Alexandra and Andrew’s Yorkshire Meets New Zealand Danby Castle Wedding by York Place Studios

Today I am taking you to North Yorkshire and paying a visit to Danby Castle courtesy of Liam and Dom from York Place Studios. Danby Castle is a fantastic venue and I have featured quite a few weddings there before. Any wedding venue that offers you a castle as well as a farm is good in my book! This wedding is no exception! Mix in a sea-side theme, a bride from Yorkshire and a groom from New Zealand and you have today’s rather fabulous wedding!

Alexandra and Andrew, who were married on 30th June 2012, at Danby Castle in North Yorkshire. They had 90 guests in the day and 110 in the evening. It took a year to plan.

‘The best day of our lives! A special and wonderful day, with some hilarious moments, surrounded by lovely friends and family from all over the world! ‘

How they met
We met on a nickel mine site in Australia where we were both working as geologists in October 2008 where Aexandra’s PhD work is focussed and I worked until just before the wedding.

The proposal
I proposed on a trip to Margaret River in Western Australia over a glass of wine sat outside a lovely house we had rented in the bush close to the coast.

The venue
Alexandra is from near Skipton in North Yorkshire and wanted to get married in the Shire. We wanted a unique venue where we could have it to ourselves for the whole day and make out own imprint on the venue. I am  from New Zealand so we knew we would have lots of friends and family coming from Australia and NZ, therefore we wanted a picturesque location with typical stunning Yorkshire scenery to show our overseas visitors. Also gorgeous location & really helpful staff and who doesn’t dream of getting married in a castle?!?

Why did you choose your photographer?
Loved Liam and Dominique’s style and photos on the internet and also didn’t want to spend lots of time doing group shots. Great to have 2 photographers with different styles and loved the natural candid photos.

The Dress
Dress was from Tuscany Bridal in Perth, Western Australia. Evening dress was from online – Light in the Box. Shoes were flat white Blowfish shoes chosen for practicality of ceilidh dancing!

The suit and bridesmaids
Suits were from Moss Bros hire. Groomsmaid dresses were from a store in Perth, WA. Bridesmaid dresses were Coast.

Theme
We wanted a relaxed seaside/beach theme so went with blue and yellow as the main colours

Food
Ice-cream van, Summer BBQ wedding breakfast, Fish and Chip van in evening, Cheese and Biscuits in evening from “cheese” cake, LOTS of sweets!

Entertainment
Applejack Ceilidh band followed by Fat Sound Disco, for whom we chose all our favourite songs for the playlist

Flowers
White and yellow roses and gerberas

Decoration
Seaside theme – buckets, sand, seashells, beach windmills, beach flags, Union Jacks and New Zealand flags

Personal touches
• We did all the decorations in the marquee
• We had table plans and tables named after seaside locations from UK, Australia and New Zealand .
• We used small beach themed photo frames with guests photos in instead of place names and made our own table plan.
• We made photoboards of us as kids and teenagers and a separate photoboard of us together throughout our relationship.
• Beach postcards with menu on.
• Sticks of rock with our names through as favours

Special moments
Marrying my best friend, laughing and smiling all day, especially through the speeches, dancing up a storm with all my friends and family, crying with happiness through the entirety of the first dance!

Wedding Day Advice
Don’t stress about the small stuff (I spent far too much time on the seating plan!) but people do appreciate attention to detail. Make sure you have lots of food and PLENTY of complimentary alcohol if you’re guests are big drinkers. Delegate and let people help you! If you’re planning an international wedding don’t worry too much about accommodation, travel etc. for overseas guests, they will sort themselves out and will help you out too when they arrive. Don’t get too drunk as a bride or groom – you will want to remember every little detail and it is quite funny to see your guests becoming increasingly inebriated. Don’t worry about things going wrong – unless they’re large things you won’t notice on the day!

Biggest surprise of the day
DOUBLE RAINBOW!!

Supplier Shout Outs

• Wedding Dress – www.tuscanybridal.com.au Tuscany Bridal, Perth, Western Australia &  www.lightinthebox.com Light in the box for evening reception dress
• Make up – www.katepymmmakeup.co.uk Kate Pymm
• Photography – www.yorkplacestudios.co.uk York Place Studios – Fantastic photos and lovely friendly photographers
• Venue and Reception & Food and Drink – www.danbycastle.com Danby Castle Events – Big Thanks to all the staff there especially Carolyn and Duncan – you guys were fantastic!
• Apple Jack Ceilidh Band – www.applejackonline.co.uk
• Fat Sound Disco – www.fatsound.co.uk
• Local Flowers from Audrey
• Wedding vehicles – www.lovedubcars.co.uk – Lovedub Cars
• Esk Valley Coaches – www.eskvalleycoaches.co.uk – transport too and from Venue for guests from Guisborough
• Gisborough Hall Hotel – accommodation for guests and wedding party

For more information on York Place studios go to
www.yorkplacestudios.co.uk
www.yorkplacestudios.co.uk/blog
[email protected]
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
01723 377790

York Place Studios is based in the beautiful coastal town of Scarborough, North Yorkshire. Brother and sister team Liam and Dominique Shaw attract discerning clients from across the UK and abroad with their stunning fine art wedding photography captured in their signature style.

♥  You can see more Real Weddings featured on the Blog HERE  ♥