Your North East Wedding - Sep/Oct 2019 (Issue 34)

REAL WEDDINGS 37  R achel met Kyle at Newcastle’s Tyne Bar. “It was a sunny Sunday afternoon when we discovered a mutual love for live music,” remembers Rachel. “I was impressed with Kyle’s encyclopaedic knowledge of Oasis songs, as well as the fact that he loved going to festivals – and in particular Glastonbury. We didn’t stop talking the entire time, and I knew I’d found someone special.” The couple had been together for four years when Kyle popped the question. “Kyle hired a 1975 VW T2 Campervan so we could travel around Scotland,” continues Rachel. “After a few days at Loch Lomond and Oban, we arrived at Ben Nevis, deciding to take our dog, Lyla, for a walk to the waterfalls. We stopped for a beer when Kyle suddenly got down on one knee and proposed! He’d even sneaked a bottle of champagne and a couple of glasses into his rucksack in the hope I said ‘yes.’” It took the couple a year to plan their wedding, with them having an equal role in the organising. Here Rachel tell us more about their magical day… PARTY PEOPLE It was important to the couple that their wedding was like one big festival, starting with booking a venue they could fill with their own personal touches. “We’d been on many camping dates at Druridge Bay, where we’d camped, glamped and shared drinks over a fire,” says the bride. “We loved the fact that Barn on the Bay was by the beach but also on a farm, which gave it a Glasto- festival vibe. The venue could also accommodate the 160 guests we wanted to invite for the day and offered a blank canvas for us to design all our ideas from scratch.” Those ideas included buying and designing a lot of the decorations to continue with their theme. “We ordered original Glastonbury posters from the years we were born to display,” continues Rachel. “We used a vintage guitar case for guests to leave their cards in, and instead of a guestbook, we bought two guitars for everyone to sign. Kyle’s dad made seating out of pallets, and we had built-in flower beds that had sunflowers planted in. Kyle’s mam also spent the whole year hand-making giant dreamcatchers with personal notes and song lyrics attached, as well as hand-knitted bunting and driftwood decor.” BOHO BRIDE Choosing Rachel’s wedding dress was much more difficult than choosing the venue. “I don’t normally like getting dressed up so visited three bridal boutiques before finding the one ,” she says. “The main factor in choosing my dress was comfort, as I wanted something I could dance in all night and not feel impractical. I was beginning to feel I’d never find anything, but in the third The sound of music Rachel and Kyle’s Barn on the Bay wedding was festival-inspired from start to finish Images courtesy of Chocolate Chip Photography