intimate
winter wedding

Elsie & Markus’ intimate winter wedding was a beautiful, small and stylish celebration of love! They gathered in Manchester with 13 of their loved ones from The UK, Germany and China. You can tell from the photos how much they adore each other, and how much love went into every detail of their special day. Their day was photographed by Marina Walker Photo and planned by our directory member Grace In Spring Weddings. Keep reading for gorgeous city micro-wedding inspiration!

family at
the heart

Family was at the centre of this wedding day – so much that the couple chose the date specifically so that everyone could be there. Here’s what Elsie & Markus told us:

“We decided to have our wedding during the winter due to different time schedules of our loved ones. Our families flew in from Singapore and Germany, together with close friends in the UK who travelled in. It was an intimate wedding with a total of 13 people, and we wouldn’t have had it otherwise. We had the chance to speak to everyone at the wedding and had a great time with everyone.”

special
traditions

Elsie is from Singapore and Markus is German, so honouring both of their cultures was an important part of their big day. Here’s what the couple told us about the rituals they included in their intimate winter wedding:

“We had a ‘pick-up-the-bride’ segment, as part of the Chinese tradition – The groom arrives with his side of the family at the bride’s place and has to win some games to pick up the bride. This was a kind of ‘first look’ that we replaced, as before this moment Markus hadn’t seen Elsie in her wedding dress yet. We then had a small tea ceremony as part of the Chinese tradition, where we paid respects to Elsie’s parents.”

intimate winter
wedding day

Elsie and Markus arrived at the registry office in style, in a hired Mustang 1967 GT500 named Eleanor (from Wild Car Hire) as a nod to the movie ‘Gone In 60 Seconds’, where they drove the car for only the last minute of the journey!

They had their wedding lunch at 20 Stories because they loved the setting of a skyscraper in the middle of the city. The couple explained:

“We are very much city people, to the extent when we shared the wedding photos, people thought we had our wedding in Singapore (where Elsie’s from)!”

The day ended off with a small afterparty at their residents’ lounge with snacks and drinks where they had ther first dance.

classic winter
wedding styling

Just because this is a small wedding doesn’t mean the couple skimped on style!

“We went for a simple classic style which started with Elsie’s A-line princess dress. The flowers by Rhian at Winter And The Willows were so amazingly arranged and Elsie couldn’t even bear to throw them away after the wedding. We still kept them dried in a vase at home almost a year after the wedding! The cake by Natalie Cheshire was amazing too, with such gorgeous and delicate decoration.

There was a golden Christmas tree at the lunch venue, which caught us by surprise on the day because it wasn’t planned. But it really added to the ambience of our wedding lunch, it was cosy and memorable.”

intimate winter wedding -
supplier love

All of this intimate winter wedding magic came together with the help of a brilliant wedding planner:

“Clarissa from Grace In Spring has been absolutely a star, from managing everything leading up to the day itself, coordinating every bit of the wedding. We literally could sit back, relax, and chill with our guests, when we know everything is well taken care of in the background.”

Big love to Clarissa for sending this wedding in, and to the couple for kindly sharing their story with us!