A Relaxed, Summer Garden Wedding for Two Childhood Sweethearts…

Good moring my loves 🙂 I hope you had a super lovely weekend 🙂 I took the weekend off work, mostly, to nurse a sicky baby! Awful 24 hour bug did the rounds but come Sunday afternoon she was well enough to come out on a beautiful woodland walk. I just adore the colours this time of year, all those glorious ochre tones. How about you? What have you been up to?

I'm delighted this morning to be sharing this wedding with you – a recent submission from Photographer Dominique of  York Place Studios.  This is Tom and Sarah and they tied the knot on 2 July at St.Laurence’s Church in Scalby near Scarborough in North Yorkshire, followed by a reception at Tom’s family home in Cloughton near Scarborough. I felt an instant connection with these images, I just love how Dominique has captured all the emotion of the day and I adore how the Bride looks so darn happy in every single photo {she looks a little like Keira Knightly too, don't you think?}.

Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2011, York Place Studios

Sarah wore a dress by Pronovias, that she purchased from Berkshire Brides…

"I started looking for my dress not long after Tom had proposed, as I knew that finding the perfect dress might be a bit of a struggle.  I started looking for my dress with a very open mind – I tried on everything from huge full-skirted dresses to short over the knee dresses. But nothing really felt very “me”.

They were all lovely dresses but nothing felt right, especially as I had realised that I didn’t want anything strapless – I would never ordinarily wear anything strapless so anything strapless I tried on didn’t feel right.  Unfortunately this then meant that many dresses were then ruled out before I even tried them on…"

"There was also the problem of being on a budget.  We could not justify spending silly amounts of money, so were cautious with every penny we spent and this included the dress.  Luckily, whilst staying with my sister in Reading I came across Berkshire Brides.  Vivienne was lovely and so welcoming.  She had a huge range of dresses from many different designers.

My headdress was the Jenny Packham Acacia I Headdress.   It was beautiful and really suited the vintage feel of my dress.  I loved the antique silver colour and was unlike anything else I had seen.

"The bouquets, buttonholes and hair pins were all beautifully made by Jo Purdy of Hearts and Flowers in Wykeham near Scarborough {no web link}.  The flowers were reflective of the flowers local to our village and we wanted them to have a homemade country feel to them.

As Tom used to work on a local farm we also incorporated wheat and barley into the bouquets and button holes…"

 

"I let my beautiful bridesmaids (My sister and two amazing friends) pick their own dresses.  I had originally thought that they would pick different dresses, but they all liked the blue floor length dresses from Coast, which I also loved. They were floaty and summery yet elegant.

The Bridesmaids also all worn cornflowers in their hair…"

"…when I described what I was looking for she just pulled my dress straight off the rails.  It was the first one I tried on that day and nothing else compared to it.

I was mindful that being petite I didn’t want something that would swamp me. It was just perfect for me;  I loved the lace detail, the neckline and the low back to it.  It had such a vintage feel to it but had a modern cut.  It was beautiful…"

"Tom's suit was simple and classic but with a modern fit.  It was important for him that it fitted well.  After trying on many hired suits that he thought were ill fitting and a poor quality he bought it from Jeff Banks on the high street…"

 

"My Dad, Simon, gave me away.  It was wonderful to be able to share that moment with him.  I walked down the aisle to Rachmaninov Piano Concerto Number 2, movement II, which was my Granddad’s favourite piece of music.

Tom’s sister and cousin played it on the piano and flute. It was beautiful…"

"We met whilst at secondary School in Scarborough at the age of 14.  We have grown up together and been through college, university and beyond together.

Tom proposed on a mountain top whilst we were holidaying in Skye in Scotland, it was beautiful.  In order to make sure I didn’t find the ring he hid it in the toolbox in the car. It was a huge surprise and I still can’t stop smiling about it now..."

"The Rev. David Pynn (who married us) was our Headmaster whilst we were at secondary school, he retired as a Headmaster the year we left secondary school and soon after became a Vicar.  It was lovely that he was able to marry us and be part of our day.

It meant a lot to me to be able to get married in the church in my home village and where my parents had married…"

"We picked music that meant something to us, hymns and songs we enjoyed that were played in the service by friends and family (and the groom!)"

"My pearl necklace was my late Grandmothers and my bracelet was very kindly leant to me by a wonderful friend.  They made up my “something old” and my “something borrowed”…"

The whole day was planned over 9 months with a lot of help from the couple's friends and family…

"Our reception was held in teepees in the garden at Tom’s family home. It was lovely to be able to have our wedding reception in the garden where we had grown up as ‘childhood sweethearts’ and the setting was beautiful.

The Teepees were from Papakata based in York – we couldn’t recommend them highly enough!"     

"The flowers for the venue were hand picked by ourselves from friends and families gardens and hedgerows.  We wanted the decor to reflect the beautiful countryside surrounding Tom's family home.  We used large jugs on the tables that were borrowed from friends and family homes. We also made and painted signs giving directions to the garden and teepees.  We used jam jars with ribbons tied around them as candle holders and tied some in the trees around the garden for the evening…."

 

"We wanted a relaxed and fun day that reflected us as a couple and the countryside where we had grown up together.  We wanted people to remember our day as being truly Tom and Sarah!"

 

"At the evening reception we had a live band called Groovesocks, who Tom used to play with, they were brilliant and really added to the fun and relaxed feel of the day.

Our first dance was to ‘Sing, Sing, Sing’ by Benny Goodman. We loved it as a piece of music and it was a piece Tom loves playing on his drums.  We cut the full 6 minute version into a shorter (more manageable) 3 minute first dance song.  It was also important for us to be able to really dance to it, and it set the fun tone for the rest of the evening…"

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

"Do as much as you can yourself and stay true to you both as a couple rather than following tradition or doing things because 'thats what happens at weddings.' We asked for a lot of favours from friends and family and the day meant so much more to think that everyone had played a part in making it so special."   

This is what weddings should be all about – fun, laughter, smiles and a whole lotta love 🙂

Congratulations Sarah and Tom on your beautiful wedding day – and huge thanks also to Dominique from York Place Studios…

"Our photographers were the wonderful  York Place Studios of Scarborough – Dominique and Liam are brilliant, they are very relaxed and friendly. They manage to blend into the crowd and take pictures without realizing that you were in them, so the photographs are all beautifully natural. We absolutely love the photographs and they truly captured the fun of the day."

Are there any more Northern Brides who'd like to share their weding day plans with Love My Dress? I'd so love to hear from you if so 🙂

Much love all,

Annabel xXx

♥

 

Photographer – York Place Studios
Venue – The Grooms parents home + Papakata tents of Yorkshire
Brides dress – Pronovias purchased via Berkshire Brides
Brides veil – The Wedding Room in Scarborough
Brides accessories – Jenny Packham Acacia I Headdress
Groom – Jeff Banks
Bridesmaids – Coast
Flowers – Hearts and Flowers in Wykeham near Scarborough
Cake – The Brides Nana & Auntie
Hair – Tete a Tete, Scarborough
Caterers – A&G Catering