Rachael and Gary’s Rustic West Yorkshire Mill Wedding by David Lindsley Photography

Today I am taking you off to West Yorkshire for the gorgeous wedding of Rachael and Gary. They chose Bowers Mill pretty much straight into their wedding planning and fell in love with the venues rustic charm. They kept the rustic theme throughout their wedding, and really went to town with the whole styling element of their day. From the wooden crates, to the drink holder made out of a step ladder. They brought in lots of greenery to keep the laid back theme going and added an elegant touch with their black and white dress code. For an extra dose of fun they brought in the Undercover Waiters as well as a photo booth to keep the party going. A fun filled wedding from start to finish all captured perfectly by David Lindsley Photography

Honestly just the most perfect day that we had both dreamed of! Beautiful, stress-free and a whole lotta fun! 

Rachael and Gary were married on 28th September 2024 at The Venue Bowers Mill, West Yorkshire. ‘It was the second venue we viewed for our wedding and we fell in love as soon as we saw it. It was everything we wanted, rustic yet modern with an intimate ceremony room and a huge separate party space for our guests to dance the night away. We had 79 day guests and 40 evening guests. It took 18 months to plan the wedding, we got engaged in April 2023, booked the wedding in May 2023 and married in September 2024.’

How they met
We met on good old Tinder in September 2017 so we had been together 7 years before we got married. We now have a 3 year old little boy, Albie, who was our Page Boy at the wedding.

The proposal
Gary proposed on Santa Eularia beach in Ibiza in April 2023 with the help of Albie, our son, who was trusted to hold the ring box (eeek) as they both walked out of the sea towards Rachael. Rachael was so so surprised and couldn’t believe he had managed to get it through the airport without her knowing!

How did you allocate your budget?
We had a wedding budget spreadsheet (Rachael is queen of organisation) so we tried to stick to this as much as we could. We deterred from it slightly but it was worth every penny!

Where did you splurge and where did you save?
We splurged on our venue dresser and our videographer which were both non-negotiables for us. Being able to watch our day back and see parts of it that we missed is just so so special.

How did you choose your photographer?
We came across David on ‘Hitched’ and fell in love with his work straight away. We loved his portfolio of candid, relaxed shots as that is exactly what we wanted and the Zoom calls we had with him leading up to the wedding really helped us get to know each other. He was the only photographer we spoke to and one of the first suppliers we booked.

The dress
Rachael’s dress was Justin Alexander from Peggy Bridal in Holmfirth, her shoes were ivory satin with Pearl straps from Rainbow Club and matching Pearl jewellery from Lily & Roo.

The suit and bridesmaids
Gary’s suit was from Marks and Spencer and the Bridesmaid dresses were from Wed2Be.

Theme or colour scheme
Our theme was classic Black and White with Olive Green accent.

Flowers
Rachael’s Auntie Gillian sourced and created the beautiful fresh flowers for Rachael’s bridal bouquet, the Bridesmaid bouquets and the buttonholes for the boys. With a little help from Rachael’s mum too, they created the most beautiful flower arrangements of white roses, white lisianthus, gypsophila, eucalyptus and lots and lots of greenery.

Decoration
We wanted our decoration style to compliment our venue as it holds so much character and history which speaks for itself so we kept it rustic with candles, monochrome and again, lots and lots of greenery!

Food
We had a choice of three canapés which were served after the ceremony and these were Chorizo Sausage Roll, Sun blushed tomato and mozzarella arancini and Sticky Belly Pork.  For our wedding breakfast we chose sharing boards of Roast Beef and all the trimmings. For the vegetarians we chose a Sweet Potato and Caramelised Onion Wellington. The children enjoyed individual grazing boards filled with pizza, chicken goujons, sausage rolls, chips and beans. A selection of yummy desserts were then served on sharing boards after the main meal. We had bacon and sausage sandwiches during the evening celebration!

Wedding cake
We didn’t feel that a traditional large wedding cake was needed so we opted for a smaller version, beautifully designed and created by a local baker who lives just down the road from us.

Entertainment
As a surprise to all the guests (including Gary) Rachael hired The Undercover Waiters who absolutely got the party started! One minute they’re serving our guests their roast beef, the next they’re singing and dancing and getting everyone up on their chairs waving napkins above their heads! We also hired a photobooth for the evening which of course went down a storm! Our guests loved it and the pictures are hilarious! Our guests then danced the night away to an amazing band ‘The Waverley’ who we came across online and absolutely loved their vibe.

Who supplied the stationery
Rachael created the name cards for the wedding breakfast tables which were black and white Polaroid photos of Gary/Rachael with each guest or a photo of the guest on their own with their name underneath. Our Order of the Day, along with thank you messages, menu detail and a few fun facts were printed on ‘Wedding Newspapers’ which we received lots of compliments on and these were placed on every chair in the ceremony room.

Where did you go on your honeymoon?
We flew to Dubai with Albie a few days after the wedding and enjoyed two weeks of glorious sunshine.

Personal touches
Our first date was at Krispy Kreme back in 2017 so we couldn’t get married without having 100+ Krispy Kreme donuts to help us celebrate!

Special moments
Getting ready with our closest friends in the morning was a personal highlight for the both of us. Watching our guests enjoy themselves on the day was amazing and seeing those who we may not have necessarily expected to be dancing on their chairs waving napkins doing exactly that in front of our eyes was something we will never forget!

Advice for other couples
Take 5/10 minutes just the two of you to soak everything up. Enjoy the planning process, it will all come together on the day!

Biggest surprise
How much we didn’t worry about anything at all! We had so much trust in our venue and knew they would deliver on the day so it was nice to sit back, relax and enjoy our special day with our loved ones.

Supplier Shout Outs

• Venue: www.thevenuebowersmill.co.uk
• Photographer: www.indsleyweddings.com
• Videographer: www.wheelandspoke.co.uk
• Venue dresser: www.emilykweddings.com
• Photobooth: www.theinstantphotobooth.co.uk
• Undercover Waiters: www.theundercoverwaiters.co.uk
• Wedding Newspapers: www.thecraftylab.co.uk
• Dress: www.peggybridal.co.uk

David Lindsley Photography

www.lindsleyweddings.com / www.lindsleyweddings.com/blog / [email protected] / 07931 586534 / FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM

I’m based in Leeds, Yorkshire but will travel everywhere. My style is pretty relaxed and candid wanting to tell the stories of people’s day. A documentary photographer with a splash of portraits is a good way to describe what I do.