How to Fill a Castle Full of Love – Part 1…

I love blogging.  Anyone that knows me personally will know this – though I also hope that the love I have for sharing so much wedding inspiration with my readers is also evident in all my writing for Love My Dress.  Every single wedding I publish on this blog is special – but especially when I know I've had a small input into shaping the way a particular wedding might have come together. Just like this one 🙂

Today, I'm featuring the wedding of Kim and Chris, a lovely young couple in love who celebrated their marriage on  26th June 2010 with a ceremony at the Holy Rosary Church in Billingham, followed by a reception – in a castle, no less! 

Kim, was so inspired by my own wedding, details of which I originally posted on the Your & Your Wedding forums, that she booked both the Photographer and Florist I hired for my own wedding, for hers.   In addition, Kim also listened to my original wedding story on Your & Your Wedding, which talked of my love Whitby and the surrounding area, and in so doing, she was inspired to hire the beautiful Danby Castle to play backdrop for the reception on her own special day. This has particular meaning to me, as I married into a family that has a long history in the Danby area (my Mother in Law can trace back our Ancestors for hundreds of years – some of whom used to be Stewards at this Castle)…

"We choose Danby Castle for our reception for a number of reasons, we wanted a fun, informal and relaxed day and the venue certainly delivered this, it’s a bit different and we had never been to a wedding not at a hotel reception and wanted a wedding that we and our guests would remember. Thirdly because I am from Scarborough originally and it’s a half way point between Scarborough and Billingham."

I love this wedding for well, the love that is evident in all of these photographs.  Kim went to such great lengths to make this a memorable day for all of her guests – no teeny tiny detail was over-looked (see part 2 up at 2pm today!). This wedding is such an inspiration for anyone wanting to stay true to their personalities, whilst going ALL-out to create a day full of love, joy and it has to be said, so much style!

Photograph Copyright (c) 2010, Karen McGowran

Kim is a hugely creative Bride – as you will see as you make your way through to the end of this feature.  She even designed her own wedding dress, which she commissioned Laura Day Bridal in Middlesbrough to make for her..

"I always knew I wanted something a bit different, I am very inspired by 1950’s era and especially Audrey Hepburn. I tried on lots and lots of dresses, mainly a-line strapless as that’s all there seemed to be in the north east. I knew I didn’t want a train, mainly due to me being 5ft 2 and thought I looked a little swamped plus with our venue being rustic it would get filthy!

I started to gather photos, magazine cut outs, real wedding photos, my own sketches, basically anything that inspired me and together with Laura Day who started out only making dresses but did my dress as a one off for their love of the 1950’s style. We used the dress mood board to create the perfect dress and used the finest silk for an authentic 1950’s look and feel, together with a very large petticoat! The dress was detailed with a simple bow made from the same silk with hand sewn Swarovski crystals. Silk covered buttons detailed the back od the dress."

Kim's pretty veil was was also from Laura Day Bridal; "I wanted to keep it simple and in keeping with the era so I choose a shoulder length veil with Swarovski crystals drops…"

Pretty in pink …

Kim's Bridesmaid's wore Alfred Sung D448, with a flower accessory from Accessorize.  Their shoes were from Faith (Ivory coloured 'Daisy B' shoes) – a sandal with a small kitten heel…

Grandma's Ring & Pretty Flowers…

"Hillary Maddren did the flowers for all our bouquets and buttonholes. We really connected with Hilary from our first meeting and she really delivered, the flowers were beautiful! My grandma died two years ago in October and she left me a ring that was my great grandma’s so I asked Hilary to tie this into my bouquet, using some silk from dress and I provided some vintage buttons…"

Feeling Luv'D ub 🙂

Love Dub cars got Kim to the Church on time…

"We saw these at a wedding fayre and picked Tilly straight away, was the talk of the wedding, I loved arriving in style at the church!  My mum travelled with me in the camper van to the church, where my dad met me outside and my step dad (Graham) whom is very dear to me, was one of the readers in church and then acted as toast master at the reception. It is hard pleasing all family members but I do think it can be done to a certain extent, with a little compromise!"

I love the chic and elegant way that Kim's hair was pinned up…

"I wore a double pearl and crystal headband and few scattered pearl and crystal and hair pins in the back of my hair.  I also wore a Swarovski cuff earring and a Swarovski bracelet, from the Swarovski shop in York.  Can you tell I love Swarovski yet! I blame my mother, we went to the head quarters in Austria and it was amazing! Since then I just knew it’s what I wanted to wear on my wedding day…"

"The ladies from the church did the church flowers. They were not overly thrilled when I said I wanted zinc buckets on the end of the pew ends with a collection of spring flowers. I bought a couple of buckets and started playing around for ideas and in the end they loved them and were the talk of three masses! They have now asked to keep the buckets for future weddings! I got the idea from Martha Stewart Weddings..."

"My brother Alex composed and played the piece of music for me to walk into the church to, it was beautiful!"

"My engagement ring is such an unusual shape that we had to get my wedding ring made, with Rings By Design.  We designed a ring to compliment my engagement ring, to match the diamonds.  I love it and can't stop looking at it!"

Kim's pretty T-Bar shoes were by Rachel Simpson…

Group shots were kept to a minimum, at Kim's request…

I LOVE this wedding!! Love love love love LOVE it!

Check back at 2pm to see part 2, which is FULL to the brim of creative and supremely pretty Wedding-Day detail – oh, and a video of Kim and Chris too! 🙂

Excited…….:)

Annabel xXx

♥