For those of you not at the Designer Wedding Show today {I unfortunately cannot make it this time, it being only 4 weeks since this precious little person arrived}, I have a little Art-Deco fabulousness for you to enjoy instead this morning.
Jeni and Peter's art-deco inspired wedding took place on 31 July this year at Highbury Hall in Moseley, Birmingham; "The theme for our wedding evolved rather naturally. We orginally were going for a more arts and crafts/art nouveau style to more match the period of the venue, but once we had my 30s-ish dress, and particulalry the 20s-style bridesmaids dresses, Art Deco seemed the obvious choice!"
Jeni's wedding dress was by one of my favourite UK designers, Ritva Westenius – a purchase from Platinum Brides on Robin Hood Island in Hall Green, Birmingham; "It was simple and elegant and I loved the fishtail shape of the skirt. Once Joan in the bridal shop added the maribou shrug I really fell in love with it – it felt very 1930s movie star!"
These art-deco wedding photographers were submitted by the lovely Anna Hardy – more from whom you can see on the Love My Dress Wedding blog here. May I quickly mention how much I am LOVING these 1920's flapper style tassle dresses, sported by Jeni's Bridesmaids!…
Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2010, Anna Hardy
Highbury Hall in Moseley, Birmingham was selected as the venue "because it is a beautiful old Arts and Crafts style house and very much a part of Birmingham's history, being the former home of Joseph Chamberlain. Also, we live in Moseley so it was only a couple of miles from our house!"…
These sparkly silver flats are from Next – and this isn't the first time this week that we've seen a Bride in flat shoes for her wedding…
1920's Flapper Girl Frocks…
I love love love love LOVE the colour and style of these Bridesmaids dresses!
"The two adult bridesmaids wore black and teal 20s-style flapper dresses from Monsoon. The dresses came to life when they were on – they moved fantastically and the bridesmaids couldn't sop shimmying all day! The original plan was for black bridesmaids dresses, but once we found the flapper dresses we just had to get them.
Again, we struggled to find black dresses for the little bridesmaids, so in the end my mum made both their dresses from black satin, and we found a matching teal satin to make a waistband.
We knew we wanted black, T-bar shoes for the adult bridesmaids to go with the 1920s look of the dresses – we searched high and low and eventually found them in Debenhams. The little bridesmaids' shoes were a challenge – not easy to find black shoes for little girls that aren't just sensible school shoes! On the advice of a friend we tried a dance shop and found a pair of black ballet pumps for Ella, the 2 year old, and jazz shoes with a little heel for Maisie, the 6 year old."
The Bridesmaids also wore black feathre hair clips from Monsoon and art deco style black and silver earrings from Smithsonia in the Picadilly Arcade, Birmingham.
To top it off, a touch of teal coloured nail varnish was worn to match the dresses! 🙂
Grandmother's Pearls and Pink Glasses!
"My mum and I made a headband from an old pearl necklace that had belonged to my paternal grandmother, who passed away a few years ago. We threaded the beads onto thin wire and then held the three strands together with a brooch we bought from Platinum Brides…"
Jeni's pretty Maribou shrug was another purchase from Platinum Brides. Her vintage drop earrings and diamond necklace both borrowed from my maternal Grandmother. Jeni also wore a home-made Fraser Tartan garter made by her Mother, to represent her maternal Grandmother's Scottish heritage!
Jeni finally bought new glasses for the day – in pink! …"Which didn't fit the colour scheme at all, but never mind!".
Who cares Jeni? You looked fab! 🙂
A helping hand…
Meanwhile, Groom Peter is ready and awaiting his Bride 🙂
"Pete wore his own black Dinner Jacket with a sim fit white dress shirt from Thomas Pink, black bowtie from Moss Bros, black pointed brogues from Office and black and silver cufflinks that had belonged to my Grandpa. Pete's pocket square was made from a square of material from his Grandmother's wedding dress…"
I LOVE this shot below! I love how it captures a perfect moment in time – full of fun and movement – brilliant! 🙂
"We had some games on the lawn outside, that included lawn darts and dominoes etc…"
A Gallery of Greyhounds…
"We knew we had to include our rescue greyhound, Maggie, in some way. Once I started researching Deco designs, I came across so many pictures of greyhounds and greyhounds being walked by flappers, that it just seemed to fit perfectly – they are apparently a very Art Deco breed of dog! We researched old pictures of greyhounds (from the 20s/30s where possible, but some were from earlier/later time periods) and found 8 images we really liked, one per table.
For the table names, we took some of the best racing names from Maggie's ancestry (as an ex-racer, she has a long and well-documented family tree) – Black Magic Molly was Maggie's racing name, so that became the top table, and then we picked out some of the great and rather fanciful names from her parents, Grandparents, etc. There were some great names – 'Supreme Fun' and 'Droopys Corleon'e being just two examples!"
"Apart from flowers and table signs, nothing extra was needed as the inside was already pretty high on mad Victorian decorating details!"
Paper Aeroplanes…
"My main focus for the wedding was for it to be fun and enjoyable for all the guests, and I didn't want anything to be too formal or serious. To get people talking we had paper aeroplanes (with questions inside) and a quiz during the meal, and a caption competition with pictures of me and Pete for the evening guests.
What a genius idea!! 🙂
The couple's cake was a 3 tier square chocolate made by the Groom's Mum, who decorated 9t with black ribbon and flowers/feathers from the Florist…
"Pete and I really didn't want too much attention focused just on us for the first dance as neither of us are naturals on the dance floor, so our first dance was a traditional barn dance tune called 'Galopede' and the whole top table danced together – bride, groom, both sets of parents, two bridesmaids and two best men…"
"We also had some games on the lawn outside – lawn darts, dominoes, etc. Our guest book was accompanied by a mini polaroid camera so guests could take photos of themselves to stick in the book with a comment – I have to admit I stole this idea from my brother's wedding last year, where it went down very well! We also hoped that a barn dance would ensure that everyone was included, as you don't need to be a 'good dancer' to take part, and anyone not up to dancing can still be involved as a spectator! The feedback so far from family and friends has been good…!"
The Burdock Band provided the entertainment…
Words of Wedded Wisdom…
"Do it the way you want! Take the traditions you want but don't feel you have to do anything a certain way – it's your day…"
What a fabulous wedding and what a super suite of wedding photographs!
Thank you so much Jeni for sharing your wedding day style with Love My Dress – and thank you also to Manchester Wedding Photographer Anna Hardy for sharing these lovely Photographs for our readers to enjoy – see more Anna Hardy Photography on Love My Dress here.
Have a good day all 🙂
Much love,
Annabel xXx
♥
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.
