Pale Blue Candy Anthony 1950’s Wedding Dress Perfection…

Time for some 1950's style glamour I think!  And what a better way to celebrate this full-circle skirt fancy of a fashion era, than with Candy Anthony.  I loooooooooooove Candy Anthony, and whilst it was not my personal choice of frock on my own wedding day, I absolutely long to have the chance to own one of these petticoat pretty party frocks one day ~ I can imagine the fun my little girl and I would have twirling in my fabulous skirt – I'd simply have to purchase the most FABulous pair of heels to finish the outfit off, of course 🙂

One of the most fabuous Candy Anthony 1950's style wedding dresses I've seen in a while is right below you.  I adore the pale blue colour (nice to see a Bride doing something different on her wedding day), but i just love how Bride Melissa has gone the whole way with her pretty little dress gloves, short veil and cute bolero jacket.

Melissa married her Beau Dominic in March 2009 at Gaynes Park in Epping, Essex…

"Dominic and I are both big fans of 50s and 60s style. We love the clothes, the music, the cars and this really influenced our day. My dress was a real 'twee' 50s dress and we incorporated lots of polka dots and Beatles music into our theme. We also wanted a really fresh, springtime feel so went for a pale blue and lemon colour scheme. I had a short blue 1950s style prom dress with huge petticoat, ivory sash which did up in a big bow at the back and a little ivory bolero all from Candy Anthony.

Candy’s shop was the first place I visited when I started shopping for wedding outfits. I also tried on a couple of traditional wedding dresses but I knew the ‘Candy’ dress was the only one for me. This dress was quite literally my dream come true!  i wore my mum’s veial from she married my dad in 1965. It was in such good condition and matched my dress perfectly. My dress designer made me a cute ‘Minnie Mouse’ style bow to wear with it. It was such an honour to wear my mum's veil…" 

Love My Dress UK Wedding Blog – All Photography Copyright (c) 2010, Tara Lee

Love My Dress UK Wedding Blog - Candy Anthony Bride...

Love My Dress UK Wedding Blog - Candy Anthony Bride... Love My Dress UK Wedding Blog - Candy Anthony Bride...

"I wore my hair in a simple French pleat with pearl pins. It looked lovely but nobody saw it as I kept my veil on the whole day! I so enjoyed wearing my mum's veil and thought ‘I’ll never get to wear one again’ so I didn’t take it off once!  My accessories were so, so special to me. My jewellery was my ‘something old’. I wore my nan’s (my mum’s mum) pearl necklace and earrings and my other nan’s (my dad’s mum) diamond ring. Both of my nan’s have passed away so it was lovely to have them ‘with me’ on my big day. My mum also pinned a little horseshoe brooch into my bouquet for luck. The brooch belonged to her Great Grandmother. My mum’s mum pinned it into my mum’s dress for luck on her big day too."

Love My Dress UK Wedding Blog - Candy Anthony Bride...

"My shoes were an absolute surprise bargain. As I was wearing a short dress, fabulous shoes were very important! I looked at some very expensive shoes and even considered having a pair made. I ended up spotting THE shoes in Schuh in Lakeside. They were the exact blue of my dress covered in ivory lace with an ivory bow on the side. All mine for the princely sum of £25!" 

Love My Dress UK Wedding Blog - Candy Anthony Bride...

"I wanted to stick with the vintage look for my flowers. I chose simple ivory roses trimmed with pearls for my bouquet and smaller bouquets for my bridesmaids with pearl pins to match their dresses and a little ivory frill trim – they were very twee! They were arranged by a family friend.  All my flowers were artificial. They looked great though. I collected them a few weeks before the wedding so they were all ready to go on the big day. One less thing to worry about!"

Love My Dress UK Wedding Blog - Candy Anthony Bride...

"A local hairdresser did my hair and I did my own make up. I used YSL foundation and lip gloss and MAC eye shadow and 'face fixer' (brilliant spritzer stuff that holds your make up in place all day). I also had some professional false eyelashes fitted at a local beauty salon. They were great – very 'Hollywood Glamour' – and also meant that when I cried at my dad's speech, I didn't end up with panda eyes!"

Love My Dress UK Wedding Blog - Candy Anthony Bride...

Love My Dress UK Wedding Blog - Candy Anthony Bride... 
 
Love My Dress UK Wedding Blog - Candy Anthony Bride...

Love My Dress UK Wedding Blog - Candy Anthony Bride... Love My Dress UK Wedding Blog - Candy Anthony Bride...

"One of my bridesmaids’ uncles is a London taxi driver. I’ve always loved the iconic shape of London taxis so her uncle and two of his taxi driver friends drove us to the venue. We had two sparkling silver taxis and one blue one. They all looked wonderful decked out with ribbons and bows. Dom’s hired wedding car was my wedding gift to him. It was a 1967 GT500 Mustang. It arrived at the house in the morning and the driver knocked on the door and asked for Dom. It was a complete surprise – he was thrilled! They drove around for an hour and had some photographs taken before it dropped him off at the venue.

Love My Dress UK Wedding Blog - Candy Anthony Bride...  

Dominic wore a navy blue three piece suit and sky blue tie from TM Lewin. He also had some very, very shiny patent shoes (I thought they looked like tap dancing shoes!) :)"

Love My Dress UK Wedding Blog - Candy Anthony Bride... Love My Dress UK Wedding Blog - Candy Anthony Bride...

Love My Dress UK Wedding Blog - Candy Anthony Bride...
Love My Dress UK Wedding Blog - Candy Anthony Bride... Love My Dress UK Wedding Blog - Candy Anthony Bride...

"My older bridesmaids wore ivory peep toe shoes with a bow on the front. My flower girl wore satin dolly shoes, also with a bow on the front.   As I didn’t have a traditional white dress it was challenging to find a colour that matched. Also, as there were so many of them (6 in total!), I didn’t want anything that would over-power the colour of my dress.  I eventually went for a light coffee coloured knee length prom dress from Debenhams.  The Bridesmaids all wore ivory alice bands in their hair with a bow on the side and had simple pearl necklaces and earrings."

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" We had our wedding ceremony in the Orangery and reception in the Mill Barn at Gaynes Park. Both were such beautiful spaces with lots of light, high ceilings, beams, lovely chairs and tables and a mezzanine floor with fairy lights on the banisters in the Mill Barn. We didn’t have any other specific decorations in the Orangery or Barn – they were both lovely the way they were. We wanted to keep our table decorations simple and fun to fit in with the 50s theme. We had lemon and blue pearlised balloon centre pieces tied to boxes wrapped up to look like presents and lemon and blue polka dot napkin ties with co-ordinating place name tags hanging from them. These matched our polka dot stationery, cake and order of service ties. Our table names were Beatles song titles including 'All You Need is Love', 'Strawberry Fields Forever' and 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds'."

Love My Dress UK Wedding Blog - Candy Anthony Bride...

"There were so many! Wearing my mum’s veil from when she married my dad was an absolute honour and my dad’s tear jerking speech and bridesmaids wonderful ‘song speech’ (sung to the tune of Hey Jude to fit in with the Beatles theme) were amazing. Sharing the whole wedding experience with our family and friends was also so, so special. Not just the wedding day itself but the planning and lead up to the big day."

Love My Dress UK Wedding Blog - Candy Anthony Bride...
Love My Dress UK Wedding Blog - Candy Anthony Bride... Love My Dress UK Wedding Blog - Candy Anthony Bride...

"Our cake was a round three tier fruit and sponge cake with lemon and blue polka dots. It was extra special for us as it was made by a close family friend."

Love My Dress UK Wedding Blog - Candy Anthony Bride... Love My Dress UK Wedding Blog - Candy Anthony Bride...

Love My Dress UK Wedding Blog - Candy Anthony Bride... Love My Dress UK Wedding Blog - Candy Anthony Bride... 

What fabulous 1950's style you have Melissa, we love it!

Melissa kindly left some wedding-planning pearls of wisdom with us to pass on to all you lovely readers – so get your printer or note book at the ready! …

•    Proper planning prevents poor performance! List, deadlines, spreadsheets – it sounds very pedantic but being organised is the key. 

•    Good contractors and suppliers make all the difference – make sure they are reliable and you get on with them. They are such a big part of one of the most important days of your life. Our suppliers were fab and it was a pleasure to have them involved in our day – particularly our wedding co-ordinator at Gaynes Park, Jane, our toastmaster/DJ, Paul, our photographer, Tara and our videographer, Mark.

•    Do as many jobs as possible, as early as possible. Little things such as buying bridal party attendant gifts, guest book etc. All these things take time and, as there are some things you can’t do until closer to the date (e.g. finalising table plans etc) you may as well get these little jobs out of the way while you’ve got the time. 

•    Take time to enjoy your ceremony and really cherish the words you are saying to each other. The cake, the dress, the venue and the food are all wonderful but that ceremony is what the whole thing is about. Enjoy every second of it together.

•    Don’t be scared to be a bit different. If something fits your style, do it! Dom and I are big Beatles fans and I love 50s fashion and polka dots. It might not be to everyone’s tastes but it was perfect for us. Brides – also don’t be scared to do a speech if you want to. My bridesmaids did a wonderful speech (sung to the tune of Hey Jude!) and I thanked all my wonderful family and friends. You’re unlikely to ever have the same group of people in one place again. Don’t be afraid to get up and spill your heart out (if you’re that kind of girl!)  You don’t have to go for the big white dress, lavish flower displays and ornate stationery – the day’s about the two of you and should reflect your tastes.

Thank you Melissa, wise words indeed! 

Huge congratulations to Melissa and Husband Dominic, and thank you once again to Tara Lee for sharing her photography with Love My Dress.

Have a lovely Saturday everybody 🙂

Annabel

Annabel View all Annabel's articles

Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Editor. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and star gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she's not working on Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip in the running of the family's sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers. In 2013, she became a published author.

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