“There was nothing really remarkable about how we met,” says Joseph. “Daniel was out having a drink on Christmas Eve, and I was working behind the bar. We got chatting and the rest is history…”
“Daniel proposed to me on our one year anniversary, at Mel Maison Brasserie in Leeds, having asked my Mum and Dad’s permission,” smiles Joseph. “Whenever we would go out for dinner, Dan would always plan ahead and make sure there was a bouquet of flowers and a card waiting for me on the table for when we arrived. On this particular evening, there was no message in the card, which was unusual. Later in the evening, Daniel said “pass me the card, and I’ll write it.” I handed it over, and inside he wrote ‘will you marry me?'” adds Joseph.
“For the outfits, we “shared” a bespoke Magee Tweed suit. (mageeireland.com). Daniel wore the jacket, with some green cords, and I wore the tweed trousers and the waistcoat with a white shirt and no jacket. We even ordered extra material to have a bow-tie made for Daniel and ties made for each of the groomsmen. It was amazing to have a suit made exactly to measure, and being able to have our own choices of lining, melton and buttons made the outfit really personal,” explains Joseph.
“Instead of bridesmaids and ushers, we combined the roles to include all our friends and family,” explains Joseph. “We had 6 groomsmaids (3 each). As the theme for the day was vintage, all their dresses were different – and we decided to let the groomsmaids choose their own dresses. Each one was assigned a colour to match the 6 colours of the chair covers – teal, royal blue, wine, olive, steel and claret. To signify each of the girls as a groomsmaid we gave them a white rose and ivy corsage with a tea-cup charm to hang on the corsage. We then also had 4 groomsmen as well. They wore their own suits and the tie we gave them, as mentioned before.”
“Our ceremony was very informal and personal. The groomsmaids entered in twos to Nat King Cole, L-O-V-E. Followed by both Daniel and I together. The ceremony began with a reading by our Groomsmaid; Gemma Hall, called Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered. It’s the poem that Daniel used to tell me he loved me, after a few months of us being together. We then said our vows, which we had written together, Daniel even had a little cry….”
As the couple both plan for a living, they had some wonderful ideas for their reception room. And now we hand over to Daniel to explain more.
“Our wedding breakfast was at the stunning Holdsworth House Hotel. As with the rest of the day we wanted a really relaxed country gent feel to the day. This was reflected in our rustic menu of: Old spot pork rillet (a cross between a pate and a terine), Yorkshire lamb with anna potatoes and fine green beans, with scrummy sticky toffee pudding for dessert, finished by coffee and truffles.
Our tables were laid with an individual vintage cup and saucer for each guest as their wedding favour with 5 sugared almonds in spotty cellophane placed inside (5 almonds, 1 each for Health, Wealth, Happiness, prosperity and Fertility). There was also a bottle of personalised beer called Vedette (4 different pictures of Joe and I). The table centres were old books stacked with a vintage teapot planted with ivy on top and another vintage cup and saucer which was made in to a candle. The menus were printed on the backs of old postcards with black and white pictures of very dashing gents on!
Our toasts were made using the vintage cups and saucers we had given our guests as favours. As the Champagne was being served, two boxes of cigars were also handed round for guests to truly indulge after the speeches.
We agonized for 5 hours over the seating plan, deciding which guests would sit where, but we had decided months ago that we wanted a ‘love heart table’ for us two grooms to sit alone for the meal. This gave us one of the only opportunities to really talk on the day, and avoided any ‘political’ conversations around divorced parents etc being on the same table for too long.
The seating plan itself was really original (if we do say so ourselves). Each table was named after a gin, which is our tipple of choice. Rather than writing each persons name out to display, we printed individual photos of the guests and suspended them on ribbon between the top and bottom on huge picture frame (with no glass and no back) – what a talking point it was (plus we got to embarrass a few friends with some great silly photos),” says Daniel.
To end the evening everyone danced to a wonderful swing band, fronted by the very talented Karen Lake.
Wow, what a beautiful, heart-felt day. I hope you enjoyed reading that post, just as much as I enjoyed writing it. See you next week, Love Alice xx
Photography by alexknightphotography.com
