An Intimate London Wedding for a Candy Anthony Bride

Charlotte and Darren were married on 13th October 2012 at Andaz on London’s Liverpool Street. After checking in with Love My Dress almost every day while planning her wedding, Charlotte decided to submit her wedding photos for consideration and, boy, are we glad she did! From her gorgeous Candy Anthony dress to the perfectly coiffed hair, this is clearly a bride with buckets of style. The groom was equally as chic too. I do so love a man in a bow tie.

‘Neither of us had given the wedding much thought when we got engaged and we soon realised we didn’t have a clue about organising a wedding. Over a boozy Sunday lunch we agreed we wanted the wedding to be simple and intimate, warm and happy with very good food and wine and everybody enjoying themselves.’

‘Darren and I met nearly 3 years ago and got engaged last year on a date marked in the calendar as “surprise day out”. Although it wasn’t a surprise at all when Darren proposed, as right from the start we both just knew there was something special between us.

We travelled by bus and tube from North London to London Bridge, on to Edenbridge by train and then a taxi to… Hever Castle! The actual proposal took place in a private garden full of flowers. We were completely alone and although it had been raining hard the sun broke when Darren asked me to marry him. It was just perfect. Later when we were looking around the castle one of the guides came up to congratulate us as she’d watched the whole thing through the window.

We wanted to hold the wedding somewhere elegant with a sense of occasion and Andaz has that in spades. It wowed us from the first visit.’

‘We chose our local florists Urban Flowers. Rachele and Matt did an amazing job and are lovely laidback people – very knowledgeable about flowers. I chose a very fragrant and traditional bouquet with piano and faith roses, cerise fuchsia, lavender, sage, hydrangea and myrtle. My bouquet is drying out at the moment and smells amazing.

We did most of the other flowers ourselves, which we picked up for a bargain at New Covent Garden flower market a few days before the wedding. A muted pallet of hydrangea, roses, eucalyptus, snowberries and chrysanthemum. I particularly wanted chrysanthemum as Darren proposed with an Alex Monroe chrysanthemum ring.’

Charlotte was particularly inspired by a photograph of Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller on their wedding day. ‘We both liked the way old Hollywood weddings appear elegant and timeless and wanted that for our wedding too. Very simple, definitely nothing fussy or very styled.’

Charlotte opted for a beautiful 50s inspired Candy Anthony dress.

‘I enjoyed the process of trying on different dresses and learning about what I did and didn’t like and what did and didn’t suit me. I wanted simple and glamorous and there was lots of choice at Candy Anthony… My dress made me feel pretty and feminine. I could tell by the look on my mum’s face it was the one.’

‘I’m obviously not sample sized and I had read horror stories about wedding dress shopping. It is true that lots of shops require a leap of imagination as you may be pinned or pegged into dresses, which is far from ideal. But I did want to mention that there is actually quite a lot out there and you don’t have to be limited on style. The other dress I liked was a full sleeved 1930s style crepe gown with a pencil skirt. It looked fabulous with curves. It really is shape not size that governs what flatters you so no one should be put off.’