"I would advise other brides to be to do it their way and believe in how you want to do it. Everyone thought we were mad doing it in the field when it could have so easily rained, and not having it as a proper ceremony, but it literally could not have been more perfect because it was what WE wanted to do. It made us happy so it made all our loved ones happy.
Every single person has said to us what a genuinely fantastic day they had and I think a lot of that is because Dan and I relaxed and enjoyed ourselves so they did too…"
There's a lot of love for the humble polka dot on Love My Dress today. I have honestly smiled all the way through producing this piece, it is so full of fun, laughter, and love – the emotions are infectious through these wonderful photographers sent in by Natalie J Watts…
This is Maddie and Daniel and they got married on 26th May. Maddie and Daniel love the 1950's. They love music. And they love balloons…
Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2012, Natalie J Watts
"We love 1950's Americana and this, mixed with the essence of the British countryside truly influenced the style of wedding we had. We wanted it to be colourful and fun and relaxed and enjoyable, which is exactly what it was!"
"We held the ceremony in the apple orchard field at my mums house where I grew up {We didn’t want a church wedding so we had the legal service the day before in the registry office in Taunton, Somerset}, and the reception in a marquee in the garden. It is such a beautiful place that I had always dreamed we could make it work there- it would seem silly to pay to have it elsewhere when we had such a beautiful venue already.
It is also special to me as my Dad’s grave is in the church at the top of the hill which sort of looks down on the house so it felt like we had his blessing and that he was looking down on us even though he couldn’t be there. He must have been with the beautiful weather we were blessed with!"
"My older sister was my maid of honour, and my bridesmaids were my four best friends from London and my best friend from school. They all wore a gorgeous fitted fifties red polka dot dress from Vivien of Holloway. I always knew I'd get them from there – I love their dresses.
They are sexy in an old fashioned way and they made the girls feel fantastic which was really important to me – I’ve never understood brides who put their bridesmaid’s in ugly unflattering dresses! They should be the dress you would want to wear if you were the bridesmaid…"
"We married under an arch which my stepdad and neighbours put together. He worked so hard on making the garden look beautiful that we didn’t need much decoration. A few weeks before the wedding it was destroyed by an invasion of lots of sheep so they worked so hard to make it look so fantastic!
Dan fell in love with his burgundy suit from The Kooples straight away, and teamed it with navy with white polka dots on his tie, braces and socks. So he asked his Best man and Groomsman to do the opposite. A navy suit, and then we gave them burgundy socks and a burgundy with white polka dot tie. They all looked fantastic..."
"I used to work near to the Candy Anthony shop and as soon as I saw the shop I knew I wanted my wedding dress to be from there. I didn’t look anywhere else, and it was the first dress I tried on. I know what I like and what suits me and this was it! I wanted a white dress, and for it to feel like a wedding dress, but with a fun side to it…"
"Dan and I love 1950's style and this shape dress is just suits my shape and is more practical for walking around a field- a full length gown would have been a struggle! This was perfect-it had a big petticoat so I felt like a princesss, but I could dance and move and not feel overdressed, at what was a quite relaxed wedding. I don’t really own any clothes without patterns so when I saw this polka dot I fell in love. Each dot is a soft and furry, and the rest of the dress is delicate mesh, with a big bow around my waist.
I had a long matching polka dot veil for the service so I could do the traditional bit, and then changed it to a big bow with polka dot netting after the service..."
"Dan and I met in Candybox nightclub in London through a mutual friend Lauren, who then gave a reading at our wedding. He proposed to me on my birthday in our living room, by giving me a piece of art by my favourite artist. This artwork inspired the ceremony greatly- the flower girls and page boys walked up the aisle ringing bells, and we were married under paper ones in the archway.
They incorporated that little bit of a church wedding and meant so much to me because of the writing on the artwork: 'These Bells Shall Peal For Just One Day, But In Our Hearts Will Ring All Winter Long'…."
"Dan and I both have big complicated families, so we decided it would be lovely to have all our nieces and nephews as flower girls and page boys on the day we all became one big family!
The little girls dresses were from BHS. Then I added the red polka dot sash and bow to tie them in with the bridesmaids dresses. Dan’s eldest neice was too old for these, but too young for the red dresses, so we got her a coral polka dot dress from Dorothy perkins..."
"We wanted the cake to go with the relaxed summer fair vibe of the wedding so I didn’t want some stuffy iced cake. Plus all Dan likes is Victoria Sponge so that’s what we did! A local lady baked the cakes and my dutiful bridesmaids put them together with buttercream, jam and the cake toppers I made…"
"Because it was so hot they ended up having to do this while we were having canapés so it wasn’t left out to melt-I think this was abit stressful for them! But it was a fabulous surprise when we came in the marquee to see the cake that we had both dreamed of…"
"We left a Polaroid camera on the table so people could stick pictures of themselves in the book with a note to us. The book itself was made from an old book about the british seaside which we love, so its become abit of a collage. It gets increasingly funny as the day went on and had had a drink
For placenames we made photoshopped old photos of the guest, normally in a photo with Dan or I in some important time of our lives, and made them into polaroids which most guests kept and provided a great talking point. We also made goodie bags for all the kids to keep them entertained, and colour in placemats..."
"…we also had a sweet table called ‘Candybox’ as this was the name of the club we met in, and we had also had a bubble machine to provide gorgeous bubbles glinting in the sun!"
"Our catering company was Sticky Date. A local company run by Nikie Stephenson, a friend of my mums. The food was just brilliant. I had grand dreams for the food, but the budget didn’t cover it, so we found a way to do fun food on a smaller scale- tiny afternoon tea style canapés served on cake stands. We had mini heart shaped everything!
They were so cute and so delicious, particularly the mini scones with cream and jam, mini heart shaped parmasan biscuits, and the cutest mini cupcakes! The main meal was a delicious buffet, which we wanted so people got up and mingled and could have what they want. This was followed by an ice cream sundae bar. We enjoy nothing more than going for ice cream and choosing all the bits, so we thought it would make the perfect dessert on a hot day. We hired sundae glasses, and bought five flavours from a local ice cream company Granny Gothards. Then guests went and got however many flavours they wanted, and topped it with sweets, marshmallows and sauces. I could say this was for the kids, but I think the adults loved it just as much!"
"We also had Miss Ballooniverse making unbelievable creations out of balloons. This woman is a creative genius! She can make anything out of balloons and kept everyone entertained. I adore her creations- particularly the little Mr and Mrs Flint she made! She added an air of silliness and fun that just put everyone in a great mood-especially when they had a balloon octopus on their head!"
"Our beautiful wedding invitations were designed by Kate Sutton a wonderful illustrator who we persuaded to do them for us. They were SO gorgeous, and were sent out tied in string with a tiny ‘D & M’ attached to it. Sadly she wasn’t available to do the rest of our stationary as she was away, so I used elements of her design on the order of service, table plan etc – little cakes and drinks with smiley faces and moustaches on!
Also, I know its become abit of a cliché, but bunting is something I’ve always loved, we even have bunting print wallpaper. It is such a great way to add colour to such a large area, so I made 500metres of it to decorate the field and marquee!"
"Natalie J Watts could not have been a more perfect choice for our wedding photographer. As soon as we met her Dan said ‘if she cant take the photos we want then noone can’. And he was right. I cant stop looking at the pictures and I feel like she completely captured exactly how the day felt to us. She is so professional and yet felt like she was a wedding guest. We didn’t need to think about it as I knew that she would photograph every detail, and steal Dan and I away when the sun was hitting at the right moment. She has become a friend and is amazing!
I cant stop looking at the pictures and we’re going to treasure them forvever…."
"My mother in law spotted my shoes in a shop in Camden market! They match my bridesmaids dresses and add that tiny bit of colour to my outfit, while co ordinating with my polka dots. I added the bow that I bought online (cant find the name of the website annoyingly!) I cant walk in massive heels and the ground was uneven in the field so the wedge was perfect. I did kick them off for flat ballet pumps later in the evening though!"
"I had a fantastic make up artist who is a friend from work – Caroline Piasecki. Caroline totally understood my style and that I wanted to look like me. I haven’t left the house for about six years without a big flick of eyeliner, and always wear red lipstick on a night out – so we had great fun doing this make up on the bridesmaids too for the day! They looked fab..."
"Our florist was a local recommendation, Frances Holme, did the most FANTASTIC job on the flowers. They are the most beautiful I have ever seen. I asked for some specific flowers, like roses (my middle name) and daisies (Dan’s favourite) but that they should just be a gorgeous mix and be relaxed/colourful/English country/vintage looking.
She did an unbelievable job. We filled the marquee with 50 jam jars full of flowers, 8 jugs, and 2 incredible huge milk churns! Plus all our bouquets, including one which I took to our legal ceremony the day before and then lay on my dad’s grave the evening before which was very special to me…"
"We also had what we call ‘a seaside head-holey thing’ which my friend Ashley Murray – Fowler very kindly made us, with a picture of a bride carrying the groom, for people to stick their heads through and take a photo with!
"In the marquee we used fabrics from the bunting on the tables, and small hearts cut from pastel coloured paper which the flower girls helped me scatter all over…"
"One of my favourite touches was using my Stepdad’s boat to hold all the booze on ice next to the bar!"
"Dan and I’s favourite music isn’t really what most of our wedding guests would normally listen to, and it was so important in the wedding day that we wanted them to get the chance to hear the songs that mean a lot to us and had been the soundtrack to the wedding. So our favours were Cds we burnt with songs on. The CDS looked like old records, and I designed the packaging myself..."
"The day wouldn’t have been the same without our FANTASTIC band The Milkshakers. We had seen them play at a cabaret night before and we knew they would be just perfect for our day. The music is what we love, and we knew it meant that all ages would dance as it was songs everyone knows. And they did!
No one wanted them to stop! They also played our first dance, Earth Angel for us. They are absolutely amazing – I cant rave about them enough…"
"Our first dance, played by The Milkshakers, was Earth Angel by The Penguins – we danced to it after we got engaged!"
Words of Wedded Wisdom…
"I didnt get all the little bits done that I wanted to do. There were so many more little touches that I would have loved to do – parcels that didn’t turn up, and projects that I didn’t get time to finish, but that honestly didn’t matter.
Having everyone you love in one place is totally overwhelming but at the same time totally unbelievable. It makes you feel so so lucky and this feeling is something I will treasure forever. I was so worried I would get stressed on the day – I did the night before, but when it came to the day I just felt ridiculously happy..."
This is one of those weddings that truly fills my heart with total glee people, GLEE!
Thank you so much Maddie and Daniel for allowing me to share your fabulous 1950's inspired wedding – congratulations guys! And huge thanks as always to the wonderfully talented and super lovely photographer, Natalie J Watts.
Who is sharing my polka dot love today?
See similar inspiration here –> 1950's, polka dots, red, outdoor weddings, Candy Anthony, Vivien of Holloway and lots of gorgeous real weddings all together for your viewing delectation 😉
Lots of spotty love all,
Annabel
Photography – Natalie J Watts
Venue – An apple orchard at the Bride's Mother's Home
Brides dress + veil – Candy Anthony
Brides Shoes – Camden Market
Grooms Suit – The Kooples
Bridesmaids Dresses + Hair Accessories – Vivien of Holloway
Flowergirls – BHS + Dorothy Perkins
Florist – Local, website not provided
Cake – Local, website not provided
Catering Company – Sticky Date
Hair and make-up Artist – Caroline Piasecki and Kate Rodman.
Ice Cream – Granny Gothards
Entertainment – The Milkshakers
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.
