Morning everyone, the sun is shining today, about blooming' time! Well, from carefully crafted and beauitfully designed country garden affair, to simple, pared down elegance this morning with the May time wedding of Jessica and Bartosz which took place at D'overbroeck School in Oxford.
The photographs were sent in by Victoria Phipps, who we warmly welcomed as our new sponsor earlier in the week. This wedding appeals to me for it's clean and elegant charm.
Jessica's dress was bespoke, made to measure in delicate French lace, by Bartosz's mother...
"I
knew I wanted something feminine and elegant and I had tried on a
similar dress that took my breath away. I feel so lucky to have a mother
in law with the skills to recreate it for me!"
Love My Dress Wedding Blog - Photography Copyright (c) 2012, Victoria Phipps
Those pretty maids all in a row there are wearing dresses from ASOS...
"I wanted our wedding to feel quite traditional English Country Garden but at the same time make it very personal to us- I didn’t want it to be the sort of wedding where you could replace the bride and groom with any other couple and it would all still work. My favourite colour is light blue so I chose that for my base and went from there, adding in touches of cream, pink and peach."
"When I was younger I worked at a local florist during the school holidays, so they did all the flowers for us on the day. I asked for spring flowers which looked as though they had just been picked from a garden, in dusky blue and peachy pinks. My bouquet had fresh jasmine, garden roses, herbs, peonies and lily of the valley in it and the smell of them really helped to calm my nerves before the ceremony."
"Our photographer Victoria Phipps was absolutely amazing! I really don’t like having my photograph taken but from the moment we met her at our engagement shoot I felt completely relaxed and happy in front of the camera. We will treasure the photos forever."
Jessica and Bartosz met then were both working at Bank Restaurant
in 2007. She was working on the cloakroom and he was behind the bar.
Bartosz commented on Jessica’s napkin-folding skills, and she thought he
was wearing too much aftershave… The rest, as they say is history.
Three months later they were living together in Islington. Over three
years later, Bartosz proposed on Brighton beach.
"We
were engaged for 11 months, but I had to spend 3 months of that time in
New York away from Bartosz on an internship which was quite hard! Lots
of late night emailing to caterers etc!"
I also really loved that at the end of the night we kicked our shoes off and walked barefoot along the road to our honeymoon suite hotel – it was such a lovely moment –talking about the day and remembering the feeling of being surrounded by everyone in the world you love, when each of them has chosen to be there with you to celebrate your wedding, it is one I will never forget."
This was one wedding that was truly a family affair - Jessica's mother mae the couple's wedding cake...
"Fruit cake because she makes such a great one (lots of alcohol!!). I know some people don’t like fruit cake though so we also had homemade brownies and cupcakes for people to nibble on as the dancing went on."
Words of Wedded Wisdom
"Someone
told me to take 5 minutes with your husband to step outside and just
take it all in before it’s over. I’m so happy we remembered to do this, because such a large part of our family lives abroad we did spend quite
a bit of the reception talking and catching up with people separately
which meant this was one of the only moments we truly had to ourselves!
I think it also important to also personalise your wedding as much as possible - everyone remembers the unique touches. If people have put a special effort into your wedding, make sure they are thanked in the speeches. There are definitely some people I forgot to thank properly because so many people helped us make the day possible. Some things won’t go as planned, no matter what you do, but at the end of the day, it really doesn’t matter!"
I think I held back on a few little things – like having a particular type of chair or having fairy lights in the marquee etc because I didn’t want to go too much over our budget –looking back, if I were to do it all again I would just go for it! You only get one day and even if no-one else will notice, if it’s important to you, just do it!"
Simple, chic and elegant, but some wise words by the bride just now on remembering to stick firm to what you dream about on your wedding day. What are your thoughts ladies - and gents??
Much love,
Annabel
Photographer - Victoria Phipps
Venue - D'overbroeck School in Oxford
Wedding Dress - Made by the mother of the Groom in French lace
Brides Veil - Alissa Brides
Brides Shoes - Pink by Paradox London
Grooms Suit - Zara Men + Paul Smith shoes
Bridesmaids Dresses - ASOS
Florist - Daisies Flowers Oxford
Cake Designer - Mother of the bride
Vintage blue Morris Minor - belonged to a friend of Mother of the Bride
Paper poms - PomLove
Hair and make-up Artist - Isis Day Spa
Stationery - All made by the bride
