Industrial & Modern Burgundy City Wedding

Newcastle Wedding

A fabulous day of fun, love and dancing surrounded by family and friends.

James and Ellie

All the modern meets industrial vibes today with James and Ellie’s Newcastle wedding held on the 15th August 2019 at Wylam Brewery. Hooray! James and Ellie planned their day from Australia and kept things simple and relaxed. They were married in a church ceremony and chose a cool brewery venue for their reception. When it came to décor they kept things paired back and beautiful, with a focus on lush burgundy florals and a fun beer mat table plan and table names. I really love their buttercream cake with wire bicycle topper and the bicycle complete with basket filled with blooms, oh so pretty.

I have to say that James and Ellie looked super stylish. Ellie’s fit and flare gown was sensational and James was suited and booted in a navy suit, contrasting waistcoat and burgundy tie. Wow.

Sally T Photography thank you ever so much for sharing these totally dreamy shots, what a treat!

The Proposal

James proposed while at the beginning of our holiday to New Zealand. We’d spent the day cycling around Waiheke Island (just off Auckland) and stopping at lots of wineries. We went back to our air bnb and had some wine in the hot tub then walked down to the beach for sunset with the premise of going to take photos of the beach and bay at sunset. James proposed on the empty beach. Apparently he had had the ring he proposed with in his pocket all day, not sure when he was going to do it! He proposed with an antique opal ring he’d picked up in a second hand store for around 80 pounds as he just didn’t know what I’d want in a ring. It also meant we got to go ring shopping together and designed my ring together which was fun. Turns out that opal is he traditional stone for engagement rings in Australia which seemed kind of fitting.

Ended up having my engagement and wedding band made by a local designer in Melbourne using a parti sapphire mined in Queensland (Australia) – which was very special that we were supporting local business and ethically mined.

The Vision

Basically church wedding followed by a “piss up in a brewery”.

We had no fixed ideas about what we wanted other than to be married at the end of the day, good food, good beer and good music. It was important that we spent as much time with our friends and family as we could as living in Australia we don’t get to see them as much as we would like.

The Planning Process

It was all built around the reception venue. We were back (we live in Melbourne, Australia) for a couple of friends weddings the year before the actual day and spent a weekend looking at 9 venues in 3 days!! Once we found the venue that had an available date in August (we got married on a Thursday as there weren’t any other Fridays or weekends available by this stage). The venue arranged all the food and drink and had all the table settings etc so made it much easier planning from overseas.

We knew our mum’s wanted to be involved but didn’t want them to take over as they were in the UK, so we gave them specific jobs. They were both recently retired so thought they’d need something to keep them busy. James’s mum made the cake and my mum did the flowers (I bought her a flower making course).

We looked at a few photographers in the area but Sally fit perfectly and amazingly she was available – Thursday wedding working out again! We loved her work and had also met her as she’d done a few other friends weddings too and knew just how lovely she was and everyone had said how easy she was to work with.

The actual wedding was done by my childhood vicar Bob who is a good family friend, so he arranged all the details on that side for us.

For the band, I contacted our vicar Bob’s son (who I’ve known since he was a baby and I used to babysit for!!) who is at uni studying jazz trombone. I wasn’t sure if he played for weddings but he was happy to put a band together for us and he bought them and all their gear up from London to play for us. They were amazing.

The Venue

Wylam Brewery Palace of the Arts – reception venue.

Chosen due to location, cost and availability. They also had everything included like food and drink packages etc so made it much easier for arranging from Australia.

The Readings & Music

Organ Music at the church:

Bridal Procession – Arrival of the Queen of Sheba – GF Handel

Recessional – Toccata from the 5th Symphony – C M Widor

Readings:

Song of Solomon 2 1-17

Romans 12 9-16

Your Photographer

Sally T

Absolutely amazing, recommended by a couple of friends who had her as their wedding photographer. Beautiful photos, so easy to get on with both before the wedding and on the day. Just blended in as one of the guests and made sure the photos were taken but didn’t take over the day. Particularly at the church there are just beautiful photos and we had absolutely no idea she was even really there taking photos. And at the venue she found some amazing spots that made such stunning shots.

The Details & Décor

Very simple – the venue was great just as it was with some decorations in flowers done by my mum. The table plan was home made and the place mats were all beer mats collected from some of our favourite brewers.

The Flowers

Done by brides mum – course on wedding flowers from Rose Cottage Floristry.

The Cake

Done by grooms mum.

Your Outfits & Accessories

Dress was a Pronovias dress bought from Raffaele Cuica Bridal. No idea what sort of dress I wanted so went to loads of shops and tried on all sorts of styles until I found the one I loved. Veil was also from the same bridal shop. Shoes were Gabor shoes in the same burgundy colour – I love a pop of colour – and wanted comfortable and practical shoes for the whole day.

Suit was a Ted Baker suit hired from Moss Bros – picked the colour he wanted and made it easier to all match when groomsmen from UK and Australia.

Bridesmaids – gave them a colour and they picked their own. They got together and ended up all wearing the same dress as it suited them all.

Beauty

Make-up by Nikki at NK Beauty on recommendation from a friend who had used her for her own wedding. She was fantastic. Beautiful makeup and listened to what we wanted and the makeup lasted all day despite the sweaty dancing!

We all did our own hair.

The Honeymoon

6 weeks in a camper van travelling around Spain with our bikes – the 1st 3 weeks were following the Vuelta a Espana professional bike race. Mostly involved riding our bikes, eating and drinking around some amazing parts of Spain.

Memorable Moments

The whole day was just the best – it seemed to last forever.

Advice For Other Couples

Do things because that’s what you want for your day and not because it’s a wedding and that’s what should be done. Don’t stress too much and enjoy it, it’s not often you get to spend time with so many people who love you.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Oh so special! James and Ellie thank you so very much for sharing your super beautiful wedding story. I have to say your honeymoon sounded pretty epic too xo Lou