Tory & Simon

Simon proposed in Thailand after a beautiful meal on the beach. Sounds romantic but he had actually hidden the ring box in his pants all night as his jeans were too tight to put in his pocket!
I’ve always been a fan of the interior of places like As You Like It and Floritas so when I found out The Apartment Group had a new wedding venue I was up there in a flash to see it. It was still pretty much a building sight when I first saw it but I knew if it was going to be anything like all their other venues then it would be perfect and booked it there and then before it had even opened.

Hair was by Tori Haig from The Black Door in Sunderland and my friend Ayla Hartman did our make-up. I wanted to keep it all quite natural so I looked like me on the day… only a better version!
We had the best photographers ever - Gemma & Kat from GS Studios in Chester le Street. The brief was fun and natural and they captured the day perfectly. We didn’t want any of the usual stuffy, awkward bridal party shots and the group photos they ended up getting are some of my favourite from the whole day. Another nice touch was how they got a close up photo of most of guests during the speeches and these really capture the mood of the day. In the evening Kat also set up a ‘photo booth’ corner with a dress up box and props and I laughed for hours when the photos were sent through – my favourite was Simon’s nana with a Thor helmet & hammer and her walking stick! I honestly couldn’t recommend these guys enough – they were brilliant!!

Helen from Bels Flowers was amazing! I sent her a picture of a bouquet I liked and the most perfect flowers arrived on the morning of the wedding, I absolutely LOVED them! The colours were perfect with the dresses and groomsmen suits and the table arrangements looked fab

The theme was ‘Superheros’. Unconventional I know, but Simon is a complete superhero/comic geek and we thought having this as a ‘subtle’ theme would be fun. My brother designed the invites in the style of a comic box, the seating plan were superhero named tables and every guest had their head superimposed onto a superhero as their place name – the place erupted when everyone walked in and most guests still have these as their Facebook profile pictures today.
Charlotte from The Finishing Touches helped us pull together our ‘Superhero’ theme in a subtle but fun way. It’s not the most traditional theme so keeping it classy was very important to me. All the table arrangements incorporated the theme but didn’t take away from the beautiful flowers. Some tables had tall glass vases with superhero figurines in them and others had comic booked wrapped boxes with smaller arrangements – both looked so quirky and created a real talking point at the table. Everyone raved about the concept and said that it really set the tone for the day. wedding table cloth hire

Simon has a sweet tooth and I don’t, so we decided on two cakes. My mum made him a 3 tier chocolate cake and I had a cheese barrel wedding cake from the Northumberland Cheese Company. Both looked fantastic on the day but my favourite touch was the Batman & Cat Woman bride & groom – I even had a whip as I gentle reminder as to who is in charge in this relationship ☺
Simon decided that his toast would be a Jaeger Bomb – watching his nana attempt it was hilarious! We had an ice cream during the canapés, alcoholic slush puppies and a sweetie table during the after party (mind you, I didn’t actually get any of these but they went down with the guests) We had a caricaturist during the reception and I have the funniest picture of Simon and me – I look great... can’t quite say the same for my new husband! Favourite part of the evening reception was the photo booth corner and superhero dress up box – I have never laughed so much when the photos came through!
If you can afford it get a videographer! We weren’t bothered about getting one but at the last minute I asked a mate to record the service and speeches on her phone and I’m soooooo glad I did. I don’t know if it was adrenaline, nerves or too much champagne but walking down the aisle, the service & speeches were all a complete blur and watching them back with my husband and family the next day was amazing. We all cried again and just so glad I’ve got these treasured memories recorded forever… might even show the grandkids one day!