Lee and I first met in a local pub called Milan in Lees,
Oldham.
He proposed to me while we were on the island of Mallorca. He
arranged a meal at the Hotel Bendinat, overlooking the sea to make the occasion
extra special. He got down on one knee
and asked me to marry him.
We chose the White Hart, Lydgate for our wedding venue. We
had eaten there before and the standard of food and drink is excellent. The Oak
Room is light and airy with doors that open out onto its gardens and lawns, this
makes it a great venue especially if the weather is good which it was on our
wedding day.
The colour theme for our day was pretty pastels; lemon, baby
blue, baby pink and mint, my dress was ivory.
We just wanted a lovely summery feel to the wedding.
We knew we wanted a traditional church wedding, so we got
married at our local church St Margaret’s in Hollinwood, Oldham. We also wanted everyone to have a relaxed fun
time, and wanted our photos to be happy, genuine and in the moment, not posed,
so we booked a Mexican Mariachi band (The Burrito Bros), they were
amazing. We had vintage buses transporting
out guests from the church to the White Hart and a photo booth in the evening.
We found the majority of our perfect suppliers at the Little
White Books wedding fair at the White Hart, including our photographer Mick
Cookson, and also our photo booth, venue stylist, DJ and the vintage buses. We visited a number of wedding fairs around
the North West but we preferred the smaller fairs as we met suppliers from the
local area who gave a more personal service. In addition to this, Bright Hands
Weddings provided our wedding video and did an amazing job. This was a last minute decision to have our
wedding captured on video, but we are so glad we did. Every time we watch it
back we are taken back to our special day, it was worth every penny for the
memories.
When I was finding my wedding dress, I thought I had fallen in
love with the first dress I tried on. It was a Mori Lee design, and I tried it
on several times but it never quite felt right so I carried on looking. I searched round for several weeks afterwards
looking at other dresses, but none seemed to feel right until one day, purely
by chance, I walked into a local wedding shop and there it was on a
mannequin. My chief bridesmaid was with
me and we both said at the same time ‘that one’. I tried it on and bought it straight
away. It really is true – when you have
found the right dress, you just know it.
So here’s the thing – I had a fairly substantial budget for my designer
wedding dress because we always knew that if I saw the dress I wanted the price
wasn’t a factor. I thought I would have
to spend a lot of money to find my dream dress, but that wasn’t the case. I found my dress at a local supplier, and I
immediately fell in love with it.
On our wedding day, when I was walking down the aisle in
Church, it was a magical moment just seeing everybody smiling and my Lee
waiting for me at the altar. He turned around to sneak a peek as I walked down
the aisle – it was a moment we had talked about for so long. My dad also cried during one of the hymns,
Jerusalem – that was a lovely moment.
For Lee, one of his most memorable moments was the mariachi
band and watching people singing and dancing in the gardens of the White
Hart. The sun beamed down on us and the
band were so much fun. Our first dance song was At Last by Etta James… and the
last song of the night was Bring Me Sunshine, Morecambe and Wise!
We are so lucky to have friends and family who made sure
that our day went smoothly, from making sure that flowers were positioned
exactly as we wanted and helping me feel like a princess on the day. The White Hart were brilliant, nothing was
too much trouble for them and the day was absolutely fantastic.
And our advice to brides and grooms is video your wedding
day! The day passes you by so fast and
it is impossible to remember everything.
We would highly recommend you have your memories captured on film. We often watch back the highlights of the day
and every time we do it brings a tear to our eye. It’s amazing how watching it back transports
you to your special day.
Thanks to Claire & Lee for sharing their special day with Little White Books
Venue: The White Hart, 51 Stockport Road, Lydgate, Saddleworth OL4 4JJ http://www.thewhitehart.co.uk/
Photographer: Mick Cookson Photography www.mickcooksonphotography.co.uk
