As a lover of stunning, ‘take your breath away' wedding photography I have a rule: professional wedding photography only on Bridal Musings.
But as a lover of all things chic and unique, when Jenny, a self confessed non-‘weddingy person' with a penchant for Vivienne Westwood, asked if I'd like to feature her wedding, I had to make an exception. Rules are made to be broken after all!
You are going to LOVE the dress, the cake and Jenny's down to Earth, honest and utterly fabulous account of her wedding:
The Proposal: No great popping of question – just decided after ten years together that we fancied a shindig.
Location & date of wedding: 17 July 2010. Putney, London Winchester House
The Dress: Vivienne Westwood. My friend and personal shopper Hayley told me it was the one. I only tried one dress on. I knew I wanted nothing bridal and this was perfect. My size wasn’t available when we went to Selfridges but Hayley grilled the assistant and it turned out they had one on hold in the back. Fortunately they let me have it – I still feel a bit bad about the poor lady who missed out but hey ho, I doubt she was planning to get married in it!
The Shoes & Accessories: Shoes were also Vivienne Westwood. I ordered them in advance and they make your size specially for you. Not overly high – they are made to go with the dress perfectly. The necklace was also Vivienne and was Hayley’s – she lent it to me. She got married in it too.
Hair & Make Up: Hair – simply blow dried straight. I wanted simple. I did my own make-up after having some free advice at a Bobbi Brown counter.
Bridesmaids/Groomsmens Attire: My bridesmaids wore Vivienne Westwood too! Yes, I am a bit obsessed. Both Anglomania dresses. There were no formal groomsmen. My flower girls were my nieces and they wore Boden specials!
The Grooms Attire: Sean wore a suit I had made up for him on a business trip to Hong Kong. It was based on his favourite suit. It was linen and dark blue with a beautiful lilac silk lining. His shirt was from a wonderful specialist shop in Richmond – he bought it TWO days before the wedding!
Theme/Colour Scheme: We had no theme as such but our tables were named after summer blockbusters. Our wedding invite was in the form of a movie poster. Every place card was a theme from the film of the table.
The Details: We got married by the river and we were lucky to have lovely weather. Everyone gathered in the garden overlooking the Thames for prosecco and chat.
The Flowers: My mother in law, Deirdre, did the flowers. I wanted a feeling of rustic wild flowers artfully arranged in jugs. She provided the jugs as she has an antiques business and therefore has dozens of things like that. She went to New Covent Garden and bought all the flowers. Costs a fraction of the price of getting a florist. All guests were invited to take flowers home with them.
The Cake: We had cupcakes and half were decorated with designer logos and half with frosty icing and a few fish. Sean is a very keen fisherman so our cake toppers reflected him in his fishing gear and me and my designer shopping bags! I didn’t tell Sean about the cakes as it was a surprise for him. He was a bit concerned about what I would do but he loved it. We have the cake topper in our glasses cabinet at home!
The Entertainment: Our witty repartee of course! We kept speeches to a minimum. I made a speech too.
The Wedding Music: I walked down the aisle to The West Wing theme. We signed the register to We Have All The Time In The World by Louis Armstrong – we’re both big Bond fans. One of the readings was from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – the book where Bond gets married. We had a DJ in the evening – our first collective dance (not just Sean and me) was Stayin’ Alive by The Bee Gees.
Personal Touches: We asked everyone to pick a song and we played it in the evening – this ensured everyone danced at least once although we didn’t have a problem getting people to dance!
The Photographer/Videographer: My brother is a professional photographer (although not weddings!) and he took most pics. Our friend Karen was keen to start up as a wedding photographer and asked to take pics as well. We also asked all our friends to take pics and share them. We didn’t have a formal photographer and formal pics as we didn’t want to waste time posing when we could be talking to our friends and family!
Favourite Moment: My father in law reciting The Owl and the Pussycat from memory like a theatre actor. He had everyone spell bound.
Any Advice For Other Brides? Don’t stress, enjoy the planning and accept something might go wrong but you won’t mind on the day.
Wasn't that such a refreshing read?! I love how Jenny and Sean simply wanted to have a ‘shindig' with all their family and friends and to do it their way! Jenny said to me in an email: I wasn't a big weddingy person but I really enjoyed planning ours {and of course the day} and what a wonderful wedding she planned, full of personal touches, fun, love & laughter.
Thank you so much for sharing your wedding account here on Bridal Musings, Jenny. Wishing you and Sean a wonderful marriage full of fishing and Vivienne Westwood!
Jenny actually got in touch as she'd seen her friends' Kelly and Martin's beautiful wedding featured on Bridal Musings. You can check out Part 1 and Part 2 for even more London wedding chicness.
