A Bride Designs Her Own Dress For Her Relaxed Summer, Vintage Vibe Wedding…

Morning lovers 🙂 Hoping the weekend was a welcome relax for you all. I have kind of muddied my way through my weekend meaning to do so much more than I actually did. But Monday soon comes round again doesn't it? And I've a very busy week ahead, so I'd better be getting on with it! ;)  Hope you got chance to read my Sunday Serving though.

As regular readers will know, I like to kick-off each week on a Monday morning with a wedding that represents the essence of Love My Dress; Anna and Dan tied the knot on 16 September 2011 at Maunsel House in Somerset. 

I love Anna's dress, was an entirely bespoke design, created for her by independent designer Wendy Kauffman, but I also love the whole vibe of this wedding – elegant and relaxed.  Bride Anna told me more about her day…

"We wanted to create something timeless and we love collecting vintage pieces from wherever we go so it felt natural to style our big day to reflect this.

 I designed the dress myself with Wendy's help. Wendy has made dresses for friends of mine in the past and I approached her because I had tried on countless dresses but none of them were quite right!"

Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2012, Annamarie Stepney

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Doesn't Tom look handsome in his Tom Ford suite from Harrods – which he teamed with a pair of vintage cufflinks from Grays Antiques and tie from Hilditch & Key, Jermyn St…

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Lanvin wedding shoes 

"Gemma Goodfellow of White Iris Flowers was our Florist – we wanted a vintage feel to the arrangements and the Amnesia and Champagne roses worked perfectly…"

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"All my bridesmaids all wore the Shell dress from All Saints (in ecru) apart from Emily who was 7 months pregnant and so I found her a matching dress from ASOS!

They picked their own shoes to match the dresses, closed toe heels in blush/beige colour and vintage crystal drop earrings from a boutique in London…"

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"To help decorate our venue and reception, we used stacks of old books that we have collected over the years tied together with old string as a table centrepiece and the table numbers were printed on the image that we also used for our invitations which was a painting from the 1950's of two Columbia Blue Jays…"

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The couple's cake was a homemade Victoria Sponge by Anna's mother, Sue along with the accessories hand-sewn by Natasha, one of Anna's bridesmaids…

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Cute heart shaped biscuits!

"Posh Nosh, our catering company based in Devon, ere reccommended by the team at Maunsel House and did a fantastic job!"

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Anna's hairdresser from the salon she visits in Knightsbridge drove from London on the day to do her hair and all the bridesmaids hair as well…

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"Anna wore a hair accessory made to match the dress by Wendy. She collected a selection of  beautiful vintage crystal brooches which were soldered onto a hair comb and fixed in place by Anna's hairdresser James…"

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Anna's father, Henry walked Anna down the aisle to the sound of Cavalleria Rusticana – Intermezzo Sinfonico

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"Our mutual friends organised a party in Devon on new years eve, 2006. Five years later, Dan proposed in Stockholm with his late grandmother's engagement ring whilst we were stood overlooking the lights of the city all wrapped up in our hats and scarves. He had carried a bottle of champagne and two glasses with him all day without me noticing!"

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Anna's engagement ring is a family heirloom with emeralds, diamonds and platinum.   Her wedding ring is a 1940's diamond eternity band from Grays Antiques in Mayfair…

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"We chose Maunsel House because it was close to where Anna grew up and as soon as we walked in, it just felt right.  The relaxed atmosphere, warm welcome, eccentric décor and sense of history really appealed to us.  We immediately felt at home and it reflected our tastes perfectly…"

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"We gave away hand-filled minature bottles of Disaronno Amaretto as favours to our guests…"

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Words of Wedded Wisdom…

"Try a shot of brandy before walking down the aisle!  It completely calms any nerves!  Take five minutes of alone time together to take it all in, it is those moments that you remember forever, otherwise the day just goes so quickly…

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What a lovely way to start a Monday. And Anna, I think you could always pursue a career in wedding dress design if all else fails – your dress is divine!

Thanks so much to the wonderful Photographer that is Annamarie Stepney for sharing these photographs…

"Annamarie Stepney was recommended to us whilst we were researching wedding photographers and as soon as we saw her website we knew she would capture the day and all the eccentricities of the venue and vintage style perfectly. After speaking to her on the phone Annamarie was incredibly friendly and enthusiastic and she did an amazing job! The pre-wedding shoot that we did turned out to be really fun and helped us get used to being in front of a camera so we a bit less nervous on the day!"

Are any of my other readers designing their own dresesses? I would absolutely love to hear from you if so…

Much love,

Annabel

 

Photographer – Annamarie Stepney
Venue – Maunsel House
Brides dress – Wendy Kauffman
Brides shoes – Lanvin from Harrods
Groom – Tom Ford suite from Harrods + vintage cufflinks from Grays Antiques + tie from Hilditch & Key
Bridesmaids – All Saints
Flowers – White Iris Flowers
Cake – Bride's mother
Transport – Dan and Anna's much-loved 1968 Morris Minor
Catering – Posh Nosh
Entertainment – Welsh cover band, Glint

Annabel

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.

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