Silchester Farm & Isle of Wight: A Romantic Two-Day Wedding With Bridal Gowns by Whistles & Berta

Arabella and Jonathan’s romantic wedding unfolded over two unforgettable days back in July 2023.

The celebration began with a heartfelt ceremony at St. Helen’s Church on the Isle of Wight, followed by a delightful reception at the Seaview Hotel. The festivities continued at the idyllic Silchester Farm in Reading, a perfect rural haven.

Arabella was lucky enough to wear two beautiful dresses, making both high street and luxury designer choices. Day one saw he wear a chick, backless halterneck by Whistles and on day two, she wore a show-stopping Berta creation for the main wedding celebration

These glorious images were captured by Benjamin Stuart, enjoy!

Day 1, The Isle of Wight

Our day one wedding ceremony was held at St. Helen’s Church, followed by a reception at the Seaview Hotel – both of the Isle of Wight. I grew up on the Isle of Wight and have always loved water and the sea so it was really important to me that our chosen venues and locations had some element of water – which is something both the Isle of Wight and Silchester Farm provided.

St Helen’s Church where we were married on the Isle of Wight day 1, has really important family connections as my lovely Mum and Granny Eileen are both buried there. Having the ceremony on the Isle of Wight meant that my elderly Grandpa could be with us on the day to celebrate. I wouldn’t have wanted to get married anywhere else.

I bought my really simple and beautiful Eileen dress by Whistles for the Isle of Wight St Helen’s church ceremony. The woman in store recommended Bride & Alter who did incredible same day alterations to make it longer so that it fit perfectly, when I had last minute concerns the week of our wedding regarding the final fit.

The Whistles silk dress was made longer by adding an additional panel so that it fit me perfectly. My day one dress was particularly special as it shares its name with my wonderful Granny Eileen who is sadly no longer with us. On day one, I also wore my Granny’s Eileen’s pearl drop earrings.

I also wore a veil on day one. It was a lovely French lace veil from Bride & Alter. My little sister Flo got married later that summer and I lent it to her for her wedding day too.

Leaving the church we mistakenly told Ben, our photographer, to go to the incorrect beach one cove down. We found ourselves on our favourite beach alone in our wedding attire with no phones being congratulated by beach goers as they passed. Thankfully one friendly lady, who also offered to be our photographer, allowed us to use her phone to call Ben and tell him where we were. It actually ended up being one of our favourite moments as we had a beautiful moment to ourselves where we could really enjoy having just got married and being all on our own.

Afton Blooms provided our flowers for the church at the Isle of Wight that included a flower arch around the church door. Afton Blooms also provided my bouquet for day one which was simple and perfectly suited to the small intimate day and ceremony. After the ceremony, the flowers from day one were put in the church yard to celebrate my darling Mum and Granny.

The Seaview Hotel provided afternoon tea and champagne for our day one Isle of Wight wedding and did a brilliant job.

Bridal Beauty & Accessories

For day two, the big Berta dress didn’t require a veil, it was all dress!

My makeup artist was Sian of Brush Beauty Co. Sian and her team were wonderful and did a brilliant job of looking after my bridesmaids and i and making us feel ready for the day.

For both days, I wore a pair of Jimmy Choos – the Sacora 100 design. They were provided as a very generous surprise wedding present from my wonderful husband the groom. I had to secretly borrow them in advance of the wedding day to take them for dress fittings, and couldn’t believe my eyes when I opened the box!

My bridesmaid dresses were lilac and came from Maids to Measure in London. We had two different styles in the same colour, one with bow ties on the shoulders and ones that were buttoned at the front.

The dresses were lovely, the perfect colour. Maids to Measure provided an excellent service where my bridesmaids could try the dresses on in their showroom in South Kensington so we could pick them in person.

Some of my bridesmaid wore adorable lilac sash bows that they brought with them for the day. We also had some tacky but perfect white heart sunglasses from my hen-party in Barcelona that were an excellent addition for some of my favourite wedding party photos on day two.

Jonny’s very clever sister Rosie expertly hand made absolutely beautiful sashes and bows for the flower girls Ottilie & Bo out of the matching liberty print used for the groomsmen’s ties and pockets squares. Our flower girls had flower wands for day two that were quickly swapped in exchange for the bigger bridesmaid bouquets to avoid a melt down by my 2 year old niece!

The flower girls dresses were lent to me by my sister and were repurposed with the original sashes for her wedding later in the summer.

Photography

We were lucky enough to have Benjamin Stuart provide our wedding photography for both the Isle of Wight and Silchester farm. Ben was incredible and a huge part of the two days. I can’t thank him enough and I’ll treasure the photos and memory he captured forever.

He photographed our days perfectly and authentically and was without a doubt the best supplier we had a pleasure of working with. When I look at those photos now it takes me straight back to how we felt at the time. We will treasure the experience and photos forever.

How They Met

Whilst Jonny was briefly in the RAF he had a mutual friend Tom also serving who organised a night out with some friends from the RAF and the girls who were living with Bella in London. A few weeks prior to the meeting Tom shared Bella’s name and number to set us up and the rest is history!

After about 5 yrs dating we moved in together, spent lockdown together, ticking off the classic lockdown activities like getting a dog and a much needed garden. At the end of 2021 we went on holiday to Mauritius where Jonny preposed to me with his great grandmother Sidney’s ring. Miraculously it fit perfectly, 120 years since it was first worn. We were engaged for just over a year an a half.

Jonny wore suits from Clements and Church, Day one was a dark grey Prince of Wales check three-piece with double breasted waistcoat. Our new surname was embroidered into the inside of the collar and the wedding date and initials was embroidered onto the inside breast pocket. Jonny wore his grandfathers gold cufflink

Day two was a three-piece charcoal morning suite with blush pink double breasted waistcoat. My surprise wedding gift to Jonny was a Nomos dress watch that he wore on day two. He also wore his late grandfathers gold cufflinks which have both his grandfathers and his own initials engraved on them. Jonny wore his grandfathers gold cuffli

The Groom

Jonny wore suits from Clements and Church, Day one was a dark grey Prince of Wales check three-piece with double breasted waistcoat. Our new surname was embroidered into the inside of the collar and the wedding date and initials was embroidered onto the inside breast pocket. Jonny wore his grandfathers gold cufflink

Day two was a three-piece charcoal morning suite with blush pink double breasted waistcoat. My surprise wedding gift to Jonny was a Nomos dress watch that he wore on day two. He also wore his late grandfathers gold cufflinks which have both his grandfathers and his own initials engraved on them.

Evening & Dancing

Our first dance was to Cosmic Love, by Florence + The Machine.

We hired jazz, soul and pop band, ‘Josie and the Majestics‘. Our DJ was Jodie Yang.

Words of Wedded Wisdom

It’s the small intimate details that you’ll cherish. Family mementos and wedding day details contributions from friends you’ll remember fondly forever.

Don’t be afraid to work with small suppliers. Some of the loveliest elements of our wedding came from smaller suppliers that provided exceptional quality and service.

For larger suppliers you are made much more aware that, whilst this is a wonderful moment for you, it’s a business and they’ll have to do it all over again tomorrow for someone else. Always focus on the most important thing (each other!) and enjoy every moment, even if you are presented with challenges or mistakes from suppliers on the day.

It’s not very romantic, but my practical advice would be to avoid spending saved wedding budget cash early. Prioritise spending on an interest free credit card early on and make sure you pay of any wedding borrowing before you’re charged interest on it. You’ll need cash towards the end of the wedding planning process where some large invoices will require cash payment.

Our wedding was perfect for us. The only recommendations I would make to future brides would be tiny tweaks, such as cutting the cake as part of the drinks reception post-ceremony and hiring a videographer to capture live moments from the day.

We also really felt the difference between working with smaller and more commercial suppliers with there being pros and cons to each. My recommendation would be to generally go smaller.

We planned our wedding ourselves – which was more of a undertaking then originally expected. Rightly or wrongly we didn’t set a budget and I didn’t have a spreadsheet. I planned most of the wedding using my phone and a wedding planning book. I attempted to get a fair price from each of our suppliers to have the wedding we wanted as cost effectively as possible.

I’ve never added it up and never will.