Jade and Ben's Jewel Toned Music Filled Winter Wedding in Lancashire by Ally M Photography

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend? I am super excited as I am off to Disneyland Paris on Wednesday. Dexter is performing out there with his stage school, they have been rehearsing for months so they all can’t wait. Tomorrow is the last day of term and his last day at primary school! My boy will be gong to big school in September! Tomorrow is going to be an emotional day for everyone! On with today’s wedding and it’s a good one! Jade and Ben held their winter wedding in Lancashire and it was a super glam day, a black tie affair filled with huge pops of colour with the jewel tines flowers. Filled to the brim with entertainment from musicians to bowling. all captured beautifully by Ally M .

The most happy, fun, love filled and amazing day, with a side of ‘us’ in every extra detail. We filled the day with music we loved from start to finish and spent it with those that meant the most.

Jade and Ben were married on 2nd December 2023 at Holmes Mill, Clitheroe in Lancashire. ‘We didn’t even view another venue! I (jade) went on a random Sunday, rang Ben who was golfing (of course) and said it was the one! So laid back, the nicest team, loved everything about it. We had 102 guests, we booked in October 2021 shortly after getting engaged so around 2 years but in true Jade fashion, it all came together in those last 8 months!’

How they met
We have been together since 2011! – We met on an app that pre dated whatsapp but Fun fact, Ben still lies to this day that I didn’t have a username that’s why he asked ‘is this jade cartwright’… then i later found out he had asked his friends about me before! Smooth!

The proposal
Just unbelievable- we were on holiday with our little boy in Lindos, Greece – Ben Chartered a private boat for the day, we took some family pictures at the front of the boat and he got down on one knee!… with the most incredible ME ring ever! And in front of our little boy made it even more special.

How did you allocate your budget?
Erm…. I prioritised our Photography, Videography and music, there wasn’t a part of the day not filled with live music.
We had a string quartet who played modern music in the ceremony and drinks, acoustic guitarist/singer for the meal and then DJ sax and bongos for the evening.

Where did you splurge and where did you save?
We splurged on the above, allocated and did not move on our photography/videography as we knew these are the things we’ll take with us forever

How did you choose your photographer?
I found one picture Ally took on holmes mill’s social media and actually knew he was a non- negotiable, sent an enquiry, spoke to him the same or next day and felt like I was on the phone with a mate- exactly how it felt having him there on the day too!
His photography was effortless, he picked up the faces, memories and reactions of us and our guests that tell a story, we still are in awe every time we see a picture.

The dress
My Dress was made my Aleena Leena, a Ukrainian designer and it was from the lovely girls from The Aisle in skipton. My shoes were a cheap dupe!- from a random website but styled on Amina Muadi’s

The suit and bridesmaids
Bens suit was a cool two tone black tux from John Lewis & the bridesmaids actually all chose their own, I said go black and let them choose something they loved and felt comfortable in!

Theme or colour scheme
In our florals we went for deep jewel colours and kept that theme running through most things with gold and green accents.

Flowers
Every single type!- Sarah at Olive owl well and truly knocked it out of the park, we had orchids, thistles, red dyed eucalyptus and black accents- ill never get over how unreal they were.

Decoration
Sarah again at Olive owl did all of our styling with voitaves, candles, table drapes and amazingly re used the bridesmaids bouquets in the table decor for the meal.
We had 2 incredible flower pillars at the end of the aisle which were beautiful.

Food
We had a fairly traditional 3 course meal of brie bites, chicken or beef and then one of each of our fave puddings Lemon meringue and sticky toffee pudding!
** if i were to do the day again, id have gone for the street food/banquet meal option holmes mill did as it looked insane

Wedding cake
We were so so lucky that our beautiful friend Sue, at Bridal makes made us not 1 but 3 cakes, they had crystal geode cut outs and were truly amazing!

Entertainment
The String quartet company
Archie Music
Exceed Events Zac Morgan
Amber Sax
Kristix Drumming

Who supplied the stationery?
I made the invitations myself!
Daytime stationary from a small independent business i found on Instagram!

Where did you go on your honeymoon?
We went to Zanzibar for 2 weeks- whilst there we did the trip of a lifetime into the Serengeti for a 3 day safari- we still have no words to describe how incredible it was.

Personal touches
I think the whole say was very us, all the suppliers we chose felt like friends, it all felt true to who we were and how we wanted our guests to feel. No one stopped smiling/laughing and dancing all day!
One thing we did was ask holmes mill could we hire their bowling alley for that awkward bit between the day and night, it was an absolute hit!

Special moments
Just seeing everyone so happy to be celebrating us, the day feeling like we had hoped and not one nerve!
One of our highlights was our amazing Ally and Georgia managing to get us into the everyman cinema on site to have some pictures- which are our favourites! So so much fun

Advice for other couples
Make the day about you, imagine your perfect fun day and make it happen, if that’s a pub with your mates and a boogie after or a lavish 3 day formal event then do it… its SO worth it.

Biggest surprise
BEN AUSTIN CRIED!- big win!
No, in all seriousness just seeing it all come together.