A Pronovias Gown For A Classic Country House Wedding an a Sweet Appearance by Eric the Pet Dog

Lydia Stamps Photography Georgie Chris Ston Easton 109

Today’s wedding has all the elements of an elegant and traditional wedding, and is a gorgeous reminder of how classic weddings are just simply beautiful! The couple also found an absolute gem in the venue so without further do, let’s introduce you.

Royal Air Force officers Georgie and Chris were married at Ston Easton Park near Bath on 16th September 2017. The couples bright and natural photography was provided by the very talented photographer Lydia Stamps who is both a Love My Dress favourite and Little Book For Weddings member. Georgie discovered Lydia’s work after she saved the photos of one of Georgie’s friends weddings a few years previously.

“Lydia is the best wedding photographer we could have ever chosen! She had saved my friend’s wedding photos a few years ago after her original photographer had taken some bad photos, and from the moment I saw the pictures, I knew I wanted her to be my wedding photographer (I hadn’t even met Chris at this point!). When we were setting our wedding date with the venue, I actually checked with Lydia that she was free before we set the date. I’m so glad we did! We had an engagement shoot in the October before the wedding, which was a great opportunity to not only get some beautiful photos of us, but also to meet her, have a natter, and get rid of any nerves in front of the camera.”

Images by Lydia Stamps

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“On our wedding day Lydia was simply amazing and so many people have since commented on how lovely a photographer we had. I think the photos speak for themselves. She captured everything perfectly and we’ve now got photos to cherish for the rest of our lives.”

“We just wanted a day that absolutely reflected us. We had a civil ceremony so picked our favourite music to be played by the pianist and had three of our friends recite some carefully selected readings. Eric also had to be a part of our ceremony! Other than that, we just picked our favourite food, and our colour theme was based on our favourite colours of blue and grey.”To create the beautifully delicate stationery, Georgie recruited the talents of Judy Broad who provided her calligraphy skills for the place cards, names and menus.

“Chris and I first met in the 40 degree heat of the desert. In Chris’s words, I was a raging bundle of blonde beauty, and to me, Chris was cool yet aloof in his American camo baseball cap. On paper we were so different, yet from somewhere an amazing friendship blossomed, and within weeks, we were inseparable. We were thankfully posted back to the same base in the UK and then became known as ‘Chorgie’.”

“I was very lucky for our proposal and was surprised with a trip to Rome. I’d called Chris my Roman previously and made him dress up as a Gladiator one Halloween, so it seemed only fitting, especially with it being such an amazing and romantic city. Chris proposed in September 2016 so we had almost exactly a year before we got married.”

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“I wanted simple jewellery as I don’t wear big or fancy jewellery normally. On the day I just wore simple silver crystal drop earrings and a matching necklace from Liberty in Love. During our ‘first look’, Chris surprised me with a beautiful Stephanie Browne bracelet that matched my hair comb perfectly. I’m a very lucky lady!”

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The bride surprised both herself and her bridesmaids with her choice of dress, a traditional lace and tulle Pronovias gown with sparkly belt.

“I thought I’d go for a much more slender number, but when I put this on I felt amazing. I loved the lace and buttoned back and the flow of the tulle skirt from the hips. A belt then finished it off perfectly.”

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“My hair was done by Louise Alway. I didn’t have very long hair at the time but she made me look like I had so much of it, and understood exactly what I wanted for my style; a relaxed and loose up-do. It was beautiful and it held all day. Christy Waterfall did my make up and made me feel like the best version of me. My eye make up in particular was incredible.”

“Both Christy and Louise were so lovely to have around on the morning of the wedding. They made my bridesmaids and mum look even more beautiful and I felt like a princess.”

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“I wore a pair of multi-coloured and sparkly Kate Spade shoes (who doesn’t want some sparkle on their wedding day?!) and a Luci Miss hair comb from Stephanie Browne, bought from Liberty in Love. I wore Alien by Thierry Mugler which is usually my weekend scent. I toyed with the idea of buying a special perfume for the day, but I actually love my signature scent and Chris said he’d rather I smelt like ‘me’.”

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Her bridesmaids all wore mismatched dresses in the same lilac colour from Dessy with a pair of silver sandals they each chose themselves.

“I wanted my girls to be comfortable in their dresses on the day and like the dresses enough to wear them again after the wedding, so I let them choose the style themselves. I picked platinum chiffon from Dessy and the girls spent a good two hours looking at hundreds of different styles before they found their favourites.”

“As part of the thank you gifts, I also bought my girls some Ivory & Co crystal studs and bracelets, each with their initial etched into them, again from Liberty in Love.”

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Groom Chris had the option of wearing his military uniform however he decided not to and instead chose a handsome 3-piece blue suit from Jack Bunneys.

“It didn’t seem very fair to me that I could buy a gorgeous expensive dress and he had to wear his old uniform! We decided to get him a made-to-measure suit and hire matching suits for his groomsmen. We found Jack Bunneys after some online searching and I think you’ll agree they make very good-looking suits. Chris now has a suit he can wear again and again, and we even had Eric’s bandana and my clutch bag made from the same houndstooth tweed.”

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“He accessorised with Barker shoes, union jack socks and a wolf tie pin. His best man and groomsmen had similar wolves too. My present to Chris was an engraved pocket watch to wear with his waistcoat.”

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“We had a free Saturday one weekend and fancied going for lunch in a country house hotel, and ideally one that would also welcome our golden retriever Eric. I found Ston Easton Park online and although it was 2 hours from where we lived, we decided to make a day of it. We fell in love with the place, from the building to the food, to how friendly the staff were and how well they treated Eric. We weren’t even engaged at this point, but we decided as and when we were engaged, Ston Easton would eventually be where we would get married.”

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Georgie left decorating the venue to Dawn and Keith at Teapots and Tiaras, who kept it simple, letting the gorgeous country house speak for itself.

“The venue is beautiful in its own right so I didn’t want to add too much as I thought it might detract from the building. Dawn and Keith from Teapots and Tiaras decorated the venue on the morning of the wedding. I think my favourite item was the ruffle chair wraps – they really softened the whole look of the room.”

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At the start of the ceremony, the bride was walked down the aisle by her dad to She’s The One by Robbie Williams played by Chris Langdown on the piano and the couple chose their own vows and three readings.

“We chose to write our own vows to better reflect us as a couple, so we spent the morning of a romantic weekend away writing them together. Whenever I practised them in the lead up to the wedding, I always choked up on the same sentence, but somehow I managed not to cry on the day!”

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“We had three readings and had three friends read them. One was a mutual friend who knew us when Chris and I first met each other, a girl friend of mine who was closest to us as a couple, and a friend of Chris’ who was close to us as a couple too. The readings just seemed very appropriate for us, especially The Bridge Across Forever by Richard Bach. Our favourite quote from it is ‘a soul mate is someone who has locks that fit our keys, and keys to fit our locks’. Our other two readings were Union by Robert Fulgham and an excerpt from The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman.”

The couple swapped matching platinum wedding rings with a bevelled edge from Cool Rocks.

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A drinks reception followed the ceremony, with music from pianist Chris Langdown providing the perfect atmosphere for the start of the celebrations.

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Having scrolled through Pinterest at length for inspiration for her flower arrangements, Georgie eventually settled on a palette of vintage pinks and greenery, all made by Tessa at Frome and Warminster-based florists The Little Flower Co.

“We wanted to soften the greys and blues of the groomsmen and bridesmaids outfits so chose Amnesia roses for their vintage pink colour. Tessa came up with the rest of the arrangements based on a Pinterest picture and she far exceeded our expectations. We didn’t have much in the way of flowers as we didn’t feel the venue needed too much extra with how beautiful it already is, and the table centerpieces were actually the bridesmaid bouquets put into vases as a bit of a cost saving measure.”

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With the food at Ston Easton being one of the factors that first won the couple over when it came to the dream wedding venue, it went without saying the catering would be provided by the in-house team there.

“We are massive foodies so food had to be a big part of our day. We had canapes during the drinks reception, which included a black pudding and apple ball with a parsley crumb and a mushroom duxelle with soft-boiled quails egg. Our wedding breakfast menu consisted of ham hock terrine, celeriac remoulade, beetroot and fois gras for starters. Our main course was a roast rump of lamb with parmesan gnocchi, sun blushed tomato and rosemary jus, and our dessert was a white chocolate creme brulee with coffee macaron and vanilla ice cream – yum! We had anti pasti in the evening and I put together a sweets table with the help of my mum.”

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The favours were made by the couple themselves, partly to save money but also to allow them to create something themselves for the day. They consisted of 3 flavours of gourmet marshmallows in lemon, champagne and raspberry flavours.

“After the wedding breakfast in the evening we had a DJ from Stylish Entertainment who was recommended to us by the venue, and a gorgeous vintage photo booth provided by Booth19. A late addition was the glitter station. My bridesmaids brought glitter to my hen party (Pride Weekend in Brighton) and we all loved it so much I decided we just had to have it at the wedding too. Ston Easton kindly agreed, so come 9pm, every guest (even my grandparents!) had glitter on their face.”

“It’s so hard to pick my favourite moment of the day! It probably had to be the ceremony though, and saying I Do. Also spending some time together, just the two of us, at our wedding breakfast on our sweetheart table, oh and the bride and groom speeches! Actually, all of the speeches!”

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“My mum also made our wedding cake! She had always made our birthday cakes growing up so I asked if she wouldn’t mind making our wedding cake and she agreed. She even broke her shoulder 8 months before the wedding and was still going through physio for it all the way up to the wedding day, but thankfully still managed to ice the 3-tier cake. We added a touch of blue in the marble mid layer and had a ruffled bottom layer.”

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Words Of Wedded Wisdom

“There are some amazing suppliers out there and they can really enhance your wedding day, but what really makes a wedding, in my humble opinion, is your love and your personalities. Let it all shine through! We tried to ensure every part of our wedding reflected us as a couple, from the music to the readings, Eric our dog and our glitter.”

“Where possible, don’t compromise. It’s your day and your guests will be happy as long as you are, so do what makes you happy.”

“Etsy is every bride’s best friend. It’s so full of amazing small suppliers and you can often find unique pieces that are less expensive than the usual routes.”

“And finally, get a videographer! We didn’t have one, thinking we really didn’t need one, and now we really wish we had have done. We’d even read other blogs that said how much they treasured their films yet still didn’t get one!”

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Though they may not have had the videographer they wanted in hindsight, they certainly got some absolutely beautiful imagery, so a big thanks goes out to Lydia Stamps for sharing the photos with us. And a big congratulations to the happy newlyweds!

Until next time…

Much love,

Holly x

Credits & Thanks

Annabel

Annabel View all Annabel's articles

Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Editor. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and star gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she's not working on Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip in the running of the family's sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers. In 2013, she became a published author.

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