A 1930s Vintage Wedding Dress and Wax Headpiece for a Home-Made, Village Festival Inspired Wedding…

Hello again my loves, I'm making this a two day wedding Monday *rubs hands with glee* – yay and hooray!

This wedding submission landed in my inbox shorty before my holiday from a photographer new to my radar, Nabeel Khan and I was smitten in an instant. I was extra deligthed to find out the bride, Lauren, was wearing an original 1930's wedding gown, that she purchased from the gorgeous Elizabeth Avey {who in my view is one of the top UK vintage bridal gown suppliers in the UK – really really knows her stuff}.

Paul and Lauren tied the knot on 1 June 2012 at Penshurst Place in Kent and I adore their wedding – it looks so relaxed, comfortable and fun, and the fact that Lauren looks so bloomin' fabulous is the cherry on the cake for me…

"My dress was vintage from the 1930's. It looks handmade. I bought it from Elizabeth Avey's vintage wedding dress boutique in London. 

 I
wanted a 1930's or 1940's dress. It had to be something that fit into the
village fete style of the wedding. This dress was so fine, the fabric
moved like water, and I loved how it looked understated at first but
there was so much lovely details. I loved how it seemed demure and
covered up but actually most of it was totally sheer…"

Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2012, by Nabeel Khan

It's true. I adore a kitsch swan. My banner proves it! 😉

"We collected lovely 
vintage cermaic swans for flowers and Margaret, my mother in law, found
a way to make glass bottles look aged and we put flowers in these also…"

 

"We
wanted a relaxed, homemade village-fete-party. We hoped people would eat
good food, drink lots, have fun and just disregard the usual
formalities.

I was inspired by 1930s/40s street parties
and village festivals. I avoided sticking to a colour scheme and kept
everything deconstructed."

"Friends of Paul’s family lent us a vintage VW Camper and a Morris 8 to serve as our transport…"

"I bought a vintage wax flower head piece, also from Elizabeth Avey and dating from c.1930…"

"Our
Florist was Nancy at Blooming Perfect in Kent.  I was so thrilled with
the flowers. I wanted them to be deconstructed to give a relaxed
countryside feel but for the colours to be bright with no specific
colour scheme…"

Lauren's bridesmaids wore dresses from Zara and Warehouse {featuring the paisley style print}…

"We chose to marry at Penshurst Place in Kent as it is close to
where Paul grew up, he used to play there as a child, and he took me
there the first time I came to visit him and his family in Kent.

The
reception was at nearby Ashurst Village Hall. We wanted something
downbeat and relaxed for the reception and this hall had plenty of
outdoor space.."

"Our photographer Nabeel
was fantastic, he really captured personality in the wedding and in my
guests and wasn’t at all obtrusive. He was so enthusiastic and really
understood what I was hoping for. I’ve had so many compliments on how
good our photos look.

He captured some beautiful moments such as my Maid
of Honour having a sneaky cry in the corner after the ceremony..."

"My
Mum gave me away – we walked down the aisle to ‘Unison’ by Bjork, and
we walked back up the aisle together to ‘First Day of My Life’ by Bright
Eyes…"

"Paul and I met when he
was living with two of my best friends (and bridesmaids) when we were
going to different universities. In January last year Paul and I went on
a trip to Sweden where he took me ice skating on a beautiful frozen
lake outside Stockholm. Whilst we were skating badly Paul started
muttering and knelt down, seemingly fiddling with his skate. It took me a
minute to realise that he was proposing. He picked the most perfect
place for it…"

"My wedding ring was a ring belonging to my mum and Paul’s was a vintage 1920's one he bought from a shop on Hatton Gardens…"

 

"We booked a pair of street
musicians that were part of a larger London based folk collective. One
of the groomsmen also made and found fairground style games like hook a
duck, a coconut shy, bat the rat and a tug of war (paricularly good when
everyone’s had a few drinks)…"

"We
used lots of bunting, low watt squirrel cage bulbs, festoon lighting
and lots of candles in jars strung from the trees. We bought hay bales
from a local farm and collected rugs to cover them.

We collected vintage linen, cake stands and crates. It was all very home made!"

 

"We danced to 'I Will Follow You into the
Dark’ by Death Cab for Cutie as it was a song that was very special to
us since early in our relationship…."

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

"The
day before the wedding I would have recommended a couple to avoid all
the stress by getting married at an established wedding venue where they
wouldn’t have to worry about all the excrutiating minutiae that comes
with setting up everything from scratch.

Now though I’d say it’s totally
worth it. Just go with your imagination, it’s worth it when you see it
all happen.

Draw on all the resources you have around you. We had
amazing help from so many friends and family members who pulled it
together – it really had a community feel."

Isn't this just gorgeous? Huge thanks to Nabeel Khan for sharing these images, hopefully this will be the first of many more beautiful weddings from this talented wedding photographer.

You can see more brides wearing vintage gowns supplied by Elizabeth Avey on Love My Dress here. Also take a look at the 1930's pages.

Who has pangs for a gorgeous outdoor style village fete style wedding now? If only we could rely on good old Blighty for the weather huh?

I'd love your feedback on these nuptials everyone, let's have your thoughts….

Annabel

 

Photographer – Nabeel Khan
Venue – Penshurst Place in Kent + reception at Ashurst Village Hall
Bride's dress – Elizabeth Avey
Brides's shoes – Office
Brides Vintage Wax Coronet Style Headpiece – Elizabeth Avey + a vintage rhinestone bracelet found on ebay.
Grooms
Suit – Suit from Next, Waiscoat from Topman + a 50 year old Stevenage
Athletic supporters badge that was a gift from his uncle just after the
ceremony
Bridesmaids Dresses – two dresses from Zara and + three printed dresses from Warehouse
Florist – Blooming Perfect in Kent
Cake Designer – The Bride's Mum
Catering Company – Jane Reeve
Hair Stylist – Sarah Crees