A Modern, Midnight Garden Inspired Autumn Wedding

Well, it’s official my loves, I’m into double digits on the longest wedding countdown in history. I remember thinking, at 800 soul-destroyingly-long days to go, that this time would never come. Now just 95 days remain and I’m in a constant state of excitement tinged with mild panic. And more addicted to Love My Dress than ever before.

Today’s midnight garden inspired wedding celebrates the love of Georgie, a Publisher for Cosmopolitan, and Gareth, a Sales Manager, who tied the knot on 15th October 2016. Their ceremony was held at Henley-on-Thames Town Hall, followed by a enchanting reception at the historic inn, The Crooked Billet – every single component an ode to their favourite leaf-crunching, blanket-snuggling season.

“We wanted the day to be authentic to us and the venues as possible so we let the locations and season inspire us. We spent a lot of time in the build up to the wedding in both our ceremony and reception venues, getting a real sense of the buildings and their personalities. It helped us shape everything we did and allowed us to let them be the stars of the day as much as we were. By the time it came to decide on a theme it was easy – without even having to debate or discuss, we both knew we wanted to create a sense of an autumnal midnight garden for our reception.”

Wedding film by Lucky No. 13.

https://vimeo.com/194219313

Georgie chose a sleek, simple gown by Belgian designer, Rembo Styling, purchased at a bridal boutique in Wallingford, Oxfordshire. We adore these bohemian chic creations, crafted from quality fabric with a truly perfect fit of paramount importance. Georgie added a Richard Designs veil to her ensemble, and a pair of metallic heels from Kurt Geiger.

Photography by Anna B

“I chose my dress for its simplicity. I wanted something elegant and chic that didn’t overpower me or the venue. It was all about the balance. I wasn’t focussed on a designer or price, I just wanted ‘that feeling.’ I ended up spending less then £900 on everything, which surprised everyone, mostly me! I was also completely obsessed with the 90s trend that we saw in 2016 – that was my coming of age fashion decade so I wanted to try and bring back some of that era on the day.”Georgie’s gorgeously shiny (seriously, is there a shampoo in the world that can give that much lustre?) cropped locks and glowing make-up were styled by Charlotte Pennington. Our bride spritzed on the sumptuous Black Orchid by Tom Ford, which she felt really suited the season.

Her glamorous maids wore an array of stunning black dresses – Georgie felt very strongly that her best girls should be able to express their own distinctive styles by choosing their own gowns.

Gareth is no slouch in the style stakes either, how cool is his tweed Simon Dowling Bespoke suit?

“Gareth and I met the old fashioned way; in a crowded bar at Christmas time. He chatted me up while we waited for drinks. He had me in stitches within minutes (a laugh and a cheesy chat up line, still a big winner guys!) and I think I knew he was the one there and then. Eighteen months later his proposal was a complete surprise in our favourite restaurant on a beautiful June evening.”

“He’d hired out the whole place for two hours so we could have it to ourselves – I just thought it was a quiet night! I was so shocked when he presented me with the ring and got down one knee, I couldn’t speak and certainly  couldn’t remember a word he said.”

“So I made him do it again when we got home and said yes both times. We got married fourteen months later.”

Georgie and Gareth stayed together the night before their ceremony and so enjoyed waking up and having breakfast together before driving to Henley-on-Thames Town Hall.

Guests were sent invitations designed by Georgie’s colleague and friend, Laura Llewelyn, and treated to the musical stylings of fusion violinist Joel Grainger, who played Georgie and her parents down the aisle with one of his own songs.

“We kept our vows simple and just promised to love and support each other forever. For us that’s all that really mattered. We also had a reading called The Life That I Have by Leo Marks:”

The Life That I Have, by Leo Marks

The life that I have
Is all that I have
And the life that I have
Is yours
The love that I have
Of the life that I have
Is yours and yours and yours.
A sleep I shall have
A rest I shall have
Yet death will be but a pause
For the peace of my years
In the long green grass
Will be yours and yours and yours.

Anna’s dazzling smile as she and Gareth exchanged their bespoke rings, purchased from Barry Bloom, a private Hatton Garden jeweller, is totally electrifying. There’s so much joy in these stills, wonderfully and sensitively captured by photographer, Anna Butcher.

“The Richard Designs ribbon choker I had on was actually a belt made for a wedding dress and definitely my favourite thing I wore on the day.”

“My earrings were vintage diamonds from John Lewis (a gift from my parents) and my wrist cuffs were also from John Lewis.”

“As soon as I met our photographer, Anna, I knew she was the one, so to speak. She completely captured the energy of the day. She is also one of the sweetest, coolest chicks I know and was so easy to work with. I loved having her at our wedding. Chris O Donnell at Lucky No. 13 created a mini music video for our wedding and was also a joy to work with.”

The newlyweds took a little time for some just married portraits with Anna upon arrival at their reception venue, The Crooked Billet. This lovely old inn is hidden well off the beaten track, down a narrow winding lane nestled between beech and oak trees – it sounds like autumnal heaven.

“The Crooked Billet is so beautiful and romantic – it’s over 400 years old and we didn’t want to try and make it into something it wasn’t – it was as simple as wanting to be bring their outside ‘secret garden’ inside. The dedication of The Crooked Billet team to deliver the wedding we dreamed of left me really choked up.”

The couples’ lovely venue catered their wedding breakfast, supplemented with a cheese tower of their own creation. The Flower Shop in Caversham provided the floral decorations, who Georgie turned to wanting to support a local, lovely independent supplier. Their fabulous light up G&G signs and that awesome ‘Til Death Do Us Party’ neon were supplied by Vowed & Amazed, who we are very proud to support through our sister site, Little Book for Brides.

“We worked with the truly incredible Fleur de Lace to bring our midnight garden to life. She is supremely talented and worked so hard. I loved what she did so much I cried when I saw the finished look inside the marquee.”

Georgie and Gareth booked band, Alive, who fully rocked the reception. The couple chose to forgo a first dance, choosing instead to let their band kick start the party. It certainly looks like they did a pretty good job at that!

“I loved saying our vows and I did a speech as well, which I am so glad I did. It’s very rare you get to stand up in front of a room full of people you love so much, so I wanted to take the chance to tell everyone how important they were to me. Seeing the dance floor go mental to the band as well was absolutely wicked but I wish I’d eaten some of the cheese tower – I was having too much fun and forgot!”

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“The best thing I did was give myself was to give myself a six week break from everything ‘wedding’ about three months into planning. It’s so easy to get caught up in at all that you can lose sight of what you really want, even who you really are as a bride and as a couple. Taking a break and coming back to it again let us reset and go back think about what our wedding really meant to us and how we wanted it to be.”

Those are some sound, sanity-preserving words of advice from Georgie – it’s all about perspective and trying not to get obsessed with every single detail (she says, furtively scouring Etsy for the millionth unnecessary item that will just complete our big day décor.)

That just leaves me to say a massive thank you to Georgie, Gareth and Anna B Photography for allowing us to bask in the glow of this gorgeous celebration. Take a look at a few more Rembo Styling brides who’ve appeared on our hallowed pages – their bohemian oh-so-cool style is simply gorgeous.

Have a good week lovelies,

Em x