Inside: A Wow Factor Wedding In Yorkshire

The Story

In a time well before Tinder, we met the only way we knew how, on a sticky dance floor at 3am at a nightclub in Huddersfield. We’ve been inseparable ever since that fateful night, spending the last 15 years together. Doing everything from attending Art Foundation college, to moving to University in London and sharing plenty of trips to amazing places across the world. In Jan 2022, Liam finally popped the question on a mountain in Lanzarote. Disguised as a photo opportunity, Sadie was told to look out to sea, only to turn around and find Liam down on one knee. He was holding a custom made, Art Deco style emerald cut blue topaz ring, with two rows of diamonds set into white gold at each side. For a girl who loves everything pink, it was bold call, but she absolutely loves it. Before they knew it, they were feet-first into the planning of their very own wow factor wedding in Yorkshire.

Venue

As a couple, you could say we’re a bit over the top. So, we knew we wanted a venue which would provide an incredible backdrop for our special day, deliver a wow factor for our guests and of course make the photos look incredible. When we were at art school in Batley together, we would often drive over to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and spend afternoons admiring the art in the grounds. It became a special place to us, as well as being somewhere Liam’s family have been involved with for over 35 years. Making it not only beautiful, but emotionally poignant. Once we had been taken around the grounds and showed the area we could be married outside, we knew it was the perfect place for us.

We chose this venue with the hope of getting married outside in the formal gardens but, we always knew it was weather permitting. So we had been praying for a whole year that out special day would be sunny! Waking up and looking outside on the morning of the wedding, shock horror, it was grey, rainy and miserable. Cut to 2pm and in true Yorkshire style the weather had completely turned on its head. By some miracle the sun was shining as guests arrived before our ceremony and we were good to go. The aisle sculptures designed by Liam’s Mum, sculptor Joanna Mowbray and constructed by his father John Campbell were installed, the benches and the flowers were in position, and the white aisle runner was rolled out ready for my grandad to walk me down the aisle.

Fashion

Sadie

I knew I wanted something unique and like I’d never seen before but also there was nothing that I had seen that I liked, despite trawling the internet for months on end, so I decided to design my own. There were a couple of key features I knew I wanted, for example I wanted it backless, with a collar, fitted but sculptural, finishing with volume at the skirt. Aswell as being an artist and a TV personality, I’m also a BA Fashion course director at a university, so one of my pattern cutting tutors kindly said she would make it for me. I was over the moon!

I knew I needed two wedding dresses, so dress number two was from a brand based in London called Jivomir Domoustchiev. Luckily, one of my bridesmaids who is a creative director and stylist knew Jiv very well, so I was able to go to his studio and have a couple of fittings to select the perfect one, for me to party on down to. It had to be the complete opposite to my wedding dress that I had designed and I felt this totally fit that brief!

My veil, was the trickiest decision to make, as I knew I wanted one but not a traditional one, I had seen a few references but couldn’t find anyone to make exactly what I wanted. Then the same friend (bridesmaid stylist) who lives in Brighton, said she knew the perfect person. She wasn’t wrong. We gave Carley Hague the brief, style and colour palette and away she went creating the most beautiful veil I’d ever seen. It actually all happened over what’s app, picking the beads for the embellishment and the tulle for the base, I had one fitting with her to see how the tulle draped and the length I wanted it, then the next time I saw it, was the finished product and we all balled our eyes out and I took it home with me, ready for the big day!

My wedding shoes were made by my good friend Kat Maconie, who has stores globally and her flagship in Bermondsey. She used to provide the shoes for my catwalk shoes when I had a brand showing at fashion weeks, so creating a bespoke pair for my special day with her, was a dream come true.

My handbag was Cult Gaia, which I love and have adored their bags forever but they’re too pricey for me! So I found this one, brand new, in the box on Vinted!

My Granny had sewn blue bows on my garter that she had bought me and personalised, love her, she also let me borrow her stunning diamond and blue lolite ring, which I’d love to keep!

My wedding bouquet was my favourite flower (King Protea) embellished with little flowers inside. Yan Skates made all our flowers, we have worked together before, he’s an old friend and made our flower engagement boards in the shape of me and Liam! He’s super creative, more of a sculptor and his medium is flowers (he was on the Netflix show – Big Flower Fight) The flowers were pink of course, my favourite colour and to match the veil. I didn’t see any pictures, sneaky peaks of what he was creating the entire team, the first time I saw all my flowers was on the day. I was so happy!

Liam

I had been looking for a suit for a while, I knew I wanted something white it was just a case of finding the perfect one. One evening before the wedding our photographer Leo popped round for a brew and mentioned it might be worth trying Suit Supply. So I booked and appointment and headed to Liverpool Lime St where I had spotted a sear sucker suit. It was perfect, so with help from James my tailor I had it custom made, with my name embroidered inside and the date of the wedding embroidered under the collar of the jacket. I decided to have a high waisted trouser with button in braces and cinches at either side of the waist. When it came round to trying it on for the first time, honestly the suit fit like a glove.

I have a Scottish last name, Campbell, so I wanted to wear something that had a bit of that Scottish heritage, so I decided to choose Campbell of Louden tartan pocket squares for myself, my Dad and the groomsmen. To fit the style of the suit, I was desperate to find a wide tie, so after a bit of digging online I came across a vintage Gucci tie on eBay which fitted the blue from the Campbell tartan, it was a bit pricey but well worth it. When it came to the shoes, I’d had my trousers fitted to the perfect length for a tassel loafer which I managed to source from Berwick. The sunglasses were a stroke of luck, for once Instagram actually served me something I wanted so I pulled the trigger on those from Red Prestige. Then the final item to finish everything off was my Panama hat, which I found online from a store in Yorkshire called Joseph Turner. It was great quality for the price and fit perfectly. Overall, I managed to achieve the look I wanted without completely blowing the budget.

Jewellery

Liam bought me Missoma earrings ( white on one side and gold on the other) and Missoma ear cuff ( gold and diamantes) I usually wear an apple watch and had worn it for months in the sun so had a ridiculous strap mark but I managed to get rid of that on my hen do in Barcelona!

Bridal Party

Bride squad wore blue or green to match the Campbell tartan and the MOH wore blue and yellow to bring out the yellow in the Campbell tartan. All bridesmaids wore their own choice of outfit, we really don’t like it when bridesmaids are forced to wear the same dress, all women are unique, have their own personalities and bodies so we wanted to let them embrace that.

Groomsquad wore blue or green suit, Campbell tartan pocket squares and matching buttonhole to the groom.

The ring bearer was Sadie’s brother, Myles. He wore a pink tie and pocket square to match the pink in Sadie’s outfit and wore a green suit. Sadie’s Grandad (who gave her away) also wore a pink tie and pocket square, along with her Step dad.

Transportation

My step-dad drove me to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in his Audi A3, which he had kindly decorated with white ribbon and bows. I felt bad, as the rain had drenched his car in the morning, so he dried and polished it, then it rained again, so he dried and polished it again! When he pulled up at Oulton Hall to collect me you could still see droplets from the rain driving over! I still felt like a special bride, reclined in the leather seats with the air conditioning on as we approached the YSP, blue skies and no rain!

Tablescape

We went quite eclectic for the wedding tablescapes. Vintage brown bottles, vintage blue bottles, vintage brass candle holders, crystal candle holders, colourful candle holders, colourful & ivory candles, with lots of dried colourful flowers and bunny tails!

The table decorations are the first thing we bought months ago! We had to create the tables in our kitchen, take photos, print them out and package each table in their own box, so that the wedding co-ordinator at the YSP could recreate exactly what we envisioned.

When we walked into the room for the first time, to check it before the guests went in, I cried… it was perfect!

The ivory candles went in the crystals and brass candle holders, then the coloured candles went in everything else. We also had lavender stems placed on the rust-coloured cloth napkins and lots of dried colourful flowers in the vintage bottles. It sounds chaotic but it worked perfectly!

The wedding favours were gorgeous green suede bags with a gold printed illustration of Liam & I (which Liam has drawn for years) with the wedding date and ‘Sadie & Liam energy’ with a rose quartz & tigers eye inside, made by the best man’s girlfriend Florence (@ifuckinghatelondon)

All the name tags were hand illustrated by @beedaviesillustration.

The name tag holders were made by Liam’s father.

Food & Drink

Having a wedding in Yorkshire how could we not have a Yorkshire pudding with beef and gravy as a canope, along with prawn tempura, chickpea bahji and smoked salmon and asparagus with lemon zest.

At the wedding tasting we tried a whole host of different dishes but we decided to go with salmon and prawn timbale and bread to start, followed by Braised Lamb with crushed peas and lamb sauce, Seabass with Scallops a white wine sauce and buttered spinach for the pescatarians and dark chocolate tart with cherries and ice cream for dessert.

For drink we chose a both red and white wine from the wine list at the venue as well as a champagne for our speech toasts. Finally, the centre piece was our incredible 4-tiered fruit wedding cake made by Liam’s Mum, Joanna which was wrapped in a decorative edible spiral of rice paper.

Entertainment

First dance – Wizkid ‘ True Love’

First dance no.2 ( In Sadie’s second dress) All night long by Mary Jane Girls

The DJ played reggae, dancehall, 80’s soul jams, afrobeats, the last dance was Sexual Healing by Hot 8 Brass Band at the evening reception

Sadie walked down the aisle to Van Morrison ‘Moondance’

We walked back up the aisle to Frank Wilson ‘Do I love you’

There was a lot of deliberation when it came to music at the wedding but, we eventually decided to go with Van Morrison ‘Mood Dance’ for Sadie walking down the aisle and a Northern Soul classic ‘Frank Wilson – Do I love you’ after the ceremony.

I think the first dance took us the longest to decide on, we spent ages trying to find something that would be perfect but, in the end, Liam walked in from work one day and suggested a song we both love ‘True love’ by Wizkid. In true Sadie and Liam style, one dance is never enough so we ended up having another track later in the evening when Sadie changed into her second dress, this time choosing ‘All night long’ by Mary Jane Girls.

We hate ‘wedding music’ and we love Dancehall, Afro beats and 80’s soul jams so for the rest of the evening that’s what was keeping the dance floor going. Apart from when someone managed to get ‘Oops upside your head’ on. Which was actually a pretty good laugh with everyone joining in on a row on the floor. We also had the dancefloor filled with the infamous Cameo ‘Candy’ dance routine, that was amazing.

Beauty Regime & Wellness

I actually don’t know that much about make-up and only wear red lipstick and my 4 dots under my eyes that I make using a mascara wand. So when my MOH said I needed to think about my make up I kind of shuddered. Then remembered I had worked with Chess on a brand shoot and loved how she made me feel, so I’m so glad she said yes when I asked her if she would do my make up for the big day. We had a trial a couple of weeks before the wedding and I loved the gems idea, replicating my 4 dots, it felt like a more exaggerated version of me and I knew I wouldn’t have to worry about mascara running down my face all day! Paired with my staple MAC ‘Feel so grand’ lipstick I felt fresh and ready. I also had a couple of individual lashes on the edges of my top lids, loved those and would 100% wear them again but I’ve no idea how to put them on!

My hair was coloured by the amazing (very well known) hair stylist, Gareth Vance Vidal Sassoon ambassador, and Tracey Hayes hair colourist.

Favourite Wedding Gifts

We actually just asked for money towards our honeymoon as we’ve been together 15 years and had a mortgage for 5 years, so don’t need the traditional home goods. Having said that, the first thing we bought was a new hoover! The Dyson packed in, so now we’re loving this new Vax. Liam’s uncle got us a Ninja bullet which is next level amazing. We have been spoiled and received lots of money so we will be coming back from our honeymoons three stone heavier!

Honeymoon

We love travelling, our friends often laugh at us saying we’re never in the country! So picking where to go for our honeymoon was tough. We love travelling far but going far in UK’s summer means monsoon usually in other places, which is why we knew we had to go away at Christmas to get the winter sun. So we’re going to Tanzania first, for a safari, a short Kilimanjaro trek and to visit the Masai Tribe and then we’re heading over to Zanzibar for a week on the lush beaches ready to see what 2024 has in store for us.

However, we can’t wait that long to get away, so we’re going on our mini-moon to Sicily at the end of August, we’re going on a road trip for two weeks and I’m counting down the days! We’re also going to visit the island Favignana (named the Caribbean of Europe).

Advice

Don’t spend money on a menu for everybody, just ask for their dietary requirements when sending the invites out and then it’s a surprise for them.
Take 10 minutes on the day to spend together as Husband & Wife as the day flies by.
Have two dresses for sure & have your suit fitted.
Digital invitations!