Loutesi

by Weddingbuy.co.uk

Did you all have a lovely bank holiday weekend? and are you ready for some full-on wedding perfection?

Yes?

Excellent. Because we’ve got a spectacular affair for you all, think a woodland-inspired crown that wouldn’t look out of place on the head of Titania Queen Of The Fairies and a gown straight out of a 1920′s Hollywood movie.

A few months ago I featured a wedding and in my intro I said “If I could design my wedding all over again it would look something like this…”

Well folks, it would also look very much like this.

I officially have a girl crush on Victoria.

 

Once Worn

Victoria The Bride: I have to admit, I’d never been one to dream of my wedding day or know what type of dress I’d have. However when I met Jon, I just knew I wanted to be married to him and when we got engaged, it was time to get thinking! The idea of wearing a huge winter wedding dresses with lots of frills scared me to death and I wanted to ensure that I could really enjoy our day; that is without being constrained by corsets and lots of material. Therefore, my mission was simple – to find a dress that I could just slip on and that I felt like me in.

Jenny Packham seemed like the ideal designer to go with – her style is understated yet glamorous and her shapes were just the kind of thing I was looking for. So, I trotted off to a couple of boutiques before stumbling across Swoon – a ‘once worn’ bridal boutique. I wear a lot of vintage so having something second hand didn’t bother me at all, and I enjoyed rummaging through the rails to find THE ONE. I tried on quite a few and tested myself by trying on the antithesis of my ideal and then, I found my dress. Initially, I didn’t like the idea of silk but when I put it on it felt so luxurious, comfortable and. . me. I never expected it, but at that moment my eyes welled up and I didn’t need to try on any more.

 

A Twiggy Tiara

I don’t wear a lot of jewellery normally and stick to my staples on a day-to-day basis, so it would have seemed odd to wear more than usual. However, I had mentioned to Jon that I was looking for earrings and couldn’t decide on what to buy and this obviously stayed with him; a week before our wedding we went on our final date before we were married. We sat in our local pub, had great food and a bottle of champagne and exchanged wedding gifts. I opened a little box that contained a set of beautiful diamond earrings that Jon had commissioned from a jeweller in Hatton Garden; they were what I wore on the day and I haven’t taken them off since. I borrowed a bracelet from my Auntie that was my great, great Grandmother’s, which complimented my dress perfectly and had huge sentimental value and then…. I had my woodland crown.

My woodland crown that my Mum said “you want what?!” about when I fist mentioned it, and I absolutely loved. Our florist, Jill Simm, is also an artist and sculptor and when I suggested that I wanted her to make my twiggy tiara, she got right on board. She spent many hours winding willow and attaching beads, all so it was the right shape and on the day, added gypsophilia. I was incredibly happy with the decision and thankfully, Jon thought it was fab.

 

Beauty Talent

Carolanne Armstrong was my very talented make up artist for the day. I actually found her via RMW as I was looking at a wedding that our photographer Simon Fazackarley had shot – Nic and Will’s at Notley Abbey – and loved her style. Aston was the man who created my do… lots of backcombing and pins went into that!

 

A Magical Dream

Jill Simm from Apothecary’s Flower Company was our truly amazing florist. She completely understood what we wanted and executed it beautifully. Moreover, I personally loved the experience of working with her – having meetings in her candle lit, Victorian conservatory that was dripping with beautiful blooms whilst having a cheeky glass of wine in cut crystal wine glasses, it was magic.

On the day, she created a twinkly woodland wonderland for us – we decided the nearest thing we could get to a theme of any sorts was ‘Art Deco meets A Midsummer Nights Dream’ (yep I admit that does seem quite precise!). So, she created mini twiggy sculptures and moss filled displays in vintage glass decanters that we had collected over a year or so. She is a genius.

 

Monochrome

We didn’t really want a colour scheme for our Groomsmen and Bridesmaids – we wanted them to feel great in what they were wearing and be able to relax. We bought the girls dresses from ASOS – the shape was specifically chosen because it flatters most shapes and black – well, black never dates. For the guys, we chose a croched black tie from TM Lewin which matched Jon’s and also provided a connection to what the girls were wearing.

For my mini Bridesmaid Laura, and my little fairy Leah, my great friend and bridesmaid Leila helped me make their dresses- from shopping in Soho (The Cloth House) for the fabric, to cutting patterns and making the dresses over copious cups of tea and French fancies. Again, they had a hint of black with their ribbon ties.

 

Blue Velvet

Jon looked amazing on our wedding day. We had bought his outfit together in stages throughout the year, but in the end it was all Hugo Boss – the shirt, trousers and the dark blue velvet jacket. He looked so dapper and when I walked towards him, he turned towards me with the biggest smile and I just couldn’t wait to be next to him.

Documented

Simon Fazackarley was our photographer and I can’t recommend him highly enough. His photographic style was just what we wanted – relaxed, informal but he still managed to capture lovely moments. We also had an engagement shoot with him where we tromped around the New Forest on a very hot day and got used to being photographed, which was just as well really because neither of us feel particularly comfortable in front of a camera usually!

 

Another way that we chose to document our wedding was to have The Wedding Reporter on board; the lovely Emma Woodhouse came along to our wedding, jotted notes down all day (and was of great intrigue to our guests) and a few weeks later, produced a beautifully written account of our wedding. We felt that this would be a great thing to share with generations to come as of course, words never go out of fashion. We were really delighted with her work.

 

A Cake Of Cheese

We went for a cake of cheese in the end from Teddington Cheese, which Jill expertly adorned with leaves and our two little porcelain birds that we had bought from notonthehighstreet.com. We’re not big cake eaters but do enjoy a bit of cheese and wine with our friends, so it seemed like a good choice. We also go to do a tasting at the Teddington store a few weeks beforehand, which was a treat.

 

Stand By Me

One of our friends is a professional DJ so kindly offered his services to us and he was a genius. It was great seeing everyone on the dance floor – especially the Aunts and Uncles who would normally be quite quiet who were rocking out to Bon Jovi.

We danced to ‘Stand by Me’ by Ben E King; we love the song and it we felt the words were quite apt without being too over the top or mushy.

 

Handmade Favours

We had two types of favour – one for the ladies and one for the gents. We made lavender filled muslin and hessian hearts – the scent from the lavender was gorgeous and the looks and feel fitted with the decor. For the guys, we designed a box for lucky playing cards and wrote a little poem for the back too; Jon enjoys Poker so it was a nod to that and we hoped that they would be of use in the future too.

 

The Magic Tree

Like most couples, we wanted to make our wedding day as personal as possible and didn’t want to theme it according to fashion or colour; we wanted it to be a representation of us. So the flowers, favours and so on were an extension of our loves. For instance we spend lots of time enjoying walks in the woods so that was our inspiration for our flowers, and then Gill came up with the idea of having a magic tree made for us to be married under, and we loved it! We also decided to scent our wedding with a smell that was familiar, so in the run up to the day we burnt Zara Home’s Black Amber candles at home and then on the day, had them burning throughout the venue. Now, when we smell the scent it reminds us of our wedding day.

 

What Matters

The biggest piece of advice I would pass on to Brides is don’t try and do everything yourself, even if you are creative. Trust in others to help you, rely on experts for their skills and don’t get too fixated on tiny details. Yes, details are lovely to have but on the day, they don’t matter hugely. The only thing that really matters is saying ‘I do’ to the one you love.

Photographer: Simon Fazackarley
Make Up : Carolanne Armstrong
Hair: Aston 07896 670235
Blooms: Apothecarys Flower Company
Wedding Reporter: The Wedding Reporter (Emma Woodhouse)
Flower Girl Dresses: Paper and Gold

simple wedding dresses : weddingbuy.co.uk
Cheese Cake: Teddington Cheese
Brides Gown; Jenny Packham at Swoon
Grooms Suit: Hugo Boss
Venue: Bury Court Barn

Click here & view all images from this wedding

Isn’t the bouquet just the epitome of sophisticated simplicity? and how about Jon’s suit? the blue velvet jacket is both contemporary and timeless.