A Charming English Spring Time Wedding…

 

"I’m not sure where my ideas came from. I studied design at Goldsmiths University and knew I wanted to create our wedding myself. I love Tim Walker, Shona Heath, Sofia Coppola, Vogue, Etsy and Pinterest.  think the image in my mind was a Midsummer Nights Dream in spring, so fresher and newer. Enchanting and English…."

 

Good morning all 🙂 I thought I'd leave the wonderful 1930s inspired Deco Debutante post up a little while longer as it wasn't posted until quite late yesterday.  Time now though for another lovely real wedding on Love My Dress.

Mr and Mrs Thomson tied the knot on 24th March at St Mary Magdelene Church in Tanworth in Arden.  I love the charming, English style of this wedding and think the brides dress choice couldn't have been more perfect…

"My dress was a silk organza dress by Miamia. It was the first dress I tried on in the first shop I visited!  I wanted a dress that was floaty and full. I wasn’t sure about anything sparkly or detailed as Mr Thomson was wearing a kilt in his family tartan and I wanted spring flowers to be a big part.

I loved how the dress moved, like the dress in the dance in the King and I. And how the light came through the fabric. I think I wanted to look like a flower fairy deep down!"

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

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"We met at a train station, we both missed the same train and he asked me for a drink in the hotel over the road whilst we waited for the next one. We caught the next train together and just before we went our separate ways he asked me to see him again. After a long distance relationship whist I finished Uni we moved in together in Tanworth-in-Arden – the village we married in. He proposed on the same spot that we met on boxing day in the snow.

"The grooms party all wore kilts in Thomson tartan. It’s the nicest tartan I know – a lovely antiquey blue…."

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"I went for spring flowers because I knew I could pick them and they are so beautiful and bright. It’s always a delight when spring flowers emerge after a long winter. And now they will always remind me of my wedding.  My mum and I planted bulbs in September and crossed our fingers. Other flowers came from the Birmingham Flower market the Thursday morning before. Which is brilliant fun, but a trial run is definitely worth it.

We bought narcissi, pale pink tulips, gorgeous dusky purple roses, tiny daffodils, wax flowers – I had a plan in mind but you get carried away! We supplemented these with neighbours cherry blossom and greenery from my Grandma's garden…."

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"The venue has lovely high vaulted ceilings so to balance the space the table centres needed to be tall OR the ceiling space softened. I wanted the room to have an enchanting feel about it so I made 30 or so huge paper pom poms and suspended them from the rafters using invisible nylon thread. I think it looked really romantic and had a big impact for not a lot of money…."

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"We didn’t give favours, I couldn’t decided what everyone would like. I did do customised place settings for all of the 8 children that were at the wedding with bubble pots, organic juice and wax crayons.

Having your own child at the wedding is very magical but also quite tricky! We had to make it as child friendly as possible because we knew that a happy toddler has a happy Mama! We had a dressing up basket that went down a treat! And a pop up circus tent. It’s not too difficult to make the toys fit with the day so that the room doesn’t look like a nursery.  The dressing up clothes created theatre there were fairies, owls, rabbits and princes running around! And the bubbles looked great too. We did have to be very careful with candles and kept the cake out of reach! I supplied plastic plates and cutlery to the caterer from Ikea which helped her portion the children’s meals.

You also don’t have to have lots of big plastic high chairs there are seats that clip to regular chairs and all sorts of boosters. Some mums were even happy to bring them. I put baby wipes in the toilets and a changing mat. Our photographer,  Rebecca Lindon was also great with our daughter and other children, catching innocent moments and getting attention…"

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"My Bridesmaids all wore classic silk Ghost dresses in midnight blue, pale sea green and emerald. The flower girls dresses were a bargain from Bows and Arrows at Boots of all places…"

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"Our cake was two double height round fruit cakes iced in ivory icing with sugar daisies around the edges and pale blue velvet ribbon to match the tartan. It sat on a ceramic daisy cake stand and on top were little peg people that I painted to look like Rich and I and also our daughter.

My Mum and I made the fruit cakes, and my dad fed them rum for a couple of weeks. One of my bridesmaids Mother made all of the beautiful daisies and iced and decorated it…."

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"I wanted to wear white wax flowers in my hair but we ran out of time. I was so desperate to see Rich I didn’t care!  I took off all my jewellery expect for a pair of up-cycled diamond earrings my dad gave me for Christmas when I was 18"   

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"With only days to go I had no car, the old VW wasn’t going to be road worthy. My mum and I had gone to look at the church to plan how many flowers we needed to buy at the market and as we were leaving, the most perfect car drove past. We did the ‘shall we shan’t we’ dance and missed him. So we left in the car but spotted him in the tiny garage in Tanworth Village. The gentleman in the car was called Alan and he told us that the car and him, were both 77, but the car had a better body.

He agreed to drive me and my father to the church. His son had married there and we both agreed it must have been fate. The car was an Austin Ascot, with blue panels that matched Rich’s kilt. It had flags for indicators and blinds at the windows with velvet tassle trim. I didn’t desperately want a vintage car, I just wanted to get there, but our meeting is a beautiful story, it was meant to be and the drive was all more special for it. Although my dad chattered about motor cars with Alan all the way…."

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"A friend kindly lent me her veil. Apparently the veil gathers luck the more people who use it, I hope it has a long and happy future as a wedding veil and will pass it on…."

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"My Father gave me away – we walked down the aisle to the theme tune to the film ‘Cider House Rules’. I haven’t even seen the film I have to confess. But the song by Rachel Portman is so lovely. We had a band at the church to play for us…"

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"We chose to gett married in Arden because it is the most beautiful little English village and the first place we lived together and our little girl’s first home. It also meant a lot to us that the vicar, Paul, married us as we really empathised with his thoughts on love, life and the world around us…"

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"The reception was at the Lord Leycester Hospital in Warwick. A retirement home for ex servicemen. It was a very English wedding and this amazing Tudor venue topped it all off. I fell in love with the vaulted ceiling and huge potential of the great hall. And the gentlemen that live there were so lovely, like a home full of kind Grandads. It felt good to be helping protect the historic building and their home and not a corporate hotel."

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"I knew the wedding itself would be wonderful as long as Rich was there. I wanted to look like the bride he always wanted. I think that’s why my dress and hair were quite traditional. I wanted a homemade day, a chance to create something wonderful to share with my friends and family. I wanted to spoil everyone!"

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"Our catering company were Bon App.  Amanda did a fabulous job! The food was really wonderful and everyone commented. She was flexible with what I wanted and had good suggestions on what works for feeding lots of people. It was one of the best meals I have ever had I think…"

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Words of Wedded Wisdom…

"Ah well! I would say work out your priorities so that you spend money in the right places. Lots of my friends were happy to lend shoes etc and it felt good to borrow things that were loved. And I don’t think our guests minded that they didn’t get favours and it gave us money to put towards the band which was much more memorable than almonds.

On the day. ask a friend or bridesmaid to keep a check on your hair or lipstick etc. It’s not easy to escape to look in the mirror and you don’t want to see a photo and think why didn’t someone tell me that!  I also think it’s a lovely idea to go for a dinner with your partner before the wedding as go over your vows so that on the day they come from your heart.

And on the big day, just go with it and try to take in every moment. There is no point in worrying because your wedding day is your special day no matter what happens. I’d love to go back in time and enjoy it again!"

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Charming in every sense of the word. Thank you so much Mr and Mrs Thomson for sharing your lovely day with Love My Dress.  I wish you lots of love and luck and happiness ahead.

Thank you too to photographer Rebecca Lindon for sharing these photographs…

"We hired Rebecca Lindon from Deville Photography and we were amazed at her photographs. Rebecca was delightful.

I found Rebecca on Love My Dress The best blog I found for featuring wedding photographers!"

Does anyone reading this have a smilar style in mind to this lovely bride?

Much love all,

Annabel

 

Photographer – Deville Photography
Venue – Lord Leycester Hospital in Warwick
Brides dress – Miamia
Brides veil – loaned by a friend
Brides shoes – eBay
Grooms suit – Family tartan / kilts
Bridesmaids – Ghost
Flowers – Birmingham Fllower market
Cake – made by the bride & her family
Catering Company - Bon App

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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