Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone for a Relaxed London Wedding…

  

"Something I really want to mention, was that we had The Wedding
Reporter
to cover our ceremony. It was a last minute decision but I was
so delighted with the report – we weren’t having a film of our wedding, and I was scared
the ceremony would go by in a blur. The report included some of the
vows and what the registrar said and it’s nice to be able to read back
through it and take it all in properly which was hard at the time!"


This beautiful wedding is full of relaxed, London charm.  It's the kind of fuss free affair that just didn't need a tonne of DIY, wedding day decor or celebratory makeovers, as these photographs prove evident.  What we have here is a couple so at ease in one anothers company and so in love with their city and the place that they live, that they couldn't imagine doing anything or being anywhere different when it came to their nuptials.

These images were captured by Katherine Peachy of Peachy Photography and throughout this feature, I'll be including extracts from beautiful written documentation of Tom and Kate's wedding, thanks to Emma Woodhouse, aka, The Wedding
Reporter
.  Emma was lucky enough to be present at Tom and Kate's wedding, that took place on 6th May this year at The Swan at The Globe in
London
, followed by a reception at St. John Restaurant

Love My Dress Wedding Blog, Photography Copyright (c) 2012, Peachy Photography

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

"We both love London and couldn’t have imagined getting married anywhere
else. We wanted to use our wedding day as an opportunity to show all of
our family and friends our favourite places. All of the things we did on
our wedding day, coffee in Borough market, walk along the Southbank,
lunch at St. John and drinks at a local pub, are what we spend the
majority of our weekends doing which made it more special to us as we
are now reminded of the day anytime we go to our favourite places."

Mr & Mrs O'Shaughnessy 185

My first 'wow!' response to this wedding was at Kate's dress – an absolutely beautiful design by Claire Pettibone called 'Sky between the Branches', which Kate purchased from Blackburn Bridal Couture.

"I
knew that I wanted something slim fitting and ideally not strapless. It
was definitely the back of this dress that made me love it so much, I
really liked the idea of something that looked fairly traditional from
the front but had the wow factor at the back. Also, it was incredibly
comfortable and easy to wear which was important as with the walk
between the two venues I didn’t want to be held back by a big dress."

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

"We love eating out in
restaurants and Tom is a great cook. St. John Restaurant has been our favourite
restaurant in London since we moved here and we both independently knew
that this is where we’d hold our wedding reception – we didn’t consider
anywhere else."

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

"We gave Simon and Victoria at Euphoric flowers a
brief of seasonal and scented flowers for the ceremony and the
bouquets, and as we didn’t have a colour scheme we had white and cream
flowers so they would match anything we later chose. Simon and Victoria
were great and weren’t even phased when we asked for trees for the
ceremony!"

Mr & Mrs O'Shaughnessy 157

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

"I had been looking for some shoes that weren’t too high and were comfortable to walk in and the  Emmy shoes
were perfect. Although I knew you wouldn’t really see my shoes beneath
my dress I didn’t want to have something ordinary on my wedding day and
although these were an extravagance once I’d seen them nothing else
compared so I didn’t have a choice!"

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

"We walked from The Swan to St. John Restaurant which was a big
part of the day. A few people thought we were crazy but we were very
stubborn, I had every contingency I could think of – I printed maps on
the order of service, hired umbrellas, had a bus for elderly relatives
and even provided flat pumps for guests with high heels. It all worked out and this is where my favourite
photos of the day were taken.
"

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

"After
reading a few wedding blogs and once we had realised that we were going
to have three venues I knew a wedding planner to help on the day at
least would be essential and I booked the services of Lucinda George.  It was very reassuring in the run up to the
wedding as I knew that if anything went wrong there was someone else
(and better qualified than me) to deal with it."

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding 

"Our photographer, Katharine of  Peachy Photography
was one of the hardest suppliers to choose as I really wanted to get it
right but didn’t know a lot about photography. We knew that there was
going to be no tearing us away from the party we had planned so formal
shots were out and I also wanted something real rather than too arty or
staged.

Katherine's work stood out straight away as all of the photos
seemed to capture moments of the day as they happened and there was a
lot of variety in the type of weddings and other work she had covered.
Many of our guests didn’t realise we had a photographer when we actually
had both Katharine and her dad Ken so they certainly did their job
well"

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding


"Hiring Makeup Artist Mariam and Hair Stylist Cass
was one of the best decisions I made, they helped make the (very early
start) morning relaxed and I can honestly say I wasn’t stressed about a
thing. I am clueless about hair and make-up so I really did my research
and it definitely paid off."

Mr & Mrs O'Shaughnessy 23 

"I didn’t really mind that my bridesmaids wore but they both wanted
to match and look like bridesmaids so we had Navy blue knee length
dresses made by
Maids to Measure.
The bespoke dresses were perfect as we made small changes to each girls
dress to suit their shape and personality whilst still keeping a
matching dress."


Mr & Mrs O'Shaughnessy 13

Mr & Mrs O'Shaughnessy 12

Mr & Mrs O'Shaughnessy 25

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding 

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

"Tom wears a suit to work every day so wanted something special for
the wedding so he had a three-piece suit and a custom made shirt made
for him at
Spencer Hart
The tie was a gift from Spencer Hart at Tom’s last fitting and I made a
last minute Liberty pocket square two days before the wedding."

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

"A
vision in exquisite lace appeared in the doorway as Kathryn entered the
room on the arm of her visibly proud father. An inextinguishable smile
lit up her entire face as she drank in the sight of her colourfully
attired friends and family filling the room before her, Tom’s smiling
face waiting temptingly at the top of the room.

As she passed
along the aisle at a brisk pace, heads turned in time to see the
breathtakingly delicate lace covering Kathryn’s bare back, complimenting
her slender figure. A cathedral length veil flowed from the bohemian
chignon in her hair, falling into a pool with the train of her dress."

Via The Wedding
Reporter

Mr & Mrs O'Shaughnessy 48

Mr & Mrs O'Shaughnessy 52

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

Mr & Mrs O'Shaughnessy 72

Mr & Mrs O'Shaughnessy 99

Mr & Mrs O'Shaughnessy 82

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

"The wedding party marched
onwards, streaming down the street like a naughty school trip that had strayed
from their specified itinerary. Pulling up in front of the white fronted façade
of St John’s Bar and Restaurant, guests couldn’t fail to notice the stark
difference between the cosy old world charm of the pub compared to the
industrial minimalism of the restaurant.

Waiters dressed in chef
whites with long butchers’ aprons waited at the end of the long entryway as
guests passed abandoned bouquets and a box waiting to receive cards of
congratulations. The army of white clad warriors handed out champagne and
polite smiles as the smell of a freshly baked savoury goods floated up to the
high, glass ceiling.

The hum of industrial fans
accompanied the waves of warm air being pumped into the room. Grateful guests
huddled together in the new toasty temperature, rubbing their hands together
and shaking the cold from their bones. Girls slipped out of their complimentary
flat shoes and shuffled back into less practical heels, knowing they weren’t
going anywhere else in the immediate future."

Via The Wedding
Reporter

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

Sky Between The Branches by Claire Pettibone London City Wedding

Mr & Mrs O'Shaughnessy 150

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

"Think about how you are
going to get into your dress. Mine was relatively simple with just a zip
up the side but without Cass and Mariam to manoeuvre me in (with the
help of a pillowcase!) I’m sure I would have got very flustered.

Don’t
be influenced into doing things “how they are always done” if it
doesn’t work for your wedding. Our family thought we were a little crazy
getting married at 11am but we knew that as most guests live in London
they would be getting the last tube home so an earlier start meant we
got a full length party.

Nothing really matters once
you’ve got married, you won’t taste the food even if you manage to eat
it, you won’t need to be drinking the champagne and you won’t get tired
even if you did only get 3 hours sleep – so just enjoy it!"

Mr & Mrs O'Shaughnessy 147

Mr & Mrs O'Shaughnessy 148

"If ever there was a wedding
that accurately portrayed the two people in the marriage, Kathryn and Tom made
sure that their nuptials hit the spot. They fed their guests with the food they
loved and took them on a tour of their favourite places to hang out. There was
no doubt in anyone’s mind that this was not just a wedding, but also a
celebration of the lives that they had forged together and the glorious future
that lay ahead of them.

Via The Wedding
Reporter

Mr & Mrs O'Shaughnessy 190

Tom and Kate, huge congratulations to you both on your recent 6 month wedding anniversary! It looks like you had the perfect day and I'm so delighted you are happy for us to share your memories of the occasion with our reader – aided of course by the wondrous Wedding
Reporter
.

Sometimes, it's so easy to get carried away with all the bells and whistles of wedding planning. I love how Tom and Kate disregarded that pressure and paired their wedding day right down to what was most important to them – their love, where they loved being the most and being surrounded with friends and family. Aint that what it should always be about? 

Much love,

Annabel

Heart

Beautiful words – The Wedding
Reporter

Photographer – Peachy Photography
Venue – The Swan at The Globe in
London
+ St. John Restaurant

Wedding Planner/Stylist – Lucy from Lucinda George
Wedding Dress – Claire Pettibone, a purchase via Blackburn Bridal Couture
Wedding Veil – a 72 inch silk tulle veil from Blackburn Bridal Couture
Brides Shoes – Eva, by Emmy shoes
Grooms Suit – Spencer Hart
Bridesmaids Dresses – Maids to Measure
Florist – Euphoric flowers
Make up Artist – Mariam Jensen
Hair – Cassandra Rizzuto

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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