Natalie & Adam: Real Bride Story

All about the theme…

We chose Game of Thrones as our theme because we got engaged April 13th on the cliffs of Fairhead in Northern Ireland - for fans of the show this is where Jon Snow reaches out his hand to Drogon and he accepts him - we are both such geeks! We were visiting all of the major filming locations in and around Belfast at the time.

I walked down the aisle exactly one year later, on April 13th, to the main GoT theme song played by the string quartet. Then later at our reception when we were announced as Mr & Mrs White, they played ‘The Rains of Castamere’ from the Red Wedding episode. The string quartet we hired played a variety of pieces from the show for us which was really fun and unique.

It was perfect for the both of us and I had major goosebumps! Our tables were named after various castles from the show. Our favours were made up liqueurs such as ‘Qarth Gin’, a fictional city in Game of Thrones. We also sat on two white thrones for the wedding breakfast and the stationery had the map of Westeros in the background. Our centerpieces were very green and white, a nod to Ireland where we got engaged, and we had crowns, cylinders, candelabras and candles to fit in with the theme.

As for the dress…

I had absolutely no idea what style, shape, material or anything I wanted which made it slightly daunting for me when it came to dress shopping. All I knew is that I didn’t want a strapless or sweetheart neckline.

At first my bridesmaids came with me to try on dresses but I found it all a bit overwhelming. In the end it was just my mum, aunt and cousin who saw me try on the one. It was nice to have them with me as I must’ve tried on around 30 dresses before finding my dress. Although it seems a lot, I’m really glad I took my time with it as I absolutely love my wedding gown. My mum ended up buying my dress from Boutique Brides of Crosby for me. The dress I chose was the Ronald Joyce 'Tate', from their Victoria Jane collection. The high neck was what drew me to the dress instantly. I did ask for my dress to be slightly customized with a modesty piece as you could somewhat see the sweetheart part of the neckline. Once it was altered I felt elated when I tried it on.

Do you have any tips for future brides?

My absolute top tip for future brides would be to enjoy the process of choosing a dress. I felt rather rushed at times and although I would’ve picked Tate regardless, it was all over so quickly.