Woweee where to start with this wedding???
I was absolutely thrilled when bride Claire got in touch with me a few months ago. I met her at Jenny's wedding back in September, and it was now her turn to plan her wedding. Chris & Claire have been together for 12 years already (wow!) so once Chris proposed, they decided they wanted to get married as soon as possible, so they opted for a Spring wedding.
They were thrilled to find their perfect wedding venue, Priory Cottages near Wetherby which was perfect for their laid back but stylish wedding. This place is simply beautiful - It is in a courtyard layout with self-catering cottages laid out around the green square, and is a mix of rustic buildings with a modern finish. And the barn upstairs - wow, and the twinkly lights, everywhere!!! I love twinkly lights!
They picked the perfect day weather-wise for their wedding, every other day around it there were storms, fog, rain, but no, on their special day, 29th March 2014, the sun shone and the sky was blue. It was almost we pressed fast forward to summer.
The flowers for the wedding were all from Paperwhite Flowers in nearby Harrogate. They were stunning and smelled amazing too! The bride wore 'Sian' shoes from Freya Rose in London.
Claire had her close friend, Jenny as her only adult bridesmaid, and 5 adorable flower girls who were extremely happy, cute, and so well behaved all day! They even did some star jumps on demand outside the church.
Emily Hawkes styled Claire's hair in a natural looking style with real flowers in the background, perfect!
When we arrived at St Edwards Catholic Church in Clifford, Chris and his ushers were doing a marvellous job of greeting the guests, who were all enjoying the sunshine. There was a choir right up in the rafters, I went to go and get a photograph and had to wind myself up the smallest spiral staircase right up the clock tower.......... what an experience!
The ceremony was a traditional catholic service and included some beautiful hymns sung by the choir. Claire wore a gorgeous full length silk Jenny Packham wedding dress from Poppy Bridal with flower detail on the waist. The couple smiled all the way through the ceremony.
After the ceremony, a fabulous double decker vintage red bus from the Yorkshire Heritage Bus Company was the surprise transport back to the venue. So happy I got to jump on to take some photos of the guests and the couple on the way back.
The flowergirls dresses were from Monsoon, and tied in very nicely with Jenny's Dessy bridesmaid dress. The menswear was hired from Slaters.
The best man, Craig surprised everyone by putting up a projector for his speech, to showcase a film he'd made about how Claire & Chris met at university, and showing the places they went together when they first started dating. It was both funny and touching. Turns out that him and his wife drove to Sunderland at 6am the Sunday before from down South, in order to make this film as they just came up with the idea. What a top guy! There were so many laughs which I loved to capture on camera.
The menus and other stationery came from Olive Wedding Stationery and looked fabulous.
Claire's Mum & Uncle created the favours which were little jars of mango chutney and piccalilli which went down a storm.
The cake pops came from Cake Pops Ville and looked fabulous, and the bride and groom chose an alternative cheese stack with a very country themed mice topper.
Their fantastic wedding band, Mr Kanish kicked off the party, with 'Green Eyes' by Coldplay as the first dance song.
All photographs copyright Katie Byram Photography and must not be used without written permission from the photographer.
If you are looking for quirky, fun and relaxed wedding photography for your big day please drop me a line through my website. Now taking bookings for 2015 & 2016.
