A Lovers Guide To Wedding Wines, With Love & Lord…

Morning my lovelies! I wanted to write about something a little different this morning on Love My Dress.  I'll make no bones about this. I do like my wine. Quite a lot. Only, I'm a little bit ashamed to say it has become rather a habit to simly opt for the most attractive looking £4-£6 bottle I can find come the weekend – as opposed to spend time ingratiating myself with the wine label and description. This is a bit of an unfortunate thing, nice as some of those £4-£6 wines are – after last Wednesday evening, I have come to realise that I missed a bit of a trick when it came to my wedding day wines and making a more careful and considered selection of liquid grape for our wedding guests.

Last week I had the very good fortune of attending an evening at the wonderfully luxurious Langham Hotel, London.  Billed as 'A Lovers Guide to Wine', the evening was hosted by luxury wedding planners Love & Lord, who were joined by newly appointed Love & Lord Creative Driector Lucia Silver – also Founder and Designer at The State of Grace {and owner of Dar Jaguar – make sure you've not missed this!} and wine expert Tom Harrow, aka, The Wine Chap.

Weddingwines

Founded in 1999 and based in London, Love and Lord are purveyors of beautifully designed weddings across Europe, with a specialism in planning Italian weddings and events.  I very much enjoyed spending time with The Love & Lord team last week.  Founder James Lord was nothing short of charming and his colleagues and leading wedding planners were I think as fascinated in the success of Love My Dress as I was in their accounts of transporting wedding day flowers, by donkey, [I'm not even kidding you} up  dusty tracks so that their clients could have their dream wedding day on top of a remote Italian mountainside overlooking the sea.  That Love and Lord team really are all kinds of amazing when it comes to pulling off weddings one could only usually fantasise about.

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Now, what might a bunch of luxury wedding planners, a bridal fashion expert and a wine tasting guru all be doing together at The Langham?  Creating a little bit of 'liquid love' and wedding wine magic, that's what.  These three parties have joined forces to support Love and Lord on the launch and delivery of a brand new service designed to assist soon-to-be-wed couples to find their perfect wedding wine. I'm not talking your £4-£6 Friday night bottle here, but neither am I talking your £600 bottle of Dom Perignon.

Let me explain how the service works and how it was presented to myself and the collection of 15 or so other guests of bloggers and media representatives at The Langham last Wednesday evening.  By the way, that's Tom Harrow, aka, The Wine Chap below.  He's a rather dapper chapper. And quite funny too…

Love My Dress – Photograph Copyright (c) 2012, Love & Lord

Tom

The Love & Lord, Wedding Wine Service has essentially been designed to have all the advice and tips you could need to help you ensure you book the most perfect wine selection for your wedding day.  The service is all about finding the wine that perfectly matches the personality and atmosphere of your wedding or event.  It also offers top tips on avoiding wine wastage {always useful when paying those unavoidable and usually sky high wedding-day corkage fees} and securing the best value wine selections that look and taste the part but are affordable for large events.

In fact, I was mighty surprised quite how affordable the wines we tasted last Wednesday evening were too – but I'll get on to that shortly.

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As guests and I arrived at The Langham last Wednesday, we received a warm and very friendly welcome from the host and his presenters, before being led through to the Infinity Suite {which was to dual serve as my abode for the evening – I know, I nearly died with luxury hotel overdose!}. Within this magnificent two bedroomed hotel suite stood several mannequins boasting the most exquisite bridal wear, each piece very different in style. Four of the bridal wear pieces had been specifically selected and paired with four different wines ready for our hosts to talk us through their 'wedding wine' concept, as follows:-

1.  The 'Demure' dress, paired with Ruinart Blanc de Blancs {from £50 online} a classic for a classical and understated bride and groom.

2. The 'Dolce Vita' dress, paired with Vesevo Fiano d'Avellion Italian white wine {approx £14 a bottle and my favourite!}, or a Roman romance on the Amalfi Coast.

3.  The 'Versailles' lace coat and later, the 'Siren' dress with 'Maharani' coat, paired with Chêne Bleu Rosé {approximately £14 a bottle} …very French, for a sensual and traditionally romantic wedding in Tuscany.

4. The 'Goddess' dress with Erte cape, paired with La Giaretta Valpolicella Classico 'I Quadretti' {around £25 a bottle} … energetic and Italian for a glamorous and dramatic wedding event.

The evening running order was around 40 minutes, and in that time, Lucia Silver of The State of Grace talked guests through each very different bridal look and a bit about each respective wedding day and The Wine Chap explained why each wine had been selected to pair with that specific bridal look and wedding day – the dresses, you see, each represented a design from a 'real wedding' that had already taken place.  It was all rather fascinating, I have to admit, and the most fascinating part for me was getting to sample the wines and completely understand and appreciate {in a very pleasantly surprised that I 'got it' kind of way} why they had been selected.

Lucia

I thought it would be fun to go through each design and share with you what I learned about those respective weddings and the wines that had been paired with them.

 

The ‘Demure’ Dress, paired with Ruinart Blanc de Blancs…

The Demure Dress was created for a bride who was after a classical understated elegance, innocence and beauty. This gorgeous fluid silk dress has a soft bias cut silk crepe dress with soft chiffon rushing, diaphanous transparent long sleeves and exaggerated silk satin cuffs and puddle train.

Demure

Love & Lord perfectly matched the styling of the dress with the styling of the wedding.  An Indian Mendap was built from rushed chiffon like the brides dress that tailed off into billowing silk set against the lush green of a Tuscan garden. Patterns were also created with white petals throughout the walkways that guests were led down accompanied by a world renowned Roman Harpist. In addition, understated dove grey linens of the highest quality dressed the tables along with further swoops of ivory silk chiffon. The chairs were wrapped with dove grey chiffon secured with an individual crystal brooch which glistened subtly in the candlelight.

The Wine Chap paired the ‘Demure Dress’ with Ruinart Blanc de Blancs – a whiter than white champagne perfectly reflecting the elegance and innocence of the dress.

 

The 'Dolce Vita' Dress, paired with Vesevo Fiano d'Avellino…

It really hit home for me what the evening was all about, when it came to the second look, The Dolce Vita dress – a sassy little design with a cheeky rose appliqued short skirt with bustle and exquisite silk sculptered corset with a low front, that had been worn with a gorgeous short 50's style veil and flirty ruffled high-heels…

Dolce Vita Dress (close up on corset) Dolce Vita Dress (on bride in Italy)

The Vesevo Fiano d'Avellion Italian white wine that Tom Harrow had paired with this dress was utterly divine – in a 'I would rather smell this deliciously aromatic liquid than taste it' kind of thing. But taste it I did. And my tongue rejoiced for moment I swear!

The Dolce Vita was created for a bride who displayed a fun and exuberant attitude on love – think spontaneous and sassy.

Paloma

Love & Lord wanted the wedding to reflect all of these traits and so arranged for the bride to prance freely through the cobbled hilly streets of Ravello followed by her dancing bridesmaids and an acoustic Neapolitan trio serenading her.  Meanwhile the wedding planner hired vespas for the boys with a pre-planned picturesque route, handmade maps in hand, through the Chianti rolling vineyards. Furthermore, Love & Lord created a true Fellini reception with Dolce Vita inspired red and black luxury table linens and festoons, vintage vespas, 1950’s la dolce vita lookalikes were on hand for photographs, outdoor cinema showing black and white films of the period.  To compliment this they offered a traditional gelateria retro candy bar in red, white and black, and brought in famous street finger puppeteer Marcel from Piazza Navona in Rome. To top it all off the sassy Paloma Faith was flown in to perform an acoustic set during their dinner – she wore the headpiece you see above right. I can't even find the words #breathtaking. 

 

The 'Versailles' Lace Coat & The 'Siren' Dress and 'Maharani' Coat…

The next dresses were created for a Persian bride and French groom who had a very sensual, old world take on romance.  At their wedding everything focused around the fusion of cultures, which was fascinating on it's own, hearing all about. The bride apparently started in traditional lace and finished in a Persian inspired ensemble. The Versailles Lace Coat is suggestive and overtly romantic – an exquisitely delicate Belgian champagne lace that has been hand sewn and appliquéd to create a body silhouetting high-collared coat and long train. The “Siren” Dress with “Maharani” Coat offered a touch of Oriental exoticism with a pale eau de nil 1930s-inspired low back satin dress adorned with back jewels worn with a lavish matching hand embroidered and beaded silk organza coat.

Vesailles Coat Maharani Coat

The Versailles Lace coat on it's own.  Oh how I adore…

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Love & Lord hosted this particular wedding at the exclusive Il Borro estate of Salvatore Ferragamo in the middle of a medieval village.  Much of the wedding was focused around the love exchanges of the bride and groom with a full Persian ceremony with a traditional Aghd including many meaningful symbolic features. Everywhere was scented with the divinely delicious Middle Eastern fragrance, Oud and guests were welcomed with gifts of Iranian tea, crystal sugars, spiced nuts, Iranian prayer and poem cards and lucky nougat all wrapped in beautiful decorative papers. Love & Lord continued this romantic theme later when the escort cards were arranged surrounding a huge white cage full of doves which the bride and groom released to announce dinner. There were also two metre high willow branches assembled on every table entwined with hydrangeas, roses and beautiful hanging crystal votives lit with tiny flickering flames for a true midsummer's night dream evening.

The Wine Chap suitable paired these two dresses with the fragrant Chêne Bleu Rosé. A new ‘Domaine Ott’- a gorgeously vivacious drop, pale, bright, salmon pink. Characterized by red fruits and citrus, it gives off hints of tangerines and papaya.  The wine immediately whisks you away to La Verriere, perched in the high hills of Provence, the imposing Mont de Ventoux in the near distance. This is everything a Rosé should be, but a lot more.  

 

The Goddess Dress and Erte Cape…

The final dress was made for a bride who wanted her wedding to be extravagant, dramatic and enchanting. The "Goddess" Dress and "Erte" Cape offered an unapologetic silver screen Hollywood glamour with accompanying 1930s Deco decadence. This dress demands a bride confident with her enviable figure and the Erte cape is utterly swoon worthy ladies; the level of craftsmanship that went into the cape alone was breathtaking {each one takes three months to complete, such is the delicacy of it's hand applied embellishment}.  

Lucia advised guests that over ten metres of fabric defines the extravagance of this silk satin dress. With a plunging low back, blouson front, lavish tie and bejeweling, it is perfectly complemented by this deco inspired 1930s sequined cocoon cape.

GoddessDressErteCape

To match the bride and groom’s requirements, Love & Lord provided a full Art Deco table design, flying in a private collection of European Deco china and crystal. The rooms were dressed with vintage pearls, rhinestone and lace, an extravagance of calla lilies and antique roses, marabou feathers in white and silver julep. The wedding breakfast was centered around the pool which was in turn encircled in a field of flames surrounding the diners, creating a real feeling of drama. 

Ertecape

Guests also enjoyed a surprise performance by a troupe of synchronised swimmers dressed in 30’s swimsuits and caps with Gershwin as the perfect jazz compliment.

* moment to pause and appreciate the epic nature of this wedding people, please! *

The waiters all had embroidered white jackets with the bride and grooms’ name and the waiters were choreographed to pop the Magnums all at once for further drama!  The final dramatic and surprising finishing touch was for three tenors (disguised as waiter, chef and maitre d') to sing Nessun Dorma standing on the ancient stone wall whilst the bride and groom cut their wedding cake. A firework display was timed to start as Nessun Dorma reached its crescendo behind them.

Are you still with me, or have you passed out with the sheer wonder of this incredible sounding day?!

Goddess Dress

The Wine Chap perfectly complimented the Goddess dress and Erte cape with and Love & Lord's awesome kind of wedding styling with La Giaretta Valpolicella Classico 'I Quadretti' – a gloriously smooth, rich red wine that I enjoyed immensely.

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Conclusion? The evening was a huge amount of fun, not least because of the perfectly wonderful service at The Langham Hotel {very highly recommend for a romantic getaway or city-chic style wedding venue}, but because hosts James Lord and Lucia Silver must have had a stroke of genius in choosing to partner with Tom Harrow, who was both funny and supremely knowledgeable in an way that made the experience of wine tasting for the very first time, totally accessible to me.  Bravo team Love & Lord – I am sure this brilliant new service will be a huge hit with your clients, and I thank you for inviting me to your launch presentation, meet with your talented team and sample some very fine wines.

You can download details of the 'The Wine Chap's' Wedding Wine List Service here or view the Wine Chap website.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this piece.  Are you a lover of good wine? What are your thoughts on pairing the perfect wine with it's ideal wedding day style? What about wine tasting – has anyone ever attended a tasting event before?  Are you planning a pre-wedding wine tasting event of your own? And are you a red, white or rose kinda person?   Wine lovers of the world, let's unite for a little grape talk this morning…

Big love everyone, I'll be back later today with something of the laser-cut wedding invitation variety and a gorgeous collection of images this afternoon from something all together very different 😉 I do love a bit of variety, don't you?

Much love everyone,

Annabel

 

P.S.  I'm working on some 'real' Love & Lord weddings to share with you.  If I can even get anywhere  near that 1930's affair described above, you will be the very first to know!!!

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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