An Elegant and Pastel Colour Summer Garden Wedding

I have an ongoing bucket list of places I want to visit, both in the UK and abroad. I’ve got one more to add to my list today: The Gardens in Yalding, Kent. Once you’ve seen these beautiful images of high-school sweethearts Mr and Mrs Lang’s summer wedding in the verdant Kent countryside, I think you’ll understand why…

The couple married on 11 August 2016 in a flower-filled, white and dusky pink outdoor wedding with Iranian touches here and there. Their priority was to make sure their guests had a relaxed and enjoyable day, and luckily the weather obliged with a boiling-hot summer’s day.

“We really wanted to get married in a garden and considered getting married in my parents’ garden. When we found the Gardens in Yalding it was like a bigger replica of their garden so we knew it was meant to be. We also loved that there were tipis. We wanted a really relaxed feel where everyone was enjoying themselves. We were really lucky with the weather which meant people could really enjoy the gardens.”

The bride looked the complete princess in her pure white Allure gown, purchased at Teokath in Canterbury. I love the fitted, beaded bodice with the belted waist, cap sleeves and scooped back. The ballgown train adds a glorious touch of drama and glamour, especially when paired with her long Teokath veil.

“I liked all the dresses I tried on but I knew this one was the one as I didn’t want to take it off. When I was younger I always wanted a princess dress however once I got engaged I thought I was going to go for more a fitted dress. Although I liked the fitted gowns I didn’t feel like a bride.”

“I soon realised that I did want a princess dress as it is the one day you can dress like one. When my dad saw me in my dress for the first time it was very special. I was so excited for that moment and it didn’t disappoint.”

To honour the high summer, flowers were a joyous, vibrant mix of wild English country garden-inspired blooms in deep pinks and greens. The arrangements look incredible and displaying them in white wooden crates showed their hue off to perfection.

“We had a florist do our bouquets and button holes. My mum and Matt’s godmother did all the flowerboxes, jam jars and any others. They did an amazing job – we were really impressed.”

Zara’s grown-up bridesmaids dressed in dusky pink gowns from Sexy Her which were easy to wear and move in, and look fantastic with the deep pinks of their bouquets.

Her flowergirls wore dresses from our Little Book for Brides favourite Monsoon (take a look at their listing here), their hair adorned with the prettiest fresh flower wreaths.

The bride’s dark hair was swept up into a high up-do, and highlighted by a sparkling Jon Richard headpiece. Her dramatic make-up really accentuates her eyes, and her stained lip is such a beautiful colour.

Her gown took centre-stage, and she added earrings borrowed from her mum and House of Fraser shoes to complete her look.

Zara, a Primary School teacher, met her husband Matt, a marine manager, in her own school days and they dated for eleven years before getting engaged at Liverpool’s Albert Docks in a really lovely story.

“We met at school when I was sixteen and Matt was seventeen – I was new to the school for sixth form. Matt took me on dates every week for four months before I agreed to be his girlfriend. I was born in Liverpool and a lot of my family including my nan still live there.”

“My nan is very, very special to me and we go to Liverpool every few months to visit her. We were going for a visit with my sister and her boyfriend at the time and Matt and my sister (who knew about the engagement) suggested we get dressed up and go for dinner at the Albert Docks.”

“The Albert Docks is a very important place to me as it is where my late granddad worked and somewhere I always go with my nan for coffee and cake whilst she tells me stories about her childhood and my granddad who she loved very much.”

“When we got there Matt said ‘Let’s go to the water to see the boats’. When we got there I noticed all these locks (similar to the ones in Paris) along the chains across the water. When I turned around, Matt was on his knee with the most beautiful ring. Once I had said ‘yes’ and put on the ring, Matt produced a lock with our names, the date we started going out and the date we got engaged.”

“We locked it on the chains and threw the key into the water. My sister had stayed way back to take photos and her boyfriend had gone to get Champagne. It was just perfect.”

The ceremony was held under a beautiful domed gazebo, and personalised with readings from the groom’s sisters and one of the bride’s friends. The exquisite rings are from Abrahams in Hatton Gardens, London, and I think they fit in with her ballgown beautifully.

“We went back to the same shop Matt had my engagement ring made as I wanted the wedding ring to fit and have the same cut. Matt knew he wanted quite a plain band.”

Mr and Mrs Lang’s August day was blessed with blazing sunshine, so they were able to wed outside in the lush gardens. Zara walked down the grass aisle on the arm of her dad to Christina Perri’s ‘A Thousand Years‘, performed by their wedding singer Adam Chandler and his band, for whom the bride was super-excited in the run-up to the wedding.

The groom was dashing in his Ted Baker suit, and arrived at the wedding driven by the dad of a friend in a Porsche 911. He also wore a TAG Heuer watch, given to him as a surprise gift from Zara on the morning of the wedding.

Photographer Hollie Carlin has really caught the delight and surprise on her dad’s and bridesmaids’ faces in these images. It’s the first time we’ve featured Hollie’s work on Love My Dress, and I really hope that we will see more in the future.

“Hollie was amazing on the lead-up and on the day. She made us both feel so relaxed and comfortable. I felt like I had a friend with me for the day- she even helped with putting my dress on. We wanted to book Hollie after she did our friend’s wedding a few years ago. We love the lighting of her photos and the way she captures everyone’s emotions during the day. The photos really do tell a story.”

The glorious summer weather meant that the guests had time to explore the garden, relax in the sunshine and play lawn games before dinner, speeches and dancing in the tipi. The Gardens are the perfect backdrop for newly-wed portrait shots; the couple look so glamorous against the manicured gardens. After a meal by The Gardens’ catering team, the guests let their hair down and thoroughly enjoyed the live band.

The bride worked hard in the lead-up to her wedding creating crafty details to decorate the wonderful tipi. I love the space and sense of light in canvas venues, and these images capture the rustic chic vibe perfectly. She wanted to include a few Persian influences to reference her Iranian roots; these place-cards are so simple but but beautiful.

“I made the place cards with my Dad. I wanted to bring something Iranian into the wedding as I am half-Iranian. We wrote everyone’s names in English and Persian. It took some time but it was worth it. Our table plan was in a big flower box. Our very good friend Keith Spittle made the box for us and he personalised it with our names and wedding date.”

The open-sided tipi was decorated in a summery way with lots of elegant adornments including fresh flowers, pom-poms and honeycombs and a suitcase for wedding cards. They added a sweet stall, styled into a garden (check out the adorable sign) and lovely portrait pictures of their parents’ and grandparents’ weddings.

“We had a wedding singer called Adam Chandler and his band. We originally had a DJ booked but I had always wanted a wedding singer since I was a little girl after watching the film ‘The Wedding Singer’. Just before the wedding my mum booked the band for the whole day and it was one of the things we were most excited about. We had two acoustic singers for the ceremony, a saxophone for drinks, singing for the meal and full band for the evening. Everyone loved the live music throughout the day.”

My best friend’s mum Tracey Collier made my cake. It was four-tier and every tier was a different flavour, from chocolate to red velvet. My best friend’s brother Jack made us a cake stand by carving into a log.”

“We wanted to make sure we enjoyed our day and that meant dancing the night away together in the evening and that’s what we did with all our family and friends around us.”

“We added an Iranian song last minute. The bridal party started the dance off and then the groom’s party and some of Matt’s friends stuck moustaches on and joined us. It was a bit of a surprise for the guests.”

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“Nothing is worth stressing about; everything will come together. Enjoy every moment of the day and dance the night away.”

“You can’t buy the perfect wedding day! It’s the feel of the day which I think comes from the bride and groom. If they are smiling , relaxed and happy, everyone else will be too!”

Those last words above are so true, and really encapsulate what we are about here at Love My Dress with the weddings that we feature.

Sending massive thanks and congratulations to Mr and Mrs Lang, and thank you Hollie Carlin for these sun-filled images which really capture a sense of place. If anyone has any other suggestions for places to put on my travel list, please let me know!

Ele xx