New York, New York

James and Laura Tracey

Where: Ceremony and reception at The Talking Point, Saddleworth

Photography: Mick Cookson

The most important thing to us was that our wedding reflected ‘us’ so we decided to add some references from our engagement in New York. Our wedding cars were an original New York yellow taxi and an NYPD car and James designed the invitations from ticket stubs and souvenirs from our trip. My mum is an amazing cook and she made our New York inspired wedding cake. Even our card box was a replica Tiffany ring box, which I found online from Daisy Ann Designs.

We wanted our day to be a celebration that all our friends and family enjoyed, not a stuffy and formal affair. With that in mind, we found photographs of every individual guest doing something fun or silly and printed them on cards for the place names. They were a great talking point on the tables and got everyone in the mood for a party. As for the wedding favours, we gave everyone miniature bottles of Jagermeister and at the end of his speech James asked all the guests to have a Jager shot to toast the bride!

As soon as we visited the Talking Point, we knew it was where we wanted to get married. It’s a converted church in the hills in Saddleworth, which has been renovated to create a totally modern venue that is licensed to hold civil ceremonies. Adele, Nicola and Tina at the Talking Point were fantastic from day one. They totally understood what we wanted to achieve and took care of every detail, including our insistence on only Yorkshire Tea being served after the meal!

Our band was ‘Tom Rocks and The Replicants’ and were truly brilliant. They learned our first dance from scratch just for us and kept the dance floor packed all night.

We would not change a thing about the day. Even the dreadful weather could not bring us down, it just made for more hilarity as we attempted to have photographs taken in gale force wind and rain. Our wedding day was without doubt the best day of our lives. It was full of love, fun and laughter and (we like to think) personality.

THE DETAILS

Photography: Mick Cookson, Manchester, 0161 792 4144, mickcooksonphotography.co.uk

Venue: The Talking Point, Saddleworth, 01457 877471, thetalkingpoint.com

Dress: Timeless Bride, Poynton, 01625 630062, timelessbride.co.uk

Groom: Hugo Boss, Manchester

Flowers: Buddies, Littleborough, 01706 370060

Rings: Arjento, 01457 871771

Transport: USA Cop Cars, (taxi), 01233 321033; Cophire (NYPD car) 0845 3450239

Entertainment: Tom Rocks and The Relicants

To see more of James and Laura’s wedding album see our online gallery or the 2013 issue of Cheshire and Lancashire BRIDE