Warehouse Wedding at 99 Mary Street and Trafalgar Warehouse
99 Mary Street and Trafalgar Warehouse Wedding
Lauren and Stephen’s cool AF warehouse wedding was super stylish and relaxed with stunning Campbells Flowers blooms against beautiful industrial brickwork. With the help of Inner City Weddings, they dressed the space and created chill out areas for their guests. Above all, how you dress a large urban wedding will impact the overall vibe as it is essentially a blank canvas. Lauren wore a stunning Rolling in Roses dress and ROCKED it super hard on the dance floor for the first dance (allowing me to create one of my favourite dance shots ever!)
Splitting the day across two of these urban wedding venues in Sheffield gave us the opportunity for some cool and understated wedding portraits in the sunshine. Below are plenty of supplier links and their take on how they allocated their budget so they could prioritise the elements that were the most important to them.
Location of ceremony and reception:
99 Mary Street / Trafalgar Warehouse
How many guests?
80 (no extra evening guests)
How long did you take you take to plan the wedding?
Just under a year. The proposal happened in September 2018
How would you describe your wedding day in 2 sentences?
A celebration of the things we love in life – family, friends, music, food, and the city of Sheffield. It was our big day so we did things exactly the way we wanted, but we tried to make it all seamless so our guests could relax and have a blast at these two wedding warehouse venues.
How did you meet? And how long have you been together?
We met via a mutual friend in our native Derby. We started taking things seriously after a month or so but were living in different cities. In April 2013 Lauren took things to the next level by moving to Sheffield.
Tell me about the proposal
Nearing the end of a beautiful trip to the Amalfi coast the two of us decided to buy some nice local wine and groceries to spend a night in at our Airbnb. Not many proposals will have been preceded by the gutting and preparation of a squid, but ours did.
How did you spend / allocate your budget?
We had a ballpark in mind for the budget but tried not to let it dictate our every idea and thought. We started by booking the two warehouse wedding venues then made two or three enquiries with each type of supplier we needed – caterer, DJ, photographer, florist etc. Where possible we tried to cut costs with a few DIY projects, for example, by using furniture and décor we already had.
Where did you splurge and where/how did you save?
We splurged on food – above all, it was probably the most important thing to get right for us. Our supplier was incredible and great value for money. The compliments we had from guests confirmed we made the right choice. Of course, by having two venues we incurred extra cost, but totally worth it to break up the day. They’re both stunning and look awesome in the wedding pics. Lauren’s wedding shoes also required a re-mortgage.
How did you soften the Warehouse Wedding Venues?
We wanted to dress the venues with lots of dry flowers, so Lauren spent about 6 months buying up all the reduced bouquets from Sheffield’s supermarkets – they looked great on the tables and walls. As a result, this helped keep the flower costs down. We also made a DIY photobooth with the help of Inner City Weddings and a friend who works in events lighting. We got all of our stationery and printed items for free as Stephen enlisted the help of former colleagues at a local printer.
How/Why did you choose your photographer?
For us, it was important to capture shots in the moment. We wanted to look back and see people relaxed and having fun. We also wanted a contemporary feel and a tone that complimented the colours of the venues and flowers. Looking at the Maytree portfolio, we were in no doubt that Danni would tick all those boxes. Danni also has experience of shooting in Sheffield city centre so has a few tricks up her sleeve to bring out the beauty and interest in more urban settings. Some of our favourite shots are the ones where Danni captured the interactions of passers-by – they make our photos really unique.
Who was your dress by?
Rolling in Roses, York
And the suit?
Hawes and Curtis at Meadowhall.
Did you have a theme or colour scheme you were working towards?
Not especially. The two venues bring great colour. The photos at 99 Mary Street have a beautiful warm red tone, in contrast the ones at Trafalgar Warehouse are clean and light … almost like a blank canvas. We had lots of flowers and foliage to add colour – the flowers had warm tones like soft blues and burnt orange.
What sort of flowers did you have?
Just picked, wild and natural. Campbell’s flowers did an amazing job dressing Trafalgar Warehouse – we hired their beautiful large hoop dressed in green foliage to hang above the dancefloor, and also their six planters to hang above the dining tables.
What sort of decoration did you have
Lots of dried flowers in vintage jars and vases – Trafalgar Warehouse is a big space, so these were great to fill gaps on tables and ledges. Inner City Weddings had loads of cool props to use like chests and lanterns. Ellie and Liah also did a great job hanging white drapes to create different areas in the large wedding warehouse space – these softened the industrial feel of the room too. Trafalgar Warehouse supplied barrel tables, Persian rugs and chesterfield sofas.
What did you eat?
We wanted to have sharer style food to encourage guests to interact, especially those who hadn’t met before. For starter we had tear and share breads with delicious oils and dips. For main, we served a slow braised shoulder of lamb for guests to carve themselves – this came with an aubergine melazane and beautifully presented salads. We had a trio of deserts – limoncello granita, cannoli with dark chocolate and candied orange, and the peoples’ favourite … sticky toffee pud.
And the wedding cake?
We ordered three cakes from Alyssum café on Barber Road. Their cakes look stunning and are just as delicious.
Did you have canapes?
Aperyer were also brilliant at tailoring our menu and canapes for pregnant guests or those with allergies. Those people really appreciated not having to eat the sandwich they’d brought in their handbag.
What did you have as entertainment
We created a little living room corner space using one of the chesterfields, our houseplants and soft lighting – here our guests played Mario Kart using a Nintendo Wii we bought on ebay. It was supposed to keep the kids entertained but seemed to attract the groom’s mates just as much.
Did you have any other music?
We also hired a local busker to play the blues in the entrance corridor to Trafalgar Warehouse as our guests arrived. Our DJ came recommended from Trafalgar Warehouse and did a great job of keeping the dancefloor full.
Who supplied the stationery
My friend Sam designed everything, and I called in a favour from ProCo.com for the printing.
Did you have any personal touches?
We bought wedding favour badges from Macmillan Cancer Support as it’s a cause very close to our heart. We also bought some cool bibs for the babies. Weary dancers could dip into a basket of flipflops if the high-heels were getting too much. To encourage guests to share their pics we set up our own Insta hashtag, #makeherabooth
What were your special moments or highlights of the day?
For us, it was all about our guests relaxing and having fun, so to look back on the shots of people laughing and enjoying a drink or two are the moments we love most.
Naturally, to have a glass of prosecco post ceremony was a relief, once all the formalities were complete. We actually really enjoyed a moment to ourselves when we walked over to Trafalgar Warehouse from 99 Mary Street too. It was nice to decompress and take it all in.
What advice would you give any other couples about planning your big day, or any tips for the day itself?
Plan early. Get the big things locked in as soon as you can – the venues, the caterer, the flowers and photographer. Once they’re sorted you can do other tasks little and often right up to the big day.
A bit cliché but remember that you can’t please everyone – and you should only be pleasing yourself anyway. It’s your day.
What was your biggest surprise of the day?
How quickly it flashed by. Again, a bit of a cliché, but remember to stop and take it all in if you can.
[the_grid name=”Lauren + Stephen”]
Aperyer Catering; http://aperyer.co.uk/; hello@aperyer.co.uk
Campbell’s Flowers; https://campbellsflowers.co.uk/; campbellsflowers@gmail.com
Rolling in Roses; https://www.rollinginroses.co.uk/
Jenn Edwards https://jennedwards.com/
Inner City Weddings; https://www.innercityweddings.co.uk/; innercityweddings@gmail.com
99 Mary Street; https://www.99mary.st/; events@99mary.st
Trafalgar Warehouse; https://www.trafalgarwarehouse.co.uk/; TrafalgarWarehouse@gmail.com
Alyssum Café; https://www.alyssumcafebistro.com/; Alexa@alyssumcafebistro.com
