Sophie & Alex

Sophie & Alex came over from Dubai for their big day, Sophie originally from Cumbria, and Alex from Windsor chose Matfen Hall in Northumberland for their wedding in December last year. Matfen Hall is a dream for a wedding photographer! a beautiful historic house which dates back to the 17^th century sitting in some rather stunning countryside. It has the most spectacular grand hall for the wedding ceremony, elegant rooms for the reception and preparations and even a cosy cellar for the after party.

Wedding photographer Matfen Hall

I have photographed hundreds of wedding venues and there aren’t many which work equally well in both summer and winter, rain and shine but this venue does. Matfen Hall is less than an hours drive from the Lake District so a great option for my Cumbrian based clients.

Sophie’s words;

The Beginning

We were introduced through AJ’s sister who I used to live with at University. About three years later, I was living in Dubai and AJ ended up coming out to visit me on a very sporadic trip over New Year…one thing led to another and a few visits later AJ ended up moving out to Dubai after nine months, where we moved in together. We then got engaged in Zanzibar four years later, on Christmas Eve.

Preparing for the big day

Because we live in such a sunny environment all year around, we really loved the idea of a Christmas wedding, focusing on the little details such as the Christmas fairy lighting and the magical atmosphere. Matfen Hall was a perfect venue for this, as we arranged the big log fire to take place and the candles down the aisle. The flowers and lighting hanging from the ceiling was also so picturesque. The venue was only 15 minutes away from the airport which was perfect, as around 95% of our guests were flying in from down south and close for friends and family coming over from the Lake District.

“There not enough superlatives to describe how fantastic Helen was both before and after our big day, the photos we have are absolutely incredible and beautifully tell the story of our wedding, she is ultra talented and a joy to be around, thank you Helen”

Suppliers

My dress was Jesus Piero – I tried on so many dresses and loved them all, but this dress was classic and quite traditional which also correlated with the theme of the wedding. The dress was also satin which related to the lapels on the men’s tux. Both mums were there to help me find the right dress and it was purchased in Fellside Bridal, based in Kendal in the Lake District. https://www.fellsidebrides.co.uk/

My shoes were Armani and allowed me to have some element of the black tie theme that ran throughout the wedding. I purchased the bridesmaids dresses from Ghost and had them dyed to the Charcoal colour way. These were also in satin to correlate with the rest of the bridal party.

Our cake

We managed to get our cake designed by Mama cakes based in Cumbria who we absolutely loved. We were blown away by the moment we went into her showroom for our first consultation. The wedding was black tie theme and so the cake also tied in with this. The second layer of the cake was also embossed to match our quilted wedding invitations, alongside our initials. I always wanted a special wedding cake since I was younger, so the fact that this was tailored to our specific wedding felt really special. https://mamacakes.co.uk/

Flowers

Floral Quarter based in Newcastle supplied our wedding flowers. From our initial consultation to our actual wedding day, we made a lot of changes and Vicky was really patient and accommodating. We were advised throughout this period using mood boards to explain the different designs and different types of flowers that we would be incorporating. She designed for me a floral crown for the evening, which I absolutely loved and the table centrepieces had that extra wow factor that we were looking for. https://www.floralquarterweddings.co.uk/

Band

We hired the band ‘The Jive Doctors’ who were great fun! They had so much energy and had the crowd completely engaged throughout the whole evening, whilst they used different instruments and dance moves. https://www.facebook.com/thejivedoctors.co.uk/