mine was pretty simple, once we had decided on Edinburgh I had to get a kilt. I had promised my Nana that I would get married in a kilt – so a trip to Geoffrey Tailor on Edinburgh High St to get a Ross tartan kilt was arranged and they did me proud. I bought a beautiful tailored modern Ross Kilt with a Contemporary charcoal tweed jacket and waistcoat. Of course once the Groom is in a kilt, and you are in a castle in Edinburgh, it was easy to get the rest of the wedding party chaps into one. Geoffrey Tailor were able to help out all with hire items and even adding to some other family tartan outfits that were needed.
https://www.geoffreykilts.co.uk
Richelle: having tried dresses on at pretty much every wedding dress shop in the UK (and a couple outside of the country) the penny dropped and I asked a friend (Claire-Michelle T-P) where she had got her fabulous dress made and she passed on Felicity’s details. The planets aligned and I managed to get the last slot she was accepting before going on maternity! So on the promise that I wouldn’t gain or lose any weight that would require alterations in the final days of her pregnancy we went ahead. She was fantastic, I wasn’t so much, just having a collection of ideas of bits and a concept in my head. She managed to extract all my thoughts and fill in all the gaps. What she produced was beyond what I could have imagined, it was a bodice with two different skirts designed in either configuration to look like a dress, and yes both had pockets! The dual look was key to how we wanted to do our wedding, the family formal section and the party element, plus who doesn’t love a costume change!
If you’d like to know more about how Richelle’s dress was made, head over to Felicity’s blog where she explains her process behind creating Richelle’s waterfall skirt, bodice and jacket – it’s a fascinating read!
https://felicitywestmacott.co.uk
Tell us about your venue – what made this place special for you?
Wedding venue: Edinburgh castle, St Margaret’s Chapel — Edinburgh has always been a special city to us, Tom’s grandmother came from there and we had attended the fringe comedy festival regularly from our University years onwards… even sneaking into the castle under the guise of attending a wedding fair one year! Funnily them letting us in back then actually paid off in the long long run! Once we went back in seriousness and saw St Margaret’s we realised it was the place, the small intimate setting we wanted for our family only ceremony.
Wedding breakfast (and photography location): National Museum of Scotland. — just a fantastic place with amazing food from the restaurant at the top of the tower. Plus they have a T-Rex!
Wedding Party (3 days later): The Castle Theatre Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. — Richelle’s home town and the theatre she first ‘trod the boards’ at, great and very accommodating team who let us do pretty much everything we wanted. Plus it could hold the large numbers we wanted for our party
Did you hire a florist? Tell us about any floral amazingness
Not a florist in the traditional sense but we went with silk flowers as we wanted to keep them after the ceremony for the party, and it made them a little more robust against the October winds at the top of that granite mound! Alas these guys are no longer around, a sad effect of the recent times.
Did you hire a wedding planner?
No, we organised everything ourselves, as we both worked at the time in and around events we felt we could probably sort it out, and in a mad way – would enjoy doing it!
As cake lovers here at English Wedding we’d LOVE to know who made your cake, and how delicious it was?
Well, cakes…. the first was actually from a small boutique outfit called Marks and Spencers! This was just a small made to order rainbow cake from the Edinburgh store – just enough for our 30 family guests at the wedding breakfast. … but how do you do ‘cake’ for the many hundreds of guests at the party a few days later – well again a small outfit called Krispy Kreme came through with an order of donuts that filled the entire back of an estate car and even threw in a stand for them!
Tell us about any special personal touches, or creative projects you made yourselves
Our rings were made by an industrial artist we both loved who made them from the same single chunk of super conductor material. (Copperhead superconductors rings) www.blackbadger.se Our photos (by the lovely L&T) were in the closed National Museum of Scotland – allowing us to have a great time, dancing and posing around the exhibits all on our own, including THAT shot with the T Rex and dancing in the beautiful empty atrium. Our party had many nods to our interests, our history together and our lives: Large LED screen, Storm Troopers, Arcade Machines, an inflatable planetarium with hourly shows (first date was at an observatory), commitments cover band, pub quiz, street food from our travels and gin bar!
Did you personalise your vows or have any wedding readings? What were they?
Nope – was a lovely ceremony performed by the Rev Bill who was part of the Chapel offering and couldn’t have been a more lovely and charming, and hilarious chap. Was an utter gem and unexpected bonus!
What was your first dance song? Why did you choose it?
At Last – Etta James. As we had taken some 18 years to get to our wedding from first dating, we thought people would enjoy the choice and Etta James is a favourite of both of us, …. fun fact the live band we had (run by a mate of ours) – is called “The Lack of Commitments”.
Favourite wedding suppliers
Wonderful stationery designs done by: ImperialInvitations on Etsy. Supplied artwork to our requirements, that we then got printed on Vista Print.
Kilts: www.geoffreykilts.co.uk
Wedding accommodation in Edinburgh (Old Town Chambers): www.chevalcollection.com
Eve of wedding drinks: www.headstandtales.com – Edinburgh Gin Distillery
Edinburgh Castle: www.Edinburghcastle.scot
Fab fine dining catering at the wedding breakfast: www.tower-restaurant.com
The national Museum of Scotland: www.nms.ac.uk
Party: The Castle Theatre Wellingborough: www.castletheatre.co.uk
The brilliantly talented collective that is and will forever be our wedding band: www.thelackofcommitments.co.uk
Our patient and perfectly timed Wedding DJ: www.Disco1.co.uk Lovely Leon
Amazing Huge LED screen for the party: www.Wavecoproductions.co.uk – Iain and Fiona x
Castle Theatre Additional AV, tables and lighting Hire: ‘Prism Events Ltd’ on Facebook
Yummy street food for the party: www.stanleystreetfood.co.uk
Inflatable planetarium (Uni of Herts): www.herts.ac.uk/bayfordbury
Arcade machine hire: www.retrogamesparty.co.uk
Stormtroopers: www.ukgarrison.co.uk – the lovely lovely Becki
Party photo booth: www.theprobooth.com – the amazingly engaging Iain
Wedding pub quiz: ‘personalised trivia’ on Facebook
Wedding programme (we had that much going on) by one of our fabulous Best Men: James Castro.
Previously featured on the brilliant Unconventional Wedding Blog