Pink Frills, Petticoats and Pretty Flowers…

Good morning beautifuls! I really hope you have had another lovely weekend – how gorgeous was that weather yestrday? God I love Autumn!   I've been in Whitby again this weekend, soul-searching with my husband.  A potential move from where we are now, so that we can be closer to the place we wed in and love so much is very much up for discussion right now.  These are exciting times in the Beeforth household! I will keep you updated, of course.

This simply beautiful wedding that I'm so happy to be kick-starting the week with, was sent in by a photographer I've so enjoyed following ever since the early days of Love My Dress – his name is Tobiah Tayo, and let me tell you, he is rather bloomin' talented.  Alex and J tied the knot on 25th August at  Knowles Lodge and Tobiah was there to capture all the love on camera…

"J is a man that is full to the brim of surprises and a week
doesn’t go by without him surprising me with something – however small
it may be! The engagement came about over a planned trip to stay in a
cottage on a cold November 2011 weekend. J was supposed to be picking me
up from work and we were going to set off and stay in a cottage for a
weekend.

But! ….he turned up in a VW Campervan that he’d hired from
Dubtrips
and we drove off into the Dales for
a weekend of camping in the van! AMAZING!"

Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2011, Tobiah Tayo

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

"On the Saturday evening we
were sat in the
campervan, playing cards and listening to music, J then
tells me he’s going to get something out of the boot in the van – he
returns with a guitar (he can’t play the guitar!) and then starts
playing ‘our’ song, it turns out he had secretly been learning to play
the guitar up in Aberdeen – imagine! He then got down on one knee and
asked me to marry him. I nearly fell off the back of the benched chair! I
really, sincerely, hadn’t been expecting it – the most amazing surprise
ever! We had no mobile signal for miles, so spent the rest of the
weekend in our own little bubble, it was the perfect way to be
newly-engaged!"

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

"When we first started talking about the sort of wedding we wanted –
we knew that it wouldn’t be traditional or formal – we wanted a relaxed
happy get together with all of our friends and family. We wanted to
re-create a night at our house – just on a massive scale. This meant we
needed to have a party and we needed people to have fun! Not only did we
want the wedding to feel like a night at our house, we also wanted it
to look like our house.

For anyone that knows us – we live in a haven of
floral/multi-coloured stairs-mania! We wanted the wedding to be just
like that – just like us."

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

"I’ve never ever been one of these girls that has dreamt about their
wedding day, nor had I ever given any thought as to what I might wear
if I got married. I couldn’t even tell you where there’s a bridal shop
in Leeds. Things like this had just never even crossed my mind! However,
as soon as it was relevant that I consider such things, I somehow knew
exactly what I wanted – it was easy! It was only ever going to be a
short fifties inspired dress WITH SLEEVES. It’s all about the sleeves!
The dress I wore was the first and only dress I tried on and there was
no need to search any further.

I didn’t even visit another bridal shop! Candy Anthony's
beautiful boutique is on the Southbank in Leeds and even though I live
in Yorkshire, it was worth every visit. Everyone needs to be a
Candy Anthony Bride!"

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

"I wore a little birdcage, designed by Candy Anthony
and handmade by Hazel (who works there) the pink detail matched that of
my sash and it was amazing to wear – it felt so vintage-y and cute.
Just what I had hoped for.
"

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Oh how I love these pretty gypsophila bouquets lined up all in a row… 

"We chose a very small local florist in Leeds called Floral Expression.
We’re lucky enough to have a local milkman that still delivers our milk
in the old-style bottles – the perfect vessel for our flowers! We
didn’t want any huge flower displays, just some little bottles on all of
the tables – we asked for flowers to be mis-matched and a bit ‘wild
looking’ – ha – I think that’s all I really said!"

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

What a gorgeous selection of floral frocks, designed and made by our wonderful sponsor Louise, of Oh My Honey

"At first I liked the idea of all the girls in different colour
dresses, but this quickly changed to my true love – florals! It was the
obvious choice and would fit the theme perfectly.  We started to look around on the internet and quickly came across Louise from Oh My Honey
in Brighton. Louise specialises in fifities dresses and makes them all
from scratch. She was so helpful and accommodating, sending me swatches
of different fabrics and suggesting slightly different alternatives too.

In the end we went for a tight floral pattern in pink and green dropped
on a champagne background. Louise took all of the girls measurements
and made them for us in Brighton. She made us little champagne sashes
too – they nipped in the girls waits and finished of the fifties dress
perfectly."

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

"The bridesmaid dress shopping was the best (and the most
stressful bit) in equal measures. I had very strong opinions about these
dresses, with five bridesmaids I knew that whatever we chose would be a
huge part of the theme of the day. Satin was a no-go area (I can’t even
bare to touch it!) and anything too bridesmaid-y just wouldn’t have
matched with what we were trying to create.
 

I
found a little shop in Leeds called Memphis Belle, where they agreed to make the petticoats for
me and were very reasonable priced. They made them all to measure and
were ready in seven days. Incredible customer service and the petticoat
options were endless."

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Check these gorgeous shoes – 'Hibiscus' by Kurt Geiger (currently *ON SALE* ladies!)

 The
search was on for THE shoes and I knew they had to be pink to match the
sash on my dress. At 5ft 11inches, I’m pretty tall, so I was trying to
avoid something without a massive heel. That said, J  is 6ft 2inches and
with his curly hair, it meant I could get away with these by
Kurt Geiger…."

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

"We got married in Papakata teepees at Knowles Lodge
in Appletreewick.  We always knew that we wouldn’t get married in a
hotel and really, teepees were always the only option. As soon as we saw
the Papakata
website, we were sold.

We paid the deposit without even seeing them and
when we finally went to the Open Day a couple of months later I actually
cried as I stepped inside, it was a totally overwhelming experience.
They exceeded all of our wildest expectations and were even better than
we had ever hoped for."

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

"The Papakata teepees
would look beautiful with your eyes shut – but we did set about getting
some bunting made by a lady we found on ebay ‘simplystunningbunting’.
She made all the bunting with the exact flags we wanted and made to
measure between the tepee posts too.

Papakata
has also asked us if we wanted fairy light and a rotating glitter ball –
I remember thinking to myself ‘if ever there is a day in my life that I
NEED a glitter ball, then this is definitely it…"

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

"As soon as we chose a date for the wedding, we quickly phoned Dubtrips
to see if Otto (the engagement VW Camper) was still available – he was!
And we booked him on the spot. It made the journey to the wedding even
more special – knowing that I was sat exactly where it all started.

We
needed another vehicle to transport two of the bridesmaid.

One
bridesmaid ‘Floss’ has a cream Fiat 500 named ‘Romeo’– and was the
perfect accompaniment to the VW camper. We gave Romeo ribbons and my
brother Ben drove  the girls behind us in the VW."

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

"It’s impossible to choose my favourite bit – but I
suppose the moments just after the ceremony, whilst we’re having our
photos taken on the hay bales – initially just the two of us – it was so
perfect to just be together.

I further recall feeling totally
overwhelmed with happiness when my bridesmaids and J’s groomsmen joined
us for photos and sat on those hay bales, I wholeheartedly felt like the
happiest person alive just being sat there on such a special day with
my favourite people in the whole world…"

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

"We were looking for something different for our name places and one day
I just wondered if we could ever use scrabble letters – J thought it
was a brilliant idea and enthusiastically went about sourcing the tiles –
we bought them from a man in Thailand in the end. J then made the
little tile racks from strips of dowel, sawing and sanding each one by
hand.

These were the hit of the day  – not one persons name place was
left untouched and everyone was soon spelling out some hilarious (!?)
alternatives!
"

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

"I first found our photographer, Tobiah Tayo, whilst googling Papakata – he came up
on one of the hits because he’s previously photographed one. As soon as
we saw his photos, we knew he was the sort of photographer we wanted.
Despite him living two hours away in Cheshire, we decided he was worth a
visit! We met Tobiah and Laura at their super cool house and thought
they were the cutest couple ever, very welcoming and kind.

It was a big
decision to choose the person that was going to document the best day of
our lives and they reassured us without question that they were the
photographers for us. Their photos were beyond amazing and despite their
young age, their pictures showed a modern maturity that’s quite hard to
find. We explained that we didn’t want a set of photos of family stood
in long lines and that we wanted to have fun – the photo-booth was
without doubt some of the best money we have ever spent. Granny with a
moustache?  Bridesmaids in a line doing the Mobot?  YES!!  I
would throw a Tobiah Tayo recommendation anywhere without question!"

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

"We had our hair done by the very creative Chloe at Blonde fury
– she worked wonders with my mane of hair – which is actually really
long normally. She tucked it up into a cute little curled bob – half my
guests actually thought I’d had it all cut off. I was really conscious
that I didn’t want all my hair off my face or anything too ‘bridal’, but
equally wanted to show off the v-neck on the back of my dress, so I
couldn’t really have my hair down. I think I might rock a bob more often
– I loved it!"

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding"J bought me my earrings two days before the wedding, I’d been
really unsure about what to wear and knew that I was keen to have
something a bit different. We stumbled across some little pink heart
earrings in Swarvoski – a shop which I must admit made me feel really
out of place a bit uncomfortable. How can everything be SO sparkly?"

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

"My make-up artist was the very lovely Natalie Willingham
– I explained that I wasn’t used to wearing lots of make-up and that I
was after a fifties feel – she did an amazing job and all the girls
looked lovely too."

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

"J and I moved to Leeds four years ago and there was never any
doubt that we’d have a Yorkshire wedding. Papakata had some venue
recommendations, one of which was Knowles Lodge in Appletreewick ‘The Gateway to the dales’. We went to visit Knowles Lodge
one Saturday afternoon (the very first venue we looked at) the
beautiful gardens, the sound of the river running nearby and the
practical benefit of being able  to get married on site was perfect and
just what we were after.

We always knew that we would have a
non-religious ceremony; neither of us go to church or are in anyway
religious and could therefore see no merit or reason to get married in
one. But the big selling point – Knowles Lodge
had an adjoining meadow where our friends could camp on the evening of
the wedding – SOLD!

I know it sounds peculiar, but this bit was
pretty-mega! We wanted to a wedding with a difference and we were sure
that asking our very cool friends to camp would be well received. We
offered to erect everyone’s tents for them the day before the wedding –
in the end 25 tents were erected and over half of our guests slept under
canvas! – Babywipes and water provided! ☺"

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

"We hired the very lovely and Michael Mulholland
to play for us and our guests at the beginning of the day – he was a
true gentleman and professional and we were so glad we decided to go for
him."

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding  

"J, Craig and Scott’s suits were all from Next.
We knew we were after pale grey, so when we saw the fifties style teddy
boy suits with white trim, we knew that they were definitely worth
trying on.  (Unfortunately these are no longer available online!).  J
really wanted a patterned shirt so he chose one from Paul Smith,
it was white as first glance but had a floral pattern all over it. (I
can’t find this online anymore – think it must be from the summer
collection!).
 

He also wore Paul Smith cufflinks, and shoes from Next.  J was obsessed with wearing multi-coloured stripy socks, in the end he bought three pairs from Peter Jones.  We bought all the ties from Swagger & Swoon." 

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding 

"My Dad gave me away – I walked down the aisle to Michael Mulholland
playing was there with his acoustic guitar – he played Jack Johnson
‘better when we’re together’ when I walked down the aisle with my dad.
And ‘Happy’ by the Kooks when the ceremony finished – We both love this
song and the words are cute too, it had been the ‘aisle’ song originally
until we changed it at the eleventh hour!
"

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding 

"J and I met six years ago at a BBQ (something about some
football match – to which J and I have zero interest!) – it was a
logistical nightmare at first as I was living up in Preston and J was
living down south. We decided to give things a go regardless, it all
seemed really easy at the time, but looking back it was definitely hard
to organise! We soon joined forces in Leeds and the rest, as they say,
is history! As a bit of background – J works as an engineer in oil and
gas, so he works Monday to Thursday in Aberdeen.
The separation can be really had at times, but it’s only three nights at a time and we’re very used to it now."

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

"We found finding readings quite hard, we were really keen to have
happy readings and some of the wedding ones you come across sounds like
something to be read at a funeral. Finding something that meant the
right thing, but also had a smiley side, is apparently quite difficult!We chose A Lovely Love Story,
by Edward Monkton. I only had to read it once to know it was the one
and I quickly forwarded it to J via email – he agreed and we asked my
little brother Josh to read it.

It’s a lovely little poem and all of our
guests beamed as Josh began ‘The fierce dinosaur was trapped inside his
cage of ice’. It was a total hit and everyone laughed along and smiled –
wedding based happy fun!
The other reading we chose was Captain
Corelli’s Mandolin -  I knew this was a popular choice and was at first
reluctant to use it. Then I decided the reason it was popular was
because it is indeed so relevant to so many couples. J and I have been
together six years – the Mandolin rang true!"

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

"Wedding Favours were the subject of many an Aberdeen-Leeds mid-week
conversation. Do we/don’t we?! The one thing we both did know was that
we wanted something a bit different and something that people would
actually use. We definitely wanted to say ‘NO’ to love hearts.  In the
end we decided to get each guest a mini-pork pie (or a vegetarian one
for the veggies!) we found THE best pork pies in Leeds at Costello’s Bakery in Headingley.
They were made especially for us and the bridesmaids and I collected
them all the day before the wedding. With my love of anything floral
riding high, I decided I couldn’t leave the pies on the table on their
own – they needed to wear clothes! So we went about cutting 100 pieces
of floral fabric and wrapping them around the pies and tying them with
twine – Leanne acted as Quality Control and was pushing back the pies
that weren’t clothes sufficiently! It seems funny now, but it all took
sooooo long!

We still didn’t know if they’d work or not – but people are
actually still talking about them now!"

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

"We decided to have a guest book with a difference, deciding
that people write the lovely things in cards anyway – there’s no point
in having the same note twice. So we found this colouring in board
online, full of tiny aliens holding up message boards. We provided
crayons and our guests really embraced their creative sides– colouring
in and writing little notes or even just their name. It’s been framed
and now hangs up in our house – a constant reminder of all the amazing
people that were there on our special day.
"

Knowles-lodge-wedding-photos-appletreewick-131

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding 

"We decided on our first dance just two days before the wedding!
It took us forever to find something that we were both completely happy
with.  We really wanted a fun and happy song and so in the end we went
with ‘Dancing in The Moonlight’ by Toploader. It’s funny, now that it
was ‘our’ song it feels really sentimental, whereas it had previously
just been a song we both really liked. My bridesmaids were all lined up
to join us on the dance floor after a minute or so (definitely didn’t
need any cringey first dance moments in our life!)– and they did – with
great gusto! In fact, we were mobbed by half of our guests and so it was
that the night went off with a bang!
"

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding 

"Entertainment was always going to be a big part of the day, we
wanted a PARTY, a jumping up and down-no voice the next day BIG OLD
SHABANG! And so – we need a band! And we definitely got one! If ANYONE
is after a band in Yorkshire – they NEED to use Groove Anatomy
– they absolutely rocked our dance-floor – it was absolutely totally
out of control and beyond amazing! The Groove Anatomy band were without
question THE hit of the day – they were implausibly brilliant from
beginning to end and not one guest hasn’t mentioned how fantastic they
were – even my wee piano playing granny.

We also had THE
BEST DANCEFLOOR EVER! Our family and friends helped us create the party
of OUR LIVES! It was like being at a festival"

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

"ENJOY
IT, all as the hours just disappear! Make sure you are true to who you
are and what you are about as a couple. The best compliments we have
received are that our wedding was like an enormous version of being at
our house and that’s exactly what we had wanted and hoped for. Also –
don’t be afraid to change your mind, even the day before – you’ll only
regret it if you don’t!

We made tonnes of last minute decisions –
sometimes they’re the best ones! Don’t be guided what other people have
done, make it up and do whatever you want – who cares if it’s not been
done before – all the better!
"

Candy Anthony 1950s style wedding dress with sleeves, VW camper van wedding

What a FABulous way to start the week – thank you Alex and J – and huge congratulations on your beautiful, colourful, fun-filled wedding day.

If you adore Tobiah Tayo's photography as much as I do, why not drop him a line to enquire about his fees? Tobiah travels throughout the UK and overseas for his clients and would love to hear from you. You can also catch Tobiah on Facebook and Twitter.

Fave part of this wedding?  I think it's gotta be that dress and those shoes.

Much Monday morning love all,

Annabel

Heart

 

Photographer – Tobiah Tayo
Venue – Papakata teepees at Knowles Lodge
Dress Designer – Candy Anthony
Brides veil – Candy Anthony
Brides shoes – 'Hibiscus' by Kurt Geigercurrently *ON SALE*
Groom – Suit from Next + shirt from Paul Smith + ties from Swagger & Swoon
Bridesmaids – Oh My Honey + petticoats by Memphis Belle
Florist – Floral Expression
Entertainment – Groove Anatomy
Transport – Dubtrips
Hair Stylist – Blonde fury
Makeup Artist – Natalie Willingham

 

A note on the couple's wedding stationery – Alex Says:-  " Our invites (not pictured) were important to us –
this was to be the most important invitation we would ever send and we
also wanted it to kick things off and let them know what they had in
store. After weeks upon weeks of searching and trying to find something a
little bit alternative , a little bit ‘different’ we found it  in the
form of RSVP Candy.
Wow! Andy at RSVP Candy makes THE most beautiful wedding invites ever –
a story – about the two of you and things that have happened, with
little retro-pictures too!

Andy had only ever designed black and white
invitations, but was happy to help when we asked if he could make them
in pink and green to match the colourful wedding we were planning. When
the box arrived in the post, I nearly fell off the back of my chair.
These were the invites we needed and we have been overwhelmed by the
response they got, we have had so many people tell us they were the best
invite they have ever received! We’ve framed ours now and it hangs
proudly in the hallway.  We used
Andy again for our thank you cards –
‘the story’ continues with what happened on the day and we’re
super-happy with them".

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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