A very ‘Good Friday’ to you all! This beautiful wedding in the North East makes me want to explore an area of the country I haven’t visited before. Kathryn, a fundraiser at the Disasters Emergency Committee and Chris, a civil servant, now live in London but wanted to introduce their home region to their guests. On 19th October 2014 they tied the knot at a stunning vintage cinema followed by a bus ride to the glorious Gateshead Old Town Hall. The couple found a number of suppliers through Love My Dress including the Giant ‘I DO’ letters from Coco Luminaire and their wonderful photographer Matt Ethan.
“We were inspired by the idea of vintage and wanted the day to have an old fashioned feel. We also wanted to make sure it reflected both our personalities and that you could see ‘us’ in the wedding – so for example in the cinema before the service they played a video of photos of us we had taken over the last 4 years. We also had an old fashioned London Double Decker bus take people from the cinema to the town hall representing our life in London.”
Photography by Matt Ethan
“We met on the Guardian dating website and had been together about 3 years when we arranged a weekend in Glasgow. Chris suggested that since we were arriving early on the sleeper train, we should go on a day trip to the Isle of Arran. We went on the distillery tour and even though I was more interested in where we were going to get some lunch I thought I would humour him by taking a walk to a small secluded castle by a loch; pleased I did as when we got to the castle he proposed. 11 months later we got married.”
“We chose The Tyneside Cinema as we loved the idea of having our wedding somewhere a little different and quirky. The cinema is such a beautiful building.
We loved the main hall at Gateshead Old Town Hall for the reception, it’s such a stunning room. It was also the perfect size and made our wedding feel really intimate while still giving us space to have dinner and dancing in the one room. We live down south now and lots of our friends were visiting Newcastle and Gateshead for the first time and we thought both buildings showed the region off perfectly.”
The couple loved the look of giant letters and knew they would look amazing in their venue. Coco Luminaire provided the ‘I DO’ letters and Kathryn and Chris were so pleased with the look. They finished the rest of the room with fairy lights, lanterns and candles. The floral table runners were hired along with the chairs from The Finishing Touch Company.
“The photographer we chose was Matt Ethan. We fell in love with his informal, relaxed style of capturing the moment rather than doing static group shots. He was great to have there on the day, really organised and not at all intrusive. He really put our guests at ease, and even more impressively, when the wind blew my hair out of place he re-pinned it for me!”
The beautiful bridesmaids dresses picked up the red and pink accents of Kathryn’s bouquet, the floral dresses are from Debenhams and the red dress is from Boden. The lovely flower girl is wearing a Marks and Spencer frock.
Kathryn’s gorgeous 50’s style tea length dress was made by Lily and Louie, who also provided the bird’s nest headpiece. The silver pendant necklace was a gift from her sister before the big day. One of the first gifts Chris got for Kathryn was the beautiful Lijiang by Molton Brown scent so it was fitting for her to wear it on the day.
“I really love tea length wedding dresses and think they fit perfectly with a vintage wedding theme. I looked at a few dresses but there were really expensive and very out of budget. When I came across Lily and Louie I fell in love with her dresses straight away and was delighted to see how much more reasonable they were than other places I had tried.”
Victoria of Pins, Petals and Powder was on hand to do the girls’ hair and makeup, she was also a calming influence as everyone was getting ready.
Chris’ suit is from Jeff Banks, his tie and handkerchief are from Mrs Bow Tie.
“We wanted to use wild flowers and they fit well with the feel of the wedding. We loved the idea of putting fairy lights on the table so wanted subtle flowers that would complement that, not compete with it. Sarah of Pom and Flo combined the pinks and reds with more seasonal flowers like thistles and we loved the effect.”
Kathryn’s dad Alan walked her down the aisle to Ed Sheeran ‘Thinking out loud’.
“The first reading was ‘A Marriage’ by Michael Blumenthal. We chose it because it reflects on equality in marriage and was a good balance with some of the more ‘old fashioned’ elements of a marriage service (e.g. being given away). Chris’ sister Helen read an extract from the film Stardust. We couldn’t have got married in a cinema and not had one of the readings being from a movie!”
Words of Wedded Wisdom
“The day will fly by so don’t think you have loads of time. I remember worrying that people would get bored as we had hours for dinner but before you know it the band/DJ will be playing the last song! Make sure you take a few minutes just the two of you to take it in. Going off with our photographer was great as it gave Chris and I some time together.
When I looked back at some of the rows we got into when planning, it was all about stuff that didn’t matter one bit on the day. What is important that you are committing to each other.
Also you don’t need long, we booked our venue in March and got married in October. Plenty of time!”
“We ordered old fashioned cinema tickets to use as place cards and as the seating plan however left them in our flat in London so using card and clip art had to recreate them ourselves a few days before the wedding! Thankfully a friend with spare keys was able to grab them and bring them up on the morning of the wedding meaning we could still use them as place cards.”
The couple worked with their caterers Epicurus, to create a ‘northern tapas’ menu using as many locally sourced ingredients as possible. They liked the idea of creating a sociable atmosphere among their guests and it was a great success, as was the giant Pork Pie wedding cake.
Words of Wedded Wisdom
“We missed the whole of our drinks reception doing photos. I wouldn’t change the photos for the world but maybe we should have had the service a bit earlier or dinner a bit later so we could have joined it for a little bit. The day goes so fast. When we were planning it seemed like we had loads of time to fill but we actually ended up behind schedule. We had a wonderful day though and wouldn’t change anything.
The day will fly by so don’t think you have loads of time. I remember worrying that people would get bored as we had hours for dinner but before you know it the band/DJ will be playing the last song! Make sure you take a few minutes just the two of you to take it in. Going off with our photographer was great as it gave Chris and I some time together.
When I looked back at some of the rows we got into when planning, it was all about stuff that didn’t matter one bit on the day. What is important that you are committing to each other.
Also you don’t need long, we booked our venue in March and got married in October. Plenty of time!”
Thank you ever so much to Kathryn and Chris for sharing your wonderful wedding day with us and to photographer Matt Ethan for the stunning images we have been able to pore over today. You can see more of Matt’s work for Love My Dress here.
Love Caoimhe x
Photographer – Matt Ethan
Venue – The Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle + Gateshead Old Town Hall
Wedding Dress + Birdcage Veil – Lily and Louie
Shoes – LK Bennett
Bride’s Scent/perfume – Lijiang by Molton Brown
Groom – Jeff Banks + Mrs Bow Tie
Bridesmaids – Debenhams + Boden
Flowergirls – Marks and Spencer
Florist – Pom and Flo
Cake – Mr C’s Pies
Transport – Newcastle Wedding Cars + Coach Direct
Entertainment – Friends of the Bride
Rings – W Hamond, Whitby
Catering – Epicurus Events Ltd + Naked Wines
Stationery – PapelLindo on Etsy
Hair Stylist + Makeup Artist – Pins, Petals and Powder
Photo Booth – Northern Photo Booth Company
Giant ‘I DO’ Lights – Coco Luminaire
Chairs – The Finishing Touch Company
Caoimhe Anderson View all Caoimhe's articles
Caoimhe will never tire of beautiful wedding dress and a blooming flower crown. When she's not lusting after a gorgeous wedding she will be trying new vegetarian recipes, knitting very slowly or capturing a pink sunset from behind a camera lens.
What a lovely day! I particularly love the flowers and the setting for their ‘I dos’. I had to stop scrolling down to really take in how good the couple look against the dramatic curtain backdrop. Also, I have to second Kathryn’s point about time flying by. Never underestimate the time you need for everything! Congratulations both xx
So lovely isn’t it all? And yes, time caught up with us on our wedding day too – start an hour earlier than planned I say! x
Gorgeous!! I do love a tea length dress and those little pops of colour in the brides lipstick and bouquet as well as the grooms tie and buttonhole – just lovely!
Congratulations Kathryn and Chris
Awesome wedding venue, we have friends marrying in a theatre next year can’t wait!