Happy Tuesday lovelies. Let me lift your week with a truly gorgeous mill-based wedding, absolutely stuffed with flowers and greenery and fabulous styling details. I know you’ll love it.
Meet Rick and Sian, who married on the 30 March 2018 at The West Mill, Darley Abbey near Derby, a beautifully restored 1800’s mill. The couple met on Sian’s first day at university and Rick proposed after eight years together in their living room on Christmas Eve 2016, really starting their Christmas celebrations with a bang!
“The industrial styling reflected our own style and provided a perfect canvas for the day. We didn’t want anything too fussy or overdone and the stripped back interiors, combined with the gorgeous original features and quirky pieces the venue already had, meant that we didn’t have to add much styling to make the venue feel like ours.”
Images by Rosie Kelly
These beautiful photographs come to us courtesy of Rosie Kelly. Take a peek here for another beautiful wedding we featured recently, photographed by Rosie (at this exact venue in fact).
“We had spent a long time discussing and deliberating the photography we wanted- someone who would combine beautiful and unique styling with documentary-style pictures that would capture guests enjoying themselves, rather than posing for endless photographs. Rosie does exactly that. She has inspiring vision and we could tell straight away that she would have some interesting and unique ideas for getting the best shots on the day. She was relaxed and friendly and seemed genuinely excited for us and for our ideas for what we wanted. On the day, we hardly noticed Rosie was there and when the photographs came back to us we were overjoyed. They are absolutely gorgeous and exactly what we were after.”
Make up was the work of Chloe Williams, who gave Sian her fabulously glamorous look (complete with red lip), while her softly curled up-do was by Harriet Harvey.
“Chloe and Harriet were the ultimate dream team. They did such an amazing job working with my entourage in conditions of ever-increasing hilarity and chaos, and everyone looked absolutely gorgeous.”
“I got my shoes from Emmy London. [I’m delighted to say Sian discovered Little Book member Emmy via Love My Dress] I booked an appointment at their London boutique and my time there was one of my favourite parts of the whole process.”
“I was the only customer in the shop and had a dedicated assistant who looked at my colour scheme, dress and venue before bringing me out a selection of absolutely gorgeous shoes to try on.”
“I went for the Alice design in blush suede, but customized them with mother of pearl and silver beading. While they were being made, Emmy London lent me a pair of similar shoes to take with me to my dress fitting so I could get the dress alterations done with exactly the right style and heel height; this was such a helpful part of the service, which was absolutely first class from start to finish.”
Sian wore a fabulous princess gown called ‘Bianca’ by Maggie Sottero, which she purchased from Brides by Solo in Newmarket. This really is a ‘wow’ dress, with such a classic shape and both structural and soft features. Sian also worked with Brides by Solo to design a bespoke cathedral length veil to create an even more romantic look.
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“I had started the process thinking that I wanted a fitted, backless dress, but hadn’t found anything that wowed me and kept finding myself drawn to the big princess ballgowns. I felt like I needed to go back to the drawing board, so I let all my bridesmaids choose a dress for me to try on.”
“My best friend, Bethan, picked out the Bianca and I wasn’t sure about it on the hanger. However, when I put it on I just felt amazing, and I could see my smile echoed on the faces of everyone with me.”
Rick wore a dark blue two piece suit from Moss Bros, paired with shoes, belt and shirt from TK Maxx, a cranberry red bowtie from Primark and a pocket square from eBay.
Sian was accompanied down the aisle by her dad to ‘Give Me Love’ by Ed Sheeran, played and sung by friend Andrew “Jim” Morrison.
“I have always been a Daddy’s girl so I was always going to want him by my side on my wedding day. We also shared a moment together in the dressing room without the rest of the wedding party, which was very special.”
“For a reading, we chose ‘Scaffolding’ by Seamus Heaney, read by our friend Nicola. The poem is all about how relationships change and evolve and although it can feel like some things are breaking as your relationship and life moves on, the foundations are still strong enough to hold you up. The words resonated with us because we have been together for such a long time and a lot has changed and happened.”
Rings came from Luv Olivia Jewellery and both bride and groom chose classic bands.
The stunning and abundant flowers were the work of Justine Sharples of Kesali Flower Studio and really transformed the industrial nature of the venue with their pastel shades and soft shapes.
“Justine’s flowers are so different, edgy and unique, and she has a great eye for unusual flowers and combinations. My bouquet was romantic and unstructured in tones of cranberry, peach, blush pink, blue and ivory with blue/grey toned foliage, wrapped in long trailing ribbons in cream, cranberry and teal.”
“My lovely ex-stepmother made us our mirror table plan and the beautiful table names and a friend of my mum’s made the candelabras we used as the centerpieces of the tables. They were made of copper piping and fit perfectly with the industrial feel of the venue.”
Sian’s sister Rori made the fabulous cake, while the rest of the food was the work of Jenkinsons Caterers.
“We thought that a naked cake would work best with the stripped back décor and styling of the venue so we worked together to come up with the four different flavours, eventually deciding on: chocolate and salted caramel; lemon drizzle, with fresh cream and homemade lemon curd (a specialty of my mum’s); black forest gateau, with fresh cherries and real Black Forest kirsch, which my dad brought back for us from holiday; and prosecco and raspberry with fresh raspberry buttercream. It looked utterly stunning and tasted even better.”
“For favours, my mum spray-painted hundreds of tin cans copper and gold and planted them with grape hyacinths and daffodils.”
“As the wedding took place over the Easter weekend, we then hid chocolate eggs in the tins! It’s been lovely seeing guests’ photographs of the plants continuing to grow.”
“The Rush Band were the easiest decision we made in the whole process. They played two fabulous sets, incorporating everything from old school Bruce Springsteen to modern hits. Gavin also stayed to DJ for the evening and kept the dance floor full all night.”
Words of Wedded Wisdom
“As soon as we started planning my mum told me to remember that the day was all about us and that we should do exactly what we wanted, and to hell with what anyone else said! I reminded myself of this regularly during the planning process and it helped me to keep sight of what the day was actually about.”
“Don’t get caught up in the details, or in feeling that you have to have a scheme or theme. We planned everything based on what we like and what we felt reflected our personal style, and everything came together beautifully on the day.“
So many thanks to Sian and Rick for sharing this beautiful and stylish day, and of course to Rosie Kelly for the beautiful images. For more weddings at The West Mill, take a look here, while for more real brides in Maggie Sottero, click here– so many beautiful gowns to admire.
Much love,
Shona x
Credits & Thanks
- Photographer - Rosie Kelly
- Venue - The West Mill, Darley Abbey, Derby
- Bride's Dress - 'Bianca' by Maggie Sottero, purchased from Brides by Solo, Newmarket
- Shoes - Emmy London
- Veil - Bespoke from Brides by Solo
- Scent - Chanel No 5 Eau Fraiche
- Earrings - BaileyBespoke
- Hair stylist - Harriet Harvey
- Make up artist - Chloe Williams
- Bridesmaids dresses - ASOS
- Groom's outfit - Suit, Moss Bros; shoes, belt + shirt, TK Maxx; bowtie, Primark; pocket square, eBay
- Flowers - Kesali Flower Studio
- Catering - Jenkinsons Caterers
- Rings - Luv Olivia Jewellery
- Entertainment - The Rush Band