Kathryn and Ed are Rock My Wedding Readers, Ed is a film maker and they are both film buffs….. This will become apparent!

They married in the summer and they chose Topher McGrillis to be their wedding photographer who they have known through film industry links for quite some time. Needless to say he did them proud.

And just to let you know, Kathryn is wearing one of Charlotte’s favourite dresses of 2011 (she also loves the short version….)

A Familiar Setting.

We got married on the 2nd of July 2011 at St. Thomas More’s RC Church. It was the same church I was baptized and confirmed in, and have also twice been bridesmaid. We held the reception at Crathorne Hall Hotel, Crathorne nr. Yarm.

Third Time Lucky.

I got my dress from the third shop I visited, Destiny in Stokesley, North Yorkshire. I had come straight from another shop where I had tried on several dresses and emerged with two possibles. In Destiny I picked a few dresses from the rail and appraising my choices the lovely assistant Frances suggested I try on the dress in the window. It was the Justin Alexander 8483. I loved the heavily detailed bodice which was very much what I was looking for so I decided to try it on first. When I came out of the changing room my mum lived up to the mother-of-the-bride cliché and burst into tears! I instantly felt really happy with the dress on, and it was the first one that I really felt I could imagine myself getting married in. I also loved the way the skirt moved, and how light it felt for a big dress. The dress, and particularly the flowers all over the bodice, became the inspiration for a lot of the details that followed.

Something Borrowed.

I secretly made my mind up when my sister got married three years ago that one day I would get married wearing her veil and tiara. Luckily for me she was happy to oblige and lend them to me, and both items worked perfectly with my dress. The tiara, from Elen Henderson, was covered in pearls and diamante which picked up the detail on the bodice. The veil was a cathedral length affair scattered with very subtle diamantes. Because my dress was strapless it also gave me a bit more coverage in church.

In my ears I wore a pair of diamond studs that Ed bought me for Christmas a few years ago, and teamed them with a diamond pendant which also served as my ‘something old’. My beloved granddad gave it to my Nana on their diamond wedding anniversary in 2004. (He presented it at their party with ‘You told me not to buy you any more jewellery so I have bought you a single carat instead!) After they both passed away my mum inherited it and I felt very lucky to have such a special piece of jewellery to wear on my big day which carried not only the memories of them both but was also a symbol of a very long and happy marriage. Finally I was woken up on the morning of the wedding by mum brandishing a cup of tea and a gift from Ed… A beautiful white gold and diamond set bracelet. I genuinely wasn’t expecting anything so it was a lovely surprise and complemented the jewellery I was already wearing perfectly. The boy has good taste!

Budget Friendly Footwear.

Early on in the wedding planning I set aside £400 for a pair of fantasy shoes… But as time wore on I decided I wasn’t actually too fussed and when I spotted a pair of ivory shoes in the Next Directory sale I decided to order them just to see. When they came I was really pleasantly surprised, not only were they super high meaning I would inch closer to my 6 foot 4 husband to be, but they came adorned with a very sparkly rhinestone bow which provided the requisite bling. The shoes were so high in fact that I didn’t need to have the dress taken up, which can only be a good thing in my book.

Dramatic Eye.

I wanted a very glamorous, made-up look for my face which I decided to balance with softer and more natural hair. I liked the idea of having my hair completely loose but this would have meant the veil and tiara had nothing to grip into. Over the course of a couple of trials I settled on my hair being set in Velcro rollers, a couple of sections from the crown being pulled back and back-combed to create a slight bouffant and a little bit pinned up to add a bit of style at the back. I have very thick hair so there was plenty to work with! It was left loose round the sides to frame my face. My hairdresser, Natalie at Deep, also used GHDs to add extra curly to random sections which helped prolong the life of the hairdo.

My make up was by Julie Pattinson, who is quite frankly a total genius! She was recommended by a friend who is a model (can’t thank her enough). Julie understood what I was after which was a sexy, dramatic eye, dewy skin and rose-pink lips. I wore my own lipstick which was Dune Rose by Estee Lauder. I wore false eyelashes which added a sexy flick to my eyes. Julie also did my mum’s and my sister’s make up, and they both looked stunning. The make up was still fully intact at midnight, which given how warm a day it was is pretty incredible.
6) Flowers – what blooms did you chose for your bouquets/button holes/table centres and who was the fabulous florist who brought your idea’s to life?

Simple Florals.

After looking again at Crathorne Hall I realised that the room was so grand I didn’t want a bright colour scheme to be fighting for attention with what was already there. We decided to keep things simple with ivory flowers focusing on roses and delphiniums.
My bouquet was inspired by a photo in Brides magazine of Kirsty Gallachers’ wedding bouquet. It was a hand tied bouquet of ivory roses surrounded by spiky foliage. I wanted to mirror the ‘spikes’ of embroidery on my dress. I didn’t like the idea of holding bare stems so my florist, Christine at Agness Marshall, tied ribbon around the stems. I also had pearl pins scattered randomly in the bouquet. My sister carried a slightly smaller version of the same bouquet. My two flowergirls are both three years old so I decided they would be best off with small baskets of flowers, light and easy for them to carry. The buttonholes were all ivory roses set on the same leaves I had in my bouquet. To distinguish the groom from the rest of the party I chose a double rose button hole with pearl pins to match my bouquet.

Our centrepieces were delphiniums, roses, daisies, carnations and lots of foliage inside tall glass vases purchased from Dunelm Mill. The florist put clear gel beads inside to balance the vases, and they stood on top of mirror plates from Hobbycraft. They looked great, I really wanted something tall to complement the high ceilings but that didn’t obstruct anyones view as they chatted over the wedding breakfast. We had the same flowers in a low arrangement on the top table, and behind us we had four ivy plants trailing across the fireplace. Overall it created a lovely fresh aesthetic and didn’t overpower the room.

Mid Grey And Silver.

The gents all wore suits hired from < href="http://www.slaters.co.uk/">Slater’s menswear. Ed really liked the Prince Edward style suits and the ¾ length jacket really suited his tall frame. We chose mid-grey suits and teamed them with silver waistcoats and ruches. Again keeping things simple we had all of the men in exactly the same outfit. Both our fathers wore the suits as well as our two best men, Mark and John, and my brother John who was an usher. Although emerald green was our theme colour I just wanted splashes of it rather than lots and lots of green so my chief bridesmaid and sister Helen was the only person wearing green.

I wanted ivory dresses for my flowergirls as similar to mine as possible! I searched high and low but nothing was ‘pouffy’ enough. Eventually I found perfect dresses by Sarah Louise in Fenwick which were being sold as christening dresses. I eventually tracked them down online in the right sizes but believe they are now discontinued (a shame because they are gorgeous!). The girls loved wearing them and twirling around in their big fluffy skirts. Their lace flower headbands were from Monsoon and their shoes were from John Lewis.

You Look Beautiful.

Ed wore the same suit as the rest of the bridal party with just a double buttonhole and his usual amount of composure to mark him out as the groom. Under his suit he was wearing a chain which was given to him by his Dad the night before. Ed’s mum bought the chain for his dad’s 40th birthday. She passed away when he was 10 so the chain was a special reminder of her for Ed. Ed also wore cufflinks from Goldsmiths which I bought him to match with those we had bought for the rest of the men in the wedding party. Special thanks has to go to the best man John for lending Ed his beard trimmer when Ed’s died! He had just the right amount of stubble thanks to John.

When I arrived at church the priest wasn’t quite ready so I had to wait in the porch for a couple of minutes, the anticipation would have killed me but Ed didn’t turn around. As I walked up the aisle I couldn’t meet anyone’s eye for fear of bursting into tears. When I finally saw Ed he simply said ‘You look beautiful’ and I knew everything would be fine. Once I was by his side I knew I would be able to say my vows without crying and I did. I was able to look into his eyes, say the words and really mean them and not be distracted by anything.

The Perfect Mix.

Our photographer was Topher McGrillis. We have known Topher for about 6 years, ever since he worked with Ed on a Robson Green drama called Rocket Man. Since then Topher has gone on to become a professional photographer and we were both very impressed with his work which we have followed through Facebook and at exhibitions. As soon as we got engaged we knew he would be our photographer. He supplied the perfect mix of photographs that reflected the traditional elements of our day along with the more quirky side. Many of our guests have commented what a great guy he is and how they didn’t notice him snapping away, which was just what we wanted. We had a few formal photos taken but kept this to a minimum so that everyone could relax and enjoy the lovely surroundings.

Family Friend.

Our cake was inspired by my dress and brought to life by Jennifer Clubbs, a family friend who makes cakes as a hobby. I drew Jen a sketch of what I wanted, basically 3 round tiers with flowers cascading down into points. It looked better than I could have hoped for and lots of guests though Jen must have seen my dress to replicate it so well. The sugar flowers were all daisies created in several different sizes which must have taken Jen weeks to make. The three tiers were all fruitcake and tasted fantastic.

Let’s Dance.

We plumped for a DJ as we thought this would keep most of our guests happy and wouldn’t be too distracting for those who preferred to talk rather than dance! Crathorne Hall has a really good layout as the dining room leads straight into the evening reception room which had a dancefloor and in turn led to a private bar. As it was such a warm night we had the doors open to the grounds so it was a lovely relaxed evening. We also had a form of entertainment in our video guestbook. Our videographer Chris Austen set up camp outside the main room and our guests left us messages – I have been told they really enjoyed doing this and some went back several times. I can’t wait to see the finished product.

My Girl.

Our first dance was ‘My Girl’ by Otis Redding. I’ve always loved the song (since my days of having a crush on Macaulay Culkin) and it reminds me of dancing to it in one of our favourite Newcastle nightspots, Mr Lynch in Jesmond. Ed doesn’t often dance but he was quite happy to take me around the floor to Otis for two minutes. We segued straight into ‘Higher and Higher’ by Jackie Wilson which got the dancefloor full.
13) Favours – did you have any and what made you decide?

Faithful To tradition.

I never considered not having favours, as you may have guessed I was quite faithful to all the traditions at a wedding and for me favours was also just another excuse to provide something fun for our guests. We bought everyone scratchcards but I made my own holders for them. I used a guillotine to slice A5 folded cards in half and then stuck photo corners inside to hold the scratchcards in place. I then secured the holder with emerald ribbon tied in a bow. For the children who were obviously a bit young for scratchcards I made goodybags with their names on using Dylon 3D paint. My mum filled them up with lots of toys, stickers and colouring books which helped keep them entertained throughout the meal (although I did get shown an awful lot of lego models whilst tucking into my dessert!). They all loved the bags too and my nephew has told me he is putting all of his favourite things in there. We also had a pic’n’mix at the evening reception which went down really well with all of the guests and not just the 11 children we had attending.

Subtle Items.

The venue was so pretty and elegant on it’s own that it didn’t need much dressing, so I stuck to just a few subtle items on the tables. I scattered flat-backed pearls on the tables (after unthinkingly ordering normal pearls and then realising they would just roll off!) and had green tealights in glass holders from Ikea surrounding the centrepieces. The placecards were written out by a calligrapher and I glued green bows to each one (I had tied over 350 bows by the end of the wedding preparation!).

As Ed is a filmmaker and we both love movies we named our tables after our favourite movie families. Ed sourced images for each one and used the movie poster font to show the family’s name. On the reverse we had a quote from each movie – some poignant, some funny, but all related to love in some way. Ed worked really hard on making them look perfect and his efforts paid off because they were a great talking point. We also made the table plan together. We had everything printed professionally but spent a day putting it all together till it looked right. It went inside a large frame which we borrowed from Ed’s dad. I found it quite stressful to make as it was very last minute but it was worth it in the end…I think!

I like Driving In My Car…

I have to mention the car, as one of my favourite photographs is the one taken of us on our way to the reception. It’s a vintage Jaguar MK2 hired from TPJ Car Hire. I loved it as it’s so different from the usual cars you see at weddings but not out of place for a traditional day. Apparently it’s the same one that Inspector Morse drives although I can’t pretend that fact swayed my decision at all!

My ultimate piece of wedding advice is to ignore what everyone else tells you and follow your heart. People will tell you not to worry about the details and that no one will notice anyway but nearly every guest commented on the little things we had done so it is definitely worth it. Don’t feel guilty about spending money. You won’t regret it. Once you are satisfied with the overall style of the day it’s easy to just relax into it and enjoy the whole thing. When I woke up on the morning of the wedding I felt really good because I knew I had done everything possible to make the day how I wanted it to be, and all I had left to do was enjoy it! A wedding is just one day in hopefully a long and happy life together but it should be one day like no other..

Venue Crathorne Hall Hotel

Boutique Destiny

Make-up Julie Pattinson

Florist Agness Marshall

Photographer Topher McGrillis

Car hire TPJ Car Hire.

Can I just say that Topher McGrillis might be the best name I have ever heard.

Right, I’ve got that out of my system – Love the car, we don’t often “do” cars on RMW but this car is a beaut (Although I’d have it in Morse Maroon!). The venue is fantastic and the idea behind the seating plan and table names is GENIUS.

Oh, and an impromptu game of wedding cricket is always a welcome addition to any W-day. Getting married with green knees is so 2012…

Adam.