A Chic Pronovias Gown For a Wild and Colourful Garden Wedding at a Medieval Manor House

I admire any couple who take the decision to hold an outdoor wedding ceremony in the UK (even on a summer’s day). With our unpredictable weather, it’s brave and bold, but luckily today’s lovely couple were blessed with fair weather, and of course, much more besides.

The venue – a medieval manor house set within spectacular gardens provided a warm and wild backdrop for a joyful day filled with personal touches and all the things the couple love most, including a feast of delicious food.

Kate, a secondary school performing arts teacher, and Ben, a lecturer in engineering at Newcastle University celebrated their marriage on the 17 August 2018 at Crook Hall & Gardens, Durham.

Images by Carn Patrick

Kate and Ben chose photographer Carn Patrick to capture their day, and it’s wonderful to share his lovely work for the first time here on Love My Dress. The summer enchantment of the venue’s beautiful gardens really shines through in these beautiful images.

“He is incredible. He was such a huge support and comfort all day particularly in the stress of the morning! Carn captured such beautiful pictures and everyone at the wedding commented on how lovely and friendly he was. He could not have done a better job in my eyes.”
From the boutique Bridal Wish in Newcastle, Kate chose an exquisitely minimalist gown by Pronovias, with a simple bateau neckline leading round to a dramatic draping low cowl back and puddle train.

“I always knew I wanted a completely plain, simple dress and when I tried this one on, the crepe material fell so beautifully I knew it was the one. I loved the low back of the dress.”

On her feet Kate wore white sandals from Kurt Geiger and wore pretty silver drop earrings and rings as well as a bracelet from Tiffany, which Kate’s bridesmaids presented her with on the morning of the wedding.

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“My favourite perfume is Chanel – Coco Mademoiselle but I couldn’t afford a new bottle because I’d spent almost everything on the wedding. Ben had bought me a bottle as a surprise and my mum gave it to me on the morning of the wedding. I was so happy – it just makes you feel amazing.”

Kate wore a delicate flower crown of faux white roses (no details provided), keeping her long hair in loose waves, styled by May Robson (sadly no details supplied). Kate’s radiant make-up look was created by Nikki Newman.

I adore the vibrant palette of orange in Kate’s bouquet, contrasting with the softer apricot tones of the roses and pale, blushing pink dahlias.

The bouquet was arranged for her by The Little Flower (no further details provided) and Kate herself created the bridesmaid posies of sweet roses and gypsophila.

“I had my bridesmaids’ skirts handmade from by a Greek designer called Jojo Blanc. I found her on Etsy and I was very lucky – she was absolutely lovely, I felt like we became friends.”

Kate walked down the aisle to meet Ben, accompanied by her much-loved dad to Arms That Hold You Still by Skylark Song.

“My dad is one of my favourite people in the whole entire world. One of the pictures of me and my Dad from that moment made me cry when I saw it.”

 

Ben chose a light stone coloured suit from Reiss, pairing with a crisp white shirt and brown brogues, also from Reiss.

“He had to try so many to find the right one, I think he tried more suits than I did dresses!”

“A few months later, Ben asked if I wanted to meet for a coffee after work. It was a beautiful sunny day and we ended up walking up onto the High Level Bridge in Newcastle. Ben took the lock out of his pocket and asked if I wanted to make it forever. We threw the keys in the Tyne and then he asked me to marry him.”

The civil ceremony was overseen by Katherine and Jacqueline from the County of Durham Registration team, and Ben’s uncle Kevin read a poem, which had been specially written by his cousin Kitty.

“They were so excellent and created a really warm and friendly atmosphere throughout the ceremony. They made it feel really special.”

 

Kate and Ben first met over four years ago in Newcastle, and lived together for two years before Ben proposed.

“Ben came home from the market with a lock and a little pot of orange paint. (If you ever come to our house, you would see that I love to paint anything I can get my hands on. Usually not particularly well). I painted the lock and then didn’t think much more about it!”

“Our rings cost a grand total of….£12.They were £6 each! We decided to wait until we found rings that we loved and it didn’t bother either of us that we were using place holders for the ceremony. We got them from Etsy but we will be replacing them for our real ones very soon!”

“We wrote our own vows. That was one of our favourite parts of the ceremony as it was completely personal to us. We also chose to have the hand ceremony which was lovely but we did get the giggles as we didn’t really know what we were doing and messed it up a bit!”

Local band Skylark Song played live during the ceremony, a married duo who play the violin and acoustic guitar.

“They are truly beautiful and it created such a serene and relaxed feeling.”

Following the ceremony, there were drinks and canapes in the garden under the shade of a lovely apple tree bowing with ripening fruit.

“We were lucky because of the fact that the gardens at Crook Hall are already so beautifully wild, colourful and natural that we didn’t need to worry much about adding too many of our own decorations. We just knew that we wanted a relaxed vibe. We both love eating and cooking so the food was one of our main priorities…”

Kate and Ben made all of the wedding stationery themselves using paper with brightly coloured spots that they handmade. They also incorporated it into a table plan using a bike wheel! Friend Marc Bennet painted a sweet order of the day for the couple, which was also displayed in the garden.

“We chose our venue because we just fell in love with the place as soon as we saw it. The gardens are beautiful and the medieval manor house built circa 1217 is one of the oldest inhabited houses in Durham City. It is so convenient and close to town yet it feels a million miles from the city. The place just has a calming feel to it and we felt like it really suited exactly how we wanted the day to be.”

Everyone made their way indoors for the wedding meal, and what a remarkable setting with gorgeous, historic stone walls. Little wonder Kate and Ben felt that no further decoration was needed beyond fairy lights and candles.

Durham based Lebaneat provided a wonderful feast of Lebanese food, and later in the evening there were more treats in store from Greek pop-up restaurant Phi Pie, as well as a beautifully decorated cake (sadly, no details provided).

“My favourite thing was looking around and seeing all of our friends and family in one place and feeling very lucky to have so many amazing people in our lives. I loved the speeches (My Dad, Ben and my best friend Vicky) I loved dancing with Ben and seeing how happy he was all day. I loved it all – I wish we could just do it all again.”

“Later we had a band called The Hot Foot Drifters. Great fun, energetic and got everyone dancing. So much fun! …The band played us a first song which was an upbeat folky style song. It was fun and then everyone came and joined us very soon! We didn’t practice at all so we were finding it very funny.”

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“Stick to your guns about what you want. I remember when I was trying on dresses and everyone had an opinion about what it should be but I knew deep down I wanted something simple and classic and I’m so glad I chose the one I did.”

“Take a bit of time in the day to just be together. Ben and I slipped away to the attic of the house for 5 minutes just to have a bit of silence and be in the moment together.”

Thank you so much Kate and Ben. What a totally captivating day spent in the most beautiful surroundings. Thank you also to the talented Carn Patrick for these stunning images.

Until next time!

With love,

Laura