You didn’t think we’d let Saturday slip by without sharing something sensational too, did you? 🤩
This gorgeous wedding took place in the depth of winter and is full of sultry and romantic vibes. I feel very proud indeed to be sharing this wedding, because both the photographer and dress designer – both incredible talents in their own right, are members of our Little Book Wedding Directory. These breathtaking images were captured on film by Emmy-Lou of Vanitas Life Photography. And this dress was by the utterly wonderful Emma Beaumont.
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Bride Sophie and her love Peter tied the knot on 6th December 2019 with a ceremony at St Marys Church in Whitewell, Whitchurch, followed by a reception at Iscoyd Park, a private country house touching the borders of North Wales, Shropshir and Cheshire.
“One of my favourite times of year is Christmas – most people seem to want summer weddings but for me I loved the idea of having a candlelit wedding breakfast. I also wasn’t keen on the thought of wearing a wedding dress in the summer heat. We loved being able to have mulled wine, fairy lights, candles and Christmas trees in the church and venue.”
“I had two photographers on the day. I had Greg Milner who did my digital photos and Emmy Lou of Vanitas Life Photography (whose images you see on this page here) who captured on film. This gave us two very different styles of photographs. Neither of us are keen on having our photo taken but both photographers made us feel so comfortable in front of the camera. We had asked for natural photographs and thats definitely what we got – we love them!!
“We used Lester Wills from 4LW Video Production. I initially didn’t want a wedding video as I felt we would feel too awkward watching it back – however, Lester did my brother and sister in laws wedding video in September and I loved it.”
“We managed to luckily book him and I cant get enough of our video! Lester managed to do such a fantastic job and capture so many of our highlights.”
“I had my wedding dress made by Emma Beaumont. I was searching for long sleeved wedding dresses on pinterest and came across a dress I loved. I googled Emmas name and couldn’t believe that her shop was just down the road!”
“Emma was super patient with me whilst I deliberated over all the beautiful material she stocks and produced a dress that I was just over the moon with! I especially loved the hand embroidered sleeves with our initials and date of wedding.”
“I decided to change my dress in the evening to something smaller just so i could dance with all my guests – I chose a sparkly dress by Adrianna Papell.”
“I wore the perfume which I wear on a day to day basis – its one that Peter bought me as a gift and I know that he likes it! Its by Van Cleef & Arpels and is called moonlight patchouli.“
“I found my florist Fiona via Iscoyd Park. We wanted a florist who had worked at the venue previously and was familiar with its layout. Fiona was amazing!! I absolutely loved all my flowers and table displays. I asked for lots of winter foliage with red berries and pale blush roses.”
“I wore a veil which Emma picked out – it was perfect.”
“The only accessories I wore were my Granny’s diamond earrings. My best friend Joanna also gave me a blue beaded pin which she had made which i pinned to the inside of my dress. In the evening I wore a Tiffany necklace which Peter has bought me as a wedding gift.”
“I got my shoes from Aquazzura – i spent so long looking for the right pair. I didn’t want peep toe shoes because it was winter and finding a pair that were sparkly, not too high and most of all comfortable took a long time!”
“I found my makeup and hair artist through Iscoyd Parks Instagram page. Vicky and Maxine work together regularly which really helped for a smooth morning run – especially with seven bridesmaids!”
“We used Elegance Wedding Cars based in Wigan – Peter was keen to have a Royles Royce Silver Cloud so after googling we managed to source one.”
“We met nearly eight years ago in a bar when we both lived in Leeds. Peter moved to Manchester a year later for work but we managed to maintain our long distance relationship. In July 2018 Peter proposed whilst we were on holiday in Mauritius. We booked our wedding venue a few months later for the following year.”
“I found our stationer , Olive and Millicent, through Etsy whilst looking at ‘winter wedding invites’. I loved the style of Katy’s work which is mostly water painting. I noted she did a bespoke service and asked her to design our wedding invites with a painting of the venue.”
“Katy also did our order of service and seating plan. As it was a Christmas wedding we decided to go with the 12 days of Christmas for table numbers – Katy did sketches for each table and I absolutely loved them! Katy is so conscientious and her work is so beautiful.”
“My father came to the church with me in the wedding car – he walked me down the aisle to Trumpet Voluntary played by a string quartet in the church.”
Explore lots of more wedding readings here on Love My Dress
“We had a religious and non religious reading read by Peters sister Luci and my maid of honour Joanna respectively.”
“Our religious reading was Getting the Perfect Relationship – Colossians Chapter 3 versus 12-17. Our non religious reading was Union by Robert Fulgham.”
“We both loved our ceremony – reverend Veronica did the most wonderful service. It felt so special and the church looked so beautiful. We had many people through the day say how much they enjoyed the service.”
“Peter wore morning dress by Hodges and Co in North Yorkshire and his Dad’s pocket watch.”
“I had seven bridesmaids and wasn’t keen to have them all in the same dress. Choosing a winter colour was tricky as I didn’t want anything too dark – I decided on a light grey and found that Oasis did some really nice dresses all in the same colour but different designs and materials.”
“I let the girls choose which they liked best out of a choice of about six styles. I also bought the girls feather stoles from Jenny Packham which looked amazing!”
“This was the first (and last) venue we went to see. I had spent a while looking at venues online and Iscoyd Park had come up on facebook as a suggestion – the location was about an hour from our home and equidistant for both our families which was perfect. As soon as we looked round we’d decided it was the venue for us, to top it off St Marys Church just a few minutes up the road was so beautiful and quaint.”
“As part of booking at Iscoyd Park you get allocated a wedding planner who works at the venue – we were allocated Will Jackson, who was amazing. We met up every few months or spoke on the phone to discuss any questions about our big day.”
“We also hired a vintage bus via Boultons of Shropshire to transport the bridal party from the venue to the church and back again.”
“Our wedding favours were small Christmas crackers from Hotel Chocolat with a chocolate inside.
We used wooden cut outs for name placements. These were perchased via etsy from a company called ‘porky penguin’.”
“We got out cake from Bloomsbury Wedding Cakes – again sourced through Iscoyd Park. We had three tiers including chocolate and guiness, lemon and cherry bakewell. We wanted to keep the design really simple with a small amount of foliage and berries climbing the tiers.”
“We wanted a soul band as it music we both enjoy. We opted for a seven piece band including brass. We were so keen to get the band right as we felt evening entertainment would play a big part of our special day. Tru Groove did not disappoint….we’ve had so many compliments about their performance. They were so much fun and we hardly left the dance floor.”
“Our first dance was ‘Heaven must have sent you’ by the Elgins.”
Words of Wedded Wisdom
“Whilst planning our wedding so many people said not to stress over the small stuff and that you’ll be so busy on the day you won’t notice. I think this is difficult advice to take on board, of course you’re going to spend a long time deliberating and considering every aspect of your wedding – to make it worthwhile make sure you take the time on the day to take a step back and look at all your hard work.”
Breathtakingly beautiful. You can see more beautiful brides wearing Emma Beaumont here on Love My Dress.
Sending love, hope and joy to you ALL this weekend,
Love Annabel xxx
Annabel
View all Annabel’s articles
Annabel is the founder of Love My Dress. She lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, two daughters Eska and Leanora and three dogs. She is passionate about photography, supporting women in business and in life, and is in her element being surrounded by nature and the countryside.