Hannah and Jonathan met at ‘The Bop’ at Manchester University in October 2001 (‘The Bop’ was the local cheesy student night).  Jonathan had consumed a few too many drinks and could only stand and stare at Hannah, swaying slightly as he did. Hannah eventually realised that he wasn’t going to make the first move so she took it upon herself to go over and introduce herself.  After a few more dates it was “official” by January 2002.

The Proposal

It was Christmas 2009, a time when Hannah and Jonathan are usually apart as they spend time with their respective families.  Jonathan had planned to surprise Hannah by driving from Yorkshire to Cumbria on Christmas morning and propose to her on her parents’ door step. However, by 23rd December the snow had fallen so heavily that they were snowed in, and Jonathan had to decide whether he would chance being able to make the journey on Christmas morning, risk Hannah not being able to make it to her parents and therefore be with him on Christmas morning anyway, or propose that night so they could go out and celebrate with friends.  After much deliberation he got down on bended knee and proposed in front of the fridge before they went out that night.

Hen and Stag Parties

Hannah’s hen party plans were kept secret from her until the day; all she had to do was turn up.  One of her best friends from university organised the hen party. She found an amazing penthouse apartment in Leeds for the hens to stay in, and arranged a dance lesson in a nearby studio where they all learnt a routine to a medley of Beyonce, Girls Aloud and Pussycat Dolls tunes.  They then went back to the apartment for cocktails and pizza, and played silly games before going out to OK-Karaoke where they had a private booth for a few hours of Karaoke madness.

Jonathan and his stags went go-karting in Sheffield, followed by a night out in the city centre and a visit to a strip club.

Wedding Theme

As Hannah and Jonathan live in a small village with a close-knit community they wanted a country wedding and village fete theme.

“We count our lucky stars everyday that we're fortunate enough to live in such a wonderful place, surrounded by friends and family.”

The Bride’s Outfit

Although she had never previously been “particularly inspired” by wedding dresses, Hannah went to a friend’s wedding where the bride wore a silk gown by Jenny Packham, and it made Hannah think “that’s the type of dress I want”.  Having originally planned to get married around 18 months after they had got engaged, due to family illness Hannah and Jonathan made the decision in May 2010 to bring the wedding forward to 14th August.  Hannah started panicking that she wouldn’t be able to get a dress in time and bought an ex-display ‘Tallulah Mae” dress by Jenny Packham online, similar to the one her friend had worn.  Unfortunately when she tried it on she found that it really didn’t suit her; the colour was wrong for her skin tone, and she felt the simplicity of the dress didn’t bring enough ‘presence’ for a church wedding.

Hannah then booked herself an appointment at every wedding dress shop in her area, eventually finding 2 dresses which she liked, both by French designer Cymbeline.  Hannah chose ‘Duyen’, a slim fitting empire line dress of antique lace, with a v-neck at the front and back and capped sleeves.  It has a silk bow under the bust and a small train, and Hannah bought an antique-style full-length silk veil to wear with it.

The Groom’s Outfit

Jonathan wore a light grey suit which was bought from Next. He decided not to hire a suit as due to his slim waist and relatively broad shoulders he often finds they don’t seem to fit well.  He also wore a white shirt and plain white tie.

The Bridal Party

Hannah and Jonathan had 3 bridesmaids, a best man and 2 ushers. They had originally planned to have 4 bridesmaids, but as the wedding was brought forward Jonathan’s youngest sister had to respectfully decline as she was going to be 9 months pregnant! The bridesmaids wore teal ‘Juniper’ maxi-dresses from Coast, and the best man and ushers wore the same Next suits as Jonathan with pink ties.

Flowers

Hannah and Jonathan’s neighbour is a very talented wedding florist and agreed to do their wedding flowers for them.  They wanted various shades of pink, with a strong pink accent to complement the bridesmaid dresses.

The buttonholes were bright pink roses with fresh mint flowers, and the bridal bouquet had the same pink roses, with white and pink sweet peas, pink hydrangeas, fresh mint flowers and miniature light pink roses with a pretty deep pink tip on their petals. The bridesmaids’ bouquets were a globe of pink roses in various shades with pink hydrangeas.

In the church they had wooden love hearts on the pew ends entwined with ivy, and 2 beautiful pedestals with hydrangeas and delphiniums. The marquee had lots of pretty arrangements of roses, hydrangeas and delphiniums along each trestle table in terracotta pots.

The Ceremony and Reception

Hannah and Jonathan got married at their local church, and the ceremony was attended by 155 guests.  Hannah’s uncle and cousin are both professional musicians and they played Pachelbel's Canon as Hannah walked down the aisle, and her brother played guitar as they signed the register.

The wedding reception took place in a marquee in a field owned by the best man’s father. The guests all played games during the Champagne reception, including a coconut shy, welly wanging and a milk-the-cow game where the winner was the person who managed to milk the most in 30 seconds (it was a wooden cow, no animals were harmed during the making of the wedding reception!).

Hannah comes from a very musical family, so her aunts, uncles, cousins, brother and one of her university friends all serenaded the guests during the champagne reception by playing their instruments and singing.

The wedding breakfast was a buffet-style meal of delicious roast meats, salads, hot new potatoes, and a selection of 10 deserts, which they found to be a delicious and much more economical way of feeding 150 people.

An extra 40 guests attended the evening reception, where there was a local Ceilidh band with lots of dancing, followed by a disco. Once the sun went down, Hannah’s dad had arranged a truly spectacular professional firework display which went on for 15-minutes. They then let off sky lanterns which they’d written wishes on, and watched them all float away until they looked like stars glimmering in the distance.

The Cake

Jonathan's youngest sister made the wedding cake (with some instruction from the expert mother-in-law), and decorated it beautifully. It was a fruit cake with 3 tiers; the top and bottom tiers were decorated with white icing and beautiful pink flowers, and the middle tier was light pink with white spots. The cake was loosely based on Cath Kidston country chic fabric designs so fitted the theme perfectly.

The Photographer

The photographer was James Pearson of Pearson Photography, who Hannah found via the internet after searching for weeks to find a “true reportage style photographer”. Hannah and Jonathan loved the way he was able to sink into the background in a really unobtrusive way to capture natural images of people laughing and having a good time.

Although they say it is hard for them to pick a favourite picture from the day, they both really like the picture of Hannah leading Jonathan though a rode arch in the gardens.

“It’s just a beautiful, natural shot.”

Wedding Details

The marquee was decorated with 250 metres of bunting made by Hannah’s auntie Sue, and there were pink and white paper lanterns suspended from the ceiling with fishing wire.  Each place setting had a name tag made out of card and very pretty wallpaper in pink and blue from Laura Ashley, which were tied to each napkin with pink ribbon. The name tags for Hannah and Jonathan’s parents, and a select few other people had poems and thank yous written on the back of them, which Hannah wrote herself. The table plan was an ornate white-painted picture frame with cards hung on it with pink ribbon, which were covered in the same wallpaper as the name tags. All the children had a little party bag, which contained crayons, colouring books, activity magazines and some simple toys to help keep them entertained during the speeches.

Outside, Jonathan laid stone flags to make a path to and from the very posh toilet block they’d hired, and Jonathan's cousin made lots of small bales of hay which they put pretty floral material on for people to sit on outside. They hung jam jars with tea lights in all along the fence of the field, and had a circle of burning torches around the marquee for some extra lighting at night.

The Honeymoon

Hannah and Jonathan went to Tuscany, and visited a picturesque rural fishing area along the coastline called Cinque Terre.  They stayed in an apartment overlooking the sea and went for walks along the coastal paths, drank wine and ate seafood.

Memories

“My favourite part of the day was the ceremony - it was just so moving, and meant so much to us. Saying my vows will forever stay in my memory as one of the most significant moments of my life! I also loved the way that everyone we cared most about contributed in some way to our special day, and happily gave up their time to help make it a truly magical day, which just made it all the more special.”

The Wedding Community

“I really liked looking at the Real Weddings section to get inspiration for some of the little details for the day.”

Tips and Ideas

“If you fancy a holiday before your wedding, go to Dubai or somewhere similar and buy your wedding rings while you're there - they'll cost you half the UK prices, and might just pay for your holiday!”

Bride’s Top Tip

“If you want to be able to enjoy your own champagne reception, keep the formal photographs to an absolute minimum - you don't want to be spending an hour of your reception standing around and posing for photos when you've spent so much time and effort planning the perfect reception! This was another benefit of having a reportage style wedding photographer!”

Groom’s Top Tip

“Don't get your hair cut at a backstreet barbers the day before the wedding, and then give yourself too many jobs to do on the morning of the wedding so you don't have enough time to get it “fixed” and end up trying to cut it yourself with some clippers while you sit in a tractor using the rear view mirror to see what you're doing! Oops.”

Best Buy

“The paper lanterns we used to decorate the marquee were really cheap and cheerful, and made a really great impact. I bought them from China on eBay for 50p each.”

Money Saving Ideas

“If you're catering for a large crowd consider a buffet-style meal rather than silver service - it's cheaper because you don't need as many staff, and gives your guests more choice of what they actually want to eat on the day. We had a selection of 10 deserts, which wouldn't have been possible with a silver service meal.

“If you've got any talented family or friends, ask them to play some music during the ceremony or reception and save yourselves hundreds of pounds on musicians, whilst adding an extra personal touch!”

Bride’s Beauty Tips

“If you're going to pay for your make up to be done on the morning of the wedding, make sure you get someone to do it who is definitely much better at doing your make up than you are - it's worth paying the top prices because they really will make you look amazing.

“If you want to save your money and fancy doing your own make up, go to a top department store and have a few lessons from the ladies on the beauty counters - it's normally free if you buy something. Also, make sure you invest in a really good foundation to make your skin look flawless - I bought the foundation system by Bare Minerals, which is fool proof to put on and really looks like a professional has done your make up!”

View more fantastic pictures from this wedding on The Wedding Community Blog.  Go to The Real Wedding of Hannah and Jonathan - 14/08/2010 post.

Photography: Pearson Photography

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