Christopher and Alysha’s historic wedding day

So how did it happen? Tell us your engagement story
We got tickets to see Phantom of the opera in the theatre in London on the day of our fifth anniversary (we got together during rehearsals for a school musical). Throughout the day I gave Alysha different gifts accompanied by a small poem related to each year we had been together. After the theatre, the final gift was the ring!

Why did you choose the Hospitium for your special day?
We both grew up in York and most of our family lives in the area. We both love the museum gardens and had seen weddings taking place at the Hospitium before. As a History teacher the venue always stood out to me as somewhere I would like to get married and after visiting for a wedding fair we both fell in love with it. The gardens also provided an incredible backdrop for the day and some amazing photo opportunities.
Did you pick a theme or have a vision for your day?
We wanted our wedding to have quite a rustic, simple theme to it. The Hospitium is such a beautiful venue and we didn’t want to take away from that with too many decorations. We included lots of wood and fresh flowers to get this theme.

Onto the flowers! Who did your flowers and what style did you go for?
Our flowers were done by Amanda at Just To Say florist in York. Alysha had been before to get a corsage for her school prom. Amanda was absolutely amazing the whole time. We chose flowers to go with our rustic theme, using dusty pinks to match the chair decorations.

Tell us about the dress!
Alysha wore a dress made by Essence of Australia which is fitting because her mum currently lives over there. She got the dress from the lovely Zoe at Treasured Brides along with her veil and accessories. The dress was a simple but elegant A-line gown with (a very heavy!) train. She looked stunning!
What did the groomsmen wear?
The Groom and Groomsmen all wore suits from Young’s suit hire. The suits were light grey tailcoats with silver waistcoats and navy blue kravats to match the bridesmaids dresses.

What did the bridesmaids wear?
The Brisdesmaids wore navy blue, backless, halter-heck dresses from little mistress on Asos.

What were your wedding rings like?
Alysha had a white gold and diamond wedding ring shaped to match her engagement ring  and I had a rose gold and platinum ring.

Did you have any special jewellery or accessories on the day?
Alysha’s mum gave her some silver drop down earrings which really complemented the neckline of her dress. Alysha’s auntie, Marie, sadly passed away five years ago and so she would still be a part of the day, Alysha had a small photo frame attached to her bouquet with a photograph of her in. She gave the frame to her nana, Marie’s mother, after the ceremony. I wore cufflinks with the Ross Clan crest marked on them which Alysha bought me as a wedding gift.

Who did your hair and makeup?
Alysha’s hair and makeup was done by Kym Hurst. She went for a natural look and had her hair up in a curly bun with a headpiece from Zoe at Treasured Brides. Kim also did hair and makeup for the Bridesmaids and Alysha’s mum and nana.

Did you have favours on the day? If so, what did you go for?
We decided to make our own favours to give out at the wedding. We made our own flavoured vodka using raspberries and pears and poured them into small jam jars with personalised stickers on the lids. Alysha wrote onto the jars with chalk pen.

Who was your photographer and why did you choose them?
Our photographer was Scott Carney. We found Scott whilst looking online and really like the style of photography he had used with other weddings. We met with Scott before booking him and knew almost straight away we wanted him as our photographer. He was incredibly friendly and accommodating and the photo albums he brought with him included some brilliant photos. Scott had also photographed weddings at the venue before so we knew he would have some great ideas for photos. He was assisted as n the day by Emil.

How was the run-up to the big day? Any nerves?
The run up to the big day went really well. Everything seemed to fall into place and we didn’t have too much work to do in the days before the wedding. We spent a lot of the time with family and friends. The nerves didn’t really kick in until I got to the venue and we were just waiting for Alysha to arrive.

Tell us about the ceremony and reception décor…
We wanted to keep the decorations for the ceremony quite simple to compliment the venue. Tracy Williamson did a fantastic job of making our vision of the venue come true. We went with simple foliage and LED candles on the ledges around the ceremony room and a band of flowers and foliage around the centre of each column. The flowers on the columns were light pink to go with the wonderful chair covers and sashes provided by Jemma at Yorkshire Chair Hire. Tracy also provided a beautiful floral, moongate arch to go at the end of the aisle which we had our ceremony under.

What about the music?
The music throughout the day was absolutely incredible. For the ceremony and drinks reception we hired The Mellow Cello. We first met Paul at a wedding fair at the Racecourse and fell in love with his music. We hadn’t even considered live music for the ceremony but we were so glad that we did. So many guests complimented how good he was. The great music continued when the Matt Stratford Band took over in the evening. Alysha saw them play at a charity event the previous year and came home singing their praises. They definitely did not disappoint. They kept the dance floor filled all night with a huge range of music from all ages. We just need another big event to hire them again!

Who can forget the food, tell us what you went for?
The catering for the whole wedding was done by the fantastic team at Bradshaw. They were incredibly helpful in the run up to the wedding with organising an order of the day and key timings. They were really accommodating of our ideas and were able to offer invaluable advice. They also put on a brilliant taster evening to help us choose our menu. Me, Alysha and her dad all had a great evening and all the food was incredible! We struggled to narrow it down but eventually went with chicken brioche rarebit for starter; pork loin and roast potatoes for main and sticky toffee pudding for dessert. The team were also so helpful with vegetarian and vegan options for our guests. Everything was absolutely delicious!

Did you have a standout moment?
One of the stand out moments was the cake cutting. We very nearly pushed the top two tiers of cake off the table when trying to cut it! Thankfully we managed to rescue it before it toppled off. The main standout point (other than finally seeing Alysha in her dress) would have to be the speeches. All the speeches were brilliant and it was great to be taken down memory lane by Alysha’s dad Ricky and the best man Ben.