A 1930’s Wedding Dress For A Quirky and Vintage Inspired London Pub Celebration

wpid290832 1930s wedding dress London pub wedding 21

Good morning my loves, now I know that Autumn doesn’t officially arrive until 20th September, but as far as I am concerned, it arrives today.  1st September is Autumn.  Autumn is my favourite of the months and this calls for a mini celebration by way of a favourite real wedding feature.  Drum roll then for the wedding of ballet teacher Nicole to her sweetheart Matt, which took place on 16th August this year, with a ceremony at Stoke Newington Town Hall followed by a reception at Royal Inn on the Park.

This wedding oozes London cool, but what I love the most about it all is that divine original 1930’s vintage gown – a most fabulous find from one of my favourite vintage wedding dress suppliers, the darling Elizabeth Avey.  It really was the perfect choice for this celebration of love that mixed old with new, modern with a touch of quirky and that all came together beautifully.  These photographs were taken by London based fashion, portrait and wedding photographer Marc Hayden.

“We didn’t have a particular style or theme for the wedding – we just knew we wanted it to represent us as a couple. We made a thousand colourful origami cranes and hung them from wooden hoops, an ancient Japanese tradition bringing good luck to the married couple. I also read that it teaches the couple patience and commitment and that it did do!! Everything at our wedding was made by us, with loads of help from family and friends and I guess that is what made it so special; it was a bright, colourful and fun.”

Photography Copyright (c) 2014, Marc Hayden

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

“Matt and I met six years ago. After weeks of flirting it all came to a head at a drunken party at Lucky Voice. Matt declared he loved me on our second date; we bought 3 cats and lived happily ever after.

Our ceremony was held at Stoke Newington Town Hall – it was so beautiful with its art deco features. Coincidentally my dress ended up being from the 1930s and so it all ended up tying in together.”

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

“My dress was from Elizabeth Avey, who I may say is the loveliest woman I have ever met.  I found the whole experience of searching for a dress like a scene out of Pretty Woman – except for at Elizabeth Avey’s. I had an idea of what I wanted – something comfortable, understated but a little bit sexy, and probably from the 1930s.  Lucky for me, the dress I choose had all those things and more.  It didn’t cost the earth either, and it fitted as though it had been made for me.  It was extremely delicate and needed some repair to the lace.  But I look at it now in all its glory and feel I gave it one last show.

My sisters top and skirt was from Topshop and the other bridesmaid dresses were from ASOS.  The girls wore their own shoes.

My fresh flower garland was made by a friend.”

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

“Our photographer was Marc Hayden. We wanted a documentary wedding photographer who would capture our wedding and present it at as a story in a very natural manner. Aside from the very few mantelpiece photographs for our parents, we had no posed images and that is the beauty of what Marc has captured. The smiles the laughter and the tears.

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc 1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc s

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

“My mum’s friend arranged the flowers. We wanted loads of fresh flowers arranged in a mish mash of jars, I just took Sarah a picture of a meadow and said this is what I want tied in string, she followed the theme with the flower garlands and the button holes; I can honestly say the flowers brought the whole thing together.”

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

“I did my own make up, as I wanted to look like myself – it was very natural with bold lips.”

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

“My Dad walked me down the aisle.  He and I have always danced around the living room playing music, but Bob Dylan always ends up on the list, so we chose our favourite song by him, ‘If Not For you’, to walk down the aisle to.  Brooke organised a singer to play it while we walked down the aisle.”

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

“Both our rings were from America (mine from Mociun and Matt’s from Satomi Kawakita).  We were quite particular about the style of ring we wanted. Matt wanted something that looked unfinished and weathered and I wanted something simple with a hint of colour so the tiny turquoise stones in my ring made it the ideal choice.”

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

“I grew up in Bow, East London and Victoria Park was a place I spent most of my childhood and so it holds a lot of happy memories for me. We wanted our venue to be green, relaxed and fun and the Royal Inn ticked all the boxes – it has a real community feel about it and the huge garden overlooking the park made it the perfect choice.”

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

“Our friend Mita Patel made our wedding cake.  I hate icing and as it was summer we really didn’t want a heavy cake, so we decided that instead of giving the cake to our guests to put at the bottom of their bags to never surface again, we would serve it as desert. It was a naked Victoria sponge cake, with loads of fruit and it was just perfect!

Matt made pickled onions for our guests as wedding favours. They could either have them with dinner or take them home.  We also gave each guest an origami crane, and these made up part of the 1000 we created as decor.”

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

“We asked all our guests to send as two songs they would like to hear at the wedding, we compiled a list and gave it to our friend Adam, who was going to be the DJ for the night. This and the basket of flip flops ensured the dance floor was always busy.”

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

“In terms of decor, we used plastic pink flamingos by artist Don Featherstone, 1000 origami cranes, homemade letter lights, a photo wall, a homemade photo booth complete with giant Polaroid frame and props and a floating bicycle finger print picture1.”

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

“Make sure you do not lose sight of who you both are, make everything you can and then what you cannot make ask friends to help with this makes your day more personal. We were given some great advice on our wedding day and it was to stop and take a second to look around and absorb everything that is going on, I think it was the best advice anyone could have given us.”

Also, I visited Love My Dress religiously for months, well almost a year (and secretly still now to compare my wedding!).”

1930s wedding dress, vintage wedding dress, vintage wedding, london pub wedding, marc

Beautiful imagery and the most wonderful choice of dress and accessories.

You can explore more 1930s inspired weddings here on the blog, or maybe just buy my book instead 🙂

Have a good morning, whatever you’re up to.

Love Annabel xx

 

Photographer – Marc Hayden
Venue – Stoke Newington Town Hall + Royal Inn on the Park
Bride’s Dress – Elizabeth Avey
Bride’s Veil – Roxanne Buffone
Bride’s Shoes – Original vintage via Blondie Brick Lane
Accessories – Gold-dipped earrings by JennieEluxe on Etsy
Grooms Suit – Tweed Addict + Converse All-stars
Bridesmaids – Topshop + ASOS
Florist – Family friend
Cake – Mita Patel
Entertainment + Decor – Make It Entertaining
Rings – Mociun (bride) + Satomi Kawakita (groom)
Catering Company – Pub, Royal Inn on the Park

Follow Love My Dress® on Google+

 

Annabel

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.

7 thoughts on “A 1930’s Wedding Dress For A Quirky and Vintage Inspired London Pub Celebration

  1. WOW-WOW-WOW! Love the dress! Don’t you just want to hug her too when she talks about her Pretty Woman experience?!

    Definitely pinching the DIY Photobooth frame idea too for my own big day – looks fab 😉

    1. Love comments like this, I really love when weddings truly connect and resonate with readers – pinch and steal as many ideas as you like – that’s what we’re here for Emma!

      Big love,

      Annabel xXx

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