Elegant Marcel Waves for a Hygge Inspired Wedding

If you haven’t visited Love My Dress yet today already, you might want to see this wedding, only because, you know, Ed Sheeran is a guest, and serenades the couple for their first dance. No biggie! This afternoon’s beautiful nuptials took place in the English Lake District last October, where Jess, a Product Manager for the Discovery Channel, married Chris a Chartered Engineer on 22nd October 2016. Their wedding was a charming celebration that was inspired by the couple’s love and appreciation of simple pleasures.

I adore Jess’s beautiful vintage inspired look – those marcel waves are to die for and are the work of talented hair and makeup artist, Bethany Jane Davis of The Vintage Beauty Parlour. Her delicate veil was supplied by our veil favourite and highly recommended supplier, Britten. Her style so perfectly epitomises the look and feel of the vintage inspired Love My Dress bride.

“We really wanted our wedding to feel inclusive and relaxed, so that all guests felt welcome and really part of our day. Although we didn’t have a theme specifically we loved the, now ubiquitous, idea of ‘hygge’, which is all about cosiness, candles, and really taking pleasure from the simple, ordinary, everyday, things you love. We filled the spaces with as many candles as we could, keeping the rest of the colour palette to dark reds and greens, with splashes of white and gold to create cosy candlelit spaces. We also dotted round photos of our family, friends and from throughout our relationship as a reminder that it was about more than just our big day, a juxtaposition of both the ordinary and the extraordinary.”

Photography by Jess Petrie

“Our photographer was Jess Petrie. Jess and her support, Rod, are a dream team. We knew from the moment we met them on our engagement photoshoot that they were the perfect photographers for us. They were friendly, engaged, made us feel relaxed, and most importantly took photos that we loved. They were involved in all of the important moments but it never felt as if they were intruding, they were just like other guests (which I hope they will take as a compliment). That allowed them to capture not just us but also our family and friends, some of my favourite photos are the candid shots of our guests.”“Our florist was Flowers By Breige. Looking on Pinterest we were instantly drawn to the reds/purples/creams from other vintage styled winter weddings, the soft hanging foliage in the hall, and the “trees” in the marquee. I sent all the images to Breige and she literally made our vision happen with style and fluidity.”

“This lady seriously knows her flowers. What you can’t see in the photos is that the displays smelt fabulous too, she included chocolate cosmos (it really does smell like chocolate), alongside fragrant roses and eucalyptus. Breige and her team really went the extra mile for us.”

“Bethany Jane Davis of The Vintage Beauty Parlour and her team were just fabulous.”

“She helped to calm me down, and made me eat toast, when the pre-ceremony nerves kicked in and best of all she made me, my mum, and the girls look and feel fabulous.”

Jess’s Essense of Australia gown was a purchase from Angelica Bridal.

“I knew from the outset that I wanted something with a more vintage leaning. I tried some of these shorter 50s style dresses on but none of them made me feel as glamorous as I wanted to be on the big day. In the end I tried on a full length mermaid style and it just clicked.”

“The fitted shape felt flattering and gave me the vintage Hollywood feel that I was after. I fell in love with the beautifully detailed train, and subtle sparkles, which gave the dress the impact that I was looking for without making me feel like I was dressed up as someone else. It was really the only dress that made me still feel like me, but on a really glamorous day.”

“Chris and I met in our second year at the University of Sheffield. We went to a mutual friend’s birthday at a bar in town and as usual I was late. When I arrived our friend was a little worse for wear, so much so that he picked me up, spun me round, and put me down next to Chris.”

“We chatted away that night but I left early to head to another party. To make sure we met again Chris found me on Facebook and sent me a full schedule of his nights out for a week!”

“We did eventually meet again in a night club in Sheffield with that part playing such an important part in our story that Chris made a toast to the ‘dirty dive that is Corporation’ in his speech.”

“We got engaged in Tenby, Pembrokeshire arranged as surprise weekend away for me as an anniversary present, I only got him some new football boots… The B&B owner was amazing and helped Chris pick a great location on a cliff looking back along the bay to Tenby, she even scanned in OS maps for him!”

“I had no idea and was totally convinced he was taking me abseiling (I’m terrified of heights). When we got to the cliff he gave me a card he sketched himself which read “sorry I couldn’t get you a real present… I spent all my money on this…” and when I looked up he was down on one knee. It was really romantic and a complete surprise.”

“My dad walked me down the aisle. Although I didn’t want anyone to give me away, I was so happy to have him walk down the aisle with me.”

“We made each other giggle which relaxed both of us and took away the nerves. An acoustic guitar instrumental version of Tiny Dancer by Elton John accompanied our entry. It’s one of my favourite songs and I loved the idea of people trying to work out where they knew that tune from.”

“We were terrified that if we said anything other than the basic words that we might burst into tears! We were careful however, that when we picked the wording that we were addressed as equal partners (so no obeying for us!)”

“We wanted to have readings which were meaningful, not clichéd, and not overly sentimental. So we picked to more unusual poems for my Bridesmaid and Chris’s mum to read. Of Molluscs by May Sarton and Ah! Why, Because the Dazzling Sub by Emily Bronte.”

“We both tried lots of more traditional rings but genuinely liked these the best. For me it was about finding something that complimented my engagement ring and felt comfortable. I met Sarah Brown at a wedding fare and tried on a ring in her super unique style, she then took my engagement ring and created a bespoke ring to sit against it perfectly. She managed to create something which looks simultaneously old and new which is amazing.”

“Chris loved the organic look and feel of Justin’s rings on Etsy. We did everything over the internet/phone and Justin’s team was great about re-sizing the band when it didn’t quite fit first time round.”

“My favourite part of the day was walking back down the aisle as a married woman, holding my new husband’s hand. Seeing all of our friends and families faces so full of joy and our happiness is a sight and a feeling that was truly unique.”

“I wore my Grandmother’s (now my Mother’s) gold, diamond, and tanzanite bracelet. It was my something old, borrowed, and blue all rolled into one.”

“For a living both Chris and I deliver projects, and part of that role is about looking continuously for improvements. We reflect on issues both at the time and retrospectively to improve future projects for us and our clients. That gives us a lot of collective experience in planning and delivering a project like a wedding – but the difference is that in this project you are the only client who matters. So on that basis there is nothing we would have done differently.”

“Not because we are arrogant enough to think the day was ‘perfect’ in the purest sense of the word, but because it was created for us and for us it was perfect. And more pragmatically our guests had food, drink, and entertainment and we got married, so we hit all the major project deliverables . The other details are insignificant …and our guests probably didn’t care anyway as there was free booze and cheese!”

“Hosen Brass are a brass covers band who are honestly just the best. Bob and the band were fab keeping everyone entertained during canapés and then got everyone up on the dance floor during our reception. I loved hearing Greenday’s Basket Case floatin down the valley as we had our couple’s pictures taken.

I also particularly appreciated that they asked us if it was ok to swear in front of the family (it was) during their fabulous rendition of Rage Against The Machine’s – Killing In The Name.”

“Chris drew all of the images for our wedding invitations, menus, table plans and place cards! He also created photos of our favourite restaurants to use as table names. It was then a joint labour of love to get everything designed, printed, foiled, guillotined ready for the day.

There is so much to do for a wedding that we wanted to play to our strengths and take on tasks where we knew we could add value. As Chris sketches and creates design layouts as part of his job it seemed like a no-brainer.”

“Alongside flowers and candles we put out pictures of family and friends, we had three generations of weddings on both sides of our families around our wedding cake. There was also a photo wall in the marquee with snaps from throughout our relationship, as well quotes about love and relationships from our favourite books put into frames and dotted around the venue.”

 

“Our first dance was to Hosen Brass performed Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison… it was the first song we kissed to in that Sheffield Night Club.”

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“Instead of giving actual favours, we hired a photo booth for people to make their own favours These guys had amazing props, provided really good quality prints, and gave us a USB with all the photos on at the end so we could share the love! And we created a sweetie table from the wonder that is A Quarter Of it was great as they label on their website which sweets are vegetarian and vegan which really helped us ensure all our guests felt included.

Create a plan and revisit it often. There are so many different things to coordinate when you are your own wedding planner, and things change with each new vendor and each part of the day you get to. It was only an Excel spreadsheet but keeping it up to date meant everyone I was speaking to was in the loop (including my fiancé).

It stopped problems before they even started as we could spot issues early and it meant that when I got to the week before the wedding I felt relaxed and could focus on nice handmade details as I knew I had everything covered… there is nothing wrong with being organised (I’ll happily share my template with anyone who wants it).

Oh, and work with people you like, trust, and can be honest with. Your vendors make your day. Choose wisely!”

Huge huge love and thanks to you Jess, and Jess – such a beautiful wedding that I’m delighted to have been able to share today.

Love Annabel x