Louise, in Caroline Takvorian, for her Elegant Spring Wedding at St Giles House in Dorset

St Giles House Wedding

Louise, a Model Booker at ASOS, married Jonathan, online manager at Ted Baker, on 9th April this year at St Giles House in Wimborne, Dorset.

The couple hired the very wonderful Haydn Rydings of Ferris & Twine to document their day in imagery and we couldn’t adore these images more.

The tone of the day was effortless elegance. Louise discovered her gown at The Mews Bridal in Notting Hill, who have full exclusivity on a number of incredible French bridal fashion brands. Hope you love this wedding as much as I do.

Photography by Ferris & Twine

Venue & Location

We chose to get married here because it was absolutely stunning and was unlike any other venue we had visited – it felt so grand yet intimate at the same time.

We also knew that no matter what the weather, the venue would be perfect as the grounds were just as beautiful as the house itself.

The Look

I bought my Caroline Takvorian dress from The Mews, Notting Hill. They have such an amazing collection of dresses and the whole experience was super positive and enjoyable.

I absolutely loved my wedding dress – I knew I wanted to wear something by that designer as I’ve followed her on Instagram for years and always love her collections.

I decided not to wear a veil as I didn’t want to take away from the lace detail on the back of my dress.

For me it was more about finding the right colour/style of shoes – so I ended up buying a £50 pair because they were exactly what I had in mind. However, before we had even sat down for food one of the straps had broken so maybe I should have spent a bit more!

The Ceremony

My Dad walked me down the aisle to the sound of Lulu James “Sweetest Thing” – sung and played on the guitar by a local musician called Shannon. It was the most amazing and emotional experience.

A Registrar from Dorset council lead our ceremony. We decided to write our own vows which made the ceremony feel even more special and intimate. We both kept them short and sweet which was good because there were a lot of tears!

We asked Jonathan’s Aunt Elizabeth and our best friends Joe and Romilly to both do readings but we asked them to choose something rather than us choose it for them so it was a surprise on the day.

During the ceremony Louise’s friend Kate sang “Hallelujah” by Haim accompanied by the guitar which was incredible.

We both loved our ceremony – it was so emotional! The room we were in was absolutely stunning and because we had friends and family speaking and singing it felt really personal and informal.

How They Met

We met at secondary school and were together 14 years before we got married. In Oct 2019 Jonathan proposed to me in Cyprus under a pomegranate tree in his Grandparent’s garden.

The Vibe

Our plan was always to keep the day very informal and for the focus to be on our family and friends celebrating together with good wine, delicious food and lots of dancing.

We loved the fact that the venue had so much character and colour which worked perfectly with our flower arrangements and bridesmaids dresses.

Jonathan was keen to incorporate some of his Greek Cypriot traditions into the day which included a pre-wedding dressing ceremony with his immediate family, a middle eastern inspired menu and traditional Greek dancing.

Reception, Detail & Decor

The venue was so amazing we didn’t have to add a single thing!

Catering was provided by Bread & Flowers, based in Salisbury, Wiltshire.  Our cake was by Bakery Boxx. We went for a 3 tier pistachio and orange cake decorated with minimal icing and pressed dried flowers.

For favours, we had flower seeds in little brown envelopes for the women and Save The Children pin badges for the men.

My ridiculously talented Bridesmaid Jo designed our invites, RSVPs, place cards, table plan and order of the ceremony.

Flowers

Martha and the Meadow was our florist –  we wanted bright, bold flowers in oranges, reds and yellows. For our dinner table we had lots of bud vases and for the ceremony room we had two large urns.

The Photographer

Ferris & Twine – we loved his documentary style of photography and for us we wanted more caught moments rather than staged pictures. Nearly all of our favourite images from the wedding are the natural, candid shots.

Planning in a Pandemic

Our original wedding date was meant to be 24th July 2021,  but we decided to move it due to COVID-19 restrictions. We made the decision to move the wedding to the following year about six months before as we didn’t want the build up to our wedding to be filled with uncertainty and unnecessary stress.

This was the best decision we made because although it was sad to push the date back, when it finally came to the day it felt even more special as we were able to have our dream wedding, surrounded by everyone we loved with no restrictions.

Evening & Dancing

Our first dance was to ”You to me are everything”, by The Real Thing.

Jonathan’s uncle Tony is a DJ and he very kindly offered to DJ at our wedding as his gift to us. We asked all of our guests to tell us their favourite song to dance to, compiled a list with a few of our favourite songs thrown in for good measure and then let Tony do the rest.

 

Words of Wedded Wisdom

Don’t sweat the small stuff, expect to go over your budget and enjoy every minute of not only the wedding day but all the events that lead up to it too – we made sure to appreciate all the dress/suit fittings, multiple hen/stag parties, food tastings, H&M trials, zoom calls with florists, photographers etc. just as much as we did our wedding day as it was all part of the experience.

We never really had a set number and we were very lucky that both our parents contributed but it’s safe to say we did spend more money than we thought we would but we wouldn’t have changed a thing so it was obviously all worth it!

ferrisandtwine.com

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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