Hannah and Josh's Flower Filled Elegant and Relaxed East Yorkshire Wedding by Aden Priest

Happy Friday everyone, and yay for the weekend! As you may know it was my birthday on Monday, last weekend I spent it with Nik at a rather indulgent spa weekend. This weekend it’s party time, as I spend it with my friends and family! I have a venue booked for food, drink and a bit of dancing, I can’t wait! But before all that I have the delightful wedding of Hannah and Josh to share with you, courtesy of Aden Priest.This lovely couple held an elegant summer wedding in East Yorkshire. They filled their venue with the most stunning flowers from Campbells Flowers and stationery all created by Hannah herself.

Our wedding day was the day we’d always wished for filled with all the people that mean the most to us. It felt elegant and special but also really relaxed and we hoped everyone just had the best day altogether, eating, drinking, laughing and dancing!

Hannah and Josh were married on 30^th July 2021 at Saltmarshe Hall in East Yorkshire. ‘We went to a few different wedding open days but as soon as we visited Saltmarshe we just fell in love with the venue. Being able to have our whole day at a venue that was just for us was really important to us and we loved that guests had the option to stay in the gorgeous rooms too. We loved how beautiful the rooms and the gardens are at Saltmarshe Hall and it felt like a (very fancy!) home away from home for the day. We had 60 day guests and 80 evening guests It took a year and a half to plan. We started planning as soon as we were engaged in January 2020.’

How they met
We met at a friend’s party on New Years Eve when we were 17! We’ve been together for almost 10 years.

The proposal
Josh took me to one of our favourite beaches. It was January so freezing cold, but a beautiful sunny day, and the beach was almost empty! It was perfect for us and even more lovely that it was in a spot that is one of our favourites. We had our cocker spaniel Albert with us too (although he wasn’t very interested in the proposal and just wanted to keep walking!)

How did you allocate your budget?
We had a rough idea in mind of what we could afford. Once we knew how much of the budget we were spending on the venue we were able to decide the things that were the most important to us and where we felt happiest to spend the rest of our budget.

Where did you splurge and where did you save?
We tried really hard to spend money on the things that meant the most to us on the day for example the photographer and videographer. We knew these were so important for us to be able to look back on our day. We also spent a little extra on our flowers as we wanted to be able to decorate the beautiful venue and make it out own. We saved by making all of the stationary, signs and wedding favours for our day which I loved doing and it made it so much more personal.

How did you choose your photographer?
We met Aden at a friend’s wedding a few years ago. We clicked with Aden straight away with his effortless and friendly personality and approach to wedding photography. After we saw our friends’ photos we knew that we had to book Aden for our own wedding. After booking the venue, Aden was the next thing we knew we needed to book right away! He is wonderful at what he does and couldn’t have made us feel more at ease. Our videographer is a friend who has recently started a new photography and videography business. Chloe is so lovely and made us feel so comfortable. She is very talented and we’ve loved everything she has done.

The dress
Dress – Madi Lane (from Nora Eve Bridal) Shoes – Carvella Hair Accessories – Lace and Favour

The suit and bridesmaids
Suit – Cavani at Coneys Bridesmaid Dresses – Lipsy London

Theme or colour scheme?
Our bridesmaids were in a soft grey/lilac colour and the ties were a soft pastel pink. We had lots of pastel pinks, lilacs and greys throughout the day.

Flowers
Our flowers were a big part of our day, Tracey at Campbells Flowers did an amazing job. We had a wild meadow theme with our flowers with lavender and pastel pink roses in each of the bouquets. We had a beautiful flower arch at the top of the aisle and gorgeous arrangement around the bottom of the amazing staircase at Saltmarshe. We were in love with the flowers and were so pleased it was a part of the wedding we chose to spend a little more money on.

Decoration
Our decoration mainly focused on the flowers. The venue is already such a beautiful setting. We had lots of candles and flowers and we thought it looked beautiful.

Food
Canapes – Mini Fish and Chips, Duck Spring Rolls, Arancini Balls.
Starter – Camembert
Main – Sirloin Beef with Yorkshire Pudding
Desert – White Chocolate Cheesecake
Evening – Pizza

Wedding cake
We had a single tier wedding cake with icing pearls and beautiful pink sugar rose. We had an amazing desert table filled with macarons, cupcakes and cake pops. It was all delicious and there was nothing left at the end of the night!

Entertainment
During the day, for the drinks reception, we had an acoustic wedding singer and guitar player. Everyone said he was brilliant. In the evening we had a DJ and a photobooth too.

Who supplied the stationery?
I made all of the stationary myself for the wedding. Having recently started my own small business its something that I absolutely love doing!

Where did you go on your honeymoon?
We went on a lovely mini-moon break to the Cotswolds straight after the wedding and it was so relaxing. We’re hoping to go abroad as soon as the world is a little more normal.

Personal touches
I made all of the stationary, signage and wedding favours for the day. I loved making everything and it made the run up the wedding really exciting (and even more busy!) We also had a ‘Wedding Advice Book’ on our guest book table. My class of Year 1’s each wrote a piece of advice for us and everyone loved reading the thoughts of 5 year olds!

Special moments
We loved seeing everyone is one room together. It was always going to be a special day to be surrounded by all the people that mean the most to us but it somehow felt even more special this year. The speeches were all amazing too and had us all laughing and crying!

Advice for other couples
Everyone always says it, but now we really understand, that you need to take a moment to take the day in. It goes so quickly and one of our favourite moments was sitting at the top table and just watching everyone together just for a minute or two. It made us feel so grateful for all of the people we have around us. The day is for you, so try not to feel pressured by others or traditions, do the things that mean the most to you as a couple and the things that will give you the best memories to look back on. Just relax and enjoy things and don’t worry about things being totally ‘perfect’. Sometimes those moments that don’t quite go to plan end up being the best and funniest memories of the day.

Biggest surprise
Just how beautiful everything looked! You spend such a long time organising and planning but you don’t see everything together until the day. The team at Saltmarshe pulled everything together so beautifully and we were so grateful for everything they did.