A Pronovias Dress For A Timeless, Classic, Woodland Fairytale Inspired Wedding

Ciao from Tuscany! We’re here in our tiny village in Italia, finally prepping for our long-awaited wedding day in just seven days time. I’m so happy to be writing to you for the very last time as a single lady, sharing the lovely late summer wedding of Mr and Mrs Frend, who both work in television as a director and producer. The lovebirds wed on 10^th September 2016 at Dedham Parish Church, followed by a tipi reception at Dedham Vale Vineyard in in Essex.

The couple chose to wed in Dedham, just thirty minutes from where Victoria grew up. As an art lover she spent a lot of time in the area, famous for its portrayal in the paintings of John Constable, and coincidentally also where Nick met his bride’s parents for the first time.

“We knew we wanted a wedding that was unique to us. We are both creative individuals and the idea of going to a ready made wedding venue just wasn’t for us. So we focused on the area we love and then found a piece of land we could essentially rent and do what we liked with. We both love wine so the fact we found somewhere in a vineyard was perfect. We wanted the greens of the nature around us to be the focus so we went for classic white to complement that in the flowers, and hints of gold in the cutlery and black and white in the stationery to add that extra touch.”

Victoria and Nick chose Caro Hutchings to capture their day, focusing on documenting those fleeting, natural moments and the love between the people present. The couple’s wedding party was a true family affair with Nick’s brothers as best men, Victoria’s sister as maid of honour and the bridesmaids, ushers and mini members of the squad made up of cousins, nieces, a godson and best friends. And how could we possibly overlook the couple’s cute pug, Rupert!?

 

Victoria wore her nana’s pearl earrings and her mum’s eternity ring on her right hand and her flowing blonde locks and make up were styled by Gemma Whitbread. Nick looked incredibly dapper in a suit from Ted Baker worn with Mulberry cufflinks and a tie from Reiss which matched those sported by his groomsmen.

“I wore a Pronovias dress and veil and my dress brought from Mirror Mirror in Islington, London. I loved the lace and the detail on the back. I chose shoes from Dune and wore hair accessories passed down from my cousin with Chanel No.5 perfume.”

“Nick and I met whilst working in television and five years later we got engaged in Paris. This was the first place we went to on holiday so it had special meaning. We were engaged for about 17 months before we got married.”

“Working in the television industry, photography was very important for us. We wanted someone to capture moments rather than staged portraits and we always knew we wanted a more documentary style photographer. We fell in love with Caro’s work when we saw it.”

Transport for the day was booked through BKP Limousines and Victoria and her dad arrived at the church to walk down the aisle together as the organ played Pachelbel’s Canon in D. Victoria and Nick promised their forevers to one another, using the standard Church of England vows during their ceremony.

“My bridesmaids wore outfits from Topshop, Mango and ASOS and my sister, the maid of honour, wore my mum’s necklace. The bridesmaids earrings were all a gift from me from The Outnet and the flower girl and page boy wore Monsoon.”

“Our friend, Cassie Wolfing, read ‘I’ll be there for you’ by Louise Cuddon. We chose this because it was a nice balance to the religious service, and also as a big ‘Friends’ fan the title caught my eye.”

I’ll be there, my darling, through thick and through thin
When your mind’s in a mess and your head’s in a spin
When your plane’s been delayed, and you’ve missed the last train.
When life is just threatening to drive you insane
When your thrilling whodunit has lost its last page
When somebody tells you, you’re looking your age
When your coffee’s too cool, and your wine is too warm
When the forecast said, “Fine,” but you’re out in a storm
When your quick break hotel, turns into a slum
And your holiday photos show only your thumb

When you park for five minutes in a resident’s bay

And return to discover you’ve been towed away
When the jeans that you bought in hope or in haste
Just stick on your hips and don’t reach round your waist
When the food you most like brings you out in red rashes
When as soon as you boot up the bloody thing crashes
So my darling, my sweetheart, my dear…
When you break a rule, when you act the fool
When you’ve got the flu, when you’re in a stew
When you’re last in the queue, don’t feel blue
’cause I’m telling you, I’ll be there.

The newlyweds exchanged rings purchased from Galaxy Diamonds on Hatton Garden, the same jewellers who designed Victoria’s engagement ring and the obvious first port of call for their wedding bands.

I so adore the images of the couple among the vines and picking their way through the woodland towards their gorgeous tipi reception; the wild climbing greenery inside tying in with the beautifully unstructured style of Victoria’s bouquet, bursting with blousy hydrangeas and delicately whimsical asparagus fern.

“Sam French at Wild Poppies was our florist. Her wild and informal style suited our wedding and she was also a delight to work with. She was really accommodating in terms of listening to my ideas rather than sticking to a set formula.”

“Everything we did had meaning and a purpose. We love interiors and we wanted the tipis to look like a reflection of our home, as if we were serving a very large dinner party. My sister makes curtains and cushions for a living so she made all our table runners and cushions, and I made all the menus, place settings and table decorations.”

“We collected little candle holders and glassware over the year from various charity shops and antique markets.”

“I planned the wedding myself but hired Marie Clarke to co-ordinate on the day for me. She came on board four weeks before the wedding date to help with the logistics and so she could get her head around the wedding day itself. As the reception venue was a blank canvas, I needed someone like Marie to run the day so I could relax.”

“I think when you say you are having a tipi wedding people automatically assume your ‘theme’ is rustic, but ours wasn’t. We didn’t want brown card and bunting, we wanted an elegant classic vibe within an informal setting. As silly as it sounds, in my mind all along was ‘if Kate and William ran off for a secret wedding in the woods, what would it look like’ We wanted the timeless, classic, woodland fairy tale.”

Catering was left in the capable hands of Patricia Sharman who helped create a menu that reflected Victoria and Nick as a couple. Their wedding breakfast preceded and an evening of joyful merriment and dancing to the musical stylings of band, The Weekend. The newlyweds chose Take That’s, Greatest Day as their first dance anthem – fittingly our bride actually went to see Take That for her hen do and the couple felt this would be  a perfectly uplifting track that everyone could dance to.

“We wanted our wedding to reflect us as a couple and food and wine are important to us, so we spend a lot of time designing the menu. It included whole joints of beef served to each table and the fact we could serve the vineyard’s own wine with our meal made it extra special.”

The very talented maid of honour handmade candles which the couple gave their guests as as favours, bursting with Victoria’s favourite scent, fig, while Nick’s equally talented mother crafted the wedding cake; a carrot cake surrounded with flowers and fruit, tying in the beauty of the nature around them.

“It sounds so incredibly cheesy but the whole day was amazing. The reception looked just as we dreamed it would, but our favourite part was the service itself – it was so touching to be in such a special church and to read our vows in front of all our friends and family. It is something we will never forget.”

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“People tell you that the details don’t matter on the day and not to worry yourself about the little things, and while in some cases I’m sure this is true, I am so glad we did all the small things as they made everything feel just as we wanted it to. I don’t thing we would change anything.”

“Stick to your guns and don’t be afraid to create your own wedding. There are so many more options nowadays and you don’t have to go to a wedding venue. Think about what you want your day to mean and reflect, and create your own dream wedding. People will tell you things aren’t possible but if you really want something, anything is possible I think. Be creative, be brave and be confident in your decisions.”

A humungous thank you to Victoria, Nick and of course Rupert the pug for sharing this beautiful celebration with us today. A massive thank you to to Caro Hutchings Photography for these love-filled images.

Well ladies, this is it – the very last time I’ll say farewell to you as Miss Emily Deaman. Next time you hear from me I’m sure I’ll be a little sunburnt, quite possibly a little heavier (I’m getting married in the home of pasta, pizza and ice cream after all) and definitely (I mean hopefully!?) Mrs Emily Brown.

See you on the other side!

All my love,

Em x