Gosh, there are some weddings we feature that literally stop me in my tracks. Don’t get me wrong, every single wedding we choose to share on Love My Dress moves me in some way, but then there are photographs that really pull out the wow factor, and this is one of those occasions.
I’ve never made it any secret that I adore film photography – that grainy image texture, the dreamy pastel tones and soft blur – it is a format of photography that stole my heart several years ago. I’ve been lucky enough to work with two very talented film photographers since I started blogging too – these old portraits of me taken in 2011 by Polly Alexandre served as my PR shots for a good while, and in 2013, when I launched my book, I turned to the super-talent, Ashton Jean Pierre to document the launch via his trusty Pentax. It is Ashton who took these photographs you see here today too – I simply adore them.
These images tell the wedding-day story of Fashion Designer Joelle and Accountant Ben, who tied the knot on 2nd August this year at Cecil Sharp House. Described as ‘a venue full of energy, personality and cultural heritage’, this folk arts centre based in the heart of London provided the perfect backdrop for this creative couple’s nuptials
Photography Copyright (c) 2014, Ashton Jean Pierre
“Ben and I are childhood sweethearts! We met when we were both sixteen years old. We’ve lived in different cities and even different continents since then, but things finally fell into place for us about five years ago. When Ben proposed it was an absolute surprise – we’d spoken about it in the past, but neither of us had very strong feelings about getting married. We were engaged for a year before the big day.
As a fashion designer, the overall styling of our wedding was very important to me, and I knew I wouldn’t really trust someone else to implement my ideas. Details were everything and I really enjoyed working with suppliers to get everything just right. We didn’t have a theme as such, we both just collected ideas that we loved. From the very beginning, we said we wanted the day to be very informal and to have a big party surrounded by our favourite people, which is what we ultimately achieved.”
“Design wise, colour was important to us but we didn’t stick to a strict colour scheme, aiming instead for ‘rich, warm and sumptuous’ shades.
After our wedding, I actually started to receive requests via friends and family to style other weddings and design wedding stationery too, which has inspired me to set up a little business to bring all the things I loved about planning and styling into one place – you can find me over at Rust and Stardust!“
“Our florist was Sarah Williams of The Flower Bird. We both love wild flowers in all their untidy beauty and we wanted the bouquets to look as though we’d just collected them from a wild meadow – nothing over pretty, just wild and sumptuous, so we included wild blackberries and thistles and everything was tied up with brown twine.
Our favourite flowers are ones with an amazing scent, so we had wild herbs amongst the bridal bouquet and on the tables. We’re also interested in succulents and grow them at home so Sarah even managed to sneak a few of them into the mix. She took us to New Covent Garden Flower Market early one morning, which was an amazing experience.”
“My hair was styled by Chaki at ESHK on Goswell Road, London. We did our own make-up though, which was fun. We had a lot of help from my wonderful friend Kerry. Instead of spending money on a make-up artist, I though I’d invest in some nice make-up so I had a free consultation at Bobby Brown’s in Liberty a couple of weeks before the wedding. (Which meant I had some lovely new make-up to take on the honeymoon with me too!)
I wore Stella, by Stella McCartne perfume, as it’s my everyday scent; I’d smell like someone else if I didn’t wear it!”
“I’m lucky enough to have a lot of very talented friends, and one of them, my very good friend Zuzana Fierro-Castro who works as a wedding dress and fashion designer, actually made my wedding dress. Zuzana and I love Grecian style dresses and are endlessly inspired by Parisian design houses such as Madame Gres, Vionnet and Lanvin.
We worked on the idea together and then Zuzana worked her magic. The dress fit perfectly and was the most comfortable dress I’ve ever worn.
I took inspiration for the bridesmaids dresses once the wedding dress was completed, and made them myself. I also brought them all tassel bracelets to match mine, from Bonk Ibiza on Etsy.”
** (readers, see Zuzana’s email address in the supplier credits list at the end).
“We used The Complete Chillout Company which was great as they were really creative and were able to put my designs into reality. The venue looked great. Again, they were great to work with.”
“Ashton Jean Pierre is an amazing photographer and wonderful to work with. We hardly knew he was there and when we did see him and his partner, they were great to be around.
Ashton was the first thing I booked with regards to the wedding. I saw his photos at a wedding fair and was blown away, then I met him and realised he shot in film only and I was sold!”
“My Dad walked me down the aisle to the sound of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Need Your Love So Bad’.”
“We had two readings during our ceremony, the first was ‘I Wanna Be Yours’, by John Cooper Clarke and the second was by Bob Marley. My favourite extract from the Marley readings goes like this…
‘If she’s amazing, she won’t be easy. If she’s easy, she won’t be amazing. If she’s worth it, you won’t give up. If you give up, you’re not worthy Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for.’
We don’t have any poetry that means anything to us as a couple and our favourite books didn’t have anything appropriate. What we have in common most is our love for music and these reading seemed to have the perfect balance of romance and rock and roll!”
“We can’t recommend our caterers, Jamon Jamon, highly enough. They provided the most delicious paella we have ever tasted! We found them on their stall on Portobello road and were instantly convinced. They’re really informal and super tasty – we’re still dreaming about the devils on horseback canapés!”
“We had Tunnocks tea-cakes as the favour/place setting. Each had a little flag in with the guests name written on.”
“We weren’t going to have a cake, as we’re not bothered about the tradition of cutting the cake but then some of our friends offered and we couldn’t refuse! Our wonderful friend Dominika made a delicious chocolate fudge cake and my brother and his girlfriend made a three-tiered masterpiece. It was a naked cake. Carrot cake on the bottom, courgette in the middle and orange on the top, decorated with wild flowers.”
“Our first dance was to ‘This Must Be The Place’, by Talking Heads. We both love the Talking Heads and the lyrics to this are perfect. It’s funny, smart and subtle. It’s also very long (!), but we indulged and were the only two on the dance floor the entire time (apart for a five year old dressed as Spiderman as we later found out!)”
“We didn’t hire any entertainment, choosing instead to pick our own playlist, which we played from our iPod. Cecil Sharp House is a music venue so had a great sound system and acoustics. The dance floor was full all night so we think it went down well.”
“We loved every part of our wedding – there was an amazing buzz all day long, everyone was in such high spirits, and nothing could have brought us down to earth. One favourite part was on the way to the hotel in the evening (Ben had to pick me up and take me away from the party). We were in the back of a cab driving through Camden and we wound the windows down and shouted to everyone queuing to get into bars that we’d just got married- we got loads of cheers and applause from total strangers!”
Words of Wedded Wisdom…
“Take time to enjoy it and relax. Take ten minutes out of your day to sneak off with each other alone and take it all in. And don’t stress! If something isn’t ready on the day, the wedding will go on without it (and no one else will notice!)
I also wished I had spent more time during the wedding with my Mum! We’re so close and she helped so much in the lead up to the wedding but in an attempt to speak to all the other guests, I didn’t have a special moment with her.”
Wow! What an absolutely gorgeous set of wedding photographs, you can really sense the glamorous but laid back vibe of the day through these images – and such a cool bride. Joelle, I feel we need to be friends and hang out and talk sexy dresses and AMAZING HAIR COLOUR. Is that OK with you? 🙂
In all seriousness, thank you so much Joelle and Ben for sharing your wedding day with Love My Dress. I know our readers are going to adore your style. I wanted to send you lots of love and good luck too for taking your newly found wedding styling business forward! I’m a little bit in love with your Tumblr images and all the best businesses were borne out of a wedding I say 🙂
Which just leaves me to thank the film and fine-art photography power-house that is Ashton Jean-Pierre. If you adore this particular style of photography and are keen to explore the opportunity of having your own wedding shot on film, please drop Ashton an email on [email protected]. You can see more from Ashton Jean-Pierre on Love My Dress here.
I’d be so happy to see some love for this wedding in the comments below.
Lots of love, Annabel xx
Photographer – Ashton Jean Pierre
Stylist/planner – The bride, aka. Rust and Stardust
Venue – Cecil Sharp House, London
Wedding Dress – Zuzana Fierro-Castro, email [email protected]
Bride’s Hair Accessories – Wanlu Bridal
Bride’s Shoes – Kurt Geiger
Accessories – Alexander McQueen Gold Skull Bracelet + Jasper Conran Geometric gold clutch + Gold Tassel bracelet by Bonk Ibiza
Perfume – Stella, by Stella McCartney
Grooms Suit – Ted Baker + Grenson Shoes + Ben Sherman tie + pocket square, belt, cufflinks via Tatty Devine
Bridesmaid’s Dresses – made by the bride + Jimmy Choo + Kurt Geiger shoes
Page boy – Next
Florist – Sarah Williams of The Flower Bird
Cake – DIY (family)
Transport – black cabs
Catering – Jamon Jamon
Stationery – DIY
Hair Stylist – Chaki at ESHK Goswell Road
Makeup Artist – DIY using Bobbi Brown products
Venue styling/furniture – The Complete Chillout Company
Achingly cool. <3
WAY too kool for skool 😉
WOWZERS! I’m in LOVE with her dress! (And just general style). The groom really pulls off the look as well. What a gorgeous wedding, that photo of the first dance in just excellent.
I am so pleased you love this wedding as much as I do SLB! It’s a little bit special, and the most beautiful photography by Ashton too – thank you so much for leaving a fab comment 🙂
Love Annabel xXx
What a beautiful wedding and a stunning bride! She looks so elegant yet stylish! Love it!
Thank you for your very lovely comment Samantha! I know it will make Joelle smile xXx
Wow, what an amazing wedding!! The pictures are fabulous, I especially love the one of the couple kissing at the end of the ceremony I presume and then the one immediately afterwards with the bride punching the air 🙂 A gorgeous couple so obviously in love and Joelle the bride is wonderfully elegant and classy, love her dress and hair. Amazing! xx
What a *wonderful* comment Sarah – thank you so much for taking the time. I’m so pleased that this wedding has inspired you 🙂 xXx
Oooh, smooth and stylish, but with so much warmth and passion too! Wonderful photography. Love the bride’s gold tone headband with the soft greys/blue of her amazing hair and fabulous dress. Great colours!
Thank you Abby – it’s such an inspirational set of images isn’t it? Actually the headband reminded me of your beautiful and delicate pieces. I’d love to see them gracing the pages of my blog again soon xXx
What a beautiful, personal and stylish wedding. I could tell it was Ashton’s work too before I even saw his credits! He certainly has a wonderful signature style. Gorgeous! x
Such a lovely comment Charley, thank you so much, I do believe you’re going to put a huge smile on both Ashton and Joelle’s faces! 🙂
xXx
An amazing wedding worked on by my amazing friend and colleague Sarah at The Flower Bird who is fast becoming an awesome florist – kudos chum xxx
Amazing to see such a special day and fabulous couple’s love so widely acknowledged and appreciated by the world.
I was honored and lucky enough to be a bridesmaid and share the day with a couple who mean so much to me. As Joelle’s younger cousin she has always been an inspiration to me and one of my closest friends too.
Everything really was as beautiful and personal as the photo’s depict with their love and bond so strong it’s impossible to put into words.
Love you both xxxx
I am such a proud mom (and mom-in-law) – aren’t they a lovely couple?
Joelle said that she didn’t have a special moment with me – I think she was forgetting the walk to the hairdresser in the morning of the wedding (carrying the buttonholes for the groomsmen in little glasses!), the five days before the wedding when we were running around London doing “last minute” things – and of course every moment of the wedding was a special moment for me – I didn’t need any fuss and attention, just happy to bask in the lovely day.
Oh my, what an incredible wedding! This is my favourite wedding dress of all time, her hair, her shoes, her style but most of all her sheer confidence and enjoyment which radiates through Ashton’s photos. I love everything about this wedding!
What a lovely comment Chloe – thank you so much. It’s an absolute joy to be able to share Ashton’s work, I’m deeply in love with it and always have been.
Looking forward to seeing you later this month xXx
Felicidades, un gran trabajo. Me ha encantado todo, los detalles de las mesas, la complicidad entre los novios, tanta emoción, el look de la novia.
Wow, you look absolutely gorgeous: your hair, your dress and shoes -everything is just perfect.
I love the look of this wedding, all the people look so happy. The photographer did an incredible job.
Sonja from Bonk Ibiza
Love your style and decor – this I’m going to show my daughter for her wedding!