A Stephanie Allin Gown And Bridesmaids In White For An Elegant Cotswolds Wedding

Oh girls I’m giddy with happiness that I finally get to share this beautiful wedding with you! Today’s bride is someone who has become so very dear to us in our little bridal haven – the Love My Dress Facebook group for brides and newlyweds. Chrissie has been a constant source of love, support and understanding (perhaps her job as an Independent Lifestyle Manager has something to do with her unfailingly wonderful advice) and we’re so proud to be sharing her sublime celebrations with you today.

Our simply stunning bride wed her husband Mark, a former Chef who now runs a travel company, on 9^th July 2016 in the picturesque Cotswolds. The couple had a traditional religious ceremony in Northleach Church followed by an elegant reception at the secluded Stone Barn. Chrissie and Mark chose one of our Little Book for Brides suppliers, the super talented Dan Dolan Films to create the heart-string-tugging film you’re about to watch, and the lovely Frankee Victoria Photography captured these effortlessly natural images (you’ll spot Chrissie and Mark gracing Frankee’s Little Book for Brides listing!)

https://vimeo.com/175713822

“The day after Mark proposed in Napa, we had been for the most delicious lunch at a gorgeous little ranch and winery. That afternoon they had been setting up for a private event on the lawn with long rows of trestle tables and festoon lights strung overhead. Having had no prior ideas as to what kind of wedding we might one day have, it suddenly hit us and we both looked at each other and said, ‘that would be so cool for a wedding’. Our loose inspiration therefore was to channel a little bit of ‘Californian Ranch’ in a Cotswolds setting.”

Chrissie and Mark found Frankee Victoria Photography on their venue’s list of recommended suppliers and knew right away that she was the one for them. I can’t stress enough the importance of investing in photography. Having spent the last few hours totally absorbed by the full complement of fellow writer Emily C’s wedding photographs (I got a sneak peek!), I can 100% say that my beautiful friend has the most stunning set of images to treasure with her husband – just like Chrissie and Mark.

“We didn’t need to spend weeks searching for a photographer as we loved Frankee’s style as soon as we saw her website and booked her before we’d even spoken on the phone. We are so chuffed that we chose her.”“Frankee made us both feel so at ease –  we honestly had such a giggle with her throughout the day and equally she blended in so well that, by and large, we were barely aware of her. Frankee understood exactly what we wanted. She was also very quick to respond to any queries we had in the run up. Most importantly we adore her pictures and will treasure them for life.”

Chrissie wore a gorgeous Stephanie Allin gown bought from the flagship store on Chiltern Street in London, paired with a soft flowing veil, which was gifted to our bride by the designer herself.

Chrissie accessorised with a delicate hair vine from Liberty in Love and metallic L.K. Bennett heels picked up at Bicester Village, which she later swapped for comfy sneakers from Superga with ivory satin laces from Pimp My Shoes.

“Stephanie Allin was only the second boutique I went into, and I stopped looking after my first appointment there even though I hadn’t settled on a specific dress. Stephanie created a bespoke design based on several of the dresses from her ‘Love Letters’ collection that I loved and couldn’t decide between. It was originally a separate skirt and top which Stephanie made up as a dress for me. I loved the romantic simplicity of it, and how fluid it was.”

“Day to day I tend not to wear a huge amount of bold colour or pattern, or even much jewellery, so it was important to me that I wear a dress on my wedding day that reflected my style. We added the lace top to the dress about halfway through the design process after I’d seen one of Stephanie’s dresses on a LMD feature. It turned out that the lace she had used was an archived silk lace and I pleaded with her to see if she had any more of it hidden away in her studio in Wales.”

“Miraculously, she did, and she designed the most gorgeous and delicate shrug for me to wear. The double straps were only added at my very last fitting a week before the wedding and were my Mum’s idea. They worked really well with the ribbons of my hair vine.”

Chrissie wore a sweetly nostalgic scent, Oceane by Outrider Paris, which she had on when she and Mark first met, as well as a beautiful antique white gold and diamond bracelet given to her by her parents on the morning of the wedding.

“We were set up on a blind date by one of Mark’s closest friends and colleagues. Within five minutes of meeting, she insisted that I simply had to meet her boss Mark, and by the end of the night she was planning our wedding! Mark and I met for the first time a couple of weeks later and instantly clicked. We dated between London and Oxfordshire, where his business is based, for a year before making the decision that I would move in with him.” 

“Three days after I left my job and moved out of my London flat we jetted off to California on a two-week road trip. Mark proposed to me in Napa over a glass of champagne and to say I was overwhelmed would be an understatement. With all the big changes that had been happening I was not expecting a proposal, but I could not have been happier as I’d known from very early on in our relationship that we had something very special together.

We were engaged for roughly nine months before our wedding day.”

A pair of simple diamond earrings borrowed from her mum, beautifully soft make-up by Emily Tarrant and a gorgeous loose, low bun styled by friend and hairdresser Sarah Howard (who also crafted the bridesmaids loose, tousled waves) completed Chrissie’s sensational look.

“I had six bridesmaids of varying heights, each with their own individual style so I decided to let them choose their own dresses. Not to mention one lives in the USA and one was travelling the world until two days before the wedding. The only brief I gave the girls was off-white or cream, and not even necessarily that it had to be a dress.”

“I didn’t want to anything to be too matching for the wedding in general – we didn’t’ have a particular colour scheme, and just chose things that we liked. Once a couple of the girls had coincidentally chosen dresses with elements of lace, this became an accidental theme and the others followed suit. I didn’t see the dresses together until the morning of the wedding, and hadn’t seen some of the dresses at all until that point.”

“I am glad I trusted that it would all come together because I think they looked amazing collectively and as individuals too. I had given each of the girls coral and silver bracelets from Links as presents which they all decided to wear for the wedding.”

I absolutely love bridesmaids in white; it’s just so incredibly fresh and pretty, especially in contrast with these luscious green and white bouquets. Chrissie chose a sweet white frock from one of our Little Book for Brides favourites; stylish and super high-quality childrenswear designer Wild & Gorgeous for her lovely flower girl, rivalled in the cuteness stakes only by the page boy in his shirt, shorts and dinky bow tie.

Chrissie travelled to Northleach Church in style with her proud dad, in a beautiful classic car hired from Nostalgia Wedding Cars. The magnificent church looked stunning, its pew-ends adorned with abundant scented greenery, arranged by Rachel of The Rose Shed.

“The lovely people at Northleach Church could not have been more welcoming and we feel very lucky to have been able to marry in such a beautiful church. Rachel is based in Bristol but covers the Cotswolds and she’d worked at our venue before which was a bonus. I gave her a very open brief of soft and romantic colours and I also asked to include small daisy-like flowers as they are such a sunny and delicate wild looking flower.”

“I was sure that as Rachel is so talented she would come up with something gorgeous, and I was delighted with the finished result. We went minimal in the church, and the low eucalyptus bunches that Rachel tied to the pew ends were so natural and pretty in their simplicity.”

We wanted to get married in a church because we like the tradition of it and knew it would be important to my Dad. Walking down the aisle on my dad’s arm, and Mark and I saying our vows to each other were definitely my favourite parts of the day. I thought I would be incredibly nervous, but when it came to it I was so relaxed and it felt like it was only Mark and I in the room at that moment. I really felt and meant every word.”

“We asked a local community choral group to sing during our ceremony. They very kindly agreed to learn Elvis’ ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love’ for me to walk down the aisle to. I’m not really sure why we chose this song, only that it’s one we both love, and we thought it would be fun to have something a bit different for our otherwise quite traditional ceremony. It was one of my favourite parts of the day, and so atmospheric. The choir did an excellent job.”

Mark was resplendent in a bespoke morning suit by Mirpuri (Chrissie informs us he’s not just a world class tailor but an excellent source of wedding planning tips and advice), shoes from Church’s at Bicester Village, a pair of Mulberry cufflinks gifted to him by his thoughtful bride on the morning of the wedding and a J. Crew tie and pocket square.

“We chose traditional vows and the reading ‘Summer Night’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson. Tennyson Street is the name of the road I used to live on in London, which we thought was fitting. I also love the sentiment of the poem which to me is about the notion of two becoming one. It’s simply a very beautiful poem and one I’d not heard before at a wedding. We had John 2:1 – 12, ‘The Wedding at Cana’ as our religious reading. As all our friends know us as big wine drinkers, it also seemed fitting!”

Chrissie and Mark exchanged Cartier rings; Chrissie’s band designed to complement her engagement ring (expertly chosen by Mark), Mark’s a simple platinum band. Both rings were engraved inside with the date of their wedding.

In a confetti-strewn haze of happiness, the newlyweds continued to their reception venue, Stone Barn, just half an hour from their home in Oxfordshire. The venue was lovingly and beautifully decorated with fragrant flowers and herbs as well as sweet homemade touches created by the bride and her family.

“We were looking for a laid back, rustic venue for our reception and were very lucky to find Stone Barn just up the road from us. It was the first venue we looked at and we knew straightaway we’d found the perfect place. It ticked every box and is such a picturesque setting with not a single other building in sight.”

The new Mr and Mrs greeted their guests at the barn with a smile-filled champagne reception, accompanied by the joyous sound of a steel band who had everyone dancing, even more fun and poignant as Chrissie’s mum is originally from Trinidad.

Chrissie and Mark then slipped away for some just married portraits in the stunning surrounding countryside before the speeches.

“One of the things we loved about the barn was that it really didn’t need much doing to it, and has so much charm with its huge open barbecue grill, corrugated iron roof and ceiling covered in fairy lights. We wanted to let the barn speak for itself. Mark had the idea to hire the big light up ‘C&M’ letters – initially I’d debated whether we needed them, in the interest of keeping things simple, but I’m glad I let him convince me otherwise. My Mum painstakingly painted the crate sign (using a make up brush!) which we placed at the entrance to the barn.”

“My sister and I had collected glass jars and bottles and spray painted them gold to give the table arrangements a slightly contemporary look and my Mum handwrote the escort cards the day before the wedding. We didn’t have wedding favours but guests took the table arrangements home with them at the end of the night.”

Now I love cake. A lot. And Chrissie and Mark’s hand-painted, highly personal three-tiered beauty created by Nevie-Pie Cakes is just stunning. And making me seriously hungry.

“I’d seen some hand painted cake designs on Pinterest and thought they were really charming and quirky. After a quick Google search of cake makers who do this, we went for a consultation with Natasha who asked us what our various interests were. She then sketched up a design which featured some of our favourite things; balloons (me!), skiing, wine and our dog, Saffron. We had two summery flavours – vanilla sponge and strawberry jam, and elderflower sponge and gooseberry jam.”

After dinner under the canopy of twinkling fairy lights, Chrissie let down her pretty low bun to reveal loose tumbling curls, and removed her lace top and added an embellished belt to her gorgeous Stephanie Allin gown. I do so love the dainty double straps and twirling movement in the skirts of Chrissie’s dress.

“In the evening The White Keys performed. They played a variety of genres but their UK garage mashup was absolutely insane and had everyone clamouring for an encore. We don’t have a particular song as a couple, but we’re closet Lionel Richie fans and had been to see him in concert the weekend before the wedding. We had our first dance to ‘My Destiny’, as we thought it would be fun and cheesy in a semi-ironic way.”

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“I particularly enjoy reading the real wedding features on Love My Dress. These were a great source of inspiration and featured so many creative and original ideas.

Before you begin planning, decide what are the most important things for you to have at your wedding that represent you best as a couple. For us, it was delicious but unpretentious food, a relaxed atmosphere, and great music for people to dance to. We felt that as long as we had those things in place, the other details were not worth stressing about or spending masses of time or money on.

My practical advice would be to make sure there is a small bottle of water placed where you will be sitting during the ceremony in case of a nervous dry mouth!

We’d initially been absolutely sure that we didn’t need a video, but almost everyone we knew advised us to have one. We are so glad we listened to this advice – Hannah and Dan are truly two of the greatest people you could hope to meet (major couple crush), and the film they made for us is one of my favourite things we have from our wedding.

Lastly, planning a wedding honestly doesn’t need to be a stressful experience and should mostly be an enjoyable process. Try to keep things in perspective, and not get too carried away with having everything be ‘Pinterest perfect’. Always remember why you are doing it in the first place.”

“There are so many wonderful different types of wedding. I often say that I could quite happily have gone to a registry office with a low key meal afterwards. I still maintain that, not because I didn’t have the greatest day of my life, but for me as long as I was married to Mark at the end of the day, it didn’t matter too much how we did it. We absolutely loved our wedding day though and I am really glad we planned what we did.”

I can’t begin to thank the lovely Chrissie and Mark enough for allowing us this privileged insight into their beautiful day. I’m certain this wedding will serve as inspiration to so many of you wonderful readers. And as usual, Chrissie’s words of wedded wisdom serve as a brilliant reminder to all us brides to be that the true heart of a wedding is getting to marry the love of your life.

Thank you so so much to the wonderful Frankee Victoria Photography for these sensational images – if you’re interested in seeing more of this talented lady’s work, look no further than our glorious archives. You’ll spot the beautiful Chrissie on Frankee’s homepage, as well as the gorgeous Emily, whose Somerset-based nuptials we shared on our beloved blog just last month.

Love, Em x