I somehow seem to find myself drawn to analogies with ice cream when I describe weddings and this one is no exception, with a deliciously muted colour palette of pastel shades sprinkled with sparkle. Pretty as picture Alex tied the knot with Michael at Turkey Mill, Kent in August this year and what a chic affair it was. The sorbet (there I go again) tinted flowers and gorgeous bridesmaids set Alex (who was positively Rockin’ the JP Eloise dress our very own Charlotte lusted after herself whilst planning,) off perfectly. The whole stylish event was captured by David King.

Alex has written us a nothing short of fabulous account of her day so allow me to step aside while she tells you all about the planning…

The Dress

I bought my dress from The Pantiles Bride in Tunbridge Wells, Kent and it was ‘Eloise’ by Jenny Packham. I always knew I would struggle to find a dress that I loved, I wanted something a bit different but still bridal. Elegant, glamorous and fitted, but still with that WOW factor. Wading through dress after dress I was beginning to get a little disheartened, I had been to an Ian Stuart Designer Day back in February and had fallen in love with his style but in November when I went back to try the dresses on again, they just didn’t have the same effect on me as they previously had. I always picked out Pronovias lace dresses when looking through magazines but they just didn’t suit me, more than that, I looked like a curtain and no one wants to look like a curtain on the big day. Luckily for me and unluckily for the bank balance…I found Jenny Packham. Elegant, fitted, detailed and totally unlike any dress I had seen on brides before.

I took two of my bridesmaids, Hayley and Marie with me for my first appointment at The Pantiles Bride and the assistant told me to wander around and pick out any dresses I wanted to try, I headed straight to the JP section and picked out Eloise, a few Pronovias numbers and some other designers too. I was saved Eloise for last and carried on trying with the girls showing their approval or giving me the big thumbs down for the lacy Pronovias number I just had to try again, ‘…but it looked so nice in the magazine.’ – Just leave it Alex!

So one by one I dismissed the dresses and finally it was Eloise’s turn. I was actually quite anxious, if this didn’t suit me or make me go ‘wow’ I was all out of options…so I put it on and walked out to meet the girls. I think I must have had a massive smile on my face, it just felt right! Luckily they agreed, it was ‘The One’. As I was standing looking in the mirror at the front of the shop an elderly man and lady popped their heads in to tell me the dress looked beautiful, so sweet! Despite the dress being about 4 sizes too big for me and having a few beads missing I knew this was this dress for me and I was sure Michael would love it too. I went back once more with my mum and we put the deposit down that day. I had a wedding dress, little old me, yikes that was scary!

Hair and Make Up

I knew on my wedding day I would need a professional to help me out with my make up as I am quite conscious of my skin and wear make up at all time. The hair and makeup artist I booked came highly recommended and after seeing some of her work on Facebook I booked her to do both my hair and make up, one item off the list….or so I thought. Fast forward to my hair and make up trial in June 2009, I made the mistake of also asking her to do two of my bridesmaid’s hair on the same night so the whole thing seemed like a bit of a rush, and in the end a bit of a disaster…

Seeing the photos the next day I cringed….I actually cringed at my own photo, it just didn’t look like me.
Thankfully my beautiful BMs stepped up to the plate, Hayley and Amy suggested that they could give me a make up trial to see if I liked it and then I could have as many trials as I wanted in the run up to the day, so that’s what we did. I must admit I got a bit bridezilla on them at times, Hayley can be a bit over-zealous with the blusher so she had to be kept in check! But it was alright on the night (day) and after a mammoth shopping spree in MAC I was all kitted out with lots of lovely new make up. Bless them, they were so nervous doing the make up on the day but I think they did a pretty good job

Bring on the Bling

As my dress was so detailed I wanted to keep my jewellery simple and decided that my look would combine a pair of chandelier earrings, a bracelet and something for my hair….I wasn’t quite sure what. On a shoe shopping trip to London my Bridesmaids and I somehow managed to find ourselves in the Oxford Street Topshop (I honestly can’t walk past that place, it just pulls me in!). It was there that I found my bracelet on a small Vintage stall in the middle of the accessories department, I love vintage jewellery and the idea of owning something with a bit of history, it was beautiful and would match my dress perfectly. The day before the wedding my mum and dad took me for lunch and gave me a gorgeous pair of earrings from Carat that perfectly matched the hair comb that I bought from Pantiles Bride at my final fitting. I completed my look with an elbow length veil so as not to cover the detail on the back of my dress.

Shoe Love

I Love Love Love Shoes, absolutely, truly, madly and deeply! So my search began, I trawled the internet constantly (sorry work!) and went to sleep dreaming about sparkly, satin, slingback, peeptoe shoes. So after a lot of research I finally felt ready to step away from the computer and hit the shops to try these beauties in real life. I had my map – Tourist Alert, clearly marked with every shop I wanted to visit and my first stop was Harvey Nics where I tried a couple of pairs of Christian Louboutins and a few sparkly Gina’s. The girls loved the Gina’s and I thought they were pretty great too but the search continued. I tried a few pairs in the Christian Louboutin boutique in Mount Street but was worried about the height of them, could I really last a whole day and night in these truly killer heels? Jimmy Choo was next but nothing really ‘rocked my world’, so lastly we returned to Gina. I tried a few pairs and after much deliberation I decided on Naomi, a beautiful sling back shoe with Swarovski crystals across the toe. I loved them and I still do, even though they tore my dress. Note to all brides considering this style of shoe, my dress was layered with tulle which repeatedly got stuck in the diamantes of the shoe, even when I was walking up the aisle! I have forgiven them now but on the day it was pretty annoying having to unhook my dress nearly every time I attempted to walk somewhere!

Beautiful Bridesmaids

I knew that finding suitable bridesmaid dresses was always going to be an issue, I hate bridesmaid dresses, I really do. I had searched and searched the internet, coming across one taffeta monstrosity after another and I was starting to panic. On my snazzy excel spreadsheet I had originally budgeted £150 per dress for the older BMs, slightly unrealistic but I really had no idea how much BM dresses cost, the Jim Hjelm dresses I picked out were at least £260…I pulled them out never the less, maybe they wouldn’t look that great on anyway…big mistake.

Marie put on style 1974 in a gorgeous pale blue colour called Haze and Amy went to try 5295 in a pale yellow colour. I had always liked the idea of the girls wearing different dresses in the same colour; the colour I was looking for was Taupe or a similar pale coffee colour. I returned to my judging panel seat as the girls emerged from the changing room.

Oh darn it…they looked amazing and they were both smiling from ear to ear. I went to speak to the sales assistant to find out what colours the dresses came in, I didn’t really have a colour scheme but I had my heart set on Taupe. She showed me the swatches, yellows, pinks, greens…no Taupe, nothing even close.
Half an hour later we were sitting in Wagamamas and I couldn’t get the dresses out of my mind, as lovely as they were they were too expensive and the wrong colour but I really couldn’t see myself finding something else….fast forward a month or so and after trawling the internet I came across a lovely little shop in Broadstairs, Kent that stocked both the Jim Hjelm styles that I loved and for £70 cheaper each, I arranged an appointment with the lovely Jean for the following weekend. Off to the Seaside…

To cut an already long story short our appointment at Bridal Gallery was a massive success, the girls still loved the dresses and even more perfect Jim Hjelm had just released a Taupe-esce colour called ‘Candlelight’, it was fate and I paid the deposit immediately.

The boys were a lot easier, we knew we didn’t want to go down the top hat and tails route so chose a simple navy blue suit with ivory waistcoat and the cravat was carefully matched to compliment the Bridesmaid’s dresses. We hired these from a local wedding shop and they all looked great on the day.

Erm, hello, how gorgeous are these girls? And how much do you want to rock Eloise after seeing that? (You can always tell a good dress when it gains a personality of it’s own!)

Come back soon to see the rest of this soft and sweet wedding, some gorgeous bridal party shots and more of Alex and her lovely husband Michael.

Yours Truly,

Contra
xoxo

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