A Long Sleeved Dress and Juliet Cap Veil for an Effortlessly Elegant Wedding in Cambridge

Doesn’t Monday come around quickly? I hope you had a moment to catch up with our weekend features lovely ones; the only guide you’ll ever need to finding a wedding dress, and how to plan a wedding when someone you love is seriously ill (over on our sister site, A Life Loved).

I also hope that Father’s Day was a pleasure for those of you lucky enough to celebrate, and not too hurtful for those that can’t or find it difficult to acknowledge. Let’s kick start this week with something of the effortlessly elegant vibe that Love My Dress has become renowned for. Jessie, a PhD student, married Teacher Nathaniel on 21st October 2017 in Cambridge. Their wedding was effortlessly beautiful – a dress with long sleeves and clean lines, a fuss-free reception, and simply sublime images captured by Ruth Atkinson.

“I had my dress made by the amazingly talented and lovely Elisa, The Bridal Pixie. We designed the dress with the thought in mind that one day it could be adapted and dyed to be worn again. I also wore a coat, a vintage Whistles number, picked up from Charlotte, a collector with impeccable taste who has a stall at Cambridge market.”

Photography by Ruth Atkinson

I could recognise the photographer of these images a mile off – they carry that soft, elegant and wonderfully romantic aesthetic I’ve come to associate with Ruth Atkinson’s work. I’m so proud we’ve featured a number of Ruth’s weddings on Love My Dress already – you will find them here.

“Ruth and Tom of Ruth Atkinson had such a wonderfully sensitive approach to photographing our wedding – we felt they really perceived what the day was about for us and recorded that in their work, so that to us our photos capture the moments that really mattered, rather than being a standard-wedding-photo-package. Ruth is exceptionally gifted, as well as lovely!”

Jessie’s mum arranged the flowers for her bouquet, as well as bunches for her bridesmaids and the ushers’ flower pieces. The day before the wedding, the couple went down to Cambridge market and picked their favourites. The church flowers were arranged by friends.

“I wore a pair of pearl earrings – a gift, from an independent boutique in Leeds called Aladdin’s Cave.“

We’re seeing more and more long-sleeved wedding dresses. I adore how The Bridal Pixie has mastered this fabric to fit Jessie’s body shape so perfectly.

“I knew I wanted to wear something simple but hadn’t seen much in bridal shops that seemed quite right.”

It’s been a little while since we spotted a divine Juliet Cap veil on Love my Dress.

“My veil was made by Sian, who has a great Etsy shop called Blossom & Bluebird.”

Jessie’s bridesmaids, all in white, wore dresses from a variety of sources, including ASOS, Hugo Boss and French Connection.

Nathaniel wore a suit from high street fave, Jigsaw.

“We were married at St Bene’t’s Church in Cambridge, where we both worshipped while students.”

What a wonderful moment captured, Jessie being accompanied down the aisle by both of her parents.

“I was accompanied by mum and dad – it was a bit of a tight squeeze down the aisle, but it made sense to us to have them both with me.  We were accompanied by the choir who sang John Taverner’s Dum Transsiset Sabatum.”

I think this couple just about pass as childhood sweethearts – who, by the way, we have a whole  set of weddings dedicated to.

“We met at high school and got engaged five years later, and were married six months after that.”

Jessie’s ring was made by a small jewellery business on the Isle of Wight called Rust, and Nathaniel’s was bought from Cred Jewellery, who specialise in ethical and fairtrade wedding rings.

“We used the Church of England’s vows from the Book of Common Prayer. To us these vows were all the more profound because they had been made and handed down by generations before us – they spoke for us with wisdom about the love we want to share.”

“Our readings included ‘Deuteronomy 30.11-20’, ‘Hebrews 11.1, 8-12, 23-28 and 11.39-12.3’ and ‘Matthew 5.1-10’. We chose readings that were not explicitly about marriage, but which we hoped would illuminate marriage and set it in a fuller light and bigger perspective. We both saw marriage as about a vocation to a whole kind of life – and sought readings that would challenge us to see this.”

“Each table had a vase made by a local potter, Graham, who sells his work at Cambridge market. They were filled with flowers my mum arranged – and at the end of the night we gave these vases out to friends and family who had been involved in helping out on the day. We also had tea lights and fairy lights, and some place cards made by Nathaniel’s sister.”

“Our reception was held at St Paul’s Church on Hills Road. St Paul’s are involved in a huge amount of important community work, and it felt like a good place to be supporting.”

“A Cambridge café called Nanna Mexico catered for us – they are a brilliant social enterprise, offering culinary training in prisons as well as cooking up amazing Mexican food.”

How many of you gave a speech at your own wedding? It’s something we’re going to be covering here on Love My Dress over the next few weeks. I positively encourage any of you thinking about it. And whilst I realise it can be quite a nerve wracking prospect, I totally winged mine on the day, spoke from the heart and it was absolutely fine!

Take a look at our brides giving speeches Pinterest board in the meantime.