A Beaded Gown and Delicate ‘Emmy’ Headpiece for an Art Deco Inspired Wedding at the Midland Hotel

Hello lovely ones, I do hope the sun is shining wherever you are in the world today. And I especially hope that Elly and Rob, the two stars of this next real wedding feature, are having the time of their lives as they travel the globe on their epic nine-month honeymoon *applauds*.

Teacher Rob and marketing manager Elly married on 14 August this year at “the most beautiful building in Lancaster”, Ashton Memorial, which was commissioned by Lord Ashton for his late wife. It is absolutely stunning.  For their reception, they moved on to another architectural gem, the Midland Hotel in Morecambe: “We love this art deco hotel and the stunning view it offers across Morecambe Bay and the Lake District. It also inspired us to style our wedding with a subtle vintage theme.”

Photography Copyright (c) 2014, Ashby Shoots

Elly’s dress is a firm favourite here at Love My Dress, ‘Eden’ by the one-and-only Jenny Packham. She purchased it from Blackburn Bridal in Blackheath, London, where she also picked up a stunning headpiece by Emmy London.

Elly completed her outfit with simple pearl stud earrings, a pearl bracelet borrowed from her mum and a spritz of her favourite scent – Chanel Coco Mademoiselle. Her hair was styled by Guys and Dolls, Lancaster, and her make up expertly applied by a friend.

“I love 1920’s fashion and I loved the dress from the moment I first saw it. When I tried it on it was perfect. I loved that it felt very vintage and the detail was incredible.”

The bridesmaids dresses were from Adrianna Papell at House of Fraser – which were teamed with vintage-style gold hair combs from Ebay, pearl earrings and nude court shoes.

“Our photographer was Mark Ashby of Ashby Shoots. Mark did a wonderful job of capturing the day. We absolutely love all the photos he took, including the more organised shots (which we didn’t want many of) and the more candid ones. He is very easy to talk to and was great to have around on the day. He was also very quick at editing the shots and getting them back to us!”

“Rob and I met in a Lancaster pub in December 2006. Rob proposed while we were on holiday in Barcelona. We sat in Parc de Montjuic as the sun was setting looking at a beautiful view across the city.” Rob confesses: “I was slightly on edge, as I’d been carrying around a bottle of champagne and two glasses for the two hours before. Every time I put the bag down, it would clink!”

“We chose to walk down the aisle together and picked the song ‘Hotel Room’ by Richard Hawley. We had one reading during our ceremony, ‘I wanna be yours’ by John Cooper Clarke, read by one of the bridesmaids, Hannah. We love this poem and didn’t want anything too cheesy so felt this fitted perfectly.”

“We had our rings made at The Wedding Ring Workshop in Hatton Garden, London – they were really great guys! Rob chose a gold band, while I chose a band of rubies and diamonds to complement my vintage ruby engagement ring.”

“My mum organised the flowers on the tables for the reception. We wanted these to look rustic so put them in Kilner jars decorated with lace. We also used bunting – made by Rob’s mum – and fairy lights to decorate the reception room. We made our own place names using luggage tags and stamps and our table plan and order of the day were designed by our friend, Matthew.”

“The Hanging Basket in Lancaster provided the bouquets and flowers for the ceremony. We wanted vintage-looking roses and chose gypsophila to go with them, as we really like the look of it. We chose neutral and cream colours to fit with the rest of the theme of our wedding.”

Music was a big part of the couple’s day.

“We named the tables after our favourite bands, as we are both passionate about music. Our wedding favours were CDs we put together with a collection of our favourite songs, with cases we made from A4 paper and a little help from Pinterest. We chose ‘Tonight the Streets are Ours’ by Richard Hawley for our first dance because we love the lyrics and think it’s a great song. People were soon up dancing with us!

DJ Simon Norfolk from Morecambe played northern soul and other great music through the day and parts of the evening. Later on The Guns of Navarone – an eight-piece ska band – played two sets that went down really well. In fact dancing with all our friends and family was one of the highlights of the day.”

Words of wedded wisdom…

“Don’t stress too much; as long as you have your loved ones with you the day will be great. Also make sure the music is good – if it’s good, people will dance and enjoy themselves!”

Elly and Rob, I couldn’t agree more. Having been to a few weddings where the music was cheesy and a bit rubbish, it was really important to us that we could choose our own DJ. Our dance floor was full all night and it was a fabulous way to end the day. (I’m also a big fan of both John Cooper Clarke and Richard Hawley, so I’m very pleased your wedding landed in my pile!).

Readers, if you love this wedding you can see more brides wearing Jenny Packham’s ‘Eden’ here and more art-deco inspiration here. Enjoy!

Love Kate xx

 

Photographer – Ashby Shoots
Venue – ceremony Ashton Memorial, reception Midland Hotel
Dress –  ‘Eden’ by Jenny Packham purchased from Blackburn Bridal, London
Accessories – Headpiece Emmy London, shoes Rainbow Club, borrowed pearl bracelet
Fragrance – Chanel Coco Mademoiselle
Hair – Guys and Dolls, Lancaster
Bridesmaids – Adrianna Papell from House of Fraser, vintage-style gold hair combs from Ebay, own pearl earrings and nude court shoes
Flowergirl – John Lewis
Groom – suit, shirt and knitted tie Reiss, handmade pocket square
Flowers – The Hanging Basket, Lancaster
Rings –The Wedding Ring Workshop, Hatton Garden
Décor – handmade with help from friends and family
Caterers – Midland Hotel
Transport – vintage double decker bus from Cumbria Classic Coaches
Entertainment – DJ Simon Norfolk (no website), The Guns of Navarone