There is something incredibly timeless and elegant about Emma and Michael’s wedding day.
Maybe it’s Emma’s gorgeous lace gown by Paloma Blanca, with it’s keyhole back detail and swishy skirt. Maybe it’s Michael’s gleaming silver pocket watch and purple button hole combination?
Perhaps it’s the beautiful Georgian architecture of Eaves Hall, with it’s wooden panelling, ionic columns and decadent chandeliers?
Whatever it is…I like it. Very much so.
Looking at the images from Nichola Morton gives you that childhood feeling of watching the grown ups having a party and really REALLY wanting to join in. Everything just looks so sophisticated and fancy…but also warm and inviting.
Are you ready to take a look? Thought so – it’s the BEST way to start the week.
Emma The Bride:Eaves Hall stands out amongst the venues of Lancashire for boasting a grandiose yet somehow still intimate atmosphere. With a superb and family-spirited team of event supervisors, the venue truly felt like home with exclusive use of the main house and grounds for our big day.
Their food and beverage service is superb, from our wonderfully fresh Prosecco welcome drinks and toasts, our fabulous three course dinner with matching wine selection, our bespoke plum coloured cocktails with fresh blackberries (secret recipe!) our bacon & sausage sandwich supper, and all the way through to our full English breakfast the following morning. They even have a fabulous snooker room with colour-matching full size purple snooker table which kept both ourselves and our guests thoroughly entertained throughout the stay!
The venue needed very little in the way of decoration with an impressive backdrop of wood panelled walls, period features and unique and luxurious room dressings. We chose Eaves Hall for its dramatic feel and mix of classic and modern décor, so added only a few simple touches to create our ideal ambiance. We incorporated a colour scheme with tones of plums, purples and pinks with hints of silver-grey, charcoal-grey and black to create a deep, warm and wintery feel to the event.
In the entrance hall we added some welcome touches including a post-box created by my Mum, covered in images of us for a truly personal touch. For the ceremonial confetti shower; pink, purple and white petals were on display in handmade silver, charcoal and white paper confetti cones.
The table plan was handmade by me, my Mum and my close friend Amy, we took a silver-grey picture frame and decorated it with delicate white and silver lace-effect paper with vintage styled accessories by East of India.
The ceremony was accompanied by the wonderful pianist Hannah Clarke whose rendition of ‘1000 years’ by Christina Perri brought a tear to many eyes! Jose Gonzales ‘Heartbeats’ serenaded the guests during the signing of our register, and we took our first walk as man and wife from the ceremony room to Hannah’s instrumental version of ‘Iris’ by the Goo Goo Dolls, which really made the ceremony even more poignant, beautiful and memorable for us as some of our favourite pieces of music.
My lovely sister-in-law, Jenny and close friend Rachel both provided captivating readings during the ceremony.
Decorated with silver candelabras, the dining room tables were adorned with charcoal grey crackle glass tea light holders with tea-lights scented with the late Bride’s father’s favourite scent ‘Angel Oil’ and hand-painted black wooden freestanding table numbers.
Finishing touches included plum organza sashes on a scattering of the chairs, along with fresh plum coloured petals across the mirrored plates and white linen, with a mix of plum & white and charcoal-grey & white candy striped favour bags for our guests.
The guest’s glassware was also adorned with ornate personalised wine-glass charms with plum beading detail, and combined vintage style black & white name/menu cards brought a simple, clean feeling to the tables. Finally a fine trace of purple glitter was sprinkled across the crisp table linen to add a touch of sparkle.
The guest favours comprised of individual pieces of Blackpool rock in plum and grey stripes, parma violets and pin badges in aid of cancer research UK, in honour of my father who sadly passed away earlier in the year of bowel cancer. Additional treats for the ladies included miniature wintery-scented soaps in shades plum by Lush Cosmetics, and for the gents’ we added miniature silver puzzles.
We both also wore a special snowflake cancer research pin badge in memory of my Dad, and my elder brother, Andrew gave a wonderfully personal and moving speech in his place.
Our drinks reception was accompanied by a sweet treats table decorated in white, silver-grey and pink, with lots of edible goodies including coconut macaroons, handmade fudge, shortbread, jelly beans and our personal favourite, chocolate bourbons. The stunning crockery belonged to my Grandma.
Our ‘naked’ wedding cake was homemade and comprised of tiers of chocolate sponge and vanilla buttercream, edged with strawberries and blueberries with a dusting of icing sugar and a personalised ‘Mr & Mrs Singleton’ black acrylic cake topper. The cake was displayed on a black slate stand to enhance its rustic effect.
Our entertainment started with Hannah our very accomplished piano player who played throughout both the ceremony and drinks reception. Following the photographs she was then followed by an array of evening entertainment including a live acoustic set from Manchester band Laamb, Roulette and Blackjack tables, a fabulous photobooth and last a personalised DJ set with accompanying bespoke lighting display including uplighters in shades of purple to really set the scene and create a dramatic atmosphere to the dancefloor.
The floral arrangements comprised of a gorgeous mix of various plum, purple, pink and white blooms; including calla lilies, hydrangeas and silvery thistles with black berries and silver-grey crystals to add a finishing touch. In addition to the bouquets and boutonnières, two glass mirrored cubes were filled with the same beautiful flowers to decorate both our ceremony table and sweetheart top table.
Our photographer Nichola was recommended to us and took the trouble to come to our home to talk us through examples of her work and her packages. She gave us lots of options and gave us plenty of time to ask as many questions as we needed. She was always on hand right through the process, available to answer any last minute questions we had. Her images are light, bright, colourful and truly inspiring.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the scale of planning a wedding, and sometimes it can feel more like work than fun – especially when balancing your budget! It helped us to book and buy items in the order of priority, so we could see towards the event how much we had left to spare for any indulgences and additional purchases. We tried to make sure that our guests had plenty to keep them entertained, and designing a mood board, images file and digital scrapbook were great ways to collate ideas and help to better imagine the overall look and feel of the event.
We really enjoyed putting our own personal touches on the day and tried to involve friends and family in the planning and on the event day itself, making as many items as possible ourselves to produce a unique feel to the day that was truly our style.
Photography by Nichola Morton
Bride Paloma Blanca | Boutique Personal Touch Bridal | Belt & Haircomb Helen Pollington | Lace cuff Sew Assured | Shoes Faith | Hair Neil Marshall | Groom & Groomsmen Debenhams | Maid Of Honour Coast | Flower Girl Sew Assured | Florist Zime Design | Venue Eaves Hall | Decor The Hidden Gem, East of India, Abakan Fabrics & Country Baskets | Entertainment Pianist, Laamb | Casino Tables Pier Fun Casinos | Photo Booth Boothtube | DJ David Lee