Eleanor & Tom were married on Saturday 11th April 2015 with their ceremony at All Saints C of E
Church, Clayton-le-Moors followed by their reception at Beeston Manor, Hoghton.
Tom and I first met
when we were just 17, as students at sixth form college. Over the last ten
years we’ve gone from being childhood sweethearts to
finally being married, which is an amazing feeling.
We had talked about
getting married, and even found a ring that we both liked, but Tom still wanted
the proposal to be a surprise. We were on holiday in the Scottish highlands
between Christmas and New Year, and we visited Eilean Donan castle. As we were
in a courtyard looking out over the loch, I turned round to see Tom on one knee
with the ring we had chosen, and he asked me to marry him. I burst into tears,
but I said yes straightaway.
When choosing our wedding venue we both knew that we
wanted a more relaxed venue than the traditional stately home, something rustic
but beautiful. We’d found Beeston Manor on the internet, and
decided to call in and pick up a brochure on our way home from another wedding
fair. Amy showed us around, we both fell in love and booked it on the spot! It’s
historic, beautiful, a real family-run venue, and was absolutely perfect!
We found our photographer, florist, venue dresser,
cars, suit hire and my wedding ring all through visiting various local wedding
fairs. Our videographer was recommended by our photographer, and they did an
amazing job together on the day.
We visited the
Little White Books wedding fair at Beeston Manor, which is where we discovered
both Lilybets florist and Creative Cover Hire, so it’s a
good thing we did!
We didn’t have a specific theme for our wedding, but we wanted something elegant, romantic and traditional. Instead of having one colour, we had a palette of cream, silver, dusky pink, lavender and plum, with splashes of burgundy. Our amazing florist Lilybets drew all the colours together in the flowers, and the effect was stunning.
My dress was ‘Nadia’by Maggie Sottero, and I found it at The Bridal
Lounge in Accrington. I was really nervous about choosing a dress, but Lee in
the shop was absolutely amazing. The dress I chose was one that she suggested I
try –it wasn’t
at all what I had thought I might pick, but as soon as I put it on, I knew it
was the one. My mum and I both cried, so that was the sign!
Our first dance was
a Viennese Waltz to ‘Kiss From A Rose’ by Seal. The song started out as a bit of a joke
with us, because Tom would play it whenever I was having a bit of a strop to
calm me down, but we actually realised it was perfect for our first dance. We
had some lessons beforehand, and had a really lovely time learning to dance
together. Our guests were all really surprised on the night!
We’ve had so many wonderful comments about our wedding day from our family and friends. The beautiful church ceremony, the stunning reception venue, the amazing food, the speeches and the ceilidh band we had for the evening reception have all been mentioned. It’s so nice to know that people enjoyed themselves so much.
And following our big day we had a mini-moon
in Scotland, which is where we got engaged, and we’re
planning a longer honeymoon, hopefully to Iceland and New York.
I think if I could give other brides & grooms one piece of advice then it would be to tell them the day goes by so
quickly that it’s hard to take it all in. We are so glad that we
chose a wonderful photographer and also videographer to capture the day, as we
can relive all the wonderful memories so vividly. So my advice would be to definitely consider having
photographs and a film, and invest time in finding people that you gel with,
who will make you feel at ease and capture your wonderful lasting mementos of
what will hopefully be one of the happiest days of your life.
These are our three favourite things from our wedding day:
1.Meeting
at the top of the aisle in the church, surrounded by our family and friends; it
was such a moving and exciting moment.
2.Walking
into our dressed reception room and seeing how beautiful everything looked, and
the gorgeous smell coming from all the flowers.
3.The
ceilidh in the evening was amazing, and it was brilliant to see so many
important people from many different aspects of our lives all joining in and
enjoying it together.
Eleanor & Tom’s Suppliers
Venue: Beeston Manor (http://beestonmanor.com/)
Photographer: Lisa
Hindle Photography (http://www.lisahindlephotography.co.uk/)
Videographer:
Freezeframe Productions (http://weddingvideosbyfreezeframe.co.uk/)
Flowers: Lilybets
flowers (http://lilybetsflowers.com/)
Wedding breakfast
music, ceilidh band and DJ: Triple Scotch Ceilidh Band (http://triplescotch.com/)
Venue dressing: Creative Cover Hire (http://www.creativecoverhire.co.uk/)
Cake: Cakes by
Vanilla (http://cakesbyvanilla.co.uk/)
Cars: Classic
Wedding Carriages (http://www.classicweddingcarriages.co.uk/)
Dress: The Bridal
Lounge, Accrington (http://www.thebridalloungeaccrington.co.uk/)
Suit hire: Greenwoods (http://www.1860.com/)
Hair and make-up: Kellie Hughes (http://www.kelliehugheshairandbeauty.co.uk/)
