Bride Laura's fabulous Design Your Own Karen Willis Holmes gown, mixing a Mimi skirt and Zoey bodice to form her dream wedding dress was literally the start of fusing two elements together to make one fabulous piece. Bride Laura is originally from Yorkshire, and Groom Jonathan is from originally from London, and this gorgeous combination made for a stylish modern wedding in the beautiful setting of the Yorkshire Dales captured by the talented Leanne Jade Photography. They hopped from church to marquee and tied everything in with their wonderful DIY decor and details. Everyone looks like they had the best day, especially the lovely couple.

Our Story

Laura the Bride: Jonathan and I met 5 years ago at the end of a night out in Clapham. Jonathan was having a Domino’s with his friends and as I walked past with my friends wearing a rather large hat, one of Jonathan’s friends, who was the best man, shouted across ‘Oi girl in the hat’. Jonathan ran over to apologises for his friends drunken behaviour, only to be quizzed by my friends as to whether he was single and then asked for ID to clarify his age! Somehow we managed to swap numbers and arrange a date. I was then known as ‘hat girl’ amongst Jonathan’s friends for a good 6 months!!

Venue - Priory Cottages, Yorkshire

Jonathan and I live in London. Jonathan grew up in London but I moved down after university and grew up in Leeds so I really wanted to get married back in Yorkshire ‘Gods own Country’! We were recommended Priory Cottages near Wetherby by numerous friends so we went along for a visit and knew it was the perfect place for our wedding reception. We loved the fact there were cottages onsite for our bridal party and we had exclusive use of the venue and it was 15 minutes away from my family home where I grew up. Serena and Phoebe are also so lovely and accommodating and made us feel at home and relaxed for the entire weekend.

Church Wedding Ceremony

The Ceremony was held at St Edwards church, Clifford is where we got married, a beautiful catholic church down the road from where I went to school. Jonathan went to London Oratory school and what made the ceremony extra special for us was his school chaplain Father George made the journey to Leeds to marry us. It was so incredible having someone who had known Jonathan and his friends, who were all ushers, for so many years.

Design Your Own Gown By Karen Willis Holmes

My sister and I went wedding dress shopping with different styles for me in mind! My sister was picking up the biggest tulle dresses where as I was drawn to very straight and slinky lace style dresses. We went to Angelica Boutique in Camden and the assistance told us about a truck show they were having for an Australian designer Karen Willis Holmes. The assistant showed us the new ‘design-your-gown’ range where you can pick a top and skirt to then have them sewn together to create your perfect wedding dress. I loved the unique idea and when I tried the Mimi skirt and Zoey bodice on together it was the first time my sister and I agreed that this was the perfect dress for me. I loved the simplicity of the dress with its clean lines. I didn’t want to ruin the simplicity by over accessorising, so I chose a hair piece from The Bobby Pin and a lace veil. I wore Jimmy Choo shoes, mainly as the wedding just seemed like a good excuse to finally treat myself to a pair!

Wedding Photographer - Leanne Dixon

Leanne was recommended to Jonathan by a friend and we couldn’t have been happier with our choice. She fitted in perfectly being friendly and fun and managed to get everyone in order for the photos, whilst also going unnoticed for some lovely natural photographs, which is just what we wanted. We loved every single one of our wedding photos and still can’t stop looking at them. I now just need to go buy a lot more frames so we can put them all up all over the house!

TH&TH Blush Bridesmaid Dresses

This was easy! A friend of mine Louise got married a couple of years ago and designed her own bridesmaid dresses. After the wedding she decided to go into business with her friends to launch of range of stylish and luxury yet affordable bridesmaid dresses. I arranged an appointment with Louise to view her range of bridesmaid dresses last November at the Langham Hotel and while sipping on champagne my bridesmaid and I all had a lot of fun trying on the dresses (yes I got involved trying them on too!). The girls all decided on wearing the same Olivia dress in blush pink, which can be worn three different ways as it come with different strap options.

Wedding Catering

Jonathan is an incredible cook, which is good as we both love our food and enjoy tasting new things and dining out together. I got in touch with MKC Catering and immediately knew they were going to be amazing as they discussed everything we liked / didn’t like and how we could make it into a menu for the day. We had the most incredible and fun tasting with Mike at his offices in a setup which resembled a ski chalet and Mike was wonderful working with us. We chose a prawn salad for starter, deconstructed beef wellington as main, and a trio of desserts which were presented so immaculately I didn’t think it would be possible for a wedding of 110+ people. Our guests are still talking about the wedding food been the best they’ve tasted!

Stationery, Favours and Extra Bits

Jonathan designed all the stationery for the wedding from save the dates written on balloons to the menu cards and the seating plan. After creating an L&J logo for the wedding he decided to have this printed on stickers and to make our own candles for favours, including coming up with our own ‘wedding scent’. He also built a photo booth by building a and decorating a box which housed his digital camera was attached to a touch iPad with printer. The photo booth was so much fun and all the guest young and old got involved and we had some rather amusing photos as the night progressed! Jonathan also decided to build garden furniture from old pallets that we’d received deliveries for the wedding on or sourced from local builders, as well as making some games for the garden the night before the wedding.

Grooms Hacket Suit

After trying on way more suits than I did dresses Jonathan decided on a tailor made Hackett suit and Barker shoes.

Wedding Flowers by Paperwhites

I’m very minimalist in my style and was drawn to lots of images of South African and Australian outdoor weddings with lots of fairy lights and white flowers with foliage. Obviously Leeds in May is not South Africa but I still wanted the look of whites and greens. Wendy at Paperwhites did the flowers and captured my ideas perfectly. I particularly loved the flower rings in the marquee.

Wedding Music & Band

Our first dance was ‘Love is all I got’ Crystal fighters as we saw them perform together at Glastonbury and wanted a fun upbeat song. We then hired ‘The Groove line band’ to play in the evening.