Kate + James by Opperhill Photography - Together Journal

I like to think that everything we went for was timeless and elegant.

Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…

We live in Liverpool in the lovely house that we bought a couple of years ago. I’m an artist and James is a musician, so our house is full to the brim of creativity—both being creatives is what makes us complement each other so well. We are both dreamers, always aiming high and looking forward to the amazing things our future has to hold. Our favourite things to do are go for big walks with our dog, Pancakes (who we are madly in love with), and chill and watch movies. We are both family people and are at our happiest when surrounded by our families. We can’t wait to start one of our own one day (soon!).

How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?

We met in Uni in Leeds. I had only been there a few weeks while he was just starting his second year. He was at my friend’s flat (visiting his friend) one night, and he was playing guitar (send me on my way by Rusted Root). ‘He’s cute’, I thought. I’m a sucker for musicians, so we got talking right away, and the rest is history. From then on, that song he was playing on the guitar has always been ‘our song’. We listen to it all the time, especially while making pancakes on a Saturday morning. Then, when it came to getting our gorgeous dog – we called him Pancakes. And when he was our ring bearer, Send Me On My Way played as he ran down the aisle.

When did you first realise that this was someone you’d like to spend the rest of your life with?

As we celebrated our 6 month anniversary, I told James that he was ‘the love of my life’, and he said it back. And that’s when I knew.

Tell us about the vision you had for the mood and style of your wedding. (theme, key styling elements, florals, colour palettes etc.).

I used Pinterest a lot to gather ideas for the wedding. But I always knew that I would be sticking to a neutral theme, my love for neutrals spans across my home décor, the clothes I wear, and the products I make for my business, so it was always going to be that way. I knew that I wanted a timeless look for the wedding, something I’d look back on in years to come and not regret any of the decisions I’d made! I like to think that everything we went for was timeless and elegant.

What styling and visual elements worked best for you? (could be things, the florals, particular hire products or your marquee etc., something the stylist created or simply just the scenic beauty of your location or the existing design of your venue).

Everything tied together so beautifully, the table set up looked beautiful with the neutral cloth napkins and cheesecloth table runners, and the neutral menus, place cards & table name cards. The simple signage against the elegant backdrop of OH ME OH MY, especially with their beautiful fairy light canopy. With the ceremony, we didn’t do any dressing of the church whatsoever. Everyone lines the aisle with florals/foliage or has something at the altar. But I believe the beauty of Ullet Road Church didn’t need any of that, it spoke for itself.

What did you enjoy most about the planning process and do you have any tips for couples starting their wedding planning journey?

My favourite thing about our planning process is that because we are both creatives, and with me being in the wedding industry and James in the music industry, we were able to use suppliers that we already knew and loved. We did not have to do any research into any of our suppliers, including our photographer and my wedding dress supplier, who I had already befriended at wedding fairs I’d been a part of in the past. All the musicians were friends of James – apart from String Infusion, who we had seen playing at the grand opening of Sostrene Grene in Liverpool and fell in love with. James’s sister did our flowers. And I did the stationery and signage. Oh Me Oh My was always going to be our venue, I have hosted calligraphy workshops there in the past and had decided then that it would be where I had my wedding!

Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, is there a story?

My dress was nothing like what I had in mind for myself. I always pictured myself in something flowy, maybe satin and super simple yet elegant. My first wedding dress shopping experience was with Sophie at 130 Atelier (I was nervous to try dresses on, but as I already knew her I knew she would make me feel at ease). I told her what I had in mind and she picked out some styles for me to try on. After trying them all on I was feeling deflated as none of them felt right on me despite being what I thought I wanted, and I wasn’t getting the WOW reaction from my family either! Stood in the last dress, I spotted something on the sale rack and said ‘what’s that?’ Sophie said, ‘That’s Orianna… it’s got everything you said you didn’t want in a dress…’ (lace, high neck, backless, figure-hugging fit. She brought it down for me to try on, and as soon as it was on me, before even looking at myself in the mirror, I loved it. I walked out to my family and finally got that WOW reaction. It was nothing like what I imagined myself in, but I thought – this is the one. And looking back at the photos, it was 100% the perfect dress for me. And my seamstress Jennifer Tallon made it a little bit less backless!!

What was one, or two elements that were most important to you both that you were happy to spend a little more on? (food, photography, florals, the venue, your outfits?).

Videography and Photography. We went with high-end suppliers for this and will always be so happy that we did. You really get what you pay for and so much more with Tasha and Josh. Tasha captured so many precious moments so beautifully, yet it felt like she wasn’t even there on the day. Her skill is second to none. And Josh was exactly the same with our film, which we watch on a regular basis, it is like a movie and we cannot believe it is us!

Also, the music. Music is a huge part of our lives, so we wanted it to be a huge element of our wedding day. We spent extra on having a string quartet and live musicians at our reception and it really added to our day in such a special way. It is also worth mentioning that I walked down the aisle to James’s composition that he wrote for me in 2015, and then rearranged for the string quartet, it’s called Katie’s Lullaby.

Did anything happen on your wedding day that you laugh about in hindsight (even if it was stressful at the time)?

With our dog Pancakes as our ring bearer, it was the biggest risk factor. He was let loose at the bottom of the aisle to run down the aisle with the rings in a pouch on his collar and bring them to use at the alter. We did a few practice runs at the church, but we could never be fully sure that everything would go smoothly on the day. To our delight, everything went perfectly on the day, or so we thought! He did his job beautifully in the church, HOWEVER, little did we know, it could have been an absolute disaster. Right before I was about to walk down the aisle (nervous as heck), Reverend Phil (@merseysideunitarian) decided to pop outside and check everything was okay with Pancakes and his dog handler, who were waiting outside before he was to perform his duty. “Things weren’t okay”, he says. He came out to find Pancakes had gotten too excited and escaped his collar. And the handler was running around trying to catch him. Anyone with a golden retriever will know how hard it is to catch them once they think it’s a game!! At this point, Pancakes had the rings on him, and even worse, he could have run onto the road. Luckily, Phil managed to literally tackle Pancakes to the ground! And everything was okay. Thank God he had an instinct to check on them. I don’t even want to think about what could have happened if he hadn’t! After the chaos, Phil returned inside to us girls about to walk down the aisle, he decides – best not to say anything, and very calmly says ‘right, are we ready?’. He called me a few days later and told me the whole story, and said it was caught on CCTV. You can see the video of him walking down the aisle (and the CCTV footage) on his Instagram: @goodboypancakes – he actually ended up going viral.