A 1930’s Vintage Dress for a Bohemian Country Wedding

It’s Thursday 5th January and what do we need to help get us through the day?  Why, a beautiful boho summer wedding I think, with bride wearing a sublime original vintage 1930’s gown.  Meet Layla, a hairdresser and Ben, who is in the army, who married on the 4th of June 2016 at St Mary’s Church in Cratfield, Suffolk with their reception in a marquee within walking distance.

As the reception venue was entirely dry hire, Layla and Ben hired Ollie Platt Events to sort all the logistical issues from the marquee to the toilets, stage, flooring and lighting- a truly essential service.

“Our wedding style was all a bit jumbled from two years’ worth of collecting and crafting and hoping it would all come together in the end.  Our main points were music, boho, natural, outside, country, but mostly we just wanted a relaxed day full of love and fun.”

Photography by Hannah Betts

Layla’s vintage silk dress was a real find – a bargain at £85 from Mabel, a shop in East Dulwich, purchased on eBay. I adore the little buttons down the back and the stitchwork around the neckline and the silk must have been a dream to wear on a hot day. This is a beautiful example of a gown from the 1930’s era.

“I’d originally gone down the route of making my own dress but it didn’t really feel right so I was just searching on eBay when ‘my’ dress came up on the first page and I instantly knew I had to get it.  It was put up for bidding so I had an anxious week of waiting to see whether I would win it and then the worry of whether it would fit.  Luckily it fitted so well that it looked as though it had been made for me.  It just needed a little tlc and then it was perfect.”“I actually customised my dress on the day by cutting the sleeves off!  It was such a hot day after a week of rain so cutting the sleeves off in the afternoon worked perfectly with the sunshine. It was a funny moment; Ben was getting changed into his suit with his best man watching in panic as me and my maid of honour Georgia cut the sleeves away.”

On her feet Layla chose beige Chanel ballerina shoes, while for jewellery she went for her own personal everyday pieces- rose gold hoop earrings, bracelets and a ring as well as a necklace saying ‘whisker’ (her new married name) which was a gift from her work colleagues.

For scent she chose Chanel N°5 perfume and body lotion, a present from Ben. She finished with the most amazing headband from Carmen Maria Mayz, Madrid.

“We all did our own makeup and my lovely friend Kate who I work with at The Powder Rooms in Norwich came and did a mega job at all the bridesmaid’s hair while I did my own.  I loved that chill time of just relaxing doing my make up with the rollers in my hair.”

The little flower girls wore the beautiful Estella Original dress in ivory from Monsoon and all attendants wore dried gypsophila flower crowns purchased on Etsy from gentletouchprops.  The adult bridesmaids were given their jewellery as a gift from Layla, purchased from Lisa Angel.

“I gave my bridesmaids free rein on what dress to wear, I just asked that it wasn’t a long dress and to be a soft pastel colour as I love the difference in length of dresses for photos.”

“My sister never wears dresses so she went for a gorgeous check waistcoat and trousers combo which suited her perfectly.  They all looked amazing.”

“The biggest thing for us with flowers was having them as natural and as seasonal as possible.  Once I got chatting to Julie I just knew I needed to have the flowers from her flower garden (Hillcrest Flower Garden, Norfolk) so we picked up six buckets of flowers from her and spent hours on the Friday arranging them all.””

“We also got lots of flowers from my Uncle Ian who also designed and created the most beautiful flower arch for the church while my mum became the master confetti maker by drying bags and bags of petals.  It was a full family team effort.”

As a military man, Ben decided to wear his uniform for the church ceremony and looked incredibly smart.  He later changed into a wonderful kingfisher blue suit, worn with a white shirt, tan Grenson brogues and Paul Smith socks and belt before  changing his shirt later still for a floral patterned one.   The pageboy looked equally smart in in waistcoat, shorts and collarless shirt from Monsoon.

Layla was accompanied down the aisle by her dad to ‘English Rose’ by The Jam.

“Whilst we signed the register we had Muscovy covering three of our favourite songs; they were great.  We kept our vows traditional which really worked for us as Ben was so emotional I don’t think he would have been able to speak at all if we had done our own.”

The couple chose two readings, read by friends Jim and Kate.  Kate read 1 Corinthians 13, and Jim read the lyrics to Bob Dylan’s ‘Wedding Song’ which begins:

I love you more than ever, more than time and more than love,
I love you more than money and more than the stars above,
Love you more than madness, more than waves upon the sea,
Love you more than life itself, you mean that much to me.

The couple exchanged vintage rings; Ben’s was made in 1916 and was purchased from F.J Zelley in Norwich, while Layla’s was a Victorian ring.

“For entertainment we had Acoustic TK who was there playing his guitar and singing as our guests arrived.  This really set the tone of the day and when me and Ben arrived after photos everyone was super relaxed and chilling on the grass or in the deck chairs enjoying the music with a bottle of beer or a glass of bubbles.”

“We then had The Jive Doctors in the evening who were also fantastic- there wasn’t a moment where the dancefloor was empty.  I found them both on Freak Music.”

“A beer pong table made out of hay bales and an old door also kept everyone entertained and in the evening the fab Lesley from Junk in Love came along with her incredible vintage carousel themed photobooth, which has a vintage waltz seat inside- it’s amazing.”

“She brought the most awesome props and created a brilliant photo book with all the photos for us to keep.  We couldn’t recommend her enough.”

 

“We had our reception at School Farm Cottages right opposite the church.  They have the most amazing space so we put a marquee up in their field.  After going to see St Mary’s we approached David and Claire about our wedding venue ideas and we were so happy when they agreed.”

Catering was the work of Good For a Party, while the delicious wedding cake was made by Ben’s sister Gemma.

“Sal and her team are brilliant; they really just got stuck in on the day and went above and beyond anything we ever expected.  They made the most amazing salads and bitesize treats which were served in pottery salad bowls made with ‘Layla and Ben’ and the date of the wedding on.” 

Layla and Ben also chose to have their day recording in moving film and chose Tom of Cowles FX to do the honours.

“We had the fab Tom there to film the whole day.  Again you didn’t even know he was there; some guests didn’t even realise we had a videographer. I would definitely recommend having a film made- we literally can’t stop watching ours.”

For their first dance, the newlyweds chose ‘Baby I’m yours’ by The Arctic Monkeys and Ben arranged for ‘Layla’ by Eric Clapton to be played straight afterwards as Layla’s Dad named our bride after the song.  She tells us that it brought out her Dad’s best ever dance moves too.

The day was captured on film by Hannah Betts, who caught every moment.

“I honestly can’t recommend Hannah enough, she captures the most beautiful precious moments in such a natural way.  I can’t believe how much emotion you can feel from the pictures.  Hannah mingled so well you didn’t even know she was there clicking away.  We are so happy with the photos as they will be memories of the day that we’ll have forever.”

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“Try and take it all in as the day really does fly.  Someone told me to try to be as calm as you possibly can so you can take every little thing in and I’m so glad I had moments to really compose myself so it all didn’t feel like I was in a dream.  It really helped just being with just my dad for five minutes having a glass of prosecco before we walked to the church and down the aisle. Switch off from everything apart from your day and enjoy every moment.”

So many thanks to Ben and Layla for sharing their wonderful, carefree day with us today.  Thanks also to Hannah Betts for sharing her images.  Have you been inspired to think about a marquee wedding?  Take a look at these past features for lots of fabulous ideas.

Much love,

Shona x