Fun & Relaxed Industrial Vibe City Wedding

There is nothing I love more than firstly featuring readers’ weddings but also those which feature our brilliant wedding suppliers. Today we get to share both and it’s certainly an inspiring wedding story to say the least.

Let me introduce you to WWW readers Jen and Lee who were married on the 11th August 2018 at The Old Parsonage Didsbury followed by a big party at Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester. I really love the contrast between the venues, with the ceremony location featuring pretty gardens, before guests travelled by vintage bus to the industrial feel old mill. The outdoor space here too was really cool and I love the sheltered spot, which was perfect for their street food trucks to set up come evening. To ensure the party atmosphere their priorities were good food, good beer and good music, the latter being provided in the evening by WWW Supplier Love members Deckheds.

There was also some super stylish attire; with Jen choosing a beautiful lace Rolling In Roses gown and Lee donning a very dapper check suit and bow tie combo. These two look just beautiful and their day was captured oh so perfectly by WWW fave, the amazing Lee Garland Photography. Simply superb images, which we are so thankful to be sharing with you.

The Proposal

Lee proposed on holiday in the Italian lakes to celebrate my 30th birthday, he proposed on the morning of my birthday while having breakfast in a gorgeous old monastery that had been converted into a boutique hotel.

The Vision

We wanted the day to feel like a party and to feel informal and relaxed more like a celebration than a traditional wedding. We wanted it to be a day that we would enjoy and remember forever based around good food, good beer and good music!

The Planning Process

Planning was the most stressful part of the wedding, we put too much pressure on ourselves to make everything perfect and I had to stop myself going over the top. I think you need to draw the line somewhere or you can just keep spending money! We had 2 years to plan and once we found the venue things started to slot into place we went to the Indie Wedding Fair for a few ideas and luckily our best friends were also planning their wedding so we had some moral support along the way. Pinterest was also really helpful for the smaller details.

Budget

We had a budget of 15k but I think we spent closer to 19k in the end.

The Venue

We got married at the Old Parsonage in Didsbury we live down the road in Chorlton so wanted to keep it local, we stayed at 11 Didsbury Park Hotel the night before the wedding which was beautiful!

The party was at Hope Mill Theatre in Ancoats which is an incredible old Mill now used as an independent theatre space it has a really cool industrial vibe and offered a nice contrast against the Old Parsonage.

The Readings & Music

I walked down the aisle to ‘One day like This’ by Elbow.
We walked out of the ceremony to ‘You’re in love with a Psycho’ by Kasabian.
We signed the Register to ‘VCR’ by the XX and ‘Sally Cinnamon’ by the Stone Roses.
We walked into the reception venue to ‘You make my dreams’ by Hall and Oates.
Our first Dance was ‘There is a light and it never goes out’ The Smiths.
Our Last Dance song ‘Champagne Supernova’ Oasis.

Music is a big part of our lives and we wanted the music to reflect us and get people dancing, and the dancefloor was full all night so mission completed!

Lee did a playlist for daytime and we had Deckheds DJ in the evening who we cant recommend enough they are amazing if you love Indie music!

Your Outfits & Accessories

My dress was from Glory Days Bridal in York and was a mix of 2 dresses from their own range (Rolling in Roses) I loved the fit of one dress but the lace of another so they made it for me and I couldn’t of loved it more! They also made my veil which I wanted to keep simple so it didn’t compete with the lace of my dress. My shoes were from & Other Stories.

Lee’s suit was from Next – he’s tall so they do a great range of sizes and we managed to find a suit that he loved and made him feel special on the day. His shoes were from Loake.

Beauty

Although I loved my hair and make up on the day, the make up and hair team didn’t leave enough time to do my bridesmaids and as a result 2 of my bridesmaids missed half the wedding ceremony. Not everything can go right on the day!

The Flowers

We used Frog Flowers based in the Northern Quarter, the flowers were absolutely beautiful we wanted a wild flower vibe nothing too structured just bright wild flowers they did my flower crown too which I loved.

Groomsmen

Lee had 2 best men Tom his neighbour from when they where kids and Rob my friend from high school.

The suits were from Next and Lee wore the same waistcoat so they matched a little.

Bridesmaids

I had 4 bridesmaids, Becky, Emma, Abi and Lucy.

The dresses were really hard to find as all my bridesmaids had completely different tastes so finding something everyone liked was a hard task! I loved the soft grey of the dresses and I didn’t want them to look too traditional.

The dresses were brand Lace and Beads from House of Fraser.

The Cake

We are obsessed with cheese so we went for a cheese cake from The Cheese Hamlet in Didsbury. Our guests demolished it!

The Details & Décor

We had the flowers in old Kilner Jars on top of old books, we also had confetti balloons and numbered balloons to show the table numbers – I loved the decoration of the room which was organised by Stef @ Alternative Weddings – she was a life saver we dropped everything off a few days before and she decorated the room as we requested.

The balloons were by Balloonsmith which I found at the Indie Wedding Fair we had them at the ceremony as well as at Hope Mill.

Our best friends are both designers so they did all the stationery which we loved including the drinks tokens we gave guests as favours.

To transport guests we had a double decker bus which was really fun from Wedding Buses.

We bought our own drinks for the ceremony and the bus and asked Hope Mill to get some of our favourite beers for the party! The food was from Pie Eyed who brought their awesome horsebox trailer – the pies went down so well lots of our guests went back for seconds. For dessert we had Gingers Comfort Emporium Ice Cream who brought their ice cream van they also made a bespoke flavour for the wedding.

For the evening food we had Mexican food from Sabroso Street we had met them a few times at food festivals and our guests still talk about how good the Tacos were!

Your Photographer

We used the incredible Lee Garland, I love how natural his work is and we wanted the photos to reflect the day and not be forced or cheesy – I love the photos so much and Lee was amazing at putting us at ease as we are both normally uncomfortable getting our photos taken. He also did our pre wedding shoot in the Peak District and got some great photos of our dog Colin.

The Honeymoon

We went to Panama and Belize. We both love travel and wanted to do something different so we visited Panama City, went diving in Belize and stayed in the Jungle visiting Mayan ruins it was amazing!

Memorable Moments

My bridesmaids missing the ceremony because the hair and make up was so behind was an interesting moment! It was stressful on the day but it makes for a funny story now!

The best man speech also went on a little too long and my Nan had to use the bathroom half way through which was funny and now a running joke with the best man!

Advice For Other Couples

I know everyone says this but remember its your day, invite who you want, eat what you want and just enjoy the day regardless of the mishaps it will be the best day of your life!

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Oh wow! What a really fantastic celebration.

Jen and Lee, thank you both so very much for sharing your wedding story with us. You can see even more industrial weddings on our blog too if you fancy a peek xo Lou