An Elegant 1940’s Wedding Dress for a Rustic, Cider Garden Wedding…

Hi lovelies, who else is trying to take it a little easy during the UK half term holidays this week? I'm taking my two little girls on a train ride to The Lake District today, where we'll be staying with my Sister and her little girls and celebrating Halloween in style – I can't wait, the pumpkin is at the ready as are the party suppliers (and wine!).  I could also barely wait to share this wedding with you all – it's one of those affairs I truly believe oozes every the very essence of Love My Dress – elegant, stylish, an original vintage wedding gown, pretty inspirational details and lots and lots of love.

Esyllt and Andy got married on 2nd September 2012 at Woodthrope Hall in Holmesfield, Derbyshire.  As soon as I saw this wedding for the very first time, I knew that Esyllt was wearing an original 1940's gown.  The tell-tale giveaway signs are the lack of embellishment and over fussy detail – but this beautiful dress discovery via The Pocket Library doesn't need it…

"I
knew early on that I wanted to wear a vintage or vintage style dress, after looking at lots of dresses online and not seeing anything modern
that really appealed to me.  I tried on several vintage wedding dresses
but I was blown away by the beautiful gowns at The Pocket Library, which
is run by Rebecca Denholm…"

Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2012, S6 Photography

"Originally I was keen on a fifties
prom-style, or something lacy, so when first saw this dress I assumed it
would be too ‘slinky’ for my figure, but when I tried it on, it fitted
perfectly – despite being 70 years old!  I loved the simplicity of it and
it was probably the first time in my life I’ve actually felt ‘elegant’.

I didn’t buy it straight away as it was only the second dress I’d tried
on but over the following weeks I saw nothing else that was remotely
similar, and I realised it was totally unique and I had to snap it up."

"We didn’t want the wedding to look overly styled or themed but we
were guided by the venue – which was outdoors and quite rustic, and in
particular the cider press, which meant we had a few touches featuring
apples!  I grew up in Derbyshire and Andy and I are both very fond of the
area. We chose to get married in the cider press and gardens of 17th
century Woodthrope Hall, which is also a family home, and only a couple
of miles from my parents house.

Despite living in the neighbouring
village for nearly 20 years, I never knew the Hall was there until I
started looking for wedding venues. It’s very private and secluded, and
has the ‘wow’ factor without being at all pretentious."

"I was undecided about hair accessories for ages and bought a couple
of vintage wax-flower crowns online that unfortunately didn’t go with
the dress when I tried it all on together. I’ve always liked birdcage
veils but was worried about pulling one off as my hair is so mad.

Luckily a woman who lives near my parents makes vintage hats and
fascinators and so came up with a design exactly like I wanted. I
definitely felt more ‘bridal’ with a veil but took it off for dinner to
keep things fairly informal."

"The florist was Pip Croft who runs Fleurti,
a small business in the Peak District. She seemed ‘get’ the style of
the wedding immediately and was extremely enthusiastic about everything.
Because we were in a marquee, we thought the flowers should be
colourful to stand out against the white background. Pip used a
selection of jam jars covered in vintage lace for the table centres and
made fabulous displays using apple crates and an old step ladder for the
marquee entrance.

She also decorated the cider press with baskets of
apples and made the whole venue look really stunning. The flowers were a
really lovely surprise on the day as I’d left my mum to discuss things
with Pip and I had no idea what they were planning. When I saw it all, I
couldn’t believe how beautiful and natural she had made the venue look."

"I
had a bouquet and my mum and sisters wore wrist corsages while Andy’s
mum and sister wore traditional corsages. The men all worse buttonholes
with some tiny crab apples to reflect the fact that we in a cider press!"

"Because the garden at Woodthorpe is so beautiful, we decided to
keep the décor to a minimum, apart from the flowers of course. Our
florist hung ivy up around the marquee and around the table plan. Andy
and I made ‘photo bunting’ which we strung around the trees in the
garden with raffia and the owners of the venue put fairy lights and
lanterns in the trees which looked magical when it got dark.

In the
cider press, we had white, tissue paper cut-out decorations from Mexico.
They were very delicate and fluttered in the wind, and looked a bit
like lace."

"Andy
initially got measured for a tailored suit, but when they said they'd
base it on a Paul Smith design, he decided to check out their off-the-peg
suits in Selfridges instead. He picked a Paul Smith suit in a shade of
blue slightly lighter than navy that was a bit different, and fitted in
with our plan to avoid anything too traditional. The day after he tried
it on, the shop called him to tell him it was in the sale! As we wanted
to keep things informal, he didn’t go for tails or a waistcoat, but
treated himself to a tailor-made shirt which looked very smart.

He
wanted a tie that ‘stood out’ and after much debate (with me encouraging
him to move away from bright orange!) he picked this Liberty print one
which, without Andy realising, matched the flowers perfectly. Finally,
Andy bought some brown shoes from Russell and Bromley that finished the
outfit off perfectly."

"Our photographer was Jon from S6 Photography.
We’d admired his work on several blogs and was thrilled to find out
that he was also local.  I knew he’d photographed another wedding at
Woodthorpe Hall and having seen the results, Andy and I were both really
excited to have him on board. For both of us, the photography was a big
priority as it’s the only thing you have to look back on, apart from
your memories, of course! Jon’s approach was really refreshing, and he
made sure we were relaxed and just enjoyed the day.

We were so excited
to see his shots and have had so many fantastic compliments about them.
In fact, lots of our friends who are engaged are now keen to book Jon
too! We would thoroughly recommend him"

"As I wasn’t planning to do anything fancy with my hair and makeup, I
decided to do it myself. However, after going for a trial I realised
how limited my skills were! It was also really nice to feel pampered. Hayley Stanier was recommended to me and she did my make up and helped
pin up my hair. She gave me a really natural look that lasted all day.

That stage of getting ready was when I felt most nervous so I was so
glad in the end I wasn’t trying to do it myself as I would have probably
smudged it everywhere!" 

"I wasn’t at all bothered about shoes but because the length of the
dress meant they were visible.  I decided they needed some detail though, so in the
end I bought a pair with a low heel and nice cut-out details by Origa
from Amazon. I didn’t want to spend a lot on them as I knew they would
get ruined on the grass so shopping online meant I got a good deal."

"I don’t wear much jewellery and I tried a few things on but found
they detracted from the dress, and everything felt too ‘blingy’. In the
end I just wore a pair of pearl drop earrings that were my
grandmother’s."

"We have a friend in a five-piece band called Little Sister who Andy had seen perform a few times. They do mainly folk songs but also 1940's
style vocal harmonies and we both loved the idea of getting someone
else we knew involved in the wedding!

They played in the garden as
people arrived and also during the drinks afterwards.  The singer is
also Welsh, like me, and she plays the harp so she threw in some Welsh
songs too.  It was a really nice touch, particularly for my
Welsh-speaking family…"

 

"We
loved the idea of an outdoor ceremony – but debated for a while about
whether it was too risky given the British weather! In the end we
decided to just go for it, but we were so lucky the sun shone as it was
an appalling summer. Luckily, the fine weather meant we could have the
garden party style wedding we wanted.

My Dad gave me away – during which, Little Sister played a song
called 'Coming Home’ as I walked down the aisle. It’s a beautiful song,
and we chose it for the lyrics which are all about being in a long
distance relationship – perfect for us as we had been living in
different cities for several years! When we walked back up the aisle
together, they played their own version of Stevie Wonder’s ‘Signed,
Sealed Delivered’."

 

"We met at journalism college and after five and a half years
together, Andy proposed while we were on holiday in North Wales. As we
both work in news, he had filmed a fake ‘newsflash’ (with the help of
some of our friends and colleagues) and put it on a DVD which he
sneakily put on for me to watch. It ended with the message “Will you
Marry me?” in Welsh!"

"One of the best things about our venue was that they allowed us to
do what we wanted regarding catering.  We had canapés from Waitrose and
Marks and Spencer, with a few made by my parents too. Hazels Catering in
Sheffield did our wedding breakfast which was a traditional roast with
Yorkshire puddings. As the wedding was in a very English country garden,
we thought a roast was appropriate – and it was a Sunday too! Later in
the evening we arranged for a fish and chip van to come on site, which seemed very popular and meant our evening guests were well fed too.

We brought all the drinks for the wedding, including stocking the
bar from supermarkets and Majestic, which was really good value as we
could overbuy and then take back what we didn’t use. We had Pimms and
Lemonade after the ceremony, with some of Woodthorpe Hall’s own cider
for those after something even stronger!  We also brought a keg of real ale from a local brewery in Sheffield for the evening which people seemed to like too."

"My mum made jam, marmalade and chutney as favours in the months before the wedding. Our stationery designer at Paper Sherbet
made some labels for the jars and we tied luggage tags from Paper
Sherbert to them with raffia so they also doubled up as name places. 
The stationary designer also made us menus and beautiful stationary,
screenprinting using natural bark so that they had a rustic effect."

"The wedding cake was not a priority for us and I was
planning to buy one from a supermarket! On hearing this, one of my
culinary friends insisted that she make us one. Neither Andy or I are
big fans of traditional wedding cake so she made us a delicious two tier
chocolate cake covered in dark and white chocolate ganache and
decorated with leaves and flowers. It was such a generous gift and
lovely to have a friend involved in the day. It also tasted delicious!

We also had a cheese ‘cake’ which my dad arranged with a local cheese
shop.We served this with crackers along with the wedding cake later in the evening, and lots of people seemed to enjoy it."

 

"We actually chose three first dance tracks, as we couldn’t decide!
In the end we went with a light hearted choice to start – Big Mountain’s
‘Baby I Love Your Way’ and followed it up with George Harrison’s ‘Got
my Mind Set on You’ and Jackie Wilson’s ‘Higher and Higher’. They were
all upbeat and easy to dance to!"

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

"I suppose I would say all
the personal touches – while they do sometimes feel like a lot of
effort, are really worth it. Also, although looking at blogs/magazines
is really helpful, it’s easy to convince yourself you need lots of stuff
you really don’t, so just focus on what’s most important to you and
prioritise your budget and planning that way.

We didn’t use a wedding planner but Dick and Sue Shepley, who live at Woodthrope Hall, provided all the support and coordination we needed;
from lending us garden games and suggesting suppliers  – nothing was too
much trouble for them and they made sure the day felt as personal as we
wanted it to be."

Oh my, the very essence of Love My Dress through and through.

Huge congratulations Esyllt and Andy on your absolutely beautiful wedding – I think you made the most excellent choice in photographers – I always adore featuring photographs shot by Jon I at S6 Photography – much more from whom you can see on these pages right here.

I honestly don't know which aspect of this wedding I love the best – but it all comes together so wonderfully – I'd love some feedback, let's show some love for all the amazing suppliers and the happy newlyweds who have made this feature possible – thank you so much everyone.

Much love,

Annabel

Photographer – S6 Photography
Venue – Woodthrope Hall in Holmesfield, Derbyshire
Wedding Dress – 1940's original vintage dress with mother of pearl dress clips from The Pocket Library
Wedding Veil – created by a friend
Bride's shoes – Origa
from Amazon
Groom – Paul Smith + Shirt by Frank Rostron Shirtmakers + Tie by Liberty + Shoes by Russell & Bromley
Florist – Fleurti
Cake Designer – Friend
Entertainment – Little Sister + DJ Craig Helliwell
Hair Stylist – Hayley Stanier
Caterers – Hazels
Brewery – Bradfield Brewery