A Vintage Frank Usher Wedding Dress ~ for only £20…

Good morning all 🙂 I'm so delighted this morning to be sharing these charming photographs, that were submitted by London based Portrait and Wedding Photographer Monika Magiera.

Monika photographed this very wonderful wedding, that of Elizabeth and Darren, on 27 March 2010 at Burgh House, Hampstead, London.   Bride Elizabeth grew up in West Hampstead
and wanted to get married in a venue that she felt connected to; "I have
known of Burgh House all my life and when I realised they held weddings I
knew it was the perfect place. It's a beautiful listed house, it's
intimate and sophisticated without pretence."

Elizabeth wore an utterly divine, blush pink and original vintage Frank Usher dress, purchased at a vintage stall at the Latitude Festival
for £20 – simply because it was so pretty.  

"I had no idea at the time that it would
become my wedding dress and I had yet to meet my Husband.  When I
started to consider my wedding dress, I decided I didn't want to spend a
fortune only to be paying it off long after the big day. I came across
the dress in my wardrobe and thought it might just work, I love the
blush pink colour and having never imagined getting married in a classic
white dress I thought this would be a good alternative.  I tried the
dress on and thought it would be perfect, it needed a dry clean and some
alterations but once this was done and I'd teamed it with a big
underskirt to give it that special wedding volume I knew it was the one.
It's funny to think that all those years ago when I bought the dress
that the first time I'd wear it would be to my wedding. The underskirt
purchased from Lulu and Lush…."

Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2010, Monika Magiera

"We wanted our
wedding to be sophisticated and understated, we wanted to get married in
a venue that didn't feel like it was grander than us, in clothes that
we felt reflected our personality and style. We were aware that we
wanted to stay to a budget as we didn't want to start our married life
in debt. We trusted in ourselves and in our friends and family and asked
for people to help out in areas we knew they would excel in and feel
comfortable being responsible for. One of the best decisions we made was
to hold our wedding in London, both my husband and I were born and
raised in London, the majority of our friends and family live here too.
Holding our wedding here meant that guests didn't have to travel far or
pay for accommodation, we all know that attending a wedding can be
costly.  It was great to bring all our friends and family together to
the party to celebrate our life together in a city that we love and hold
so many memories."

"My rings
are rose gold and diamond and come from a fabulous boutique jeweller
called Wright and Teague. They only source the best quality, conflict
free diamonds and each ring is hand cast…"

New Covent Garden Florals…

Elizabeth explains how she made her own flower bouquets…

"One of my bridesmaid Sarah and I went to New
Covent Garden flower market early on the Thursday morning before my
Saturday wedding.
We picked up two types of roses, one for my bouquet and one for the
bridesmaids and button holes. We then spent the rest of the morning
making the bouquets. This was a fairly stressful process and I had never
made a rose bouquet before, it involves lots of thorns, snapped heads
and swearing! I made all four bouquets and we kept them in big buckets
of water in a cool place until the wedding morning. Because she likes a
challenge,Sarah made the button holes on the morning of the wedding,
amazing friend. Apart from the early morning and stress involved in
thinking the flowers would die, buying your own flowers and making the
bouquets is very cost effective, together with the the accessories for
just over £70.  Looking back the flowers looked much better than I
thought they did at the time, I did a good job but I'm not sure it was
worth the stress, but if you are brave an patient check out the flowers
at New Covent Garden…"

Such a happy photograph below!  

"In addition to my birdcage I wore a headpiece. I found the
milliner of my head piece while conducting a search on Philip Tracey who
is a little out of my price range. Beth Morgan is a fantastic and
imaginative designer, who managed to create a piece that was both
individual and affordable. My headpiece was a teardrop base covered in a
pink and clear crystals. I loved it, it set me apart from my guests and
made me feel like the Bride I wanted to be. Beth was really helpful and
sent my samples of fabric and crystals before she began making the
headpiece. She was really supportive through the entire process,  I felt
like she really listened to what I was saying, a big plus when you are
dealing with the stress involved in planning a wedding, thank you Beth!

Because I didn't want to go the traditional route with my wedding look, I
also chose to wear a small birdcage veil. I found a DIY kit on Etsy.com
which was super easy to make. However, you could go to a haberdashery
and buy netting and make your own, super easy and cheap."

It's wonderful to see Elizabeth wearing the design of one of our favourite Milliners, whose work we have featured on Love My Dress before – click here and here.

"I was torn between a pair of Jimmy Choo and a pair of
Beatrix Ong shoes, I decided on the Beatrix
Ong pair. The shoes are so
unique in colour (metallic blush pink if you can imagine that) they
lifted my dress and looked great without overshadowing it, I thought a
pair of glittery Jimmy Choo's might be a little too much. I love that Beatrix
Ong is an independent designer and I love that I know my shoes
were designed with passion…"

DIY Dragonfly…

"We handmade place name cards in the shape of birds, dragonflies and
butterflies, it was a labour of love but it was nice that we had added a
personal touch to the table…"

Love a Man in a Suit!

"My husband went to Hackett's and bought his suit without
out any advise from me or any of his friends. I wasn't allowed to see
it before the wedding but I was quite sure he'd look very dashing and he
certainly didn't fail to disappoint, he looked very handsome. The great
thing about his suit is that he can now wear it to important business
meetings and occasions, it may have cost more than my wedding dress but
it was a great investment and oh how love a man in a suit!"     

Vintage Fur Cape…

"Our wedding was in March and knew there was a
possibility that being in Blighty there might still be a nip in the
air.  To keep me toasty between venues I purchased a beautiful vintage
white, rabbit fur cape.  I brought the cape from Fur Coat no Knickers, a
fabulous little shop in Soho which stocks vintage bridal wear. I love my
cape and am looking forward to wearing it with a pair of skinny jeans
and my wedding  shoes on a night out this winter.

The only piece of jewellery I wore was a
pearl necklace borrowed from my mum. I remember my mum wearing the
necklace throughout my childhood so it has a lot of sentimental value.
She hadn't worn if for years as the string broke and she hadn't had it
fixed. We arranged for the pearls to be re-strung and I was very happy
to wear it as it completed my vintage look…"

Words of Wisdom?…

"No matter how much planning you do wedding are a stressful time. A day
or so before the wedding make sure you leave yourself time to be by
yourself not with you partner, all alone.  An afternoon of not picking
up a telephone call, sending an email or running an errand, go and do
something totally unrelated to your wedding ~ catch a movie, take a
walk, just some time to have a mental break. Once married, make sure you
give yourself time with your partner to do the same, honeymoons are
worth their weight in gold, if you can't get away, make your home is a
honeymoon suite. 

Make sure your wedding is about you and your husband, you're hopefully
only going to do this once and it should be done that matters most to
you both. You mum might have strong ideas about flower colours but they
may not necessarily be yours, know what you're happy to compromise about
and what your not. Employ the smile and nod  approach to ideas you
don't agree with, then do it your way.

And finally, enjoy your big day, it might rain, your cake might get squashed but you
are getting married to the person you love most in the world surrounded
by the people you love most in the world, that's pretty amazing."

 

A very big thank you to Monika Magiera, for sharing your exquisite Photography with Love My Dress;

"Monika Magiera did an amazing job, managing to capture all the detail and atmosphere of the day without it feeling like she was an intrusive onlooker. After the wedding she gave us a CD with all the images, and a fantastic slideshow set to music, which make me teary and smiley at the same time.  Monika has an upbeat positive attitude and combined with a contemporary, reportage style of wedding photography she is a must have for any stylish wedding."

Thank you too, to Elizabeth for providing so much inspiring detail for our readers – congratulations to you and Darren on your wonderful wedding! 🙂

And doesn't it just go to show, you needn't spend an absolute fortune on a wedding dress in order to look and feel wonderful?

Much Friday love all ~ the weekend is nearly here 🙂

Annabel xXx

♥