Monsoon Bridal, Christian Louboutin and a Smasher of a Striped Boating Jacket!

Now, it goes without saying that I have a keen eye for wedding dresses.  Of course I do! :) BUT, I also love a good pair of heels :)  So when weddings like this come along, I'm a very happy Wedding Blogger indeed :)

Sarah and James celebrated their marriage on 17 July 2010 at Bruisyard Hall, located in the heart of the Suffolk Countryside.  Sarah's absolutely beautiful dress was by Monsoon Bridal (more from Monsoon Bridal on Love My Dress here).  But for this Bride, it was all about the shoes...

"I knew I didn't want to spend hundreds on a dress I would only wear once - would much rather spend it on the shoes! - and I wanted something really unfussy.  Monsoon wedding dresses are beautifully made and AMAZING value and my very talented mum was able alter it so that it was just perfect for me.

My shoes were a present from James before the wedding. Just after I graduated from University I was in London and ended up in Harvey Nics trying on a pair of pale blue satin Louboutins - they were in the sale but I had no money and just couldn't afford them - though I fell totally in love with them and never forgot them. I always wished I had just bought them and blown the expense. So when we were in Harvey Nics on a trip to London for my birthday, just a few months before the wedding, and saw these I just fell in love and James, knowing about the pair that got away bought them for me. They were the best 'something blue' I could have imagined!"

Once again, Love My Dress is proud to feature the incredible work of London Wedding Photographer, Marianne Taylor...

Love My Dress Wedding Blog - Photography Copyright (c) 2010, Marianne Taylor

Our Monsoon masterpiece! ...

Those lovely, lovely, lurrrrrrrrrvely Louboutins! ...

Sarah applied her own makeup, "I'm a Bobbi Brown addict, as you can probably tell from some of the photographs!", and her Bridesmaid styled her hair... "She was a total superstar!"

Pretty in Pink...

Sarah's Bridesmaid was kitted up from head to toe in LK Bennett...

Sweet Peas & Bumblesbees...

"All of my flowers were from Sweet Peas and Bumblebees. Ashley and her amazingly talented team grown beautiful English country garden flowers in the most amazing old walled garden. They took my breath away when I first saw them when we were starting our planning and the moment we met Ashley there was just no way we could get our flowers from anyone else.

All of our flowers came from her and she and her incredible florist made our bouquets and button holes. My mums friend then arranged all of the other flowers into jugs that my mum had collected over the year - she did an amazing job and they were one of my favourite parts of the wedding, knowing the love and hard work that went into growing and arranging them made them very special."

Bruisyard Hall...

"Bruisyard Hall is a privately owned house available to hire and also has a room licensed for weddings.

We hired the house for the whole weekend and our closest family and friends stayed there with us - what they hadn't realised when they accepted the offer was the work they would have to do in order to make the wedding happen. But they were amazing - they decorated the marquee, hung bunting, arranged flowers, prepared food and BBQ'd and there efforts made the day totally unique and everything that we had hoped it would be.

They gave us the best start to married life and we still can't believe how lucky we were to have them all to share the day with."

One Dapper Chapper!

James' absolutely fabulous suit was a Charles Tyrwhitt...

"We went in for a nice navy suit and came out with a striped boating blazer and correspondence shoes - but I couldn't have imagined a more perfect outfit for James."

 

Times Square Proposal & Tiffany Rings...

"Our rings came from Tiffany. James proposed to me in Times Square in New York at midnight as I turned 30 and took me ring shopping on 5th avenue on my birthday - I'm a very, very lucky girl!"

Crikey o'rama - you can say that again!

I just absolutely adore the photographs below...

 

 

Vintage Garden Party meets Village Fete...

"I described our wedding day as vintage garden party meets village fete. I wanted it to feel honest and genuine.

My mum collected vintage china, glassware and linen for the whole year which when added to her existing collection gave us the perfect grounding for the vintage garden party meets village fete feel we wanted! Add to that the 50 meters of bunting she made for us along with tissue pompoms and we were delighted with the eclectic vintage feel - it wasn't polished or over thought and somehow everything came together to feel really genuine and work perfectly."

I absolutely LOVE the pretty pastel pinks and pale blues that feature in the following photographs...

It's a Family 'Food' Affair...

"My mum arranged all of the food, made hundreds of miniature scones and planned everything with military precision. All of our friends and family who stayed with us at Bruisyard Hall helped prepare the food on the morning of the wedding and my brother and brother in law manned the BBQ. The effort and love that went in to the whole day totally bowled us over."

Production Line Cupcakes!...

"My Bridesmaid Natalie and I made all of the cupcakes a few days before the wedding - we had a kitchen production line going!"

Words of Wedded Wisdom...

"I would wish that everyone could have an amazingly talented mum to help take it all off your plate and make it happen. Honestly she put such a lot of work into the whole day and so much of her heart and soul into making it the most amazing and memorable day of our lives.  But if you don't have someone to take it all off your plate then I would say don't sweat the small stuff, and never lose sight of what the day is really about.

Invest in an amazing wedding photographer; pick two of three details that are really important to you; and find ways to reflect who you are in the day.

And remember that at the end of the day your guests are there to see you get married, not be impressed by lavish table displays - I believe that simpler is better, especially when it is put together with love and care."

Wise, wise words in indeed Sarah...

A Perfect and Magical Day...

Our wedding day was special because of the people who made it happen. We didn't want caterers and planners and people to tell us how it should be - instead our friends and family came together for the weekend and put love, care and attention into everything - it was magical, I get goosebumps thinking about it now, the wedding day itself was beautiful and we had an amazing location but it would all have been nothing without the work my mum and our friends and family put in.

Oh - and the archery was fab - thoroughly recommend it - we used a company called Big Fun."

Just perfect in EVERY single way :)

Thank you Sarah for sharing all your glorious wedding day detail with Love My Dress readers, and thank you once again to the wonderful Marianne Taylor for helping our blog pages look all the prettier on a Monday morning :)

Much love as always :)

Annabel xXx

♥

Comments

[Sarah]

Absolutely gorgeous :0) Those flowers are perfect, they really are! We're aiming for something similar on a smaller scale. We've got the venue, a humanist celebrant and a fab photographer - the rest is up to us! Great to see such a lovely feature...and the shoes are fab!

[hannah]

The SHOES!!!! Must get new shoes. Must get new shoes. Must get my wedding shoes for a start! Didn't even think of going for a blue pair but these are just beautiful x

[Vb]

What a beautiful, colourful, romantic wedding!
i can feel the love...

[Debra]

This is such a beautiful wedding! The bride looks gorgeous, the flowers, the groom's jacket - everything is lovely. A natural, beautiful, happy wedding :)

[Jane]

Gorgeous wedding, AMAZING shoes :)

[Caroline]

Oh what a fab wedding! Loving everything about it! The decor is so lovely and colourful makes me happpiiiieeeee inside :-) Oh I LOVE weddings X

[Esme]

This wedding is full of individuality and personal style. I totally love that the Groom wore a stripey jacket and the bride didn't spend a huge fortune on a dress and still managed to look like she was walking about in a Jenny Packham frock! The photography is beautiful. A reminder that you should just stick to who you are on your wedding day and not try to be something you're not. Brilliant.

[Peridot]

She just looks BEAUTIFUL - absolutely lovely.

[Karen]

Fab! Question - where are the sweets from? With the bird sticker? Need them!!

[Annabel - Love My Dress Wedding Blog]

Hi Karen!
I've been in touch with Bride Sarah, who says the following:-

"The sweets are M&Ms that you can have custom printed in the US. My sister lives out there so was able to bring them over for us. Not sure if international shipping is available - http://www.mymms.com/customprint/
The stickers were designed by my bridesmaid - I can supply the artwork if she is prepared to find a printer who can produce them."

I do hope this helps :)

Let me know if I can be of any further assistance.

Thanks for your lovely comments everyone else :)

Annabel xXx

[Susan]

What a fabulous wedding!!!

[Karen]

Annabelle, thank you so much for going to the trouble - and so quickly - to find out the answer to my question. As I'm going to be a 'Bird' (in the surname sense) the little Bird/sweeties package would be so ideal! Love my Dress is brilliant - keep up the good work! K xx

[Karan]

I am always in love with Marianne Taylors photography!!!! Gorgeous, gorgeous gorgeous!

[godswmobile]

Gorgeous wedding

[Lynsey]

Hi, I have bought the Isabelle dress for my wedding next Summer, it is just beautiful! I would love to see some photos of other brides in this dress, does anyone have any? Also, brides who have bought this dress, did you, or are you, wearing a veil? I am looking for some inspiration! Thanks :-) xx

[wedding dresses]

wedding day is very special day of the person's life. But make sure you plan everything in advanced. Wedding dress, flower arrangement and all other things should completed before the week of the wedding day.