Pretty Pink, Polka Dots and Candy Anthony Petticoat Perfection!

Oh I do love to hear from a newlywed Bride, who is absolutely BURSTING at the seams with joy at her recent wedding and just dieing to show me all her photographs.  Just recently, I received one such fabulous email from a lovely lady called Kylie, who had  tied the knot with her beau Richard in June, with a ceremony at St Michaels Church in Colchester, followed by a reception at The Barn Brasserie in Great Tey, North Essex.

Now of course, the reason that immediately swung a 'YES PLEASE!' response to Kylie's real wedding submission, was, of course, her dress 🙂 What an absolutely delightful pink fluffy petticoat and polka dot perfect creation it is! A Candy Anthony masterpiece if ever there was one. I LOVE IT! And I also LOVE how these photographs bring out the Bride's true personality.  Kylie clearly had an absolute ball on her wedding day – she worked her dress to the max! … swooshing her full circle skirt of goodness at every single opportunity for the camera.  It's fabulous to see a Bride having so much fun on her big day…

"After spending many a Saturday traipsing around various bridal
shops getting ever more disheartened with the run of the mill wedding
dresses on offer I really did wonder if I’d ever find 'the one'… Until
one day I stumbled upon a magazine article featuring a bride in a
shorter 50’s style dress with masses of colourful petticoats and I knew
then that I’d found something cute, fun and very me! So off I went to
London, with my sister in tow to the gorgeous Candy Anthony boutique.
This place is total dress heaven; think animal print chairs, red velvet
curtains and retro tunes playing. Really, it’s a little slice of lovely
in SE1…"

Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2010, David Islip

"After swooshing out of the fitting room in various creations, I finally settled on an ivory silk number with polka dot overlay. This little beauty, coupled with the largest candy pink petticoat available and matching sash with huge pink bow at the back finally made me one happy bride to be! I loved everything about the dress and I used the 50's polka dots and bow detail as accents throughout the day to tie everything together."

Shoes to Kill and Die for…

Yes indeed. Louboutins no less people!

"Having a shorter dress the shoes were even
more important as they would be on show on all day! I opted for the 'Bow
Tie Dorset Pump' in champagne, as they were a peep toe which matched my
50's look perfectly. The shoes were a wedding present from my lovely
sister and I love the fact I can still wear them after the big day."

Perfect Hair and Makeup…

"The utterly fabulous James White styled my hair.  I had numerous trials with various
hairdressers and after requesting ‘glamorous vintage’ and getting ‘dry
poodle’ one time too many times I really was at my wits end. (What IS it
with some hairdressers and hairspray? Mention wedding hair and they
turn into people possessed with the stuff!) Luckily I found James … Cue a
drive up the A1 to Nottingham for a trial; a 400 mile round trip…
Yes, I really was that desperate! Thankfully James totally got what look
I wanted and was booked there and then without hesitation!

Make
up was by Vanessa Pridige – Vanessa had
done the make up at a friends wedding previously and I remembered how
stunning the bride's make up had looked on her day. Vanessa didn’t
disappoint and I felt a million dollars thanks to her. I loved the colours
she used and the vintage touch she added to my look. She is a lovely
lady to boot and both her and James were total stars on the morning of
the wedding. They made getting ready so much fun! We didn’t stop
laughing all morning and ended up looking and feeling a million dollars.
Its amazing what a difference having your make up professionally
applied makes and I would really recommend investing in a pro if your
budget will allow."

Getting 'the look' right…

Kylie wore a Candy Anthony short 1950's ribbon trimmed veil with polka dot detail to match the dress throughout the day, but opted for a change for the evening…

"I was concerned that when I took my veil off in the evening that I would have a naked head! I didn’t want any sparkly hair clips or slides as the dress didn’t have any sparkle on and I thought it may look odd. I mentioned this to the girls at Candy Anthony during one of my fittings and they came to my rescue with the most beautiful headband with netting in a bow shape and a rose made in the same fabric as my sash. When I saw it I was thrilled! It was perfect and totally in keeping with my look. Again, I love the fact I can wear it after the big day and it is totally unique!  I also wore plain pearl studs throughout the day, as I thought they looked like big polka dots – and a matching necklace with a single pearl on. All were birthday presents
before the wedding from my parents and Rich…"

Pretty Pink Peonies…   

Flowers were provided by Flowers
by Anne …

"I knew early on that I wanted
peonies in my bouquet as they are my favourite flower and look so
delicate. We actually chose the date to ensure they were in season for
the big day. I wanted my bouquet to look really bright and bold and Anne
suggested a large ball of roses and lissianthus to compliment the
peonies in every shade of pink possible from light baby pink to bright
fuschia. I was adamant that i didn’t want any foliage in the bouquets to
detract from the flowers and I was so pleased with the results, they
looked fabulous and smelled delicious too! The bridesmaids had smaller
versions of my boquet and we had rose button holes for the wedding
party; Rich had a touch of hydranga on his aswell. The round top table
had a pink display in a Large martini vase to compliment our cocktail
theme and we had smaller versions of this on the other long tables. I
asked Anne to continue to use lots of shades of pink throughout the
wedding to tie everything together and she did a fabulous job, the
flowers were a real highlight of the day for me."

Bridesmaids Bargains!…

"The Bridesmaids
dresses were a high street sale bargain from Oasis! Only £15 a pop! I
saw them very early on in the planning and loved the bright pink colour,
bow detail on the front and pencil skirt bottom which I thought would
compliment my dress perfectly.   I had my sister and Rich's sister as bridesmaids.
The girls picked their own shoes from Pied a Terre and Debenhams as I
wanted to make sure they were comfortable. We all know there is nothing
worse than uncomfortable shoes; especially on such a long day when you
are on your feet so much!

The girls wore two fresh pink roses in their hair which were individually wired by the florist, and they acessorised as they wished, both wearing their
own jewellery. After the speeches we gave them both some pearl earrings
in their favourite colours and personalised photo albums filled with
pictures of us all through the years."

Groom…

Kylie cannot remember where her Groom got his dashing suit from, but we'll forgive her for that.  It's understandable that one or two things will slip from the memory when one is having so much fun in pretty pink polka dot perfection! 🙂

"Rich's tie was from TM Lewin and shoes and cufflinks were from Paul
Smith. Candy Anthony made a tie and handkerchief for him in the same material
as my sash which looked great against the grey suit. I just wrapped it
up and left it for him to open on the morning of the wedding so he
didn’t get any clues about my dress before the big day!"

"I remember walking into the church with my Dad and not seeing anybody
else; all i saw was Rich waiting for me and I remember thinking thank
goodness he had turned up! At that point all ny nerves just melted away
and it felt like we were the only people there."

Rings were from Riley and Riley in Ipswich, "we both opted for plain bands which would stand the test of time…"

Check those pretty pink tootsies out! 🙂

My favourite shot of that dress!

 

The Barn…

"We first visited The Barn Brasserie some years ago and commented at the time
what a wonderful reception venue it would make, however back then they
were a restaurant only and didn’t cater for weddings… Fast forward to
our engagement and whilst Googling for local reception venues, The Barn
popped up! Hurrah! They now did wedding receptions! We went back straight
away for another look round and the place really did sell itself; the
open plan interior and intimate courtyard were perfect for the relaxed,
fun day that we wanted…"

Pink Glittery Icing and Polka Dot Ribbon..

"Favours
were cocktail shaped biscuits decorated with pink glittery icing tied
in cellophane bags from Fancy Nancy.  I sent them
the pink polka dot ribbon I had used on the place cards and invitations
to tie the bags up with which looked great.

Our tables were named after
different cocktails and the table plan and table names were made by
Bunny Delicious and looked fabulous, I would
wholeheartedly recommend Zoe for any stationery, all her work is so
vibrant and fun – the pictures cannot do it justice!"

Cakes and Tasty Toppers…

The cake was designed and baked by Cakeflair...

"We had a four tier white cake with pink sugar
bows on to match my dress. Each tier was a different flavour; fruit,
carrot, lemon sponge and coffee. Yummy! We also had a topper of us in our wedding gear in Rich's car which now has pride of
place on the fireplace at home."

I Am The One And Only!

"We had a disco in the evening provided by DJ2 and the dance floor was full
all night. It was so lovely to look round and see all our nearest and
dearest letting their hair down to Chesney Hawkes!"   {sorry Kylie! couldn't resist the link! hehe!}

Kylie and Richard danced to Al Green's 'Let's Stay Together' for their first dance…

The Best Wedding Ever!

"A really nice point in the day was when everyone was dancing and Rich
came up to me in the middle of the dance floor, gave me the biggest hug
ever and said look at everyone dancing – this really is the best wedding
day ever! I knew then that all the effort had been worth it."   

Words of Wisdom…

"Only
pick things that you love and that represent your style and taste and
only work with suppliers you get along with. Write lots of lists to stop
you from going mad and most importantly enjoy every second of the day!
It goes so quickly so take everything in, relax and enjoy the atmosphere
and give yourself a pat on the back for all your hard work and effort…
Its all so worth it in the end!

What, if anything, inspired
you to style your wedding the way you did? Eg, a particular era, muse,
colour, place, etc      I have always wanted to be Sandy in Grease
(minus the tight leather trousers obviously; not sure I could pull them
off in quite the same way!) I just love the femininity of that era."

Thank you so much to Photographer David Islip for kindly providing these images.

"We met
David and his wife Sandra at a local wedding fayre after spending hours
searching for photographers on the web and we warmed to them instantly.
They are such a lovely couple and their photography spoke for itself.
All of their photos looked really natural and seemed to capture the
essence of all the different days perfectly. It sounds like a cliché but
on the day it really was like having 2 extra friends there and we we
are so pleased with the results."

Thank you so much too to Kylie for submitting her fabulous wedding to Love My Dress – congratulations Kylie to you and Richard on your wedding, you looked AMAZING! 🙂

Much love,

Annabel xXx

♥