Lesley and Paul's Jewel Coloured Winter Wedding at The Lowry By Nicola Thompson Photography

Happy Friday everyone, The weekend is so very nearly here! Do you have anything good planned? I am off to a wedding on Saturday, it’s been a while since I went to one, so I am super excitted! We are finishing off the week with this fabulous winter wedding from Nicola Thompson Photography. This modern wedding takes place at The Lowry in Manchester and is filled with style, charm and some gorgeous jewel coloued flowers and details.

‘The day was truly magical, more than we ever imagined, it was full of love & smiles. It was relaxed and informal just the way we wanted’

Wedding at The Lowry By Nicola Thompson Photography

Lesley and Paul were married on 30th December 2015 at The Lowry, Salford Quays. ‘After looking at a few venues very early on we both realised manor house or country barn weddings weren’t really us and we fancied a city wedding, with a love of where we live and having some very special memories around the area (including the engagement) the Lowry was a favourite from very early on. As well as the location, the Lowry with its bold design and colours seemed perfect when we viewed it. We both work in design and loved how different it is. We had 90 guests in the day and another 40 joined us in the evening. Planning took 15 months in total’

The Proposal
It was the bank holiday Sunday in August (our 3 year anniversary) we went down to Salford quays for a walk and a couple of drinks, mid walk Paul produced a present for me, a beautifully wrapped photo frame, the photo inside was from a photobooth, where he was holing flash cards saying ‘will you marry me’ I was absolutely gobsmacked and kept asking Paul if he was joking! We headed to celebrate with a bottle of fizz while we phoned and messaged all our excited family and friends.

How did you allocate your budget
We set a budget early on, and decided to focus the money on things that were most important to us and try to be more careful with the money elsewhere. Friends helping with things, and doing as much as we could ourselves helped keep the budget down and meant we could stretch the budget on things like getting a great photographer, and having more freedom when it came to the flowers which I always wanted to be a big part of the look for the day.

Wedding at The Lowry bride prep By Nicola Thompson Photography

How did you choose your photographer
After sorting the venue the photographer was next on the list to sort. We spent a few weeks researching local photographers on websites and blogs and we both kept coming back toNicola Thompson Photography, we loved her style! We discovered Nicola had also been the photographer at a friends wedding and again she came highly recommended.
From the initial phone call to Nicola we got a good feeling she would capture the day exactly as we wanted it… and she did. We still get compliments now on how well Nicola fitted in to the day and on her amazing photos which we love!

Wedding order of the day at The Lowry By Nicola Thompson Photography

The Dress
A few weekends were spent visiting local bridal shops with my mum and close friends trying on dresses, none of which I felt like myself in. The turning point was when my friend recommended Gilly at Proposals Bridal Boutique. As soon as I tried my dress on I knew it was the one because I just felt like myself and could see myself on the day.
The dress was called Sasha by Romantica Of Devon and it was tea-length just skimming the ankles, beaded detail at the waist with a simple sweetheart neckline. Underneath I wore a lace body which gave me sleeves for a winter look. I added a sequin bolero from John Lewis for some winter sparkle too. For my shoes, I wanted something comfy in the day and I could dance the night away in, I went for ‘Jasmine’ by Rachel Simpson, which ticked all the boxes and I managed to wear them again on new years eve too. My outfit was finished off with some gorgeous earrings my mum and dad gave me, a winter snow flake.

The Suit and Bridesmaids
Paul had a beautiful 3 piece wool charcoal grey suit from Next and he added a spotty teal tie and handkerchief and some black brogues. He looked every bit the handsom-est groom I ever did see on the day!
We asked the best man and ushers to wear their own grey suits, as we didn’t want everything to match. I had always loved the multi way dresses, after doing some research my sister in law found the dresses on Etsy in the right colour. They all wore them differently on the day showing off their own style, worn with some simple silver shoes and silver jewellery.
My niece Grace was my flower girl and she lives in Thailand so last summer when she was home I ordered 4 different dresses for her to try on. She did her own little fashion show. It’s one of the nicest memories I have from the whole wedding planning!

Wedding at The Lowry brodes arrival By Nicola Thompson Photography

Wedding ring exchange at The Lowry By Nicola Thompson Photography

Theme or Colour Scheme
The Lowry has so many vivid colours so I wanted to complement and work with those. I loved the thought of jewel coloured flowers that would work with the venue and set off against my ivory dress and Paul in grey.

Flowers
The whole experience planning the flowers was lovely. We used The Flower lounge in Didsbury. I took a few images and a general colour theme with me to Sian who turned those in to reality – they were better than I could ever have imagined! I had a natural hand tied bouquet with a variety of ranunculus, viburnum berries, wax flower, lissianthus, rosemary, eucalyptus, asclepias and hypericum. The bridesmaids had smaller sized versions of my bouquet. We had button holes for Paul, best man, ushers, dads and the mums had matching corsages.

Decoration
For our table arrangements I sprayed a mixture of bottles, jars and glasses with silver paint and the Flower Lounge filled them with a mix of flowers matching my bouquet. The tables were finished with candles and tealights…. and a few sparkles! We hired a LOVE light from ‘The Word is Love’ which was a fun back drop for the dancefloor. To be honest the room didn’t need too much decoration due to the stunning ceiling of draping fairy lights which made it spectacularly romantic.

Wedding fun at The Lowry By Nicola Thompson Photography

Food
Starter: Pressed Ham Hock With Piccalilli & Herb Salad,
Main: Pan–fried Chicken Breast, Fondant Potato, Woodland Mushroom And Green Beans,
Dessert: Manchester tart with banana ice cream

Wedding Cake
My lovely friend Debs made our wedding cake, three tiers of deliciousness, lemon, chocolate & victoria sponge, simply decorated with an illustrated cake topper of ourselves & some fresh flowers.

Entertainment
While the guest waited & also whilst I walked down the aisle we had a string quartet called ‘The Dotted Crotchets’ who play modern classics from Elbow, Florence and the Machine, the Beatles etc. We’ve had lots of lovely comments from the guests saying what a lovely atmosphere it gave to the day. My good friend Justine DJ’ed in the evening, and she kept the dancefloor packed all night!!

Wedding details at The Lowry By Nicola Thompson Photography

The Stationery
I had an illustration custom made by Biernet Blanka. I had seen Biernet’s work on Pintrest and had always wanted one of her illustrations… what better excuse hey!
I designed the invitation, order of the day, cake topper and menu’s myself using Blanka’s illustration as a central theme and then got them all printed professionally.
Our table plan was one of our favourite ideas! Each table was a different Pantone colour re-named for the day as something related to us e.g. Middlesbrough Boro Red, Manchester bee yellow, transporter bridge blue.

Personal or Handmade Touches
I made my nephew and niece a suitcase full of bits and pieces to keep them entertained, including glow sticks, inflatable hats and a few sweets. Our favours were scratch cards which we thought would be a bit of fun at the table – unfortunately we had no big winners!
I hand made confetti from multi-coloured tissue papers which I added to small envelopes and left on each seat in the ceremony.
For our guest book we bought an instant camera, some props and a book for people to take photos and add a message to.
We left jewel coloured pashminas on the back of the ladies chairs to keep them warm during the evening and something they could take away to remind them of the day.

Wedding speches at The Lowry By Nicola Thompson Photography

Wedding bride at The Lowry By Nicola Thompson Photography

Special Moments
The whole thing! Its hard to say there were so many… from getting ready with my best friends in the morning, seeing my mum and dad’s reaction when they saw me as a bride to walking down the aisle with dad and seeing Paul’s smiley face as I saw him for the first time.
The final highlight was standing on the packed dance floor surrounded by our friends and family with a feeling of utter happiness and contentment after such an amazing day.

Advice to other couples
Inevitably the planning can occasionally get stressful but now that its all over I really miss the excitement of choosing, making and planning things for the big day. Try to remember the planning is part of the excitement and enjoy it all even at times when doesn’t feel fun.
If someone offers help, take it – that’s what friends and family are for and we were very lucky to have such offers.
One last tip as given to me by the Registrar on the morning of the wedding – enjoy the ceremony! When saying your vows sometimes nerves can take over but at the end of the day that’s why you’re there – to say I do.

Biggest surprise
How quickly the day went, but also how amazing it was, can we do it again?