MAFTEN HALL WEDDING

 The bridal look

What type of dress were you looking for?

I’d always had it in my mind that I wanted long sleeved and lacey. Beyond that I probably knew more about what dresses I didn’t want. And I wanted to feel good in it but also comfortable – I’ve never understood why brides wear dresses so tight they can barely walk in them, or more importantly eat in them on the day!

Which dress did you choose and why?

I was so pleased when I came across Indie Bride because every single dress was beautiful and I was totally spoilt for choice! I opted for the Amelie dress but with adjustments like adding full length sleeves and some delicate scallop detailing on the neck line. It was absolutely perfect!

How was the process of having your dress made and fitted?

Miina made me feel so at ease and I loved every second of it. I’d picked out a few styles I liked on the website and tried on all of them. But when you add in the fact you can customise any dress in any way you like because Miina makes them all from scratch then you really do have so much choice!

I loved going back for fittings and tweaking the dress as needed, it just added to the excitement. 

Hair and makeup

I was so lucky to find Makeup By Leigh on Instagram who was based in the North East where we were getting married. Her hair and make up style is bohemian and romantic but modern and I love the looks she creates! I was so wary of having a heavy make up look that didn’t feel like me as I’d experienced with make up artists previously, but I didn’t need to worry. I had a textured boho half up hair look with dried flowers and I loved it.

Accessories

I found some delicate drop earrings and drop necklace from Lily and Too London. The length of the necklace complimented the neckline of the Amelie dress perfectly.

The groom's outfit 

Joe always intended to treat himself to a bespoke suit for our wedding, but after being in lockdown and moving the wedding three times due to covid we strangely ran out of time. We knew he wanted to wear a green suit and started searching online. He actually ended up finding his perfect suit on ASOS for a very reasonable price. It looked so much more expensive than it was and the good thing about a suit is that he can wear it again and again. 

The wedding

Wedding venue 

We chose Matfen Hall in Northumberland for our venue - from the first time we stood in the Great hall there and looked up at the huge beautiful stained glass window we just knew we had to get married there! It was strange as we’d never envisaged getting married in a stately home kind of place but we loved it and we made it work with our more indie/boho outfits and decor/flowers. We also loved that there were so many different spaces there to enjoy - the gardens are beautiful, then there’s the great hall for the ceremony, the huge dining room with lovely views for the wedding breakfast, and then the cool cellar bar and outside courtyard with festoon lighting and fire pit for the evening. It was just perfect! We had just over 100 guests and despite covid fears and over a year of worrying that we wouldn’t be able to get married with all our favourite people there, it was such a relief that we could.

Another plus was that the venue and hotel was completely dog friendly so we were able to have our gorgeous whippet, Percy, there with us as ringbearer and general handsome guest. 

Decor

Despite the grand and historic venue for the wedding, we really wanted a more natural and whimsical feel to the day. We had to change the style as we rearranged our wedding 3 times and to 3 different seasons but in the end opted for light and pale flowers, with lots of dried foliage so we could keep them and enjoy them. This was important to me - when you’re spending so much money on flowers for one day I always thought it was sad that people couldn’t enjoy them for longer. I was able to give friends and family bunches of dried grass and flowers to take home. Our lovely florist Peony and Gold Floral Designs did an amazing job. Other than the flowers we kept it pretty simple, the venue was beautiful enough in terms of decoration, and I was conscious that we didn’t want to be too wasteful.

Food and cake 

The food at Matfen was incredible! As a vegetarian they let me choose any dish at all and created it, and our vegan friends said it was the best vegan menu they’d ever seen! We still think about the sticky toffee pudding most days and crave another!

Our cake was a simple lemon and vanilla buttercream sponge from a fab local bakery - Pink Lane Bakery. I’m just sad I didn’t get to take any home as it was so popular!

Entertainment

I’d always had my heart set on a string quartet playing as I walked down the aisle and when we came across Andrelli String Quartet playing a Metallica tune at a wedding fair Joe was also sold on the idea. We had them for the ceremony and the drinks reception playing anything from classical to Jurassic park theme tune to Metallica to Musical theatre, they were amazing.

In the evening we had a mix of a DJ playing mostly 90s and 00s tunes, and a live band called Midnight Train who were epic and a lovely bunch of talented musicians to deal with. 

Photography and videography

For our video we had Joe’s incredibly talented school friend Craig and his partner Charlotte from Hello There Films. Their work is so stunning and cinematic. They were so so much fun to work with on the day and to meet up with for our pre shoot, and we cannot wait to watch our film back! They travel all over the UK and abroad and I can’t recommend them enough to anyone looking for a wedding videographer! 

Was there anything that went wrong on your wedding day and how did you deal with it?

Nothing went wrong on the day thankfully, but we were due some good luck after having to rearrange three times due to Covid, one of my best friends catching covid the week before so she was unable to come, and our whippet puppy chewing through my wedding shoes a few days before the wedding! (Advice: no matter how well behaved and trusted your dog is, keep your shoes out of their reach!)

Apart from saying "yes" to your husband, what was your favourite part of your wedding? 

Just looking around on the day and having all our favourite people in the world there was so so special. We didn't stop smiling all day!

Also, my Grandad had passed away 4 days before we got married and having my Grandma there and raising a toast in his memory was very special to me.

What advice would you give brides who are still planning their wedding?

• Do what makes you happy, not your family!

• Don't worry about the little things, everything will come together on the day and you'll mostly just be pleased to be surrounded by the people you love.

• Save on things that feel wasteful and will be thrown away or left behind like favours.

• Make sure you get the photos with the people you want - they're what you'll look at in years to come and I regret not having one with my Grandma.

• Try to relax and keep things in perspective, remember why you're marrying each other.

- Naomi -