Alix & Scott

If there's one word that personifies this North Yorkshire wedding it's elegant. The pure white florals mixed with hints of grey and gold are simply delicious. Plus the fashion and florals are both chic, stylish and are utterly pin worthy too. Bride and Groom, Alix and Scott are just the sweetest, which I bet made Georgina Harrison Photography's job capturing all those heart felt moments a doddle. SO sit back relax and get ready for a dreamy start to your Monday morning.

Wedding

Alix the Bride: When it came to actually organising our wedding, I suppose you really could say, it all started with the ring… We both didn't want a 'weddingy' wedding - if that makes sense? Rather than a formal affair it was really important that it felt relaxed, fun and personal to us. Our wedding date was same date that Scott proposed to me three years prior, with a beautiful rose gold diamond engagement ring which he got made at a local jewellers.

Colour Scheme

We're not really 'colourful' people and liked the simple, clean, elegant, floaty pastels. I loved the dove grey colour for bridesmaids with lots of white flowers, textures and rose gold details (of course). A beautiful sky & the outdoors were definitely inspiration for us.

The Photography

For our wedding pictures, we wanted very natural, simple but arty & romantic photography. We wanted shots documenting the day rather than formal set ups. As I had a particular style in mind I was worried a photographer would be difficult to find, but then we came across Georgina Harrison. Not only is she uber talented but she was also an absolute pleasure to have there on the day - she was super organised and professional but also fun. It was as if she was a guest (I think a few of them thought she actually was. Sorry about that, Georgina!). She had captured everything we wanted and more – lots of laughter and everyone having fun.

The Venue

We knew we wanted to get married in a Church and St Hilda’s was a no brainer as it was both of our childhood churches - it’s also unbelievably stunning! I walked to the Church from my Parents’ house which was just up the road - we were really lucky with the September weather. The venue however was a little more difficult to find. We knew we didn’t want a typical wedding venue and wanted a smaller wedding breakfast of around 40. We found most venues to have a minimum of 60 and you were forced to pick from standard packages… not for us. One day whilst driving past The Cleveland Tontine (which we’d done 100’s of times) I had a lightbulb moment! It was the first venue we visited and instantly captured what we wanted – chic, simple and modern but with a quirky twist. We were able to rent out the entire venue for exclusive use and really loved that guests could move around each room and out in to the gardens. Kimberley, the Events Manager and the rest of the staff were brilliant - from helping to choose the wedding menu to ensuring the smooth running of our day (and keeping an eye on the bar tab). If anything disastrous did happen, I was oblivious.

The Food

We’re big foodies so this was an important decision for us. We were thrilled that we could customise all of the food at The Tontine - along with the wine & a cocktail menu. We wanted people to have a day that they didn’t have to worry about ‘the price of a round of drinks’ so arranged for an open bar for most of the day with plenty of arrival drinks, table wine and fizz to toast the speeches. For arrival drinks we had pink prosecco with edible flowers plus a selection of local beers, lagers & ciders in iced buckets for guests to choose from. To eat, we gave our guests a choice from each course. I had goats cheese cross en croute with beetroot, pea, honey and mint dressing to start, followed by fillet of sea bass, spring onion and olive oil crushed new potatoes, sautéed spinach and salsa verde. Scott had a smooth liver pate to start followed by roasted rump of lamb and mini shepherd's pies, fondant potato, spring cabbage and a mint & redcurrant reduction. We both went for the same dessert which was chocolate cappuccino mousse with coffee ice cream and brandy snap. All finished with coffee and petis four. For the evening food we had a big old Ploughmans - cheese, breads and chutneys with lots of savoury accompaniments. For something sweet we served our wedding cake. We really wanted to use local suppliers and found a local girl named Alex to do ours. We had a four tier round cake that had a different flavour each layer: chocolate & vanilla, blueberry, and double lime & coconut. The cake tasting session was Scott’s favourite part, funny that.

The Bride

Being 6ft tall and quite slim I was given the very helpful ‘you’ll suit anything’ advice… as with many other parts of our wedding, I wanted the dress to be simple – not a traditional style – but elegant. I wasn’t that in to all-over lace or lots of embellishment. Thin straps and a low back really stood out to me. I’d tried a few boutiques in the Summer of 2016 but had no luck - I was somewhat defeated by not finding a dress but had the most perfect experience at The Harrogate Wedding Lounge. Then, a little later in the year they were hosting a next season preview event of Enzoani dresses and there was one that had caught my eye - Juri. I immediately called them… and it was on the list! It was fate. I fell in love with it the moment I put it on, and so did the Mothers and my Sister, Rachel (my Maid of Honour). The simple elegance of the fitted skirt coupled with the modern lace bodice, low illusion back and cathedral length train blew me away. Leanne, Jo and all others at The Harrogate Wedding Lounge were fantastic. I added a cathedral length drop veil to the look and kept jewellery to a minimum. I found some rose gold crystal earrings which were a little different and I wore flowers in my hair.

Hair

My hair was down in a sort of glam wave with one side pinned back with flowers. My maids also had flowers in their hair. They each have very different hair so I was pretty chilled with their styles - whatever they were comfortable with. Abby & Jess of Bloggs Salon were fantastic! I knew I wanted us to feel a million dollars on the wedding day and what better way than to have our makeup professionally done. I’d booked Heather of Heather Francesca Pro Makeup Artist & Studio pretty early on as I knew her calendar would fill up. Her make-up is flawless, she is so so talented. We went for a natural, full-coverage look on the day with a hint of glam.

The Flowers

I adore flowers – so obviously they were always going to play a big part in our day. We went for classic, romantic and textured white flowers – hydrangea, roses, gyp, lisianthus, chrysanthemums and stocks. I went to school with a lady called Amy who is a fantastic florist so I didn’t even consider anyone else. She was fab - she knew we wanted lots of flowers so I gave her creative licence over the table flowers. I had different sizes of gold vases on each table and she filled them beautifully. A week before the wedding Scott also ordered me the biggest bouquet of flowers I’d ever seen - to make up for not being able to enjoy our wedding flowers as we went on Honeymoon to New Zealand the day after.

Bridesmaids

The ASOS dresses we eventually chose were really simple but the colour was exactly what I wanted. The deep V back and satin sash really suited the shapes of each of the three maids. They wore their own shoes as I wanted them to be comfy and I bought them rose gold crystal jewellery from Swarovski which were so pretty. The ear jacket earrings were a cool quirky touch. I got each of them a Katie Loxton clutch bag for the day too - along with lots of other gifts on the morning to say thanks.

The Groom

Scott knew he didn't want a standard top and tail wedding suit, so went for something a bit different. After a small amount of deliberation he went for a Remus Uomo, three piece dinner suit with black lapels, and a U cut waistcoat. This was from Woven in Durham, who tailored the suit to fit Scott perfectly. He also went for an ivory white pocket square and black bow tie which caused a lot of issues on the morning, as he had never tied a bowtie - it still wasn’t tied when he got to the Church - thankfully, Aunty Marion saved the day! The groomsmen also had navy suits and went for a black tie, rather than the bowtie, as Scott wanted to stand out. As gifts we got the gents rose gold cufflinks and handmade, personalised, tie pins from etsy. Scott opted for a rose gold pocket watch - something he’d been keen on from the beginning - those dapper touches.

The Music

At the Church we had the traditional wedding tunes playing on the organ with a few hymns within the ceremony. Whilst we signed the register we had a song called Conrad by Ben Howard playing through the church, it sounded so majestic! We chose Nicola Sim, a Pianist, to play the reception music. She is amazing and played songs which we loved from her repertoire plus a mix of more indie songs and special requests - Arctic Monkeys, Tom Odell and a Childish Gambino. The guests loved it. Our first dance was another Ben Howard song, Only Love. I’d been so composed throughout the whole day but the first dance got me and the tears started to flow. We had everyone join in with us half way through as the song takes a folky turn. Then the Disco started… we chose The Ultimate Wedding DJ as our playlist was fully customisable and they included different lights which fully transformed the room. The dance floor was well attended - mainly by friends but top prize went to the Father of the Bride!

The Decor & Styling

We were going for the whole ‘modern relaxed classic elegance’ style - we didn’t want it to feel like a typical wedding but still wanted guests to feel part of something amazing. We’ve been together for 10 years and have truly grown together so it was a really powerful and happy day. Being such a quirky venue, we didn’t need to do much decorating - we mainly put lots of flowers everywhere, candles and frames with lovely messages. We didn’t do favours as such but made donations to two charities close to our hearts; Crohn's & Colitis UK and Alice House Hospice. As a little keepsake we had agate slices with the guests name in rose gold as their place setting - I found EG Lettering on etsy - they were stunning. The venue were kind enough to arrange all of the decorations and even stretched to writing our table plan on a big antique gold mirror - it was a great touch. The day had a good flow to it so people weren't sat around waiting for long periods of time - something both of us really wanted to avoid as there’s nothing worse. The evening guests also had their own arrival drinks.

Stationery

I was lucky that my very talented Sister, Rachel, designed and made all of my wedding stationery. We wanted it to feel really classic and modern so they were white with accents of dove grey and a whole lotta rose gold which we hand foiled ourselves. The font was close to my handwriting and we incorporated a grey watercolour which I painted myself and it was then scanned in to the design. I got the wording inspiration from different blogs and mainly Pinterest.

Rings

Our wedding rings were made at a local jewellers, Mark Lloyd Jewellers. Scott went for a brushed titanium band with a rose gold bevelled edge and I went for a twist on the typical wedding band, literally.

The Entertainment

Music was massively incorporated in to the day but we also picked a couple of other things to entertain guests. We booked a Caricature called Dean on Warble Entertainments who was fantastic on the evening and got plenty of laughs! Dean was absolutely charming and again, slotted in like one of the guests. As a final hurrah (which we almost forgot about) we also had a sparkler send off at the end of the evening. It sounds cheesy but it was a great touch and got some fantastic pictures & videos. The speeches will go down as the biggest entertainment of the day - we won’t go in to them for obvious reasons but they were brilliant! A huge well done to our Best Man, Alex!

Advice

Enjoy the day! I had a pretty stressy month building up to the wedding; I was changing jobs which I hadn’t planned on doing, we were jetting off to New Zealand the day after the wedding and I was trying to concentrate on finishing touches. Nonetheless I was adamant that I was going to have a stress-free day and that started with the most gorgeous morning at my parents’ house getting ready with my maids & the mothers. Make time for each other during the day. It goes by so quickly so be sure to spend some time with each other to connect and absorb what’s happening. After our photographs Scott & I then travelled to the venue alone in our own car - we nipped to my Parents’ to freshen up (I had a swig of champagne) and we set off. It was so normal & lovely. It’s difficult to please everyone. Be sure to do what you want - it’s your wedding after all. Everything turns out okay in the end :) To my beautiful Sister, Rachel - without you a lot of it wouldn’t have been possible. Thank you!