Hey lovelies, this is our final blog post of today and indeed, the penultimate real wedding feature of 2012. Thus, I've chosen a wedding that I feel beautifully sums up the essence of Love My Dress; a bride who adores her vintage sytle, a dress she made herself, from an original 1950's Vogue dress pattern, and a little London glamour.
Swedish born Ebba married her beau John on 24th November this year at Wandsworth Town Hall in London, followed by a reception at Leon in Ludgate Circus and I just adore these fun and smiley images that were captured by photographer Emma Lucy. I just love the choice of red and how much Ebba is smiling, it's so delightful, and that loving embrace at the altar, complete with in your face smacker of a snog – wedding blog heaven it is…
"I made the dress myself with the help of my mum, the pattern is
a 1950's style Vogue dress pattern from Jaycotts which
we altered to fit perfectly. The fabric came from The Silk Society in
Soho, and was a beautiful undyed raw
silk.
I decided fairly early on that I was going to make
my own dress. For a November wedding I wanted a shorter dress with
sleeves, and that proved very difficult to find, whereas I found lots of
suitable patterns online. My mum is super-talented and sewed her own
wedding dress, and she came over for a three day sewing marathon over
the August bank holiday weekend. I loved that the dress fitted
perfectly, and that we had such a good time making it."
Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2012, Emma Lucy
"We designed all the invitations, programmes, table plans, place
cards and menus ourselves with the help of my brother, Wilhelm."
"We are so lucky to live in a borough with an amazing town hall! The
Grand Chamber at Wandsworth Town Hall fitted all our guests comfortably and the hall has some
amazing art deco features."
"We took the 37 bus, courtesy of Transport for London to
the ceremony venue (I didn’t want to sit down and unnecessarily
crease the dress!), and from the ceremony to the reception venue we
hired a vintage routemaster bus from www.redbuses4u.com"
"We knew we wanted somewhere friendly and relaxed with nice,
unpretentious food, and Leon fitted the bill perfectly. We love the look
of the Ludgate restaurant, and and the staff there really worked.
We saved all kinds of empty glass jars for about two years which we
used as flower vases, and bought an enormous number of candles from
IKEA. We also made some banners (out of wrapping paper!) to hang over
the menu boards in the restaurant. Leon’s Ludgate restaurant looks
amazing anyway, but four dedicated friends helped make it look even
better..."
According to Swedish traditions, the bride and groom enter together
as a sign that they have both freely chosen to marry, which is what we
decided to do.
Ebba says "It also meant that we got to spend the whole day together
before the wedding!"
"We were on a strict budget but wanted our wedding to have a warm
and friendly feeling, so we went for red colours and lots of candles.
I'm a fan of all things vintage (having had a 1920s-themed hen
party) and the 1950s-style dress inspired the hair and makeup."
"Our Florist was The Flower Yard,
who provided ranunculus and freesia bouquets and buttonholes. We also
bought unarranged roses, tulips, gerbera, and waxflowers which our
friends arranged in jam jars at the reception venue. Ranunculus and
tulips are Ebba’s favourite flowers, so picking them was an easy
decision!"
Oooh, yummmmy!!! A pair of Melissa Skyscraper heels in red by Vivienne Westwood. J'Adore!…
"Our photographer was Emma Lucy,
who is an absolute star, we could not have wished for a better
photographer! Her photos are amazing, and she did a great job despite
the bad weather & light and was so much fun to be around. We got a
small set of photos just days after the wedding, and full 600+ set in
less than a month."
"Our wedding ceremony vows were as follows:-
'I promise to make you laugh when you least expect it, but also to understand that sometimes just being there is enough. I
promise not to judge the films you pick to watch before I've seen them,
and to accept defeat graciously when I lose the debate over their
quality afterwards. I promise to rinse the dishes after I've washed them, even if I don't think it's strictly necessary. I
promise to always help you into your pyjamas whenever you’re too tired
to put them on yourself, and to always find the way you sleep with both
your eyes and mouth open totally endearing. Most of all
though, I promise to give you all of my love completely, utterly, and
unconditionally, until there is nothing left of me.'"
"We met at the University of St Andrew’s Alternative Music Society,
three days after Ebba had arrived to the UK from Sweden! She spotted
John across the room, and went over and chatted him up. We got engaged
at our joint birthday party (we both turned 25, and Ebba’s mum 50, so we
combined to make a 100-year birthday party), and were engaged for a
whole three years before tying the knot."
"Our
friend read ‘the End of the Affair’, a short story by David Sedaris. He
is one of our favourite authors, but most of his writings aren’t really
suitable for weddings. We were delighted when we remembered this
story, which is sweet and romantic in a way we could relate to as we’re
not really into soppy, saccharine stuff!
A small excerpt:
'Movie
characters might chase one another through the fog, or race down the
stairs of burning buildings, but that's just for beginners. Real love
amounts to withholding the truth, even when you're offered the perfect
opportunity to hurt somebody's feelings. I wanted to say something to
this effect, but my hand puppets were back home in their drawer.
Instead, I pulled my chair a few inches closer, and we sat silently at
our little table on the square, looking for all the world like two
people in love.'”
"We both love cheese, and from the very start of our wedding
planning we knew we wanted a stack of cheeses instead of a sweet wedding
cake – which we purchased from Neil’s Yard Dairy. We also bought a heart shaped cheddar from The Cheese Shed, to go on the top in lieu of a cake topper."
Words of Wedded Wisdom…
"Spreadsheets are your
friend! Only kidding – but plan well and hand over full control of what
happens on the day to a trusted friend or family member, and you’ll be
able to fully enjoy the day without having to stress about logistics or
suppliers.
Also, think about the boring stuff like
getting written quotes and signed contracts from all your suppliers, and
wedding insurance, as knowing that all the expensive things are in
order means you can fully focus on the fun stuff!"
We absolutely loved the whole day, and all the planning and
hard spreadsheet work paid off in that we could completely relax and
enjoy ourselves knowing that we’d done all we could to make it as good
as possible. Our fantastic friends and family helped out so much!"
Huge thanks to the wonderful Emma Lucy whose photography can be seen gracing other pages on Love My Dress right here. And if you're in the mood for a fifties glamour, go here.
Just one more wedding for 2012 to go folks, and it's a corker, but for now, please show some love for the photographer, the couple and the suppliers listed below who help make Love My Dress such an useful, enjoyable and inspiraitonal resource for you all.
Load and looaaaddss of we're almost ready to stop working for Christmas love! Hoorah! 😉
Annabel
Photographer – Emma Lucy
Venue – Wandsworth Town Hall + Leon in Ludgate Circus
Wedding Dress – Made by the bride using an riginal 1950's dress pattern from Jaycotts and silk from The Silk Society in
Soho
Brides Shoes – Red Melissa Skyscraper heels by Vivienne Westwood
Brides Hair Accessories – Bridal Designs by Donna, on Etsy to mat earrings inherited from Grandmother
Grooms Suit – Paul Smith from Selfridges + Vivienne Westwood tie from Liberty
Bridesmaids + Flowergirls – Own choice
Florist – The Flower Yard
Cake – Neil’s Yard Dairy
Entertainment – Bob Smith from Uptight Records in Brighton
Transport – The No. .37 + redbuses4u.com
Hair and make-up Artist – Lucy St John
Annabel View all Annabel's articles
Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Editor. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and star gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she's not working on Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip in the running of the family's sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers. In 2013, she became a published author.
