We love a real wedding with a sense of fun, and Jess and Andy’s laidback celebration was full of quirky details!
How they met
Jessica and Andy met as students. “I was so happy to meet a fellow Northerner on my university course!” Jessica laughs. “We dated for 11 years before getting married, so we have lots of fabulous memories of our time together.”
The proposal
Andy took Jessica’s breath away with his romantic proposal. “He proposed to me at home, in our back garden,” she remembers. “We’d just got back from Paris the day before, and I came home from work to discover that he’d written ‘Will you marry me?’ in rose petals on the lawn. I was so surprised – I had no idea he was about to propose – and he confessed that neither had he, until that morning!”
The bride’s outfit
Jessica wowed in an elegant 1950s-style tea-length dress from Ian Stuart in ivory shot silk. “I only went to one boutique – Ava Rose Hamilton in Silsden – and tried on just three dresses. We were done and dusted in 40 minutes!” Jessica laughs. “It made me feel comfortable, rather than terrified.”
Jessica opted not to wear any jewellery, letting her dress with its beautiful waist corsage do the talking. “I also chose the most fabulous Nine West shoes to go with my outfit, which stole the show.”
The groom’s outfit
Andy chose an on-trend suit from Reiss in a vibrant blue, teamed with a white shirt and a pink silk tie and handkerchief.
The bridesmaids
Jessica’s sister and best friend were the bridesmaids, with her two nieces as flowergirls. The adult bridesmaids wore dusky pink dresses from Dessy at Emma Hartley with an ivory shawl, while the flowergirls looked adorable in their ivory dresses, also from Dessy, and pink Converse.
The ceremony
Jessica and Andy opted for a religious ceremony at the beautiful St John’s Church in Baildon. “I thought I would be nervous, but standing outside,
I realised I was actually fine. I felt an overwhelming sense of calm,” remembers Jessica. Instead of readings, the couple chose three hymns, including Jessica’s favourite, Jerusalem.
The flowers
Florist Emma’s in Baildon – a close friend of Jessica – put together the beautiful wedding flowers. The handtied bouquets featured peonies and four varieties of pink rose, and the bridal party all wore rose buttonholes – white roses for Andy’s Yorkshire family, and red roses for Jessica’s relatives from Lancashire. “We had jam jars filled with vintage style flowers on every table, and a large Martini glass arrangement on our centre table,” says Jessica. “Emma did an incredible job in bringing the whole concept together.”
The reception
The reception took place at the Winter Gardens in picturesque Ilkley, where the 100 guests dined on a roasted vegetable and mozzarella stack, feathered blade of boeuf bourguignon and cheese and biscuits. “We didn’t want a particular theme, we just wanted it to be chilled and fun, with a little bit of style thrown in,” says Jessica. “We even hired sofas so our guests could feel relaxed.”
The details
Jessica went to great lengths to make the wedding personal not just to herself and Andy. “We made photo bunting including pictures of every single wedding guest, which was a great talking point,” she says. “We also had movie posters made with our faces on, and had a quiz about Andy and I, with a bottle of Champagne for the winner.”
The cake
Close friend Lynn from The Wee Bakery put together the lavish wedding cake, with its four tiers of fruit, lemon, vanilla and chocolate. “She knew just what sort of style we were after, and every single layer was delicious,” says Jessica.
The favours
“One of our ushers is a pastry chef at a Michelin-starred restaurant, and he made macaroons for all the guests, which doubled as place names and favours,” says Jessica.
The honeymoon
The couple plan to take a newlywed break to India soon.
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