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We are so excited to share with you the real wedding of Becky and Chris Allen from Sowerby, Thirsk. The music loving couple opted for a 1950s rock n roll day when they tied the knot on Saturday 24th May 2014 at Burn Hall, Huby. We love this theme!
Becky: Bizarrely, Chris’ best friend Tim (who was best man at our wedding) is my step-brother, but our paths had never crossed – despite living in such a small town and also sharing some of the same friends it took until August 2010 for us to ‘bump’ into each other on a night out! The rest is history – I know it’s a cliché but I really did meet my best friend and soul mate that night.
Chris proposed at Lake Como whilst we were in Italy for my sister’s wedding. We decided to keep it a secret until we got home which was nearly impossible but we managed! I was 6 months pregnant at the time with our daughter Rosie, who is now 2.
Chris: I met Becky in my local pub where I was having a drink with my friend. As soon as I saw her I was very attracted to her. It ended up being one of the most important and best nights of my life. I knew that I wanted to ask Becky to marry me and that it had to be in a beautiful place, it had to be perfect. We were going to Italy for Becky’s sister’s wedding and I decided to take the ring with me. I had planned a day out for just the two of us. I was really nervous even though I knew she’d say yes!
We wanted our wedding to reflect our personalities and who we are as a couple without being overly ‘themed’ or tacky. We both love all that is weird, quirky and rock ‘n’ roll – Chris is massively into his music and I am obsessed with the 50’s. So the theme we went with was 1950’s/pin-up/rockabilly.
Becky: I can remember waking up at home and thinking ‘It’s finally here!’ I was so excited, I spent the morning at home getting my hair and make-up done (and drinking Prosecco!) – I felt like a film star. I then went to Burn Hall with my mum and bridesmaids to finish getting ready. It was all very calm and having my mum and bridesmaids with me kept everything light and relaxed.
Chris: I spent the morning with my best man and some of my groomsmen. We went to our local pub for a pint before getting on the double decker bus to go to Burn Hall. I kept going over my speech, I was really nervous but couldn’t wait to see Becky and get married!
In the beginning I found writing my speech a nightmare. The best advice I had was to write it from my heart – I sat and wrote the whole thing two nights before the wedding. I must have nailed it though ‘cos on the day there wasn’t a dry eye in the place!
We are very lucky to have such amazing and talented friends and family who helped us pull everything together. Our friend, Mike Dickinson, created our invitations which were absolutely awesome! He also designed our pin-up girl table plan, table names, and the sign for our favours – they were perfectly unique and exactly what we wanted. My mum spent hours on her sewing machine making bunting and table runners for us – I picked up the material I wanted from the market, it saved us a fortune and it meant we could have the exact colour scheme that we wanted – turquoise and red and white polka dots.
One of our best buys was 100 old records off eBay for £20. We used these as table mats and Chris’ brother made labels for us which had everybody’s names individually printed on them. My brother and sister-in-law (who are like the hippy couple off ‘The Good Life’) cooked up some delicious homemade jam which we put into Rosie’s old baby jars for our favours. We put some material over the lids and tied round some ribbon and put them all in an old picnic basket – they looked fab and everyone said the jam was delicious! I am very lucky to have two sets of parents (the bonus of your parents divorcing and remarrying!) and my gorgeous step-mum made our wedding cake, it was out of this world.
I have a 15-year-old son, Josh, from a previous relationship and I knew from the offset that I wanted him to give me away; he is ultimately the number one man in my life. I still wanted my dad to have an important part in the day and so I asked him to sing as I walked down the aisle, we chose an emotional version of Johnny Cash’s ‘Walk the Line’, which our friend, Rob, accompanied with acoustic guitar.
Because we are so in love with music, our choice of band for the evening reception was really important to us – it had to be right! We chose ‘The Jet Setters’ who mostly play 1950’s rock ‘n’ roll covers. We hired them through http://www.warble-entertainment.com/. They were so, so good and had everyone up dancing which was exactly what we wanted.
They even played out first dance for us, Chuck Berry’s, ‘Never Can Tell’ – and yes, we did the Pulp Fiction dance, it was very tongue-in-cheek but we loved every second of it and it was so much fun. We never wanted to do a slow, smoochy kind of dance and don’t really have ‘a song’ as such, so one night after a few drinks in our kitchen, the table got pushed back and our first dance was born!
I saw a picture of my dress on my Facebook feed and fell in love with it immediately. It was a Kenneth Winston, 1950’s style tea-length dress. It was way out of budget but after I had tried it on (fatal mistake!) I knew that nothing else would even come close. Kelly and Sandra at Brides and Belles, Northallerton, are some of the nicest people I know and all my Christmas’ came at once when they offered me a very generous discount so I could afford my dream wedding dress.
We got our grooms outfits from Brides and Belles too. Chris wanted to be a bit different and so he had a black shirt and a red tie. He wore red braces too which looked very funky! The adult bridesmaid’s dresses were the ‘Audrey’ Hepburn style rockabilly dress in turquoise from LindyBop – my girls looked beautiful! The little bridesmaid’s dresses were from http://www.pinkgirldresses.co.uk/ – I knew exactly what I wanted but I really had to hunt these down, when they arrived and they were what I’d hoped for I was so pleased.
Becky: I wasn’t keen on going away and leaving my kids (sad I know!) so we decided to mini-moon instead. We had a night at the Crab & Lobster in Asenby, near Thirsk, which was such a treat! We had the most delicious meal and stayed over in the Villa Serbelloni, Lake Como Room – very apt! We had our own private hot tub and drank far too much champagne – it was perfect.
It was really important to us that we trusted our suppliers and felt comfortable with them so we chose very carefully. Jane Steel, at Wedding and Events Floral Design did our flowers – this woman is not only lovely but she is super talented as well, she even put cute little personalised badges on mine and Chris’ flowers which was such a special touch! Sarah MacVean, at MacVean Videography did our photos and wedding DVD, she is a long-term friend of ours but even if she wasn’t, we’d have chosen her anyway, her work is spectacular! My hair was by Amy Taylor Bell at Be Inspired, Thirsk, and my make-up was by Claire Hartley at Claire Hartley Make Up, Northallerton. I would recommend all of these ladies and their companies- they were amazing.
Describe your day in three words
Becky: Love-filled perfectness!
Chris: BEST DAY EVER.
Credits –
Venue – Burn Hall, www.burn-hall.co.uk
The Jet Setters – www.warble-entertainment.com
Bride’s dress and grooms – www.bridesandbellesbridal.co.uk
Bridesmaids – www.lindybop.co.uk and www.pinkgirldresses.co.uk
Flowers – weddingandevents.co.uk
Photographer – www.macveanvideography.com
Hair – www.facebook.com/B-Inspired-Hairdressing
Makeup – www.clairehartleymakeup.co.uk/