Debbie and Rachel’s Rustic Danby Castle Wedding with a Brass Band and Fish and Chips by Nicola Mackrill

Happy Monday everyone and welcome along to another fun-filled week on the blog. I hope you had a good weekend whatever you got up to? Mine was lovely, so I’m now ready for the week ahead. Today I am delighted to bring you this lovely same-sex wedding from Nicola Mackrill. Debbie and Rachel wanted to bring the outside in to their gorgeous venue at Danby Castle, and this they did with rustic touches, wood, greenery and lots of gorgeous flowers. They added a great element of fun into their day with a brass band, a fish and chip van and a big old party! An excellent day filled with love and laughter for our two lovely brides.

An amazing day filled with lots of love, laughter and tears of happiness. At a wonderfully rustic venue with a relaxed vibe, with lovely friends & family all coming together to make our day extra special…….plus fish and chips, a brass band and lots of dancing.

Debbie and Rachel were married on 21st July 2018 at Danby Castle in Whitby. ‘We love visiting Whitby and go there often with our dogs. As Rachel is a B-road queen when behind the wheel we get to see lots of lovely, picturesque villages which can’t be seen from the main roads. Danby was one of those surprises, so when we started planning our wedding it was an obvious choice. We had 88 guests, We booked the venue about 12 months in advance, we then thought we had lots of time until the wedding. Fast forward to the New year and the panic set in, then we started planning everything else.’

How they met 
We’ve been together 6 years. But we have known each other for about 20 years through mutual friends.

The proposal
Rachel proposed to Debbie on her birthday whilst walking the dogs in the woods.

How did you allocate your budget?
We definitely wanted a certain style of wedding and once we had chosen the venue our priorities after that were great food, great music and a great atmosphere. The styling of the venue was brilliantly done by Pamela Dunn who enhanced an already gorgeous venue and made the setting for our wedding truly magical.

Where did you splurge and where did you save?
A big splurge was on ‘Back Chat Brass’ who provided the brilliant entertainment during the afternoon drinks reception. But it was totally worth it as all guest commented how fantastic they were and we loved them too.
The vintage coach was another extra that we felt made the day extra special.  It was lovely for all the guests to arrive together while taking in the stunning scenery around Danby.
We added some personal touches ourselves, we combined favours and place settings using sticks of rock from Whitby and engraved wooden heart name tags which we tied on ourselves. We also made up personal gift boxes for our lovely bridesmaids. So I guess you could call these a saving.

How did you choose your photographer?
We didn’t want too many posed photos as we wanted to spend the time with our friends and family enjoying the day. We loved Nicky’s informal style of photography and her website made us chuckle, being Yorkshire lasses too.

Who was your outfits by?
Debbie wore a fishtail wedding dress by Wed2Be and her shoes were customised Converse Allstars from Custom-Converse, with diamanté details and a personal quote. Her hair and makeup were done by Kate Pymm.
Rachel wore a bespoke tailored suit by King & Allen and shoes by Paul Smith

Bridesmaids
We had seven bridesmaids, 1 flower girl, 1 Best Woman and 1 Best Man. The bridesmaids were Debbie’s daughter & two nieces, Rachel’s God daughter and three of our closest friends. Our flower girl was our 18 month old granddaughter. Our Best Woman was Rachel’s best friend and our Best man was Debbie’s son.
The bridesmaids wore slate blue dresses by Victoria Kay from The Yorkshire Bridal Shop.

Theme or colour scheme 
We really liked the idea of a woodland style wedding so the idea was to bring the outdoors inside the barn using lots of foliage and wood. All our stationary included wooden hearts and we tried keep that theme throughout. Our favourite colours are grey and blue so slate blue seemed a natural choice, although it was extremely hard to find the bridesmaid dresses in the colour we had in mind, but we were determined and did eventually find the perfect ones.

Flowers
Debbie and the bridesmaids had loose, informal bouquets with green foliage and white Austin roses with eryngium. The flowers were organised by Pamela Dunn, who also helped us find the band.

Decoration 
Foliage, wooden signs, fairy lights, lots and lots of candles, rustic crates and baskets

Food
The guests had canapes during the drinks reception. For the main meal we had the pie feast, which was pie, mash and vegetables. Followed by a trio of desserts. The evening food was Whitby fish and chips.

Wedding cake
We couldn’t decide on a flavour so we had a three tier cake with chocolate sponge, Victoria sponge and lemon drizzle. Decorated in a rustic style with a wooden heart, hessian and fresh flowers, made by Bothams of Whitby

Entertainment
The brilliant Back Chat Brass were the entertainment during the drinks reception and the music in the evening was provided by DJ Harry Knoxx who got everyone up dancing all night.

Who supplied the stationery?
The invitations were made by Inspired By Lisa. The table plan was made by Julia Salts from Etsy and the flower girl sign was also ordered from Etsy from a shop called hetchhog.

Personal touches
We provided baskets of flip flops and blankets for our guests which they absolutely loved.
We also made up a basket with magazines, toys and sweets for our younger guests, which kept them entertained all day. And also a basket with toiletries and essentials in the bathrooms, which the guests also loved.
We created a ‘Meet the Team’ board which introduced the members of our bridal party. This included a photo of each of them and a paragraph on how we knew them and a funny story about them. They all loved it and it certainly got people talking.

Special moments 
The whole day was amazing with lots of special moments, but the look on everybody’s faces when we came round the corner after the ceremony with Back Chat Brass playing Prince’s 1999 behind us was priceless.

Advice for other couples
Don’t leave everything until the last few months!
It gets really crazy in the few weeks leading up to the day, keep calm it will all work out ok if you talk to each other and work together.

Biggest surprise 
Debbie’s sister and Rachel’s brother’s readings during the ceremony.  They were really personal and very emotional.

Supplier Shout Outs 

• Photography: Nicola Mackrill
• Debbie’s dress: Wed2b Leeds
• Shoes: Custom Converse
• Rachel suit: King and Allen 
• Shoes: Paul Smith 
• Bridesmaid dresses: Victoria Kay from The Yorkshire Bridal Shop
• Venue: Carolyn at Danby Castle 
• Cake: Bothams of Whitby 
• Venue styling: Pamela Dunn Weddings 
• Vintage coach: Cumbria Classic Coaches
• Band: Backchat brass
• DJ: Harry Knoxx
• Hair and makeup: Kate Pymm
• Invitations: Shine design from inspired by Lisa
• Wooden table plan: Julia Salts (Etsy) 
• Flower girl wooden sign: Etch hog (Etsy)

For more infromation on Nicolas work go to

www.nicolamackrill.co.uk /  [email protected] / FACEBOOK  / INSTAGRAM 

I’m based in Halifax, West Yorkshire and I cover all of Yorkshire and the North, I would describe my style as fun, colourful and creative!