Charlotte Balbier 50’s Love for a Relaxed and Fun Wedding in Edinburgh…

Morning all 😉 Hoping this first of the day finds you feeling well and rested. As you read ths, I'll be on my way to London for lunch and a hatching plans kind of meeting with Zoe Lem, Severin Hubert and Amanda from Lipstick and Curls. Whatever you are up to today, I hope you have a good one 🙂

Ally and Elley tied the knot on 22 October last year in Edinburgh…

"We got married in Edinburgh, the city we met in. We had the ceremony at the registry office, a beautiful venue right in the heart of the city in the shadow of the castle.

 I wore a fabulous dress called Marilyn from the designer Charlotte Balbier, ordered through a local bridal shop.  I knew from the start that I wanted to wear a tea length dress with a 50s feel to it. I had tried on similar styles but when I put this dress on I felt wonderful. The little beads and pearls all over the dress sparkled when ever I moved and it was so flattering.

On the day it was so comfortable I didn’t have to worry about anything except enjoying myself"

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

Charlotte Balbier for a relaxed and simple Edinburgh wedding...

"We kept the décor very simple in the restaurant with just the flowers and the seating cards. Our friend makes handmade cards and she designed and created the seating plan and table centres…"

Charlotte Balbier for a relaxed and simple Edinburgh wedding...

"For the Hen do my Bridesmaid thought of a brilliant idea, to go to a fascinator creation class. I made one in white with a 50s style box veil to go across the face and sewed little beads into the veil part.  As well as being a really good way to spend a day with my friends every one had something to wear to the wedding…."

Charlotte Balbier for a relaxed and simple Edinburgh wedding...

Charlotte Balbier for a relaxed and simple Edinburgh wedding...

"We had hired a double decker red London bus from The Red Bus, instead of a wedding car to take us and all the guests on a tour of the city and on to Arthur’s seat where we parked up and had champagne and pictures taken…"

Charlotte Balbier for a relaxed and simple Edinburgh wedding...

"Ally wore a chocolate brown herringbone prince Edward Suit with gold waistcoat and sage green tie hired from Slaters, plus some phenomenal brown wing tip brogues from Dune – perfect for swing dancing…."

Charlotte Balbier for a relaxed and simple Edinburgh wedding...

Charlotte Balbier for a relaxed and simple Edinburgh wedding...

"My shoes were Honey from Rainbow Club, I have to say they were also very comfortable, especially for dancing the night away…."

Charlotte Balbier for a relaxed and simple Edinburgh wedding...


Charlotte Balbier for a relaxed and simple Edinburgh wedding...

Charlotte Balbier for a relaxed and simple Edinburgh wedding...

Charlotte Balbier for a relaxed and simple Edinburgh wedding...

Charlotte Balbier for a relaxed and simple Edinburgh wedding...

Charlotte Balbier for a relaxed and simple Edinburgh wedding...

Charlotte Balbier for a relaxed and simple Edinburgh wedding...

Charlotte Balbier for a relaxed and simple Edinburgh wedding...

Charlotte Balbier for a relaxed and simple Edinburgh wedding...

"My bridesmaid wore a fabulous dress from a London designer called Fever, It was called Kennedy prom dress with a 50s cut in a vintage gold colour with a mint green belt and bolero…" 

Charlotte Balbier for a relaxed and simple Edinburgh wedding...

Charlotte Balbier for a relaxed and simple Edinburgh wedding...

Charlotte Balbier for a relaxed and simple Edinburgh wedding...

Charlotte Balbier for a relaxed and simple Edinburgh wedding...

Charlotte Balbier for a relaxed and simple Edinburgh wedding...

"The wedding breakfast was held at a fantastic restaurant called Blonde who prepares seasonal Scottish dishes. From there we went on to The Caves, located in the Cowgate; we chose this as a venue because it was really fun and certainly had the Wow! Factor. It has a wonderful cosy feeling in the bar area with leather seats and stocky wooden tables and then opens up to a huge double height vault with great acoustics for a live band. There are also little cosy corners for people wanting a bit of a relax after a long day.…"

Charlotte Balbier for a relaxed and simple Edinburgh wedding...

Charlotte Balbier for a relaxed and simple Edinburgh wedding...

"We hired The Counsellors, a 7 piece swing band based in Edinburgh who play classic swing and lounge tunes and covers of modern songs. We had been taking swing-dancing lessons which started us looking at this type of music but we also wanted something that would keep the dance floor full all night. The Counsellors certainly achieved that – they’re amazing musicians, but they’re also an awful lot of fun…."

Charlotte Balbier for a relaxed and simple Edinburgh wedding...

"We got the cake from Marks and Spencer’s online wedding cake selection which was very straight forward. We wanted a chocolate cake that was quite simple and they have one that has white chocolate icing which was delicious, it was a 3 tiered white cake with brown ribbon round it…"

Charlotte Balbier for a relaxed and simple Edinburgh wedding...

"Our first dance was to Bobby Darren Beyond the Sea, which was played by the band. We wanted a Swing song and we were both fans of this so it seemed the perfect choice…"

Charlotte Balbier for a relaxed and simple Edinburgh wedding...

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

"Something that my father told me to do just before the big day; Write down the running order of the day with the contact details of all the suppliers and details of what they need to do, print lots of copies and hand them out to family members, ushers, bridesmaids. Then what ever happens on the day it will not be your problem to organise, you can just enjoy your wedding day…."

Charlotte Balbier for a relaxed and simple Edinburgh wedding...

Just a lovely, fun, relaxed wedding. Just what we like. Huge thanks to Chris and Gillian from Christopher Currie Photography for sharing these photographs…

"We are so happy that we were recommended Christopher Currie Photography for our wedding, they came up with so many fresh ideas and understood quickly that we wanted things to be as fun as possible. They put a lot of effort to scope out the locations before the day to get ideas so it was effortless on the day. They came up with brilliant ideas for shots, but also were went to serious lengths to make sure we had all the photos we needed with different family groups.

We really wanted a vintage feel to the photos to go with the dress and the venues; Chris and Gillian were perfect for that.  The styles of shots, colours and feel they put together couldn’t have been any better.  They also have a photo booth option, which was great as we were having evening guests and meant we also have lots of pictures with then. It’s something a bit different, and it’s a chance of everyone to let loose and have a bit of fun after the 'serious' stuff is over.."

Shall we show Ally and Elley some love this morning?

You can see more fab photography from Christopher Currie on Love My Dress here, including this beautiful 1960's inspired affair – a bride in white tights, I love it! 😉

Much love all,

Annabel

Photographer - Christopher Currie Photography
Venue - Edinburgh registry office + Blonde + The Caves
Brides dress - Charlotte Balbier,
Brides shoes - Rainbow Club
Brides veil – handmade by the bride
Bridesmaids - Fever
Florist – Lorraine Graham Flowers [45 Causewayside, Edinburgh EH9 1QF, 0131 667 1528}
Cake - Marks and Spencer 
Entertainment - The Counsellors
Cars/Transport - The Red Bus
Hair Stylist - Leigh Ross

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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