Polka Dots, 1950s Jives, DIY and Sunshine – The Colourful, Fun and Relaxed Devon Wedding Of Amanda and Antony

I wanted to end this week of real wedding features with a really beautiful and uplifting set of photographs, and I simply couldn’t think of anything more wonderful than the wedding of Amanda and Antony.

Amanda, who found her wedding photographer Hannah Millard of Camera Hannah via Love My Dress, married Antony on 20th April this year at Lee bay in North Devon. Their day was full of joy, colour, beautiful DIY touches (a real family affair!), dancing and fifties jives, children, sunshine and love.

“We both feel that there is a charming simplicity to
vintage fifties, which suited our idea of a wedding: a reduced number of
close family and friends, unfussy but delicious home cooked food and
plenty of help from friends and family. So that, plus the fact that we
absolutely adore jiving, made it a no brainer. Fifties was the way to
go! Pretty, fun and relaxed.

 

As we live in France (my husband is
French and I grew up in France), we were looking for a picturesque part
of the UK and by chance came across our venue on Devon Village Halls
website. Thank goodness for Google Maps and Street View, that kept me
‘patient’ until we could visit for real.”

Photography Copyright (c) 2013, Camera Hannah

“Antony and I met during University. We had friends in common and met at a
volley ball game. Ever since, we’ve been inseparable. 

We’d been
together seven years when we got engaged, and celebrated our wedding two
years later. Antony had planned to take me to Paris and to propose on a
Bateau Mouche as it sailed past the Eiffel Tower, and then take me to
choose a ring. So romantic.“

 

However, the weather decided otherwise: we
got snowed in our home in a tiny French village in the middle of
nowhere. So instead I woke up to a candle lit house on our 7th
anniversary in mid-December, and was completely taken by surprise when
he got down on one knee and proposed in English to Shakespeare’s 18th
sonnet that he had memorised. So sweet. I’m a book nut by the way, so it
was fully appreciated!”

“My dress was by Candy Anthony.
A tea length dress meant I could roam about comfortably and a full
circle on the skirt meant lots and lots of girly twirling. I tried on a
few dresses, and wasn’t allowed to look in the mirror until I was
completely dressed. So when we got to the polka dot dress and all I
could see were my mum, friend and sister blubbing I couldn’t wait to
look in the mirror!

Luckily I was able to purchase the strapless dress,
petticoat and veil in the sample sale for a fraction of the price.
However, the polka dot overlay and belt were made to measure. On our
wedding day I loved the feel of the full skirt. I felt so feminine.”

“My mum made the bridesmaids dresses, she already had a pattern, and
we chose red taffeta, a colour and fabric that suited the girls.” 

“Antony wore a Gresham Blake suit that
was made to measure, and was a perfect fit. Unfortunately it wasn’t
ready on time and Antony had to drive down to Exeter to pick it up the
day before the wedding. I was on the phone almost every day to make sure
we got it on time. Very stressful, but worth it in the end. Antony
looked gorgeous.   His bowtie was from New & Lingwood on Jermyn Street in London, and he also wore a Stetson borsalino from Headict.

Antony found hats for the Best man and for my witness, and for
his father and uncle. And matching bowties from a shop on Jermyn Street,
London. They looked great.”

v

“In terms of decor, we had yards and yards of bunting for indoors and out, as well
as table cloths and linen runners, and I found an old suitcase for
cards. The idea was to get a british vintage feel without going
overboard spending.

Luckily the village hall in itself was lovely and I
have family who can sew. We found small vases and pots in thrift shops,
and all the tiny cut glass vases belonged to the hall. I think the style
we went for isn’t anything new, but it was totally new to our French
guests and they loved the difference. We really wanted to give them a
taste of Britain.”

We placed a home-sewed linen heart on every plate, each
embroidered with the date of the wedding on one side and Amanda and
Antony on the other side.”  

“After lots of hunting around the web and pinning, I came across a design by Cassie Leedham from Good Show Studios on Etsy.  Antony
loved it too, and we asked Cassie to customize the design for us. She
designed a picture of us standing in front of our church, based on
photos that I sent her.

Being in France, we exchanged through email and
had the invitations
printed locally. I assembled the different parts with lots of time
consuming sewing and vintage style travel labels, as we all had to
travel for our wedding.”

“I found our photographer Hannah Millard
through Love My Dress – she captured the day beautifully. She was a lovely person to have around.
I’ve seen a lot of photographers at weddings get a bit pushy and
irritable, but Hannah was the complete opposite. She was actually quite
patient with all our guests, especially the tipsy ones who didn’t speak
English. Months later all our guests remember Hannah with delight.

Invest in a
great photographer. Save up. It’s worth it. We were extremely lucky
with Hannah. I owe her for life.”

 

“I wore a lovely pair of white satin heels from Menbur. They got completely trashed in the grass during the reception, but that’s just a sign of how much I enjoyed myself.”

“My dad gave me away. We were both a bag of nerves!  I walked down the aisle to Mendelssohn’s wedding march played on the organ.
Obviously getting married in an English church meant that our vows were
in English, and that was a bit stressful for Antony. But he did a great
job of it. The Reverend also had very good knowledge of French and was
able to explain the key parts to our French guests. Our vows were Church
of England vows.

We asked some of our friends
to do either a reading or to sing. We are lucky one of friends is a
professional singer for the French army (he’s always on TV) and some of
our other friends are very good singers and musicians. We asked them to
learn the three hymns just in case no one else knew them, and we sent a
rod trip CD to all our guests including hymns and lyrics. We were both
really surprised to hear all the French guests singing along. 

Our
two readings included Corinthians 13:4-13 and Union, by Robert Fulgham.
A very down to earth reading that sounded just like us.”

“Our friend Andy also sung a song for us with his guitar. We
asked him to sing Grow Old with Me. It’s a song by John Lennon that was
never released. The words are just beautiful.  We also had had Union, by Robert Fulgham read.”

“We bought our rings in London less than a month before the wedding, at Tiffany & Co.
My advice to brides and grooms: make sure the ring is the first thing
you buy. Period! It was very stressful roaming the streets of London
knowing we only had one day and lots of other things to do that day. My
ring is a very simple pink gold band, and Antony preferred to go for a
silver ring.” 

“It’s hard to say which part of the day I preferred, I enjoyed
every bit of it. I loved walking out the church into the road and all
the confetti. It was like a dream come true. And I had a fantastic time
at the party dancing to live music. But I’ve got to say the most
meaningful part really was when we said our vows.

We were completely
locked into each other’s gaze, and every word held a lot of meaning. I
think it’s important to remember that while we wanted a lovely wedding,
the actual marriage was much more important.”

“A lot of our guests have very young children, and it was
important for us to make these little people feel welcome, and part of
the fun. So we organised a children’s corner at the end o the hall, just
above the top table. I had fun decorating a special table just for
them, and we added toys and cushions and a mat from ikea. We hid the
area with a flowery curtain that I made. The added bonus is that you can
see some of them popping their faces over the top of the rail during
the speeches. So sweet.”

“We hired The Bluejays
– they were absolutely fantastic. The best! They got everyone dancing
and jiving all night long. They’re a talented bunch, and very friendly. I
can’t get over how good they were. They really brought the party to
life.”

“Our first song was Jailhouse Rock. Now there was nothing
symbolic about that song at all! It’s just that it’s a great song to
jive to and to open the party to, bearing in mind that no one knew we
had hired a band, especially not a rock and roll band. We had the best
time ever, we’d hardly practiced dancing, and with both our busy
schedules we hadn’t had time to get lessons. However, Antony and I love
dancing at home at the weekend. We’re just silly like that, but at least
we know each other on the dance floor, so it went really well. And
everyone thought we’d taken lessons! I thought that was hilarious.”

Words of Wedded Wisdom… 

“I’d say try not to get too tied down by details.
Details are nice, and they’re often what make nice inspirational
pictures. But bear in mind that most the inspirational pictures you see
are just that. They’re not real. Stick to your budget and resources.
Hand making things sounds fun, but it’s not. Not when you feel you’re
Henry Ford who’s just invented chain work and every breathing moment is
spent sticking, sewing, gluing and so on. The worst part is you’re the
only one who knows how much effort has gone into your work that, face
it, may end up in someone else’s bin.  

Try to be
resourceful. We bought carnations from Marks & Spencer’s, printed
our own order of service booklets, bought a cask of beer from the local
pub and actually did almost everything locally.

Buy your wedding rings first. Not last when your budget’s already
gone out the window (believe me, advice from experience). Don’t be
fooled by “wedding bands”. Go for what you like. You’ll be wearing it
for the rest of your life. And it does not have to cost a million bucks!
I liked to think of medieval weddings with just a simple circular band.”

 

“You can have your wedding wherever you want, and decorate it
however you like. Whether you spend millions, or next to nothing on
location and decor, will not be worth anything if your guests are ill
fed and watered and get bored. Food, drink and entertainment are the
highlight of your party. People don’t usually remember what they ate
unless it was bad. If you can’t afford a 200 person royal do, then
forget it.

Spend time with fewer, closer friends and family, ask for
help (which is usually happily given) and enjoy sharing one of the most
important stages of your life with those people.

Last of all, enjoy every bit of the planning. You’ll miss it when it’s over. Even when you feel you’ve had enough.” 

So so lovely, pin away my friends, so many gorgeous images here to be inspired by.

Congratulations Amanda and Antony, thank you so very much for allowing us to share your beautiful day, and thank you too Hannah – it’s always such a joy to share your work.  Readers, you can see more red, polka dot, Devon, seaside, 1950s inspired and DIY weddings too, also use the drop-down menus at the top of the page to find more content to inspire you – we have literally thousands of posts in our archives.

Finally, if you love this wedding photography, please click here to see more of Hannah Millard’s work on Love My Dress, and be sure to visit Hannah Millard’s website too.

Big Friday love everyone,

Annabel

Photographer – Camera Hannah
Venue – Lee bay in North Devon
Brides Dress + Veil – Candy Anthony
Brides Shoes – Menbur
Groom’s Attire – Suit by Gresham Blake + bowtie from New & Lingwood + Stetson borsalino from Headict
Bridesmaids – made by the bride’s mum
Flowergirls – made by the bride’s nan
Florist –  Offshore Blooms
Cake – Made by the bride’s aunt
Entertainment – The Bluejays
Rings – Tiffany & Co