I’m absolutely loving this Brides look… Birdcage veil? Check. Sexy eyes? Check. Huge sparkly shoulder grazing earrings? Check. This is how to do Sexy on your wedding day… and still look Bride Beautiful.

Francesca and Mike were married on Saturday 18th July 2009 at Bardsey church. All the stunning photography by Morgan Photography.

Location, Location, Location.

We chose to hold the reception at Harewood House – drinks and canapés on the beautiful on the terrace and then the reception in the marquee.

We also extended the celebrations by holding a Sunday lunch at The Sportsmans Arms, Wath-in-Nidderdale.

Dressing to Impress

I bought my dress from Louella Bride in Rawdon which is a lovely small boutique dress shop. The staff are really lovely and really spend time getting the fit right for you. The seamstress who I believe used to work for a couture house is really talented, she made quite a few alterations to the size of my dress and you just wouldn’t have known.

My dress was by Constantina. Choosing the dress was harder than i thought. Usually I know exactly what I like but there were so many beautiful cuts and styles but in the end I fell in love with the cut of the back and the lace on the lower half and train was exactly what i’d been looking for. I didn’t think i’d have gone for straps but I loved them in the end. The flower corsage just below one of the straps apparently took a couple of days alone to make so it just goes to show you don’t have to buy custom made dresses to find intricate detailing.
Try and get hold of a sample of the dress material so you can match your accessories with it more easily.

One word of advice I’d have is this. When you go back for your first fitting you will have forgotten what the dress is like ‘in the flesh’. Don’t panic if it’s not how you first remembered it. It sounds crazy but you see so many and then you finally choose and then you don’t see it for several months. Maybe it was just me but I had a bit of a panic that i wasn’t so sure about it but once I went for my second fitting and it was all taken in and fitted right and I had my accessories on i fell in love with it all over again.

Unique Chic Accessories

My Head piece was by Gillion Million – bespoke headpiece designer – her showroom is like a treasure trove of beautiful things. She does the Designer Wedding Shows at Battersea Park, London and that’s where I found her. She is absolutely lovely and wanted to make sure I was happy with the birdcage veil I had fixed behind the headpiece.

The earrings were by Erickson Beamon – I found it tricky to find nice earrings and I’d admired Erickson Beamon’s collections before so when I found out they made bespoke jewellery and I saw other pairs of earrings they’d made for weddings before I was really glad i’d held out. They have a shop near Sloane Square but here is their website.

For my perfume, I chose something I’d not worn before, Prada (Infusion de Fleur D’Oranger) which is really summery, fresh and quite unusual. It also stayed on all day!

Vintage heels

My shoes were from the Diane Hassall vintage collection. They were a vintage inspired tie shoe covered in beautiful embroidered organza and the choice of either an organza tie or velvet one. I have to say i went practical when it came to my shoes, that they were a good sized heel (9cm) but really comfortable – the last thing i wanted was to be in agony with sore feet and I managed to dance all night without taking them off – bonus. They didn’t break the bank unlike some others i’d had my eye on.

One really nice touch that you can request is for them to stamp the wedding date on the sole of the shoe which is a nice keepsake.

Sexy Eyes

I’d been for make up trials and come away looking like a transvestite, they really plastered it on. So I decided to do my make up myself. I think if you know what suits you well you feel safer doing it yourself – no last minute nasty surprises. I went for Shu Umera false lashes which really added effect for the photos but looked nice and natural at the same time and avoided me putting lashings of mascara on to get the long lashes look. Just don’t leave it till the last minute when your hands might be a bit shaky!

My hair style I found by playing with it myself which helped me to decide I wanted curls to the side. But some hairdressers recreation of it was really ‘traditional bride’ which I didn’t want but then I came across a great hairdresser who has been doing wedding hair for years called Alyson Rowden and she was really talented and we worked together to get the look and incorporate the headpiece.

Here come the Girls…

The bridesmaids all wore the same style dress by Dessy. We found a really nice style that suited all of them. I think it’s important for everyone to be happy in what they’re wearing and to have a say in the dress choice. In their hair they wore a pretty hair pin. The necklaces were made by one of my very own bridesmaids, Kyrenia Tew, who makes stunning jewellery in her spare time, she also made a friend of mine a beautiful Nicole Ritchie esqe headpiece for her wedding. It was lovely to have her make them for everyone as each persons was individual to them.

One thing I’d say is don’t be a Bridezilla when it comes to making demands on your bridesmaids, financial or otherwise. Everyone knows their friends limits so don’t go past them. I’ve seen brides who have almost lost friends over their wedding it’s crazy. I’m happy to say my 5 bridesmaids were amazing but i knew to delegate the right tasks to each of them that i thought they’d enjoy. I’m happy to say we only have amazing memories of it all – I promise they’d back me up!

Are you all loving this wedding or what? It’s making me wish I had gone for the statement birdcage veil I wanted to rock in the evening and simply ran out of time to organise… Bring on Part 2, later today, right here on Rock My Wedding.

Yours Truly,

Rebecca
xoxo