A 1940’s Halterneck Dress for a Vintage Inspired Woodland Wedding Ceremony…

Morning All! :)  Friday's mornings are usually time for you to settle down with a cup of tea and immerse yourself in a good Bridal Inspiration Board, but I'm putting the board inspiration on hold today to share this truly beautiful wedding with you, sent in by Love My Dress fave Photographer, Lisa Devlin of Devlin Photos {the one that took these photos!} 🙂

Oh how much do I love this pretty, Spring time outdoor wedding? The photographs have captured everything I think a wedding should be – intimate, heartfelt, full of love and personality, it is all just perfect.  And the sun shone for them too 🙂

This is Matt and Laurie Mitchell, and they tied the knot on 22 May at Hogarths Hotel in Solihull.

Laurie wore an original 1940's white, backless, halter-neck vintage wedding gown from Francesca charlton, which she accessorised with a small art-deco brooch…

"I always wanted a 'pre-loved' dress.  I loved the idea it had a past story and had been worn on someone else's special day.  When I tried it on my Mum got a tear in her eye. It fitted me perfectly, accentuating the best bits of my figure.  It made me feel very special.

We choose our venue, Hogarths Hotel, for the outside 'island' ceremony and beautiful wooden grounds; neither matt or I wanted a big formal ceremony and reception, but rather to keep things relaxed and simply stylish. The outside woodland ceremony was the perfect naturally pretty setting and having wild flowers for the reception felt like bringing some of that nature inside.

My dress was not a typically large traditional wedding dress, but quite simple and elegant, which fitted matt's suit choice, a smart grey 3 piece suit (and his pantone cufflinks which nod to his job as a designer). The main colour was green, a favourite of both of ours, which also worked well with the outside wedding."

Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2011, Devlin Photos

"My veil was floor length and White.  It was a gift from my wonderful friend Lucy Ball, who runs 'The Wedding Shop' in Alderly Edge with her Mum.  My shoes were peep toe and white.  They were contemporary with a vintage look and I added some art deco clips to glam them up…"

"I also wore an art deco look hair slide called 'Mia', designed and made by Lucy Marshall.  My cuff bracelet was silver with little diamontes and tied with a White ribbon and my earrings were silver vintage drops…"

The Traditional Flower Company provided all the gorgeous colourful florals on the day…

"We chose The Traditional Flower Company because of their use of wild seasonal flowers, and the beautiful organic natural look to their arrangements.  The smell of the flowers when we visited the flower farm was amazing. We were over the moon with the flowers…"

I adore the beautiful wild-flower button-hole…

 

"We had a steel drummer called Sofia who entertained guests during the ceremony and reception drinks.

I walked along the 'aisle' (or rather over the bridge) to the bridal march, played on a steel drum.  Music is very important to Matt and I, and I love the sound of steel drums, so was so excited when my mum booked Sofia for the ceremony!"

"I love all things vintage, especially the1930s and 40s and wanted to add as many vintage touches as possible.  (vintage glassware, tea-cups etc).  Matt managed to bring a bit of his love for contemporary design in though, by reading his speech from his ipad!"

"My mum and I had been collecting vintage glass bottles, vases, candle holders and jam jars for a year.  We put an arrangement of 3 bottles filled with flowers in the centre of every table.  Matt's Mum and I made a lot of vintage tea-cup candles to go on the tables and around the venue.  I wanted candle light to feature heavily. We also had a few glass candle holders and bowls of sweets on each table.  My mum made the favours. 

There were 5 sugar almonds wrapped up in lace, with a little note explaining the significance of each almond. I then tied to them a small tag made out of aged music paper and wrote each guests name on it. We used a vintage little suitcase for the card box, and collected birdcages which were dotted around the venue.  Our table plan was a large chalk board, which I wrote and decorated with paper butterflies…"

 

"My Aunty teresa made out beautiful arrangement of cupcakes.  I had collected a variety of vintage glass cake stands with different amounts of tiers and sizes, and my Aunty filled them with different flavoured and decorated cakes.  We had one giant cupcake which she also baked, and decorated with a mini bride and groom given to us by my brother, Ben.   I chose cupcakes to go with the relaxed informal feel of the day. The cake table also had a lovely candelabra on it and looked so beautiful!"

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

"Certain things need to be organised early on (such as venue and photographer).  Good ones go quick.  Try and do a little bit each day in the months leading up to the wedding as there's more to do than you'd think. Try not to get stressed.  It's meant to be the happiest day of your life and the organising and lead up are all part of the memories.

We loved every bit of the day and wouldn't change a thing. It was so much fun. We are so lucky to have such supportive and helpful friends and family who kept us relaxed. The venue, flower supplies and photographers etc were all also amazing ( Lisa devlin even stepped in to help me put out last minute decorations and hold my bag and lip gloss!). I've looked at the beautiful photos a thousand times already, and doubt I'll ever get bored of doing so.

Enjoy it!"

 

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Brides dress – Francesca charlton
Brides veil – The Wedding Shop
Brides shoes – Dune + Art Deco style clips
Brides accessories – Hairslide by Lucy Marshall, Bracelety by Daniel design on etsy
Groom – M&S Suit + green tie, green Pantone cufflinks and green socks
Bridesmaids – LK Bennett
Venue – Hogarths Hotel in Solihull
Photographer – Devlin Photos
Flowers – The Traditional Flower Company
Cake – Aunt
Steel drummer – Sofia

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How beautiful is all of this? Laurie, Matt, you have made my day so much better with your beautiful wedding photographs, I truly mean that. I wish you both a life full of love, happiness, beautiful children and growing old happily together *sob!*

So much love to you both and as always, big thanks to Lisa Devlin

for so kindly shareing these images.  See more from Devlin Photos on Love My Dress here.  Also browse through the 1940's and Vintage Weddings categories for much more inspiration 🙂 And if you really want to treat yourself to some visually beautiful vintage wedding inspiration, why don't you treat yourself to this gorgeous new coffee table book called 'Vintage Weddings'.  My copy arrived yesterday – I can't recommend enough.

Have a lovely morning everyone – thanks for checking in.

Much love,

Annabel xXx

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