Ann-Marie & Mark

Ann-Marie has had a fascination with outer space ever since she was a little girl, so it makes total sense that she would want her wedding to be inspired by 'the moon and the stars.' Even more so when you learn that her now husband Mark is a physicist too! Their whole day looks incredibly personal, with the pair only choosing to follow traditions that suited them as a couple. The incredible countryside location at Camp Katur, with a stunning PapaKata tent just added to the magical feeling created by the all white decor, which again echoed their moon and stars theme. Photographer Ed Peers has captured the day perfectly. I loved looking through the images and watching the day unfold...and I'm certain you will too...

The Venue

Ann-Marie the Bride: Finding the venue was definitely the most difficult part of our planning. We were both set on having a country wedding but our hunt was long and took us all over the UK. Camp Katur in North Yorkshire stole our hearts from the moment we saw it on a damp July afternoon. The rolling meadow, quirky glamping pods and woodland ceremony area gave us a tremendous canvas. It helped that Kerry and all of the staff were incredibly friendly and welcoming. We booked the camp and meadow for the whole weekend, hired a tipi from PapaKata for the reception and invited our friends and family to stay on site with us. It was an incredible feeling to wake up on the day, peek out across the meadow to see our nearest and dearest gathered together between the trees and the long grass.

The Decor

With a venue as naturally beautiful as Camp Katur we knew we didn’t need to overdress it. We kept the colour scheme and decorations simple, using white paper lanterns to dress the ceremony area, trees and the inside of the tipi. We worked with Lucy MacNicoll for the flowers, and she interpreted our wishes perfectly and delivered a beautiful blend of bouquets and arrangements using neutral colours and succulents that subtlety blended our colours with the trees and woodlands. They looked stunning! One of our favourite decorations was a paper curtain that we crafted with friends, which we hung as a doorway into the woodland ceremony area.

The Bride

I had a pretty good idea of what sort of dress I wanted and what would suit me and after a few mediocre dress appointments I finally found a Jenny Packham dress which I fell in love with. The visit to their boutique was the most enjoyable of all the appointments I’d been to and all of the dresses felt amazing to wear! A birdcage veil from Etsy added something special to the overall look and definitely helped me feel like a bride on the big day. I've never enjoyed having my makeup done in the past but Louise Lunn did such a great job of making me feel special but still looking like me and Lisa Brogan complete the look by styling my hair in a side bun which worked really well with the veil. The bridesmaids chose their own dresses in neutral colours and they all looked gorgeous!

The Groom

Mark the Groom: I wore a personally tailored suit from Reiss with a bow tie and pocket square from Mrs Bow Tie. I couldn't resist the opportunity to wear braces, an overlooked method of trouser support, but didn't appreciate just how hard they'd be to find. Luckily I found the right pair from Brook Brothers in the US (thank you Internet!). My outfit was finished with a pair of British made Grenson tan brogues”.

The Ceremony

The ceremony and opportunity to celebrate the commitment we were making to each other was hugely important to us. We knew we didn’t want a traditional ceremony, but didn’t know exactly what we did want! Camp Katur put us in touch with another member of their ‘family’ - Jan Shillito of Celebration Ceremonies and Weddings. Jan was incredible. She designed and created a ceremony with the right balance of uniqueness, tradition and meaning. We felt at ease as soon as we met her and as we talked through our backgrounds, shared interests and how we met, it soon felt like she’d known us for a lot longer! Sitting down and reading her first draft of our script was the most enjoyable and emotional part of planning the whole day. It was truly memorable. Our ceremony ended up as a moon and star themed story of ourselves, our interests and as Jan described, “how our two planets collided”. The ceremony was incredibly personal and really set the tone for the day. It was highlight for us and we’d absolutely recommend it.

Traditions

Only honour the traditions you believe in - we deliberately ignored many traditions, which made the ones we did follow all the more special and the ones that spontaneously occurred all the more delightful. We didn't want a formal receiving line but one naturally sprung up as our guests made their way across the meadow to the post ceremony drinks. We didn't want a first dance, instead we finished with an impromptu last dance surrounded by all of our friends dancing our socks off. We followed the best man’s speech with a Mr & Mrs double act as the final speech. We asked our Mums to be our ring-bearers as they rarely get the recognition they deserve during the day

The Food

A party isn't a party without a feast of food and drink. Catering was provided by the ‘family’ at Camp Katur who served Pimms and Lemonade from the tipi in the centre of the meadow. We opted for informal dining in the Papakata tipi with bench seating and shared platters for each course. Food is an important thing in Ann-Marie's family and we were pleased that the Father of the Bride gave it a big thumbs up too.

The Party

We definitely believed in the tradition of having a good old fashioned knees up late into the night. We found Mulder & Co., an extremely talented set of musicians from Liverpool who play festival style music (think Mumford and Sons). Their cover of Ho-Hey from the Lumineers takes us back to our day immediately.

The Photography

Definitely choose a great photographer. Those shots will become your memories as your real ones fade into the haze of time. Our photographer Ed Peers was the easiest choice of all. Ed captured our close friends Liz and Jordan’s day and we knew we wanted his stunning portraits and documentary style for our big day too. We are so glad he was available. We love our pictures and can’t thank or recommend him highly enough. Amazing guy, amazing talent.

Choosing Your Suppliers

Pick your suppliers wisely. Having confidence in them takes away so much of the stress that can obscure your day. We were helped by Kim Taylor as our "day coordinator" which is a misleading title as Kim's role in our wedding started long before the day itself. She was there when storm clouds threatened the day before, when hay bales needed to be moved around camp and when Mark temporarily lost the rings on the morning of the wedding. She worked tirelessly behind the scenes and the day ran like clockwork as a result.

Advice

The best wedding advice we heard and would pass on, is for your special day to reflect you as a couple. We made sure we had a clear idea of what we wanted, we tried not to be too obsessive about the small details and didn’t go along with anything that didn’t feel right. After the event, one of our friends described our wedding to us as “warm, inclusive and fun”, which is exactly what we hoped it would be.