A Rime Arodaky Bride and her Stone Roses, 90’s Indie Music Inspired Wedding

How many of you have heard of the legendary ‘Spike Island’ Stone Roses concert, held in 1990?

The 30th anniversary of this infamous event held in Cheshire was set to be celebrated this year, before the pandemic and lockdown halted those plans. I was there 🙂 Right up at the front, at the edge of the mosh pit. A free spirited 15 year old me. It was wild! And every bit as epic and incredible as the reports will have you believe too.

Today’s couple aren’t as old as I am but they share a love of the same music nevertheless – so much so, it inspired the whole vibe and tone of their wedding day. Kate, a surface print designer and illustrator for home and giftware, stationery and fashion, married her love Garylee, a freelance sound engineer,​ on 20th July 2019.

Marni V Photography + Follow

Kate owns her own brand of goods: The Kat & Monocle​; She is also training to be an Arts Psychotherapist and in the final year of her MA. The couple chose The Normans in Bilbrough, York, as their venue.

“We wanted a relaxed venue with an outdoor feel, to host the ceremony and​ reception. This narrowed our options but as soon as we visited the Norman’s we instantly knew it was right. It is stunning and exceeded our expectations, plus it wasn’t too far from where Kate grew up.”​

“The Stone Roses are one of our number one bands so we decided to go with a 90s Indie music theme. We were particularly inspired by their ‘Jackson Pollock’, splattered record sleeves but created our own take, by using spray painted ‘splodges’ with a bit of an urban/ street art feel. The red, gold, navy and (acid) yellow colour theme was also inspired by these album sleeves and there were plenty of record shapes dotted around.”

The couple didn’t hire a planner, with Kate picking up most of the planning and styling herself….

“We also have to hand it to the venue staff and suppliers however, who were instrumental in orchestrating the event.”

“I wanted a flower crown as opposed to a veil or any hair accessories. I thought it would work well with the dress, plus I was more drawn to having an organic/ natural style anyway. Our florist, Jo from Clock Dandelion did an excellent job of creating this and its size and colours were spot on.”

“I wanted to keep the jewellery contemporary and not too fussy. I love geometric shapes and went for a gold, hexagon pair of earrings and matching bracelet from Loel & Co. I wore my Grandma’s ‘rainbow ring’ on my right hand, which holds a lot of memories and meaning to me.”

Kate chose a super sexy gorgeous design by one of my personal favourite ever designers, the wonderful Rime Arodaky . She discovered her dress through The Mews Bridal in Notting Hill.

“I couldn’t recommend The Mews Bridal more. The staff were very attentive, personable and far from pushy. I felt treated, whilst the atmosphere was easy-going, natural and very comfortable. The Mews have many elegant, dresses with a touch of something unique, which was what I was looking for. Their service and assistance ran smooth from start to finish and their alterations company, Sewn Right: https://sewnright.co.uk/​ provided an excellent service as well.”

“I’d seen some other dresses I wanted to try by another designer, (which was how I came to find this boutique). I might have missed this dress if the assistant hadn’t been curious about it. I didn’t see why I shouldn’t try it and as soon as I did, it immediately felt right. I love its streamlined shape and unusual features, coupled with a romantic ​and contemporary feel.”

“It kept popping into my head afterwards and I never looked back at my decision. It’s hard to say which bit I liked the most. It provided what I hadn’t been aware I was looking for and I loved the opaque ‘blocks’ mixed with the lace, the cut out back and the fact it was stylish ​and​ different but not at all uptight.”

|The model on the website was wearing sandals with this dress, which I thought looked great. They weren’t too fussy so I decided to look for something similar. I opted for gold to stay in-keeping with our colour theme and these Kurt Geiger ones seemed to the job. The block heel also made them bearable to wear all day,”

“As with the flower crown, Jo from Clock Dandelion arranged all of our flowers. She did an incredible job of incorporating our colour theme and we loved that she sourced everything seasonally. The rich colours received many compliments and her floral feature in the entrance to the ‘Grain Shed’/ (main marquee) was stunning.”

“We also asked Jo to create some ‘natural’ table runners from green foliage and a ‘Moon Ring’, which looked amazing in the ceremony barn and behind the cake. Jo personalised each of the bouquets and buttonholes with our names, making sure that each Bridesmaid’s bouquet matched the colour of her dress again. We really loved these added touches as well as how she created separate colour ‘rooms’ in the cow stall area. Jo was very professional and exceeded anything we’d imagined.”

“The groom’s Suit was from Tailor me at Moss Bros. They also provided a ‘splash’ patterned lining inside the jacket with Garylee’s name embroidered in. The ties, pocket squares and cufflinks were all handmade by Jane from Vknit. Jane has worked on wedding projects with me before and we both love the quality of her, knitted Groomsmen’s accessories.”

“We had two best men, whose suits were bought off the rack at Moss Bros. Instead of waistcoats we put them in braces, which worked really well.”

“We both got our rings from Tom Foolery, who’d put a flyer through our door. Mine was made by a designer called Jo Hayes Ward and Garylee’s was made by Franny E. We loved their irregular/ geometric features and wanted a timeless variation on the standard wedding band.”

“Tom Foolery offer lots of different styles and work with very talented designers.”

“My sister helped us find these ‘Abigail Frill Wrap’ dresses from Whistles. It seemed very lucky that all 3 dresses were in a different colour of our theme. I felt it’d be nice if each dress has a point of difference, whilst the shape and style linked them together. They were flattering for all shapes and it was an added bonus that their wrap over features and soft gathers complimented my dress.”

“The bridesmaid’s shoes were from Karen Millen. We thought gold sandals would work with the Bridesmaid’s dresses as well and they were comfortable to wear as well as looking stylish. We loved them 🙂

“Similar to my flower crown, we used natural flowers for the bridesmaid’s hair, each in the colour that matched their dress and as a cluster, arranged onto a slide. The coordination looked great. The Bridesmaids provided their own jewellery, which was mostly in keeping with the Bride’s gold, geometric jewellery.”

Kate’s father Jim accompanied her into the ceremony, to the sound of Gerry Cinnamon’s ‘Belter’ – a song the couple both love.

Their ceremony readings included  ‘How falling in love is like owning a dog’, by Taylor Mali and  ‘I Wanna Be Yours’, by John Cooper-Clarke.

“We liked the humour of these and wanted to make sure that the romance was a bit more balanced with laughter.”

“We met through Tinder! We went on our first date to a Wendy James gig, having both discovered a shared interest in music. This particular choice was down to Kate’s curiosity though, having been a fan of Transvision Vamp aged 7-8! We got together pretty quickly after that.”

“We organised an overnight stay in Brighton after a number of dates, realising that we wanted things to go further. We marked this occasion a year later with another trip to Brighton where we got engaged on the beach but in the briskness of the early March weather.”

“I was clueless that Garylee would propose that day, although equally it wasn’t completely unexpected either. We got married just under two and a half years later – mainly due to the availability of the venue but we’re glad we had all that time.”

“Aston Martin Event Hire provided the cars​ and we found them through Premier Carriage. The character of their Herbie and Vintage VW Camper Vans was spot on. It was an added bonus that the colours matched our theme 😉 and Jonathan and James who drove us were very friendly, professional and timely. These vehicles also made for excellent photos.”

Kate designed all of the stationery herself, including the invitations; order of ceremony; table plan; place cards; table name signs; and menus. She made everything except for outsourcing the laser cutting and sticker printing for the invitations, and some of the printing in general.

“Everything evolved from the invitations and save the dates. They took a ridiculous amount of effort to create but were worth it and ‘set our music scene’ in style! They comprised a set of 3 ‘CDs’, each with different patterns or colours, and the information was cut out of them and printed on stickers either side.”

“For a laugh, I did a drawing of her and Garylee pulling piss-take pouts and wearing full-on 80s wedding gear, which was printed on one of the stickers. The spray pattern was applied to the outer sleeve, which also had cut out detail. Our table plan was based on offering ‘tickets’ to see the ‘band’ that each table was titled under.”

“We hoped its alphabetical layout would make it easier for guests to find their names, and were touched (and surprised!) that most guests decided to wear their name badges – (our version of place cards). The save the dates were created from original spray painted card and the ‘record’ shapes of many items tied together nicely.”

“Credit goes to The Little Balloon Company for creating a fun and spectacular atmosphere with the square, gold balloons/ ‘Cubz’. Plus, most of the balloons in the Grain Shed entrance escaped in the wind, providing lots of entertainment for the guests.”

“We made all the signs using cut-out lettering, which I created with an electronic cutter. These were layered in front of a collaged board of surplus invitation stickers and returned RSVP cards – (as the table plan tickets were). We put these into vintage picture frames, (which we borrowed). “

“I also made bunting from fabric printed with our spray pattern, and we put led lights into glass, ‘globe’ tealight holders to brighten the tables. My original drawing was framed and displayed with the cards and gifts and we sprayed a postbox from LaserVinyArts​ to collect the cards.”

For favours, Kate designed a ‘Hudson Records’ logo for the invitations to link in with Garylee’s surname.

“We used it to print onto magnetic bottle openers for the men; and the spray painted pattern was applied to compact mirrors for the women. We didn’t want to gender stereotype but felt that most of our bloke guests were less likely to use the mirrors! We got these made through Awesome Merchandise, who did an Awesome job.”

“The beer mats were an added touch to the tables and bar areas, with our drawing on one side and the soundtrack from the ceremony and first dance on the reverse. We thought they could double as souvenirs, so guests could remember some of the music from the day. They were printed by Thirsty’s.”

“Our caterers were The Hog & Apple, who smashed the food out of the court. Their attention to detail, presentation and mix of flavours was incredible and to top it off, they delivered on a grand scale as impressively as at our tasting.”

“We had: crispy ham hock or sweetcorn fritter to start, with an egg ‘cracked’ over it (by staff); chicken and chorizo supreme or roast butternut squash in filo pastry for the main, with potato rosti, hispi cabbage and various tasty dressings; and lemon meringue parfait for dessert.”

“Their evening food and canapés were equally good and they had a great selection of wines to choose from too.”

“Our cake was made by Torte Cakes. We wanted to incorporate our sprayed pattern and asked Beth (company director) to apply this to the icing and allow a few ‘drips’ to run down the tiers. She recreated this brilliantly and the cake was seriously​ tasty. We had a chocolate orange flavour for the base tier, lemon with blueberry jam for the middle tier, and a sticky toffee and fig.”

“We chose Marni V Photography to photography our wedding, ​and she blew us away. Marni worked so hard to record hundreds of priceless moments and was really fun and non-intrusive. We were immediately drawn to her natural, un-staged shots and her touch of humour didn’t fail to impress us.”

“All the memories she captured expressed the fun and laughter, as well as the heartfelt moments. Her service was seamless and she provided just what we’d anticipated and hoped for. She was very professional and all the personal touches she delivered didn’t go unnoticed. We felt valued and our guests love the pictures.”

The groom shares his favourite moments of the day…

“Every second of It! But seriously, it’s really hard to pick a favourite part of the day when all of it was brilliant. I love the fact you have all your favourite people in one place telling you how much of a good day they’re having.

Having 15 minutes alone with my new wife (and the photographer) whilst having our pictures taken in the farm is a memory that stands out. No, It might sound like a cliché but the day was perfect. Maybe we could have started the day earlier so we had more time to party.”

“We have to give credit to the guys who arranged our photobooth, Magic Images​. They always got back to our queries very quickly and attentively. We also thought they were good value. They had loads of fun props, creating lots of entertainment and laughter and their staff were really lovely. We went for their ‘Vintage Booth’ and they also provided our guest book.”

“The Slinky Band provided the entertainment. They were absolutely brilliant and were complemented by many guests throughout the day. They provided acoustic entertainment during the pre-dinner drinks and a DJ so the whole package was good value. We particularly remember their acoustic renditions of ‘Born Slippy’ and ‘Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It’ – since when do you hear versions like that?!”

“The band learnt Duran Duran’s ‘Hungry Like the Wolf’ for us to dance to. We are huge 80s nuts and this is our Karaoke go-to, we didn’t want some boring love song, we wanted something we could dance to.”

“Plus the dance floor was never empty. We chose them because they provided the Indie tunes we were after, alongside many other decades/ genres and as our music taste was our theme, we needed something that matched it.”

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“Don’t fret! Whatever happens it’ll be okay because all the people that mean the most to you will be there ​with​ you. As lovely as details can be, if they don’t all go as planned, the guests will be none the wiser and will just appreciate being there.”

“If you’re using a lot of card or paper goods in an open barn space, make sure they’re waterproofed in some way. The previous day’s damp air buckled our table plan tickets and signs, which we hadn’t expected, as we were technically ‘indoors’. The lovely venue staff managed to resurrect this problem though.”

“Let people help – it was great the venue helped a lot with the final decorative touches – otherwise we’d have been up all night.”

“Breathe it all in. It’s over in a flash.”

“Also, we were thankful in some ways that we were studying during the run up to the wedding. This took some focus off so that it wasn’t always all-consuming. Space from wedding planning, whether welcomed or not is healthy.”

“We didn’t really have a rigid budget to but it ended up being pricier than anticipated. We saved a lot on the items that I made so there are ways of cutting costs, if your time/ capacity permits. From what we hear, most weddings end up being more costly than first expected, as there can be various details, which add up and might have originally been overlooked. Though expensive it wasn’t completely unaffordable and we didn’t regret anything we spent.”