Your North East Wedding - November/December 2019 (Issue 35)

REAL WEDDINGS 39  F aith met Niall at work back in 2013. “Our first date was coffee at Tynemouth Longsands, followed by a visit to the aquarium,” says the bride. “Next, Niall took me ice-skating, then we had dinner at a local sushi restaurant, before dancing the night away in a few bars. Niall wanted to make our first date special – and it certainly was! He told me afterwards it was the best first date he’d ever had – and that he knew it would be his last.” The couple had been together for three years when the groom popped the question. “Niall proposed at our new house together on Christmas Day, because we both love Christmas and he wanted it to be special,” continues Faith. “He woke incredibly early on Christmas morning to set up the proposal – quite risky with a four-month-old baby stirring in the night! We have pictures hanging up our staircase and he took each one down, replacing the photos then covering with brown paper, before writing a number on the front of each frame. He then woke me up – at a reasonable hour! – to Michael Bublé’s All I Want for Christmas is You , and I opened the window of each frame as I walked down the stairs. It showed a story of our time together, from our first date and buying a house, to having our beautiful daughter. It was incredibly romantic.” It took the couple just over a year to plan their wedding, with Faith doing most of the organising. Here, she tells us more about their big day… LOCATION LOCATION Faith and Niall fell in love with Brinkburn Priory the minute they first look around. “We knew it was what we both wanted,” says Faith, “even cancelling all other venue appointments as we felt nothing would compare! It’s incredibly beautiful and elegant, with a natural, rustic feel and gorgeous outdoor scenery. It also allows you to hold your celebrations from Friday until Monday, which meant we could party for the entire weekend!” Booking a March wedding, the couple had no idea how the weather would play out on their big day. “We woke to three inches of snow, but by the afternoon it was sunny!” remembers the bride. “It really added to the excitement and made the day even more romantic. As the car park was a 400m walk from the top of the bank, we’d luckily had the foresight to hire a taxi company to ferry guests up and down the hill! We were even more thankful when we realised it had snowed!” DRESS DILEMMA Faith opted for a no-nonsense approach when it came to wedding dress shopping. “As an indecisive person, I knew I wasn’t going to settle 100% on one particular style,” she says. “Rather controversially, I also knew I wasn’t going to get emotional over A Christmas wish A Christmas Day proposal led to wedding bells for Faith and Niall Images courtesy of Nicola Dixon Photography