Laura & Jamie travelled from London to marry at stylish North East wedding venue, Lartington Hall.
Their classically beautiful celebration was featured in Issue 08 of UNVEILED.
The proposal
We got engaged at the top of a mountain in Yosemite National Park, California.
I fell ill the night before the proposal so Andy practically had to drag me up the mountain to the perfect spot. He proposed at sunset overlooking the waterfalls with a ring he’d been hiding in a pair of socks for the whole trip… funnily enough I felt a lot better after that.
the venue
We got married at Lartington Hall, Barnard Castle.
We live in London but wanted to get married up North close to both of our families. I had this idea of the perfect venue in my head and had been on the venue hunt for months. As soon as we drove over the cattle grid we fell in love with Lartington Hall, I actually burst into tears before we got out of the car! We both love churches but didn’t want a church wedding so the chapel was perfect for our civil ceremony and having everything in one place was ideal.
Being an Interior Designer, it was always going to be near impossible to find the perfect venue but Lartington Hall blew me away from the moment I walked through the door. John and Shona have done a remarkable job with the renovation whilst preserving the character of the building.
From our initial meeting to our big day John and Shona were a delight to work with. Our wedding exceeded our expectations on every level and we will be forever grateful to them and their outstanding team.
Lartington Hall really is the wedding venue that dreams are made of.
The photographer
When we started our hunt for suppliers I found online wedding blogs and directories really helpful and found Andy Hirst’s details on Brides Up North.
We wanted natural, documentary style photographs and didn’t want to spend hours on the day doing formal shots. We’re both quite creative so we were looking for a unique style to capture our personalities. I fell in love with Andy’s style as soon as I saw his website.
When we received our images we were blown away. It was like reliving the day all over again and seeing our wedding through the eyes of our guests. Andy captured so many moments we would have otherwise missed.
The details
We wanted a timeless, elegant style that would complement the beautiful venue.
Our theme was ‘black-tie’ and we were inspired by Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn and traditional Italian weddings. We went for lots of overgrown greenery and trees, all white flowers, an abundance of candles and added gold pears and bees to create a romantic, whimsical feel.
We introduced gold to create a rich and elegant look and black accents were used throughout to bring everything together.
The dress
I wore the Hepburn dress by Caroline Castigliano and added a belt by the same designer. The dress was the opposite of what I pictured myself wearing on my wedding day but I knew as soon as I tried it on. I loved the simple, classic style with the low back to give it a modern twist. I added a single tier cathedral length veil with scatter Swarovski crystals.
I honestly didn’t believe the stories about ‘the feeling’ you get when you find your dress but I take it all back… when you know, you know!
The special touches
My Mum and I made pretty much everything. We folded envelopes by hand, hammered gold eyelets into labels, learned how to wax seal and perfected the art of tying bows. I added a sprig of Rosemary to our invitations which smelled amazing when the envelopes were opened. Our name places were real pears sprayed gold with a leaf name tag… I think I got a bit carried away!
We attended secret dance lessons for 4 months leading up to the wedding. Jamie had the idea of learning to dance and surprising everyone on the day. We learnt to waltz and had a routine choregraphed for us which even included a lift! The reactions when we started dancing were priceless! Everyone was so shocked, it was one of my favourite parts of the day.
As a very special touch, we wrote our own wedding vows which I had sewn into my dress.
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