Wedding | Rosie & Tom

Tell us a little about yourselves!

We'd been together just over ten years when we got married. We're both from the north-east of England, and after an initial three years of long-distance between Leeds, London and Paris, settled in London together. Tom is calm, logical and a person you'd want by your side in any situation. Rosie depends on this daily.

Our love story started in a pub, where all the good ones do, and has continued in the same vein ever since. Most weekends are spent (still) exploring London, stomping across Hampstead Heath, ticking restaurants off our ever-expanding list or hosting/visiting family and friends.

Why did you decide to get married where you did?

We originally scoped a London Town Hall wedding but quickly realised we wanted to get married somewhere that we could totally make our own for the day. Rosie's family knew the area around Birdsall in North Yorkshire well, but we stumbled across Birdsall House as a potential venue. When we were greeted with a hand-wrapped bunch of tulips and the warmest welcome from Cara & Harriett on our first visit, the tour that followed only confirmed what we immediately knew — it was the one for us.

From the outset, everything at Birdsall was relaxed, fun and most importantly, completely personal to us.

Rosie's vision for the wedding was Richard Curtis rom-com by day, Studio 54 by night. Birdsall fit the bill completely. The grounds and The Ballroom are classic English countryside, while the Old Kitchens created the perfect disco vibe for later in the day.

How many guests did you have?

125

What was your budget?

Elastic? We knew which parts were important to us and focused our £ there.

Tell us about your outfits.

Rosie's dress and cape were from Andrea Hawkes Bridal in Islington (really recommend to any bride — Siobhan is an angel!). Shoes were Valentino. In the evening, Rosie switched the cape for a Jaffe et Fils ostrich boa (my favourite part of my whole outfit) and blue diamante Zara shoes. Earrings were Completed Works and bag was The Priscilla from a lovely shop on Etsy, based in Sunderland — After the Flowers Shop.

Whilst Rosie and her Mam went to many dress appointments, we had a clear vision for Tom's look. Tom wore a navy pinstripe double-breasted suit, made to measure by Drake's on Savile Row, with GH Bass Weejuns Penny Loafers. We had so much fun picking out vintage ties for him and his groomsmen at Walconcept in Spitalfields Market.

What was the most important aspect for you, in terms of planning your wedding?

We ultimately wanted a supersized version of our favourite type of day: good food, good outfits, laughing with people we love, and a full dancefloor. The venue was more traditional than we originally envisaged we'd go for, so we wanted to make sure we added our own touch to balance it out.

We focused on finding the right suppliers who understood this vision and were as relaxed as we were. We really looked forward to all our calls and catch ups through the planning process, and working with suppliers who we trusted made it so much easier!

Were there any elements that were important for you to incorporate?

Throughout our planning we kept coming back to one key point, that everything should feel like us.

For example, we stayed together the night before the wedding so the day started as it normally would, together. We looked for readings that actually meant something to us, so we had our Mams read extracts from a Sunday magazine article and a book that we'd shared over the years.

We didn't fancy cutting a cake, so Tom's Mam made fruit cake and we served it at cocktail hour. We spent the Sunday having a sports day and debriefing with our families, bridesmaids and groomsmen.

Most importantly, we had a post-ceremony mini martini, just us two, to take in the moment!

Any tips for couples getting married?

Brides and grooms - trying outfits on is so fun! Milk it!

Pick the parts of the day that mean the most to you both (and maybe a part that means something to you each individually) and don't compromise on these bits!

Don't panic in the last three weeks and buy the tat you think you need because social media makes it look like you do — you won't use it!

A wedding eve McDonalds is the perfect way to settle the nerves.

Are there any vendors that you would like to tell us a little more about?

We feel so lucky to have had all of our suppliers as part of our wedding day, but to name a few:

Jessica Gwyneth, our photographer. Having been together for ten years, Rosie had a secret wedding Pinterest board waiting in the wings. Jessica made up about 90% of that. We knew that our wedding would be captured in such a timeless and fun way following her direction and we are over the moon with our photos. Better yet, Jessica managed to capture everything we wanted in such a short amount of time, meaning we really spent the full day with our guests.

Cherry Films “The best wedding video I've ever seen” is a comment we've heard from so many of our guests just from the teaser we received from Shan & Angie. Two of the nicest girls in the world, who slotted into our day so seamlessly and have created something we will treasure forever. On our first call, Shan & Angie said they do what they do because they 'love love' — sold.

Coe Catering: We gave Tom a slightly unusually brief, wanting to celebrate our love of the pub against the traditional backdrop of Birdsall's Ballroom. Tom took such care with our menu — experimenting with Guinness bread recipes, sourcing oysters to arrive fresh on the wedding day, making prawn cocktail, Scampi Fries, and sausages and mustard look fancy, and letting us wash it all down with halves of Guinness. The food is something all of our guests have raved about.

Jemma Khan - Florist Jemma is the one who made the whole day come together. Long story short, I said 'tulips' to Jemma and on our wedding day we had a meadow (being told “your 1500 tulips have arrived” was a highlight of the weekend)! She got the vision immediately and really took control in the best way. We weren't sure how the flowers would look when rain moved our ceremony inside, but I had no stress on the day as knew it was in Jemma's safe hands. She is so good, our calls could have been over in ten minutes as she knew exactly what we wanted and how to achieve it, but we chatted for hours anyway because she is just so much fun.

Cat Johnson — Make Up. Cat is like the friend everyone should have with them on their wedding morning. She made me, my Mam and the bridesmaids so at ease and we just had the best time getting to know Cat in the build up and on our wedding morning. I was so pleased with my make up and really felt like me. I was fairly relaxed getting ready, massively helped by Cat reminding me 'you've got loads of time' every time someone asked, 'is it time for the dress yet!?'.

Photographer: Jessica Gwyneth @jessicagwynethphotog | Flora: Jemma Khan Studio @jemma

khanstudio | Videographer: Cherry Films @cherrycherryfilms | Ceremony & Reception Location: Birdsall House @birdsall.house | Hire: Beaties Events @beatiesevents | MUA: Cat Johnson MUA @Cj_makeupartist_bridal | Hair: Abbie S Hair @abbie.s.hair | Catering & Beverages: Coe Catering @coecatering; Fusion Event Hospitality @fusion

eventhospitality |Stationery: The Waltzing Tiger @thewaltzingtiger | Entertainment: Liam Accoustic of Big Shout Band (Jonny Ross Music) @jonnyrossmusic; Flawless (Entertainment Nation) @entertainment

nation | Dress: Andrea Hawkes Bridal  @andrea_hawkes_bridal | Suit: Drakes @drakesdiary | Feather Boa: Jaffe et Fils @jafee_feathers | Bag: After the Flowers (& Etsy) @after_the_flowers | Ties: Walconcept @walconcept | Engagement & Wedding Rings: Sophie Whitelaw Jewellery @sophiewhitelawjewellery | Shoes: Valentino; GH Bass