Laura tells us about a fabulous castle wedding….
‘Tom proposed to me on 22 October 2009, (my grandmother’s birthday), in a sun-drenched Californian vineyard. We were nearing the end of a fabulous holiday that had taken us from Newport Beach to San Francisco and finally the Napa Valley. It would have been a memorable trip anyway but the surprise at the end made it totally unforgettable!
On arriving back at home in Stockport we set about planning. We knew we wanted a traditional nuptial mass and I was keen to get married at home in Northumberland at the church I had gone to growing up. I also had quite clear ideas on the reception venue and although we looked at a few different ones I had my heart set on the Guest Hall at Alnwick Castle. The hall had fabulously high ceilings and beautiful floor length windows which flooded the room with light and opened onto a courtyard which was great for arrival and evening drinks.
We decided on a spring wedding and eventually booked the church and venue for 14 May 2011. When the day finally arrived it had been greatly anticipated and so much planning had gone into every little detail. We had a purple theme, the bridesmaids dresses were found in the sale at Coast and were a perfect shade of deep royal purple. The flowers were by Fern in Stannington and were a gorgeous mix of pale pinks, purples, blues and ivory. My dress was by Pronovias and was supplied by the White Tulip in Prudhoe. I wore a lace ivory bolero with it and a cathedral length veil. Amanda Williamson did hair and I had a MAC make-up artist. The suits were hired from Moss Bros in Newcastle city centre with the ties and handkerchiefs were found in Debenhams. The Arco String Quartet did a great job of keeping our guests entertained before the church service and played beautifully throughout.
We chose plain white chair covers with ivory lace bows from Simply Bows and Chair Covers and our favours were jars of sweets in a mixture of purple and silver wrappers. Our guests travelled from the church to Alnwick in two vintage buses, a red London Routemaster and a Dreadnought. These were supplied by Dreadnought Coaches in Alnwick. Tom and I travelled in a vintage Rolls Royce and the Bridesmaids in a matching Daimler. We were piped into our reception by a young Northumbrian Piper, Maureen Davison.
Our gorgeous cake was made by Tom’s mum and iced by Helen Finney at Cat’s Whiskers Cake Design in Bury. We told Helen what our colour theme was and she came up with a great design which fitted exactly with our traditional theme. The detail on the sugarwork flowers was amazing, they looked like real roses.
Our music was provided by a local ceilidh band the “Border Directors.” This was a great way of getting everyone up on the dancefloor! Afterwards we had a local DJ, Colin Cook, who did a great job of keeping people on the dancefloor!
Our photographer Claire Dalgarno was with us all day and captured some beautiful moments. Every time we look at our album all the memories come flooding back.
The day was over in a flash and the weather was good at the right times, there was rain but only when we were inside, it held out for the photographs and the evening reception!’
Cake photograph provided by Claire Dalgarno Photography, other images courtesy of Laura and Tom’s friends and family.
Who’s who:
Venue: Alnwick Castle
Florist: Fern
Dress: Pronovias at The White Tulip
Hair: Amanda Williamson
Suits: Moss Bros
String quartet: Arco String Quartet
Chairs covers: Simply Bows & Chair Covers
Buses: Dreadnought Coaches
Piper: Maureen Davison
Cake: Cat’s Whiskers Cake Design
Music: Border Directors, Colin Cook
Photographer (cake image only): Claire Dalgarno