Sarah & Chris

This whole wedding is a page full of dreamy peachy loveliness. Set at the idyllic Northumberland venue Brinkburn and full of rustic greenery, and blush blooms. Bride Sarah looks like an absolute vision in her boho Temperley London gown. Plus her bridal headpiece is something out of a fairytale. These two couldn't look more in love and happy on their day. With all the magic and romance being captured beautifully by Katy Melling Photography.

Planning

Sarah the Bride: Living in Australia and getting married in the UK certainly posed its problems, but thanks to Pinterest and Instagram we seemed to come through the process fairly unscathed!

Venue

When we were researching wedding venues we were pretty clear on what we wanted, a laid back yet quintessentially British venue and Brinkburn was exactly what we were looking for. It's the only venue we visited and we booked it as soon as we saw it - fresh off the plane from Australia - much to the Venue Coordinator's surprise! Brinkburn is a rustic, idyllic venue set in the Coquet Valley (Northumberland) with the spectacular Priory as the ceremony venue and quirky tipis for the reception - it really was the best of both worlds, a touch of tradition with the added festival feel we were looking for. All of this thrown in with an unbelievably organised wedding coordinator was truly a dream come true!

Colour Scheme & Decor

Once we had the venue locked in, it really helped to set the style of the wedding moving forward. Pinterest was without a doubt my main wedding planning tool, everything from finding the dress to designing the table settings came from Pinterest, it was our saviour! I had boards for everything my look, the bridal party, flowers, cake and the 'look and feel' of the day. We chose our colour scheme fairly early on, nude peachy tones along with navy and a hint of rustic green, this was paired with a fairly clean minimal style, with plenty of festoon lighting! The suppliers we used were all local to Northumberland and they were all excellent....

Flowers

The florist (Lavenders Blue) is a horticultural genius who - considering most of our conversations were done via email - they created the perfect look for us using peach peonies and plenty of gypsophila!

Cake

I did not envy Dawn at Master Cakesmith for having to deal with Chris and I. Cake is one of our favourite things on earth, so narrowing down the flavours certainly took some doing! So it was no surprise that we ended up having a cake made up of 3 different flavours (lemon drizzle, millionaire shortbread and bake well tart) along with a separate carrot cake (our favourite) and numerous treats - all 'naked' and rustic themed of course.

Photographer

Katy Melling was the perfect photographer and we are over the moon with our photos. She captured all of the moments throughout the day perfectly. We were conscious that we wanted our photos to match the style of the wedding and didn't want anything staged and false. Katy made everyone feel at ease and most of the time we didn't even realise she was there!

The Dress

For my bridal look, I took a lot of inspiration from Kate Moss' wedding, I love her boho laid back style whilst remaining true to her British roots. This was my brief when looking for a dress, which is one of the reasons I chose Temperley London. As soon as I found the stockist in Northumberland (Kathryn Trueman) I knew I wouldn't be going anywhere else. After appeasing the bridesmaids and mother and trying on what seemed like a hundred dresses, I saved the Temperley collection until last and "the one" was the final dress I tried, which was bizarrely called 'Temperley Chrys'! My dress was exactly what I was looking for romantic, unique and with Temperley's signature bohemian style.

Beauty

I wanted my hair to be really simple, boho waves with a thick fringe which my hair dresser (Mark Williams) created perfectly. He's been my hairdresser for 11 years so I trusted him completely and he totally put me at ease on the day. My makeup artist was also fantastic (Victoria Holdstock) and followed my brief to the letter, recreating Kate Moss' wedding look by Charlotte Tilbury.

Grooms Suit

Chris and I are on the same page when it comes to fashion and we've kept our British style even after moving to Oz. I think our looks complemented each other on the day, with Chris wearing a suit by his favourite designer - Vivienne Westwood along with an Alexander McQueen tie and monk strap shoes by Paul Smith.

Wedding Party Fashion

I decided early on in the process that any decisions which could be taken out of my hands and put into the trusted bridal party's was worth it and that included the bridesmaid dresses! They were given a cream to peach colour scheme, a rough brief and off they went! I loved the mismatch style and think it added to our laid back feel of the wedding. The gypsophila crowns completed their look perfectly.

Drink

We were keen to weave a touch of Australia into the theme somewhere, with it being our home for the last four years. We started with the wine - from our favourite winery in Margaret River (Hayshed Hill) and we even managed managed to squeeze a wine tasting in before we headed back to the UK! The table names were also made up of popular Western Australian suburbs.

Special Moments

The day itself was perfect - I know everyone says that, but it truly was. Made even more special for us by seeing friends travel from all over the globe to be in the same venue, which is quite a rarity for us - it was surreal. The day was filled with love and laughter, one which we'll never forget.

Food

Menu

Starters:

• Polenta & Halloumi salad
• Ham hock fritters, pea & ham cream sauce
• North Shields fishcake, sour cream& chilli dressing

Mains:

• Daube of beef, shallots, button mushrooms
• Monkfish with lemon & thyme butter
• Served with: Dauphinois Potatoes & seasonal veg

Dessert (a trio):

• Sticky toffee pudding, creme brûlée & amaretto cheesecake

We wanted a selection to suit everyone's taste, hence the amount of different plates!