Today’s couple tied the knot at the beautiful Newton Hall in Northumberland, a Sponsor venue of ours that’s brimming with plenty of insta-worthy interior features and spaces – be prepared to swoon!
Sticking with an understated rustic look, Catherine and Alan opted for a subtle grey palette – a classy colour scheme that offers an alternative to popular sugary pastel tones.
There are lots of wonderful touches to pore over today, including vintage sweetie jars, handmade confetti cones and pretty slate hearts – and we were thoroughly impressed to hear that our bride even self-taught herself the art of chalkboard writing. Re-living their special day, Catherine talks us through the details…
We got engaged during a last-minute break to the Majestic Hotel in Harrogate. He had arranged for champagne in our room upon arrival and, after putting my bags down, when I turned around he was on one knee with the ring.
Our wedding took place on 26
th February 2017. We chose this date because the venue, Newton Hall, was a little cheaper, as it was out of season. When we first walked around the venue, we were in awe. The whole place is beautiful and the décor is so different and quirky, it’s like no other place I’ve been. There were gorgeous wooden floors in the main reception room, the staff were lovely and helpful, and the amount of extras they could offer really impressed us.
We went for a laidback rustic style wedding with neutral colours and kept everything understated. We didn’t want everything too busy or over the top, as our personalities aren’t like that at all. There was, however, a tiny sprinkling of Harry Potter in there, too!
We had a grey colour scheme running throughout to tie everything together. It’s a lovely colour that complements most things without being an obvious colour scheme.
My dress was princess style and quite simple, totally different from what I imagined I would want. I bought my dress from Wed 2 Be. Although it was a cheaper ‘off the rack’ dress, the quality was amazing and it was very comfortable.
Alan wore a suit from Moss Bros. He chose the fabrics and linings, fit and style, and it was tailor made to fit. The groomsmen wore navy suits hired from Moss Bros, too.
Our bridesmaids wore gorgeous Little Mistress dresses from ASOS. They were a similar style to my dress and were flowing and very flattering.
We booked local photographer Danny Birrell
to capture our day. He was very friendly and blended in to the background, so our guests were unaware they were being photographed most of the time. Our photos are amazing and he really captured the feel of the day.
For my flowers, I had a handtied bouquet made by Hollie Milburn at Fleur Couture. It was a perfect mix of neutral roses, hydrangeas, lavender, thistles and rustic greenery. They looked beautiful! I wasn’t a fan of roses, but I’m really glad Hollie put them in – trust your suppliers!
We needed biodegradable confetti for the venue, so we supplied this rather than asking guests to bring their own. We sourced this from Adam Apple Vintage and it smelled amazing!
For our reception table decorations, we hired wooden crates from Fleur Couture who filled them with flowers that matched the bouquets – they looked and smelled amazing.
For our favours, we used slate hearts that doubled up as place settings. The children were given vintage sweetie jars filled with Lego as their favours, which went down a storm.
Our three-tiered wedding cake was made by Dawn at The Master Cakesmith. We had three different flavours – one for each tier – as we couldn’t agree on just one! It looked and tasted divine. We had a real silk ribbon that Dawn sourced for us from Gooseberry Moon, and Hollie at Fleur Couture provided a few flowers to finish it off to match the rest of the décor. We also had two little peg people sitting on top, custom made to look like us, made by Pretty Peg Designs.
As we got married on a Sunday and have a tendency to be a bit picky, we decided to keep the food simple to cater for most tastes. Newton Hall use the best local ingredients, so we knew that even the simplest of meals would be amazing. We had carrot and coriander soup to start, followed by a traditional roast pork dinner with proper gravy and Yorkshire puddings, and then sticky toffee pudding for dessert.
Entertainment-wise, we booked North East band Redwings to perform at our evening reception, who also provided a DJ service in between their sets. They provided a great mix of indie music and got everyone up dancing.
We hired large illuminated letters from Coco Luminaire, which really set the rooms off and these got moved around throughout the day. We also hired a vintage photo booth from Snaparazzi, which everyone loved – it was a great way to get everyone talking.
As a special touch, I made a few little bits and pieces myself to decorate the venue, all helped by a signwriting guide from The Chalk Spot
. I made a wooden blackboard for the table plan, topped with ivy, and also a chalkboard welcome sign. I also made my own confetti cones from brown craft paper, and used wicker baskets to put them in, and also one for the cards. I bought lovely vintage glass jars from the Pound Shop, and filled them with sea glass and used them either side of the cake table to hold the bouquets during the day, then put fairy lights inside to decorate the sweetie table in the evening.
Following our wedding, we would absolutely recommend Newton Hall. The building and location are out of this world, and the staff were truly amazing. Nothing was too much trouble and they really did go out of their way to make our day seamless and truly magical.
Looking back, I couldn’t possibly choose a favourite moment from the day – it was amazing from start to finish.
For our honeymoon, we went to London for a few days. We have two children so didn’t want to go too far away or leave them for long, but it was lovely to have some adult time without worrying about losing children on the tube!
My top tip for other Brides Up North is, choose your suppliers wisely. Take the time to talk to them, ask them questions and get to know them; don’t just choose the cheapest. They need to fit with your personalities as well as your vision for your day. We chose suppliers who provided us with an amazing customer service and who were really lovely people, and I definitely think our day was so chilled because I knew they had everything in hand.
We went for a laidback rustic style wedding with neutral colours and kept everything understated. We didn’t want everything too busy or over the top, as our personalities aren’t like that at all. There was, however, a tiny sprinkling of Harry Potter in there, too!
My dress was princess style and quite simple, totally different from what I imagined I would want. I bought my dress from Wed 2 Be. Although it was a cheaper ‘off the rack’ dress, the quality was amazing and it was very comfortable.
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