Nicola and Martin were married on 13th October 2018 at Lodore Falls Hotel and Spa, Keswick, Lake District

How did you meet?
We met at work; we worked for the same company but in different offices.

How did the proposal happen?
We were on holiday in Santorini June 2017 – Martin had arranged it all with my mam and dad, after asking my dad’s permission (traditional style) – Martin decided he wanted it to be a surprise and I had always said I wouldn’t want to be proposed to on an already significant day (so not on Christmas Day, Valentine’s Day, etc.). So whilst we were away it was the 21st June (the longest day and also happened to be my nana’s birthday, who passed away when I was 1), so Martin decided to do it on the 21st June 2017 at sunset in Santorini in honour of my nana’s birthday.

Where did the Wedding take place?
Our ceremony and reception took place at Lodore Falls Hotel and Spa, Keswick, Lake District

What did the bride wear?
I wore an Ivory A-line Mori Lee dress from YAP Bridal Boutique in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. It had lots of beading with a diamanté belt round the waist. I had an Ivory Cathedral veil with diamanté on also.

What did the rest of the Bridal party wear?
My bridesmaid had a floor length burnt orange dress from I Do Bridal Boutique, Gateshead. The flower girl wore an Ivory satin dress from M & S with a custom made burnt orange sash round the waist.

The Groom, Best Man, Usher and Father of The Bride all wore Navy/Orange/Tan Tweed suits from Master Debonair, Boldon.

What was your theme?
The theme of our wedding was an Autumnal Wonderland, lots of autumn leaves, warm glow fairy lights, tea lights, ivory, gold, burnt orange and brown/red colours, false autumn trees and ivory blossom trees with tea lights. It was like a fairy tale (if I may say so myself) the flowers were all autumnal (Chinese lanterns, cala lilly, red berries, dark green/purple foliage – to match the wilderness of the Lake District).

Describe your cake.
Our cake was three tiers (bottom tier was chocolate, middle tier was salted caramel and the top tier was white chocolate) we went for warm comfort food flavours to match the season and it was decorated to look like an autumn sunset with some of our real flowers/foliage made into a garland to go from the top to the bottom of the cake. Our cake was made by Jeanette at Chantilly Cake Couture, Hexham.

Something Blue?
I had a little blue bow sewn into my dress and I had an ‘I Do’ blue diamante sticker on my shoe from my friend as my something blue.

What were the highlights?

Having all our family friends in one place at the same time to celebrate was great. We also had Storm Callum the weekend of our wedding which makes our day very memorable, it absolutely poured from the Friday morning until the Sunday morning, but it did not ruin one thing, everyone made it and our photos were great (me and Martin braved the rain with our umbrellas and me in my dress and wellies).

Your best buy?
Most definitely my dress, but in terms of the whole wedding paying for a decorator (in our case Yvonne) was just the best thing we ever did, we had no worries at all, she handled everything and really brought our wedding vision to life.

How did it end?

We danced our last song to Mr. Brightside, literally everyone (young and older) was up dancing and then 2 rounds of shots were bought to finish the night off. I would like to say I had one very drunken groom (who did not make it down to breakfast the next day!)

Is there anything you wish you’d done differently?

The only thing I wish we had of done differently was had some of our evening food and some of our amazing cheese board put aside for me and Martin, because we were so busy seeing guests and having our photos done, we didn’t get any! But we were told it was fabulous food.

Where did you go on honeymoon?
We didn’t go on honeymoon because we went to New York and Las Vegas earlier in the year for my 30th birthday, so we stayed on in the Lake District for an extra week in a Luxury Lodge for our mini moon, it was fabulous, like an extension to our wedding.

FINER DETAILS
Photography: Nikki Paxton Photography and Film (www.nikkipaxton.com)
Dress: Mori Lee
Venue: Lodore Falls Hotel and Spa (www.lakedistricthotels.net/lodorefalls)