A Classic English Rose…….part 1

If I’ve said it before I’ve said it a thousand times, what Rebecca and I look for in a wedding to feature isn’t ever one particular thing. We don’t have a big “must have this” tick list or claim to be specialists in any specific theme or genre.

We just like pretty. Beautifully captured pretty.

And the wedding of Zee and Elizabeth is exactly that. A whole bunch of lovely that is both inspirational and achievable – a blush pink and icecream dream colour scheme, a beautiful bride and lots and lots of L.O.V.E.

With thanks to Hannah and her assistant Abbie from Funky Photographers for sharing the images.

Demure Delicate Design

I sketched my dream dress a few days after Zee proposed; a slim fitting vintage looking lace dress with delicate lace straps and a sweetheart neckline. I had only been to one wedding dress shop before I discovered Sassi Holford but that was it, I had to have a Sassi Holford gown!

The inbuilt corsetry is so flattering and the laces are exquisite. I spent many many hours at their Fulham road boutique trying to decide what gown to go for-it was so difficult because there are so many stunning dresses!

My wonderful, patient mum sat outside the dressing room week after week as I tried on and retried the same 3-4 dresses, trying to decide on ‘The One’. I was an indecisive, nightmare bride yet the ladies at Sassi Holford and Sassi Holford herself were so patient and lovely with me. In the end, Sassi designed a gorgeous, demure, bespoke dress that I absolutely adored. She also designed a long waterfall veil with lace edging at the bottom to complement the dress perfectly.

Good job I did love my dress because I ended up wearing it again the next day when we left the honeymoon suite of our hotel because I forgot my overnight bag! (That’s a story for the grandkids!)

Natural Gloss And Vintage Waves


I’d had a few make up trials but just didn’t feel comfortable wearing so much make up (Zee saw me after one trial and said I looked like I was auditioning for Dancing on Ice!) so, needless to say, I chose to do my own make up on the day. I did have a cheeky set of eyelash extensions the week before which helped to make me feel a bit more glam!


I always knew I’d wear my hair down on my wedding day. My hair is very long and poker straight but I envisioned beautiful Rita Hayworth waves in keeping with my vintage theme. Thankfully, Sev Hubert, of Hepburn Collection specialises in vintage hair and he perfected my waves, making me feel like a glamorous film star! He was also really lovely too, with lots of French charm and flair.

The English Rose Look

While I was at an accessories fair on the hunt for a vintage headpiece, I tried a fabric flower on a whim and loved it! It still looked vintage but was very romantic and complemented the English rose look I was going for. I chose a small pale blush pink rose and an ivory larger rose and my hairdresser pinned them in place perfectly on the day.

I got my clutch from Faith and my wonderful maid of honour, Kelly, looked after it for me and was on hand throughout the day for any bathroom trips to reapply my lippy.

I chose ivory satin, peep toe sling-backs with a slight platform and I had my pillar-box red nail polish peeping through to add a bit of colour. On the bottom I stuck some rhinestone stickers that said ‘I do’ as my something blue!

I wore a simple pearl bracelet made out of my Aunt Bell’s pearls that she’d given me on my 21st birthday. It oozed pure vintage elegance and I loved how delicate it looked on my wrist.

Blushing Bridesmaids

I always knew I wanted my bridesmaids to be in dresses that reflected their own style. They are all so beautifully different and I wanted to celebrate that rather than stick them all in a dress that I liked but that they would never want to wear again.

So the brief I gave my bridesmaids was simply that they could choose any ‘Dessy’ dress they wanted in ‘Blush’ and any gold shoes of their choosing. They even chose their own accessories too! I had so many compliments from our guests about opting for different yet complimentary bridesmaid’s dresses and the girls looked absolutely gorgeous in their dresses.

Charmingly Disorganised

We envisioned all the men wearing sharp black suits with matching ties and ivory rose buttonholes. So we asked them to wear their own black suits, explaining that we’d provide the rest. Zee, my charmingly disorganised fiancé, was in charge of the men’s attire and, much to my dismay, they did not all end up wearing the (expensive) matching blush pink ties we ordered from Dessy and one groomsman even turned up in a grey suit!

Unlike me, and all my dress dilemmas, Zee was very laid back about his suit…so laid back in fact he ended up rushing to Oxford Street a few days before the wedding to buy it!

On the day he looked so handsome all suited and booted in a crisp white shirt, black waistcoat, black tie and black suit. Walking down the aisle towards him, I felt so honoured and proud to be marrying him and couldn’t wait to be walking back up the aisle as Mr and Mrs Muhmood!

Our Day Our Way

My husband and I prove that old adage ’opposites attract’, we have different tastes in music, films, decor and popcorn…he likes salted while I’m a sweet kind of girl. So planning a wedding together was never going to be easy. I adore all things vintage while Zee is more of a modern man (he’s editor in chief of a tech blog www.thenextweb.com so we tried our best to compromise and mixed old and new throughout our wedding and came up with a wedding that was just so ‘us’.


It was exactly what we wanted, a short and sweet ceremony, an elegant but relaxed reception, a delicious meal with our family and friends and a good ol’ knees up in the evening…we had so much fun, we didn’t want the night to end!

If you lovelies are anything like me I was completely taken with Elizabeth’s entire “look” particuarly her gorgeous make-up. I have it on good authority from the bride herself that the perfect pink pout ( that she is wearing so well) is No.7′s sheer temptation in “Smoulder”

Must get thee to a Boots!

Plenty more pretty coming up in part 2 folks.

Big Classic Love

Charlotte xxx