Lusan Mandongus Elegance for a Travel Inspired Wedding at Durham Castle

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Good afternoon my lovely ones. I hope Saturday is being kind to you. Are you following us over on SNAPCHAT yet? We launched our latest social media channel this week and I’m ADDICTED already – how has it taken me so long to get my head around it all? And have you had a chance to enjoy this morning’s wedding yet too? All that sublime 1930’s inspired glamour. This afternoon’s feature celebrates the wedding of Rachel and Andy, who both live and work in Vancouver.

The couple tied the knot on 18th July last year at Durham Castle, chosen because they both attended Durham University and met whilst studying,

“There were several inspirations really – our colour scheme was green, white and purple. Both our favourite colours are green, but when we visited Durham Castle to book it, it was set up for a wedding and the Great Hall was uplit in purple which looked fantastic and we knew straight away we wanted the same. The other main inspiration for our day came from travelling. A couple of years ago we went on an 8 month round the world trip, and we now live in Canada and continue to travel whenever we could, so it made sense to us to have travel play a role on the day.”

Photography by 2Tone Creative Photography

Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.

Rachel’s gown was by LM by Lusan Mandongus, a purchase from Aurora Bride in Surrey and her maids looked fabulous in their floor length Dessy gowns in Hampton Green.

durham castle wedding
“It was a year before I saw the dress again and had a chance to try it on, as I went back to Canada – I didn’t have any good pictures of it and was worried that I wouldn’t like it anymore. My mum was very worried that I wouldn’t like it anymore and that we’d have to start looking again, but when I tried it on again in the shop I fell in love with it again and knew that it 100% was ‘the one’. My mum and maid of honour breathed a sigh of relief.”

Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.
Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.

“Our florist provided some small gypsophila sprays and rose buds that the hair stylist wired into my hair. I always wanted flowers in my hair when I got married! – not being a particularly ‘girlie girl’ or into bling.”

Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.
Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.

“I went dress shopping with my mum and maid of honour.  I wasn’t expecting to find a dress but was keen to start looking – not being sure when I’d next be back in the country and able to shop with them (I didn’t want to do it on my own!).

Aurora Bride was the second shop we went into and I actually loved two dresses in there – both of which looked totally different on, as opposed to on the hanger, and was a little torn, trying them both on repeatedly. Eventually we all decided on the Lusan Mandongus dress – I was looking for something not strapless, but light and floaty, with lace and detail and this fit the bill perfectly.”

Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.

Rachel wore a pair of  crystal drop earrings by Swarovski, a Tiffany necklace – a gift from Andy on the morning of the wedding, a bracelet handmade by her Aunt and a garter which had belonged to her Mum.

“My Maid of Honour gave me a blue Swarovski crystal as my ‘something blue’, and my aunt made me a fabric heart (one side of the heart was material from my mum’s wedding dress, the other side of the heart was material from my grandmother’s wedding dress, and inside was a sixpence from the year of my grandparents’ wedding). My mum sewed the crystal on to the heart on the morning of the wedding and we pinned it on to my bouquet.”

Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.
Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.
Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.

“We met whilst at university – at Durham University. We were both studying geography at the same college, but in different years. We actually met when Andy decided to set up a jazz band – I was the first to respond to his call out, and they formed the band together (which is still going strong now!).”

Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.

“Our ceremony was in one of the castle’s small Norman chapels – the Tunstall Chapel (built in 1540) – which isn’t usually licensed for weddings. Andy sang in the chapel choir whilst at university and so we were successfully able to apply for an Archbishop’s license to be married there (only two or three weddings are usually held here per year). It was so special to be able to get married back in the place that we first met and that is so special to us.”

Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.

As the chapel is so small, it was a very intimate (and sometimes intense!) ceremony – the atmosphere was fantastic, with a real sense of occasion but it was lovely to be so surrounded by our friends and family (especially as everyone was facing inwards rather than just straight forward).

Our friends who were in the chapel choir with Andy sang during the service and during the signing of the register – it was so special and beautiful, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house! Another friend of ours played organ.”

Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.

“We made all the stationery ourselves. My mum is very crafty – we figured out what we wanted (mostly from blogs and Pinterest) and she, along with our maid of honour and a couple of other people, helped us make everything – the save the dates, invites, orders of service, place names. The menus were supplied by the venue.”

Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.

“My father walked me down the aisle to Te Deum by Charpentier, played by a friend on the chapel organ.”

 

Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.
Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.

“The bridesmaids chose this Dessy dress and it was very helpful getting it from Dessy as they could order them separately and we knew they’d be the same.

They wore their own jewellery but we gave them each a Pandora necklace with a different charm – one that suited them individually – as a thank you gift. I wanted to give them to them before the wedding to wear during the day but a last minute wardrobe malfunction (!) meant that we ran out of time so I gave them to them during the reception. We didn’t stipulate what jewellery they wore as we wanted them to feel comfortable and themselves on the day.”

Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.

“We had two Bible readings – 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (read by Andy’s uncle) and Philippians 4:4-9 (read by my Aunt).

We both loved the Corinthians reading, but to begin with shied away from choosing it as it’s so popular at weddings. But in the end we decided that the words in it spoke to us the most and we really wanted to have it read at our wedding (plus we could only think of one other couple we know who also had it!).”

Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.

“In terms of the wedding ceremony, we went for traditional but relaxed and personal to us. The chaplain, Hannah, was fantastic and the ceremony was enjoyed by everyone – she managed to relax us all and made us laugh whilst still retaining a big sense of occasion.”

Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.
Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.
Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.
Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.

The couple turned to Elvet Flowers for the bouquets, buttonholes and floral supplies.

“For the bouquets, I wanted something soft and natural looking and not too structured. We also wanted to use them to tie the whole colour scheme together (see above) and had flower arrangements on the tables (alternating around candelabras and bird cages) so they were really quite important.

We had ivory and lilac roses, veronica, gypsophila, ferns, lisianthus, rosemary and thistles (for our link with Scotland, as I also went to university in Edinburgh and Andy’s family has Scottish links), which made them smell wonderful.”
Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.
Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.
Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.

2Tone Creative Photography are a husband and wife team – so we were both able to have a photographer with us in the morning of the wedding, which was great. They were so helpful, beyond the photos.

One of the reasons we chose them is their fantastic use of light and love of candid photography – we have so many gorgeous/hilarious photos of our guests that just make us smile every time we look at them and really capture the spirit of the day. They also captured all those little moments that we were unable to see ourselves on the day.”

Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.

“The reception was held in the rest of the Castle – courtyard and Great Hall mainly. When you book the castle, you get exclusive access to it for the whole day. They also have quite a number of B&B rooms, so a lot of our guests were able to stay over and continue the celebrations at breakfast. Having the ceremony, reception and some accommodation in the same place really helped with planning.”

Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.

“Our favours were small glass bottles filled with maple syrup for the adults; as a link to our home now in Canada.

For the children, Andy’s Mum made goody bags in the same colours/style as the rest of the paper goods, with their names in map paper and a silly photo of us in Vancouver – they were filled with fun toys and games to keep them entertained through the wedding breakfast and by all accounts were very much enjoyed!”

Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.

“Our table plan was a world map, and the tables were named after places we had visited, with a picture of us in that place. We also bought some vintage map paper and covered wooden freestanding numbers for the tables and used it in various other things such as the words for the table names, gift and advice boxes, and my mum made some paper flowers out of it as decorations.”

Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.
Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.
Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.
Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.
Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.
Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.

The Cake Room in Hessle supplied our cake. They did our engagement cake and are located very close to Andy’s parents, who kindly arranged and ordered the cake for us. We both love traditional fruit cake, but know that a lot of people don’t so went for 3 different tiers: 1 chocolate, 1 victoria sponge and 1 fruitcake. This went down very well. The cake topper was a personalised ‘Mr & Mrs Booth’ silhouette from Etsy.”

Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.

“Walking up to the entrance of the chapel and seeing everyone that we love waiting there, and Andy at the end of the aisle were two of my most memorable moments. It was also the most emotional part of the day for me – as I realised that all these people were our nearest and dearest and were here to support us and wish us well. And that the moment we had been thinking about and planning for 2 years was finally here and I was finally going to become Andy’s wife!”

“To us, the day was just perfect. It suited us and our guests completely and we had the best day of our lives. We only wish that it went slower and we could do it all over again!”

Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“With planning, take it one step and one decision at a time. It can be easy to get overwhelmed, but just focus on one thing at a time and it will all come together, slowly but surely. And enjoy the planning! You only get to do this once, so enjoy choosing which flowers you want or what to have as centrepieces on your tables. It might seem like yet another task but this is your day so make it what you want it to be.

Also, and especially relevant to us – let people help you. Your friends and family would love to be involved, so make the most of this and use their talents! This will also make the day so much more personal and special. But make sure you’re very clear on what you want and choose the things that are right for you and your partner, not necessarily everyone else.”

Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.

But also, try to think from the guests’ perspective. It is your day and it needs to be right for you, but those little touches to show that you’ve thought of them and their experience make it really special to them too – whether it’s cake boxes so they can take some of your delicious cake home because they were so full after the main meal, or ideas for how to entertain them when you’re having lots of photos taken, it is all appreciated. And this doesn’t have to be expensive or fancy – we organised tours of the Castle while we were having our photos taken, as well as taking some garden games for the lawn.

And finally – this is often said but – enjoy the day! Accept that you have planned for this day and have no control now over what happens so just try to relax and have fun! Everyone is there to wish you well and support you, it is such a happy and positive atmosphere. Bask in this, but remember to also take some time with your new husband or wife and try to soak it all in (or at least some of it!).”

Rachel wears a Lusan Mandongus gown for her Durham Castle Wedding. 2Tone Creative Photography.

Thank you so much Rachel for sharing your beautiful day – brides, you can see more beautiful Durham weddings here.

Love Annabel xx

 

Photographer – 2Tone Creative Photography
Venue + Catering – Durham Castle
Wedding Dress – LM by Lusan Mandongus via Aurora Bride, Surrey
Dress alterations – Chambers Bespoke Tailors
Bride’s Shoes – Rachel Simpson ‘Victoria’ in ivory suede
Perfume – Paul Smith ‘Women’  (favourite Summer scent)
Groom + Groomsmen – Moss Bros
Bridesmaid’s Dresses – Dessy style 6712 in Hampton Green
Florist – Elvet Flowers
Cake – The Cake Room + topper from Etsy
Cars/Transport – Rose Wedding Cars
Entertainment – Wullie Fraser Ceilidh Band booked via Hire a Band
Rings – Diamond Palace In Hatton Garden
Stationery – Made by the bride + groom
Hair – Lisa Cameron
Makeup –  Dani MUA
Uplighting + Master of Ceremonies + Music – Colin Cook
Photobooth hire – Snaparazzi

Annabel

Annabel View all Annabel's articles

Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Editor. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and star gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she's not working on Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip in the running of the family's sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers. In 2013, she became a published author.

2 thoughts on “Lusan Mandongus Elegance for a Travel Inspired Wedding at Durham Castle

  1. What a beautifully romantic wedding. The chapel is stunning, how lucky they were to be able to marry there where they first met. Xx

    1. I completely agree Caoimhe, it is a lovely wedding and so refreshing to see a more traditional style done so beautifully and elegantly.
      Love Annabel xx

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