We're heading up North this morning for a sleek and stylish city wedding. Frances and James married at striking Gateshead building the Sage. With incredible riverside views, lots of glass and polished metal - it makes a great backdrop for a modern wedding.

Frances' unusual Phase Eight gown is beautiful too, the textured circular design is so pretty and is perfect for a city wedding. But I love that she's snuck in a little boho detail with the floral crown.

The lovely pair inadvertently created a navy and yellow colour scheme which actually works really well in the lofty, airy, mirrored building.

Look out for the adorable flower girls too - still cute even when having a tantrum.

Frances The Bride:We knew as soon as James proposed on my favourite beach in Cornwall and I said yes that neither of us wanted a long engagement or an extravagant wedding that would require months of planning, we just wanted to be married to each other!

We had both thought The Sage would be a brilliant wedding venue and after we'd been look to round it and met the wedding co-ordinator Laura we knew it was where we had to get married. We both have a mutual love for music and it was one of the things that brought us together in the first place so it made perfect sense.

We thought it would also be an excellent way to show off the city that we both love for those guests who didn't know the city well. It was really important to both of us that the day was relaxed and fun. With the ceremony and reception being in the same venue it meant there was nothing for our guests to do but sit back and enjoy the day. Relaxed and fun set the tone for the wedding planning, we essentially just wanted to plan a big party for all our family and friends to celebrate us getting married.

With such a perfect venue as a starting point planning the rest of the wedding planning fell into place. We were really pleased that the wedding would be early March, the start of Spring, a new, warmer, brighter season, new beginnings. A running colour theme was the creams and yellows of spring flowers such as freesias, daffodils and tulips.

We were so happy that Vicky at Boo! - K, a local florists, did our flowers, what a marvellous job she did and I really enjoyed sitting down and sharing ideas with her from the pots of daffodils to line the aisle to the delicate flower crown she designed. And my bouquet! Not only did it look beautiful it smelt absolutely gorgeous.

I knew I didn't want a 'proper' wedding dress, as soon as I tried on the dress at Phase Eight I knew it was for me because it was so comfortable! As a tall girl I've never been into heels so Head over Heels by Dune sequinned flats were a great find.

We decided on blue for the men's suits and bridesmaids dresses to compliment the creams and yellows. The flowergirls were James' cousins from France, super cute in their white dresses, after the petal throwing duties they spent the whole day twirling around (apart from when the youngest one was refusing to be in the formal photos, she does grumpy very well as captured in the photos!). We were really pleased with how great the wedding party fashion looked, on the day and in the photos. Top marks to high street fashion!

After a free make up lesson at Bobbi Brown and buying the key items we were all set to do our own make up. Big thanks to Bridesmaid Helen for playing more than her part in getting the make just right. Big thanks also to April for battling through illness to do mine, the Bridesmaids and my Mum's hair. Having had a hair trial with how I thought I should have my hair April convinced me that I should just go with what felt comfortable, so I did! Some loose curls was all I needed with the flower crown which was much more 'me' than having my hair pinned up. The Bridesmaids chose their own styles and had a plaited theme which looked great with a few flowers to match my flower crown.

So the photos, wow. Just wow. We were blown away by how Paul perfectly captured the day. We thought that with the venue and its obvious photographic appeal together with Paul on board we'd get some good photos but were very chuffed when we saw the results. Paul is a huge talent with a creative eye who really knows his stuff, and a really nice guy with it. We are so pleased we chose him to photograph our wedding and can't recommend him highly enough.

Paul got some great shots of the hand drawn illustrations done for the tables and seating plan by my cousin Patrick, a freelance illustrator and screen printer. Running with the music theme we chose some of our favourite albums. Patrick did such a great job recreating the covers which rightly took pride of place on the tables.

I was really pleased that Paul got some shots of the vintage china that we'd hired for a friends and family pre-wedding afternoon tea the day before. Lynsey at The Whistling Bunting Travelling Tea Party has a brilliant selection of vintage china and drinking tea from vintage teacups added a really nice little touch to the morning when me and the Bridesmaids were getting ready.

The evening reception started with the cutting of the cake. We chose Katie and Kay at the Pet Lamb Patisserie because they were able to cater for my gluten intolerance without compromising on taste or style. The cake topper and little cupcake flags were made by me from a free online printable and added the final touch to the gorgeous tasting and looking cakes. I'd also printed onto some brown paper bags so that guests could take the cupcakes away with them.

Following an upbeat first dance that saw everyone join in, our guests and us danced the night away. The dance floor was never empty, which was extra special given that we took a gamble by not having a band or professional DJ. Music is such a big part of who we are it only felt right that we put a playlist together ourselves and it really worked out. Thank goodness!

We couldn't have been happier with how the big day went and with such amazing photos we'll never forgot all the little details and how we felt. Now to settle into married life....

Photography by Paul Santos
Bride Phase Eight | Shoes Dune | Florist Boo! - K | Venue Sage, Gateshead | Cake Maker Pet Lamb Patisserie | Bridesmaids Topshop | Groom Paul Costelloe | Best Men Next | Flower Girls Monsoon | Hair April Egan Hairdressing | Seating Plan Artwork Patrick Romàn-Sadler | Vintage China The Whistling Bunting Travelling Tea Party