Morning all! Oh I do love it when I happen to be on Twitter and a photographer who is at a wedding might send out the tinest of sneaky peeks of the lovely day he/she is having the privilege to attend and capture on camera. That very thing happened not so long ago, when photgrapher Gary Lashmar, aka, Marshal Gray Photography, was in attendance at the wedding of Renate and Roy in September last year, at Sketch in London - I promptly replied insisting that Gary submit the wedding for me to feature - see?
Love My Dress Wedding Blog - Photography Copyright (c) 2012, Marshal Gray Photography
I love this wedding for all it's colouful vibrancy. Dutch couple Renate and Roy really wanted their day to be all about family and fun and they pulled off the most fabulous and stylish celebration...
"The wedding had to be stylish, beautiful, a hint of vintage, all the wonderful things London has to offer, young, vibrant, Brit Pop, fun and full of candy! London was my inspiration. We had a F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E. (the Pulp song) and candy theme. Music is an important part of our lives as Roy works in the music industry and we both love music..."
"The wedding was a special event for our family and friends, including Roy’s 83 year old grandfather that has never been to the UK and my Dutch Hairdresser. Everybody went to London for 4 days on a little holiday. Some haven’t seen each other before but all got along so wonderfully!"
"My mom always told me that if I was to marry she would buy my dress and that we would go to Paris to shop for it. After Roy proposed I bought a pile of magazines and started to look for a dress. The first one I really looked at was the Vera Wang Diana dress.
I always loved Vera Wang and it was a dream for me to have one of her beautiful dresses. We went to Bloomfeld in Amsterdam where they had the dress. I also tried a few others on. But the Diana was my top pick. Still there was the dream of buying the dress in Paris."
"My mom and I left the shop and went to Paris to shop for a dress. After trying dresses there I became more aware that I had already found my dress back in Holland. We did buy a beautiful pair of Jimmy Choo shoes for the wedding while we were there ☺. Buying the dress in Paris was a beautiful dream, but not practical, because of the distance and the language.
As soon as we came back from Paris we went back to Bloomfeld. They kept their shop open on Saturday evening for me! Petra and Patrick are both lovely people. They made me feel right at home in their beautiful shop. Looking back it was really the best choice to buy the dress in Holland. It had to be adjusted over 4 times. In the end it looked stunning!"
At night we had Roy and Renate’s Candy Parlour at the Parlour in sketch. During the day we named the Lecture Room tables after our favourite songs. All with a little Alice in Wonderland touch."
"I wanted a dress that was fashion, young, flowing and just gorgeous. I loved the details and the way the dress looks different every time you looked at it. It is made out of pure silk. The way it flows, the back, just everything! I had some alterations made to fit me perfectly. The Jenny Packham bow belt, made by hand, just made the dress perfect."
"Before Roy proposed we always said that, if we would marry one
day, we would get married in a villa/Hotel in Tuscany, Italy that we
visit almost yearly. But when it came to real wedding planning I changed
my mind almost right away. I wanted something more personal, more us.
We are both Dutch but really love to go to London. It’s a place that is
very special to us. We love the music, the buzz, the shopping (mostly me
☺), the people. London is more vibrant than Tuscany will ever be. But
where to begin in this city?!
We were looking for venues
that reflected who we are and that would be totally unique for our
family to go to, because everybody had to take time off to go to our
wedding."
"Actually I think the venue found us. It was pretty difficult, as we are non UK residents and London is so big! We narrowed it down to the Marylebone/ Mayfair area, because I love this part of London. When we came over to London to find a venue we weren’t sure is there would be something that we would really fall in love with. But as soon as we walked into Sketch, my eyes started tearing up. It was everything we were looking for, and more. Roy really wanted to impress our friends and family with good food. And I really wanted a fun, beautiful, unique, stylish venue. We found both at sketch. Their two star Michelin Restaurant is a joy to the eye and your taste.
We had the ceremony at the
library, than had a formal 3 course luncheon in the lecture room. After
going out on a tour through London and a stop in Hyde Park we returned
to the Sketch Parlour for the party and canapé dinner.
Meeting the staff at Sketch made
everything even better. They make it really special. Poppy, Emma and
David are the best! We will keep them in our hearts always!"
"Our florist, Kate at Scarlet and Violet did an amazing job! "The flowers where one of the best parts of the day! I always buy the UK Country Living and was happy enough to get in contact with a shop that does a lot of photo shoots for this magazine. They immediately understood what I was looking for..."
"I love English roses and little ensembles of flowers in little vintage vases. Scarlet and Violet actually made an exception for us as they were actually fully booked for the year. So happy with everything they did. When I first walked into the venue I couldn’t believe my eyes..."
"I designed candy parlour signs and the candy table myself. We ordered a big cake fridge at sketch full of the best looking patisserie ever! I had ordered little custom vending machines and gumball machines. We had sweet little vintage baskets with pink petals. A couple of dozens of macaroons. Bespoke Zoë Clark cookies. When the guests got on the bus in Holland they all got a cute little pack of homemade London designed cookies."
"Cupcakes are a big thing in our family. I love all things candy and cupcakes, not to eat but to use for decoration. Christmas is a other big thing in our family, and to me personally. Christmas in our home is a wonderful big celebration.
There is no low key Christmas in our home. As Roy asked me to marry him at Christmas we thought it would be fun to combine the two in the wedding favours. I found the most cute cupcake boxes at shop sweet Lulu in the USA, and then ordered glass cupcake Christmas ornaments also in America, which were quite hard to get a hold of. Because they had to fit the box and look cute as well. I ordered little Martha Steward name tags, added a cute ribbon and voila. I thought they looked stunning. Also everybody brought back a huge container filled with goodies, lollypops, macaroons, little cakes and little candy bags."
"We had the cutest name card holders; little gold purses that I ordered online and looked great at the lecture room!"
"I designed the table plan myself - personal touches on the day were really important to me. I love the Liberty fabrics, and I have used them for my table plan. As well as vintage numbers and other cute and cool stuff...."
"We named the tables after songs we both like and that had a love or London theme to it. It also included our personal stamps and all things I love. Sketch provided menus for the lunch, and these were excellent and stylish. They also provided menus for the party at night with the food and cocktails."
At night we had Roy and Renate’s Candy Parlour at the Parlour in sketch. During the day we named the Lecture Room tables after our favourite songs. All with a little Alice in Wonderland touch."
"Our photographer was Gary Lashmar, from Marshal Gray Photography. He did a wonderful job. People are really wowed by his work as are we. Really unlike any Dutch wedding Photographer."
Expert choice Renate! I'm having my own tresses coiffed by Monsier Severin later this afternoon and can't wait!
"Roy and I are high school sweethearts. I was really into acting and as there is always a shortage of boys our teacher asked Roy to take part in the play. That’s where we have met. We started dating after the play was over. But had a special connection right from the start. At that time I was 15 and Roy was 17. So we are together for quite a while. We bought our first home 5 years ago. Last Christmas Roy asked me to marry him, after being together for 13 years. A big surprise. He bought me a beautiful Tiffany ring."
"We did tailor our vows. It was very important to us to remember all the important people that could not be there on the day. Unfortunately we both have love ones that are deceased. Both my grandparents, two of my uncles, my mother’s twin sister. Roy’s Grandparents and my good friend Daphne. We had a great registrar officer the best we could wish for the lovely Tejal Patel from Westminster.
We included part of the lyrics from the Song Tonight Tonight by The Smashing Pumpkins: Believe in me as I believe in you. The believe that Roy and I have in each other made both our love for one another and us individually grow to be the persons that we are today.
I think it is really important to make your vows personal. During the day we made a bus tour in London, to show people around town. We stopped at Hyde Park to let up balloons. All balloons had a little wish card attached to them that people could write a little message on to."
"We had a bespoke cake by Zoë Clark from the Cake Parlour. We met her over tea in het lovely shop in Wimbledon. We wanted a fun and very detailed cake Zoe did a wonderful job."
"We had our first dance to Tonight, Tonight by The Smashing Pumpkins. A band we both adore. It was very personal to share this song with all our friends and family but we are very happy with our choice."
Words of Wedded Wisdom...
"My wedding made it
possible for me to create and live in my own dream world and inspired me
to do that more often. Maybe even to do more with styling, something I
really love.
Make it personal, make it unique, share it with the ones you really, truly love. Gather people around that can advise you and keep you grounded. Planning can be stressful and you will need someone to lean on every now and then ☺. Keep in control, follow your feeling. It is all about you and your big love. I think also take your time to make sure you add little details. Get lots and lots of photos!! And, make sure you enjoy every minute, just like Roy and I did.
The other thing I might have liked to do differently is to take more time to plan. We a nine month engagemnet which isn't really that long!"
Wow! Huge congrats Renate and Roy, you certainly had one stylish and fabulously fashionable wedding day, and I may say, you chose some expert suppliers to work with there!
Who else loves the colour and vibrancy of this wedding?
See more from the fabulous Marshal Gray Photography photographer here on Love My Dress.
Much love,
Annabel
Photographer - Marshal Gray Photography
Venue - Sketch, London
Brides Dress + Veil - Vera Wang
Brides Shoes - Jimmy Choo
Brides Hair Accessories - Jenny Packham
Grooms Suit - Oger (bespoke+ + Lanvin Tie + Paul Smith Cufflinks + Isaia Shirt + Magnanni Shoes
Bridesmaids - Still waiting to find out where those gorgeous pink frocks are from!
Florist - Scarlet and Violet
Cake Designer - Zoë Clark from the Cake Parlour
Entertainment - DJ Mathieu Massadian, via Sketch
Hair Stylist - Severin Hubert of Hepburn Collection
Makeup Artist - Kaz Fernand
