Samantha & Christopher

I do love a good proposal story and this wedding tale starts with an incredibly romantic story. It continues with the couples desire to host their wedding 'at home' (a place they hold so dear) in a gorgeous PapaKåta sperry tent overlooking Yorkshire, and close to the cutest dis-used church that was once used to Christen bride Samantha. The theme was, to quote the bride ‘if The White Company did Weddings’ with hints of blush and it's just beautiful. The mix of roses, hydrangeas and peony blooms within the marquee are simply breathtaking. As is the stylish 'black tie' groomsmen attire and Samantha's dreamy lace Sottero and Midgley Quinlynn gown. They say, 'home is where the heart is' so it's no wonder Amy shore Photography was able to capture so many beautiful moments between the couple and their family and friends. And if you fancy creating a super stylish and relaxed wedding in a marquee like Samantha & Christopher then you'll be pleased to know PapaKåta are hosting their Spring open weekend THIS weekend 18th-19th March. Get yourself along and make your wedding dreams come true too.

The Proposal

Samantha the Bride: Chris and I got engaged in Palm Springs, California back in March 2015. Chris was in the USA for business and asked me to go and join him for few days holiday at the end of his trip, we spent 3 days in LA and then drove out to Palm Springs. We stayed in a beautiful low key hotel once we returned to the hotel after dinner Chris suggested we have a drink together in the courtyard garden outside the back of our room. All the shutters were closed, which I assumed was just a turn down service, but as I opened the back door and walked outside the floor was covered in red rose petals, there were candles everywhere and there was a bottle of Pink Champagne on ice, with two glasses - I was totally blown away! Just as I was taking it all in, Chris got down on one knee and asked me to marry him, it was so emotional. We then had a few days to soak it all up together in LA before flying home to celebrate.

The Venue

They say home is where the heart is. So we agreed to set the venue at my family home, Hill Top Cottage, Stainburn, North Yorkshire. It’s a very special place for me of course having grown up here, I have so many memories from Hill Top and given how long Chris and I have been together we’ve both shared some great times there. We have a couple of fields which allowed us the space to fit a beautiful PapaKata Sperry Tent, along with room for parking and catering – the bonus was really being able to party for as long and as loud as we wished. We loved the location, our Sperry tent was just 0.1 mile from the Church which meant it was simple and hassle free to reach following the ceremony, in fact you could see the tent across the valley from the church which was nice. Our Sperry Tent ran along the top of the field at the highest point giving views out and across the Yorkshire landscape, it was a perfect backdrop.

Dress

When it came to looking for ‘the dress’ I knew exactly what I hoped to find, I’d spent so much time online, pinning away on Pinterest that I had a good idea of how I wanted the style and fit of my dress to be – but don’t we all! Like most things the challenge would be finding it. My Mum, along with Chris’ Mum came with me to visit a few beautiful bridal shops, I tried a number of dresses until finally I found ‘the one’ it really was that simple and the team at Bridal Boutique couldn’t have been more helpful. It felt so lucky as it was exactly what I had hoped for and I knew I didn’t need to try anything else, both the Mum’s were in tears and my Quinlynn Sottero and Midgley dress was ordered. My shoes were a simple clean stiletto from Dune and my veil was a full length lace edged veil by Richard Designs. My makeup on the day was done by Chloe from Killer Makeup and my hair by Lauren from Boutique Wedding Hair.

Ceremony

We got married at St. Mary’s Church in Stainburn – it was a small, relatively short but intimate service. St. Mary’s church was special to us as it was the church in which I was christened at. It’s now a dis-used church and part of the Churches Conservation Trust - as such we had to obtain a special licence the Archbishop of Canterbury in order to be married there, and although we had to jump through a few hoops it was so worth it. The only challenge we faced was that the church had no organ and no power, so we decided to have an acoustic singer, Michael Bird playing a guitar as Samantha walked in and during intervals in the ceremony which was beautiful and just what we had hoped for. Every part of our ceremony felt totally unique and certainly special to us.

Cake

We both knew exactly which style of cake we wanted to have. Neither of us are big ‘cake-eaters’ but we wanted to step away from the more traditional cakes and have our own style. We found a truly fantastic cake maker, Nicola from the Pretty Sugar Cake Company. The whole experience was fantastic, what better way to spend a morning than cake-tasting? Nicola not only produced a beautiful cake along with additional cupcakes, but was also a superstar in delivering and setting up our cake table exactly as we wished. It was a pretty picture perfect!

Flowers

We’re bias of course, but our flowers were truly stunning. We’re so fortunate that one of our family friends is an incredibly talented florist – Emma Walker Flowers. I wanted to bring together a pastel palette of blush and white for the flowers with a mixture of roses, peonies, hydrangeas and the flowers Emma delivered were just exquisite. Along with all the gorgeous bouquets and flowers for the whole bridal party, Emma also created a little Flower wand for Lily our Flower Girl. Her work and the overall result totally exceeded our expectations!

Stationery

To be honest most of the design elements of the day I left with Chris, he loves all things design and has an incredible eye for detail. We also have some talented friends that worked with us to create all our stationery - Claire (a graphic designer) worked up our Brand mark that carried across our Invites, RSVP, Order of Service, Menus and a range of other details on the day that were all considered and in keeping. We also had the main elements of our stationery letter pressed by the team at Cotton Letterpress in Leeds, it’s a beautiful process using 1950’s presses and added a special touch to the stationary.

Favours

When it comes to favours we wanted to be original and provide our family and friends with something that would be in keeping with the journey Chris and I have shared and we managed to do just that. Chris works for a soap manufacturer, selling soap to factories and brands around the world. One of their customers is the fantastic ‘Yorkshire Soap Company’ so Chris worked with the team to produce some beautiful handmade soaps in keeping with our style and colours. We could customise everything, from the colour, the fragrance, the shape and they went down a treat!

Photography

Chris is a big fan of photography, he spends a lot of time looking through photography, different styles and inspiration. Chris had mentioned that he’d like to work with Amy Shore on our big day. We both loved her natural style and tone of photography – so we all met up in Ilkley and after a good chat we decided to book her. Amy along with her assistant Stephanie O’Callaghan delivered the goods – they both captured the essence of our day beautifully, the photography was stunning and we have the most amazing memories to look back on.

Videography

Our late call to have videography at our wedding probably ended up being one of the best things we did. Chris follows videography as well as photography and had his heart set on how the video would be produced (he’s like that) – in the end he managed to book one of his favourite videographers Daniel Peters. Daniel is incredibly talented and although he doesn’t tend to work on many weddings (his work is generally with brand cinematography) he did agree to work with us, and we’re so happy he did. The video he produced is truly amazing, and captured every part of our special day just perfectly, especially using a drone to capture aerial shots.

Wedding Party Attire

I got all the bridesmaid dresses, a full length dress with lace detailing from Dessy Group in Cameo colour with a style in keeping with my dress, they all looked great together and thankfully worked so well with the pastel blush flowers. Our Flower girl dress and accessories were all from Monsoon. I also bought each bridesmaid a few bits for the day including a handmade bracelet with their initials from Not on the High Street as a little thank you for their support. Chris along with his Best Man Lewis had their suits custom made by a friend Ian Douglas. They had a super slim fit suit, single breasted dinner jacket, with custom polka dot lining, along with matching polka dot ‘Happy Socks’ and patent shoes from Dune. Chris’s suit also has the date stitched on the inside of the jacket which is such a nice touch to remember the day every time he wears that suit in future. Chris also bought matching Shore Projects watches for both himself and Lewis as a gift to remember the day.

Wedding Style

We didn’t have a colour scheme, we sort of aimed for ‘if The White Company did Weddings’ but blush pink ended up being a key feature throughout the wedding. The dress code was black-tie although the general feeling was relaxed, minimalist & elegant we tried to let the venue, setting and flowers speak for themselves. We both loved the idea of the classic, refined style of Black-Tie combined with the destressed disused Church and stunning Yorkshire landscape – we felt that all came together extremely well.

Catering

When it came to planning the day, we knew there were aspects we wanted to splash out on and the things we didn’t. The few things the both of us enjoy are great food, good music and great drinks so we had those at the top of our list – once you have those elements you can’t go far wrong. After a few tasting days it was crystal clear that we wanted to work with Mike Kernall and the team at MKC – not only are they a great bunch of people the food was such a high standard and a step above anything else we’d had. We tailored our menu a little, and decided to go for antipasti sharing platter to start, followed by a BBQ stack of Filet of Beef and Lamb finishing with an assiette of desserts, chocolate fondant, Eton mess and panna cotta. The food was relaxed but sophisticated and tasted incredible. We supplied all the drinks which was all served perfectly by the team at MKC – we wouldn’t hesitate in working with them again.

Our Advice

Our wedding day was everything we hoped it would be, sharing that moment in time with the most important people in our lives. Our advice would be spend your money on the bit’s that matter to you most and don’t sweat the small stuff. Soak up the day as it’s gone in a flash - we wouldn’t go back and change a single thing!