An Essense of Australia dress for a Chic Winter Wedding

Hello Tuesday folks, how are you enjoying the summer so far? As you read this, I should be sunning myself in beautiful Tuscany – have you had a chance to switch off and unwind at all so far this summer? If not yet, then I very much hope you do soon.

Anouska and Russell tied the knot with an elegant Winter wedding held on 29th December 2016. The backdrop for their effortlessly elegant celebration was Brympton House in Yeovil, Somerset.

“The theme of the wedding was a chic winter whimsical wedding, we were living in Dubai at the time and so we had sun everyday and we wanted a cold crisp wedding in England. Also, we thought to have the wedding between Christmas and new year because it’s that awkward time when most people are off work but don’t really know what to do, so why not have a wedding and a PARTY. We didn’t have a very strict colour scheme but some of the colours which made an appearance were; blush pink, antique gold, bold green, sage green, midnight blue.”

Photography by David Jenkins

“I created a mood board for the styling team at Brympton and they made it happen, it was exactly how I wanted our wedding, they were fantastic and have such a great stash of interesting and beautiful props and accessories to suit every brief. My dress was by Essense of Australia from Anya Bridal in Hampshire. I wanted a quite simple dress with a plunging back and a train. There was also some beading on the dress which was lovely when the light hit it.”

“I love event planning and what I loved about Brympton House was that each part of the wedding was in a different area/room so it was exciting for the guests. We even managed to have our drinks reception outside in December because we were so lucky with the weather and had beautiful blue sky.”

“All of the wedding party stayed at Brympton too and so we were able to have all our guests arrive the night before where we had a casual dinner and drinks all together.”

“My shoes were by Kate Spade, they were a pointy toed court shoe style with cut out sides, light blush with a gold strap.”

“I wore a sapphire bracelet from Tiffany and Co (my something blue and a gift from my husband to be). I also wore a vintage shawl (from my mums cupboard) and a pair of diamond earrings from Cara, Dubai (a gift from my mum and stepdad).”

“We asked the groomsmen to wear their own navy suits and just a white shirt and black shoes, we then gave them all a matching blush pink tie and pocket square.”

“We asked all the key family men to wear navy too and we gave them pocket squares and ties to wear. The pocket square and ties were from viva tailors in Dubai.”

“We had two page boys who were just gorgeous, they had chinos, shirts and bow ties on with a thick knit navy jumper. The outfits were from next and the jumper from Debenhams.”

“They held a little sign as they walked down the aisle saying ‘last chance to run’ which was quite funny.”

“My two younger brothers delivered a reading called ‘On Your Wedding Day’ and one of Russ’s best friends Alex also did a reading. Alex actually wrote his reading, it was about Megladon sharks, sounds random but was such a sweet reading.”

“I think the bridesmaid dresses (and stationery!) were the hardest things to get right out of the entire wedding. My bridesmaids wore blush pink dresses from Dream Girl Tailors in Dubai.”

“All the dresses had different top styles to suit each of the girls body shapes.”

“David Jenkins was our photographer, David was amazing and completely made us feel at ease throughout the entire day.”

“The flowers were supplied and styled by the in house florist at Brympton – they were just great. I wanted the flowers very rustic and unstructured. I wanted lots of green foliage throughout the venue and the key flower in all the designs were anemones. My bouquet was a mixture of anemones, roses and foliage and the bridesmaids had bunches of gypsophila.”

“The wedding ceremony, drinks reception and wedding breakfast at the house was in the theme of a winter whimsical wonderland. However, the evening reception was held at the stables in the grounds of Brympton and was more in the style of a gentleman’s club with leather chairs, trunks and plaid cushions.”

“I also wanted to include festoon lights into the design so I had these through the stables for the evening reception which added to the party atmosphere.”

“I loved making lots of bits for the wedding, one of my favourite bits was our cider bottle guest book. So we had 4 cider bottles, one with a label of 1 year, 5 years, 15 years and 25 years. We asked people to leave messages so we can smash them open on those anniversaries.”

“We had photos everywhere too, they were in vintage frames for the drinks reception and we had a long string line for the evening reception in the stable block.”

“Brympton supplied all the catering and it was great. Canapés were smoked salmon on Belinis, tempora prawns with sweet chilli and warm cheese quiche. Complemented with prosseco and mulled wine.”

“Candles were very important throughout our wedding, we had them absolutely everywhere, from the window sills of the chapel, the grand piano in The Great Hall to the reception tables in The Ballroom.”

“My nanny, Mary, made the cake – it was a fantastic 3 tiered fruit cake with white icing and anemone sugar flowers which she also made. I was the last grandchild to get married and so she has now hung up her cake making hat.”

“I made a DIY photo booth which we had in the drinks reception after the ceremony for people to have a bit of fun with while Russ and I were having photos done.”

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“A few weeks before the wedding we sent out a video which we had made to get people excited about the wedding, it’s one of our favourite songs and we got lots of our friends and family involved in it.”

“We had the best day and a day which we will remember forever.”

Love and thanks as always to talented film photographer David Jenkins for sharing his beautiful work.

Enjoy the rest of your day lovelies,

Annabel x