A Temperley London Floral Wedding Dress for a Glasshouse Hotel Wedding in Edinburgh

The arrival of spring brings an array of colour into the landscape, so it’s the perfect time to share today’s glorious wedding with you.

Now, if you’re dreaming of an unconventional gown that really breaks the mould then I hope that you’re totally and completely inspired by this bride’s choice of Temperley London gown.

Kelsey, a wildlife biologist for an environmental consulting company and Bernardo, who works as an engineer in the oil and gas industry, celebrated their marriage with family and friends at The Glasshouse Hotel, Edinburgh on 30 June 2018. Their legal marriage took place on 1 April 2018 in Houston (where they now live) and the couple returned to Scotland, where they first met, for a relaxed, symbolic ceremony in The Glasshouse’s gardens.

Film Sole Productions

The summer’s day was set against a bright and joyful colour palette with lots of wildflowers and bird motifs, all inspired by Kelsey’s embroidered gown. The concept of ‘home’ was also a theme that wove through the day.

The inspiration for the look and feel of the day was Kelsey’s beautifully embroidered Temperley London gown. Bold and colourful summer flowers, foliage, insects and butterflies adorn its simple silhouette and floaty cap sleeves. I have to admit that I am totally and utterly in love with this gown.

Photography Faye Green Photo

“I knew I did not want to wear a white dress but besides that I had no idea what I wanted to wear. Searching for ‘colourful wedding dresses’ brings up some interesting results! I came across a blog post about an off-beat wedding where the bride wore a white dress with brightly coloured embroidery all over it, and I thought it was gorgeous.”

Kelsey and Bernardo first met in Scotland but now live in Houston, Texas. So, how did this Scots girl and Brazilian guy come to meet? Kelsey shared their story, which they also published on their wedding website. The couple were engaged for just two weeks before their legal American ceremony, celebrating in Scotland a couple of months later.

“July 6, 2013: On an uncommonly warm evening in Northeast Scotland, Kelsey was out celebrating her 24th birthday with her sister and Bernardo was enjoying the “dazzling” Aberdeen nightlife during his work rotation. Neither of them had a clue that this night would be the start of something life-changing. Kelsey got her birthday kiss and the rest was history.”

“The Scottish summer came to an end and they parted ways, but their adventure had just begun. Kelsey and Bernardo spent the following two years travelling back and forth just to be with each other. After two long years, they finally managed to settle in the same city to live together, good ol’ Houston, TX.”

“March 17, 2017: Kelsey was finally in Houston in between work travels, and Bernardo made her hurry home from the office so they could check out the Bayou Bend Collection & Gardens before going to work drinks with his friends. Bernardo popped the question (he almost made it down on one knee but nerves made him freeze halfway) while they were walking through the wooded trail.”

“Now Bernardo used to joke about proposing in the past, so Kelsey didn’t initially believe him! But she eventually said yes and they went to have celebratory drinks/ dinner at their favourite restaurant… there was no work drink plans with Bernardo’s friends.”

“April 1, 2017: A whole two weeks later they officially tied the knot in a Houston courthouse (on April Fool’s day no less!). Only Bernardo’s parents and Kelsey’s mother were able to be present on the day, and they knew they still needed to plan a big celebration for everyone.”

“June 30, 2018: Big celebration day with their friends and family in the country where it all began!”

Kelsey wore her signature scent – Light Blue by Dolce & Gabbana – and finished her look with a pair of drop earrings. Keeping her hair loose and flowing makes her look so dreamily boho; I really, really love this style. Oh, and her nails were painted in a summery coral polish – could we love this babe any more?

“I wore an old pair of Swarovski earrings that I’ve had for ages because I love them and they matched.”

The wildflower embroidery was echoed in the lush flower crown, hand-made by Narcissus Flowers. The colourful theme continued in her light blue jewelled satin heels which were from Badgley Mischka .

“We knew we wanted to hold the event in Scotland, as that is where we first met, but we spent forever trying to find a place that could fit our more contemporary style and also not be out too far in the middle of nowhere – most of our guests were flying in from other countries and had limited knowledge of the area (and wouldn’t be comfortable driving on the other side of the road!).”

“Most of the venues in Scotland are traditional castles in the countryside which is nice, but not us and not ideal logistically. We finally came across The Glasshouse Hotel and it had everything we wanted all in one – located in an accessible touristy destination, an outdoor venue – their beautiful rooftop garden terrace, and a cool traditional/ contemporary look.”

The bride asked the four bridesmaids to choose their own gowns, with a loose theme of silvery or neutral tones and sparkles or beading if they wanted. The girls accessorised with their own jewellery but matching flower crowns tied their looks together.

“My sister wore a knee-length, silver sequinned Breonne dress by Saylor, Heloise wore a floral, sequinned floor-lengthgown  by Adrianna Papell, Kimberly wore a grey Grecian-style floor-length dress from BHLDN and Carla wore a knee-length fully-sequinned silver dress she bought somewhere in Germany.”

A traditional Scottish bagpiper welcomed the guests as they arrived into the beautiful gardens, bathed in the gorgeous summer sunshine. Both the bride’s mum and dad accompanied her down the aisle, to the sound of The Beatles’ song ‘Blackbird’. The outdoor ceremony was an incredibly personal affair as it was led by Kelsey’s brother JT and Bernado’s brother Marcelo.

The beautiful summer weather meant that the ceremony could take place outside. The Glasshouse’s in-house event planner Natalie was invaluable to the couple.

“We didn’t hire any event planner but Natalie Russell – the Conference & Event Sales Co-ordinator at The Glasshouse – was basically our event planner. She helped us with every step of planning and made sure everything was set up and running perfectly on the day.”

“Honestly we had no idea what we wanted when we started planning. Finding my dress helped so much; it provided the colour palette which led to everything else. I am also crazy for birds and native wildflowers so we put a lot of our budget towards the flowers and a lot of the other little touches were bird-related (origami swan name card holders and little bird houses painted by my mom which we hung with the ceiling floral arrangements).” 

“We added festoon lighting to the pergola and the rest of the décor was down to the amazing floral arrangements and the sparkly silver table clothes.”

“JT spoke in English and Marcelo spoke in Portuguese. We wrote a script for them but they made it their own.”

“We wrote our own vows. We were so rushed in getting to Scotland that we ended up actually writing our personal vows the night before the wedding. It was kinda nice to take a breath and focus on what we wanted to say.   Kelsey’s other brother and sister each had a little speech during the ceremony that they wrote themselves. Two of Bernardo’s best friends and his cousin also had speeches they wrote themselves.”

With their friends and family gathered around, the ceremony looks so relaxed and intimate.

“Bernardo got the engagement ring at a store in Houston called Shaftel Diamonds. He got a beautiful Art Deco-y diamond and blue sapphire engagement ring. We decided to get the wedding bands at the same place to match.”

The post-ceremony celebrations kicked off with an al fresco cocktail hour (and time to relax and chill in hammocks) before the newly-weds and their guests moved inside for dinner.

The tables look so beautiful with their joyful floral arrangements from Narcissus Flowers and I love the dainty hanging ornaments of bird houses, painted by Kelsey’s mum.

The newly-weds opted to have a sweetheart table, giving them some precious moments together in the busyness of the day.

“The whole day was so crazy. The best part had to be when we finally sat down to eat something quickly. Because we decided to have our own sweetheart table, we were able to talk to each other and gush about the ceremony before the party part kicked off. You spend so much time talking to and thanking friends and family that it’s important to grab the little moments with your partner whenever you can!”

 

The couple worked with The Glasshouse Hotel‘s chef, Danilo Fumagali who designed the menu to their specifications, from the cocktail hour hors d’oeuvres to dessert. Just check out those vividly-coloured macarons! The cake, with its gorgeous cascade of flowers, was by Liggy’s Cakes.

“We put either a little miniature The Balvenie whisky or a mini The Teasmith gin at each seating place along with a coaster that said “Home is wherever I’m with you” (the title of our first dance song, and part of our theme). We also gave each guest a hand-written thank you card, which also acted as their place card on the dinner tables.”

Bernardo chose his pale grey suit at Hugo Boss and with a nod to the bride’s Scottish roots, added a Baird tartan tie. Finally, a dainty boutonniere provided by Narcissus Flowers and a spritz of Bulgari Pour Homme, and he was ready.

Photographer Faye Green was on hand to capture the bride and groom’s preparations and rest of the day’s celebrations. Her reportage style allows us these super-intimate moments and her bright, breezy style lets the bright colours shine.

“She was absolutely amazing. We gave her pretty vague instructions – just that we didn’t want any formal “posed” pictures, we just wanted someone there to capture all the moments naturally.”

“And she did just that. She was everywhere at once, but never in the way, capturing all the perfect candid moments. She totally understood our style and she was an absolute pleasure to have as a part of our special day.”

The love and sunlight-filled film was shot by Chas at Sole Productions.

“Chas was also brilliant and worked perfectly alongside Faye.”

Kelsey and Bernardo’s had a first dance to ‘Home’ by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros before the evening party kicked off.

“We listened to this song over and over in our first year together. We were in a long distance relationship and so every time we were together we went on an adventure – this was the first song on our adventure play list.”

“We hired a DJ to take over from the band and play out the rest of the night. We found him through Natalie as he is a preferred vendor of The Glasshouse. He played from a list of music we provided and did a great job mixing in Brazilian tunes with American/British songs.”

“The Rollin’ Drones kicked the party off with live music through dinner and beginning of the party. They played amazing music, current songs with bagpipes interspersed – a huuuge crowd-pleaser and an all-round amazing band.”

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“Honestly, Bernardo was more of the planner than I. Planning a wedding is stressful, expensive, and time-consuming! My advice, as a girl who didn’t have ‘the big day’ already planned out in her mind, is to breathe, take small steps, and do your research. Start with blogs, see what others have done and see what you like.”

“You might get triggered by a dress, or a colour scheme, or a ceremony style. Make a choice and then move onto the next item to build out your event… and don’t be afraid to change your mind.”

“Also, don’t get stressed out at family. They only want to help (even if it’s misplaced)! I found that giving family members small accomplishable tasks, with a narrow focus, really helps get stuff done and helps include family into the planning.”

Lovelies, have you fallen in love with Kelsey’s gown just like I have? We have more Temperley London brides to inspire you here, as well as plenty of outdoor ceremonies to enjoy.

It just remains for me to say a very heartfelt thank you to you both, Kelsey and Bernado, for sharing your day with us, and thanks too to Faye Green for these beautiful images.

Ele xx