A Long Sleeved Jesus Peiro Wedding Dress for an Elegant and Flower Filled Marquee Wedding

We’re thrilled that this wedding features three suppliers from our Little Book Wedding Directory – testament to the fact we recommend only the best suppliers out there. They include photographer Matt Penberthy, bridal fashion brand Jesus Peiro and bridal boutique The Pantiles Bride.

The wedding celebrations were those of Pippa, a solicitor, and Aleks, a banker, who married on the 12th August 2017 at Pippa’s stunning family home in Frant, East Sussex. Pippa looked wonderful in an elegant long-sleeved gown by Jesus Peiro, purchased from The Pantiles Bride in Royal Tunbridge Wells, who helped with significant changes and additions to the original design.  I just adore the big skirt and row of tiny buttons all down the back.

“I loved the clean, modern looks which were still fairly traditional and I was really impressed by the flexibility of Jesus Peiro.  They allowed me to choose a different skirt, different material, add lace sleeves and change the back of the dress too.”

Images by Matt Penberthy

To set off her dress, Pippa also chose a long simple veil (also from The Pantiles Bride) and shoes by Rainbow Club.  For accessories she chose to keep things simple with fresh flowers in her hair from Florist in the Forest, allowing her dress to do all the talking.Aleks says“Our parents are friends, but we actually met for the first time in 2011 before we both started working in London. We became engaged in October 2016.  I wanted to propose in Holland Park (which is where my parents were married) and it’s a short walk from our flat in Brook Green.”

“It was a glorious morning and I suggested going for a walk.  As we were going on holiday a few days later, Pippa decided she would like to walk to Notting Hill or High Street Kensington to do some pre holiday shopping.  I tried to shoot this down with a nice walk round the park and we went round in circles for about twenty minutes before I decided that I’d just propose right there, in the sitting room of our flat.”

“The marquee was set in Pippa’s parents’ lovely garden and this provided our inspiration.  Pippa also loves flowers so there was a great emphasis on this too.  We wanted a fairly traditional wedding but one which wasn’t too formal.  Pippa’s parents had a real eye for the detail of every aspect of the day, which really does show in the photos and helped us to have a really enjoyable, stress-free day.”

Pippa wore her hair in a soft braided up do, by Becky Bryant (no details), decorated with fresh flowers, while for make up she chose a beautiful natural look, courtesy of Emma Lily Curran.

“We ended up with two florists, as well as doing some of the flowers ourselves.  The wonderful Florist in the Forest in Groombridge provided lovely bouquets and hair flowers for me and the bridesmaids, buttonholes for Aleks and his groomsmen and flowers for the cake.”

“Laura Nash [no details] arranged the most beautiful arch at the door of the church, garlands around the poles of the tent, pew ends and pedestal arrangements in the church and Aleks’ mother helped to arrange more flowers in the church.  The bridesmaids arranged the vases for the tables in the marquee, sourced from The Homegrown Flower Company.”

Matt Penberthy is the man behind these beautiful photos, and a photographer whose work I greatly admire (take a look here for many more Love My Dress weddings shot by him).  The mix of reportage shots, relaxed portraiture and a wonderful sense of light all add up to the most wonderful photographic memories.

“Matt was extremely conscientious and helped so much with the planning of the photographs on the day and making sure people were in the right places at the right time.  He was fastidious over all the small details you wouldn’t think matter but actually make a huge difference and was quick to take the formal photos outside of the church so we didn’t keep our guests waiting.  Our guests were not really aware of him, which must be the mark of a good wedding photographer.”

Matt opted for a traditional morning suit, worn with yellow waistcoat (both from Favourbrook on Jermyn Street), paired with shoes from Loake Shoemakers.  His groomsmen wore the same suit, but with different waistcoats, making for a very pretty collection of colours.

Pippa and Aleks also opted to have their day captured on moving film, choosing I Do Productions for the job.

“Chariots Chauffeurs coordinated transport for the guests between the church and the house and into Tunbridge Wells after the wedding, while our wedding car was provided by Kent & Medway Wedding Cars– a beautiful vintage Rolls Royce Silver Cloud.”

Save the dates were from Little Book members Papier, with invitations supplied by another Little Book favourite, Artcadia and menus, the order of service, table plan and signs were by Paper Scissors Pop! via Etsy.

The bridesmaids looked perfectly summery in pleated blue gowns from Biba at House of Fraser, also worn with fresh flowers in their hair.

Pippa walked down the aisle with her father to ‘The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba’ by Handel- always a dramatic entrance choice.  Aleks described Pippa walking  down the aisle towards him as his favourite moment of the whole day, and it really isn’t hard to see why.

Pippa and Aleks exchanged traditional Church of England vows, while for readings, they opted for ‘Marriage Morning’ by Alfred, Lord Tennyson and ‘Song of Solomon’ 2:10-13; 8:6-7.

In keeping with their traditional ceremony, the newlyweds also exchanged wedding rings.  Aleks’ ring came from local jeweller Peter Jenner, while Pippa chose another local company- Thurlwells of Tunbridge Wells.

The decor in the marquee really is stunning- I’ve never seen a flower patterned liner before, and I absolutely adore it.  The fact that Pippa and Aleks actually have a tree growing in the ground within the marquee, is just the icing on the cake.

“Our theme was flowers and greenery.  Our table plan, menus etc featured eucalyptus and we chose a floral lining for the marquee.  We also had a lovely acer tree already in the garden which was inside the marquee and which we lit with fairy lights.”

Catering was by Amuse, who Aleks described as ‘absolutely superb, with immaculate food and timings’, while the fabulous cake was the work of Willow and Bloom Cakes.  It really does look picture perfect, don’t you agree?

“Donna made us a gorgeous four- tiered sponge cake with layers of lemon and orange.  She arranged the flowers on the cake and it was a lovely centrepiece in the marquee.”

 

Entertainment came in the form of band Roxxon, who kept the dance floor full all evening.

“Roxxon were a really great band and had a brilliant set list.  They learnt the song for our first dance [‘You’re Wondering Now’ by Amy Winehouse] and played it perfectly, despite the fact that it is was not a very well known song and they didn’t have much notice.”

So many thanks to Aleks and Pippa for sharing their beautiful day, and to Matt Penberthy for sharing his photographs. I do love Pippa’s personalised Jesus Peiro gown (in fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a Jesus Peiro dress I didn’t want to put on immediately…).  If you do too, take a look here for pages and pages of inspiration.

Much love,

Shona x