We owe a massive thank you to Guy Collier this week for submitting todays wedding, which not only put me in the uncomfortable position of scraping my jaw off the floor when I first clapped eyes on it, but also only went and got the whole of peach week started…

(via email….)

Rebecca: Guy Collier Submission – peach and blue, DIY, puff ball BM’s. LOVE. IT!

Charlotte: Oh My Actual God. See us Brits can do it! He needs to send you every single image he used on the blog – they are all amazing.

Some days later…

Charlotte: Have just had immense idea when I was in the shower, about time – maybe my all day headache kicked my brain into gear!…… How do you feel about peaches and cream week on RMW?????

Another day later…

Rebecca: As I never got around to replying to your email I thought I would give some attention to this particular idea of yours – Awesome! Really love it

(- Embarrassingly, this is actually how our conversations go, and Thank God – we also still get just that excited!)

Guy also very kindly kept the images off his blog until we could spill the beans and share it with you… which is what I’m about to do right here, right now.

It’s just Peachy!

Becky & Steve were married 30th July this year and created a ridiculously pretty day….

Sweetheart in Sung

I absolutely loved searching for the dress – I had been told some horror stories about girls never being able to find a style that they were happy with, but dress shopping really was so much fun! I took my two sisters and mum with me and we spent a whole weekend running from shop to shop; I must have tried on roughly 50 different dresses. The first thing we did was to pick out a few different styles (traditional, vintage, Grecian, fishtail) and once we knew what suited my shape then started to delve into designs.

I found my dress first thing on the Sunday morning from Confetti and Lace in Farnham, Surrey. My sister actually picked it out and as soon as I put it on I knew it was going to be the dress I got married in. It was a traditional style – sweetheart neck and corseted waist with a flowing trail. It has stunning detail around the bust; rather than Swarovski crystals it had pearls and beautiful golden crystals, which definitely gave it the vintage twist I was looking for. I adored everything about the dress! The designer was Alfred Sung and I was the first bride of 2010 to get married in it.

Finishing touches

Finding the hair accessory was one of the hardest decisions to make – it is essential to find something that matches the dress but that doesn’t take anything away from it. I have always associated old-school veils with religious weddings so ruled this out straight away – likewise I am not a fan of tiaras so that meant looking for something not so ordinary. I tried tons of head bands, hair slides and retro style veils and fascinators. Eventually I came across a pretty little pearl beaded headband from Monsoon which I felt worked perfectly and complimented the dress – informal but delicate and pretty, it was a bargain at only 15 quid!

Pearly Queen

The shoes took a lot of thought and deliberation – I toyed with the idea of wearing electric blue shoes to add something quirky to my outfit, however I felt it may tarnish the elegant and traditional look I was trying to achieve. I searched long and hard…from designer to high street to vintage boutiques, but couldn’t find what I was looking for. Eventually I went into Monsoon (while searching for hair accessories) and discovered a gorgeous pair of ivory peep-toe heels with the same beautiful pearls that were stitched onto the headband. Honestly for all brides that are on a budget or looking for traditional accessories, go to Monsoon – they don’t have a massive range but their stuff is very cute.

Big Bouncy Curls and Glamour Puss lips…

For my hair, I had decided the first time I tried on my dress that I would wear my hair down on the day. Big, loose curls were what I wanted and my hair stylist was absolutely brilliant at transforming my straight bed hair into gorgeous bouncy curls. For the bridesmaids – I let the girls choose their own hairstyles, they all looked stunning. They all went for an ‘up’ do with a lace braid, which looked fab with their dresses. Keira Cox, our friend and sister of the Best Man, did such a brilliant job. She did my hair and all three of the bridesmaids on the morning of the wedding and was so much fun to have around.

For my face…I did consider doing my own makeup but Guy (our wonderful photographer) advised me to get it done professionally. I was after a 1950s glamour puss look – I tend to wear liquid liner and bright lipstick on a night out and wanted something similar but toned down.

I had heard some great things about Benefit, love their range and use loads of their products. I had a trial with them and they were brilliant. The girls were lovely and did a perfect job of giving me the glamorous look I had asked for. Even better, they came to the venue on the big day and the whole cost was redeemable against product – so I got to cherry pick all my favourite Benefit goodies to take on Honeymoon with me.

Peachy Puffs

The bridesmaids wore ‘birdsong puff hem bandeau’ – dresses from Coast – I absolutely adored everything about the dresses, they were totally delicate but were also quite fun. When the girls were all dressed up, with their hair and make-up done they looked like they could be subjects of a Degas painting, which I loved!

Ellen and Jemima, the older bridesmaids had matching peep-toe heels and Clementine-Rose, the youngest, wore little satin ballet shoes. Everything was champagne in colour and tied in perfectly to the rest of the wedding.

Grey Groomsmen

The groomsmen wore the same grey suits as Steve – we gave them pale peach ties with hankies to match, tying into the colour of the bridesmaid dresses, keeping everything consistent. The suits were hired from Stafford Tailoring but we asked the groomsmen to wear their own black shoes.

…And a Vintage Groom

Steve looked so very handsome – as I walked down the aisle I kept thinking how dashing he was. Because we wanted the wedding to be informal and laid back we knew we didn’t want tails and cravats, instead we chose a beautiful grey pick-on-pick suit, with lighter grey stitching around the seams. We found a lovely pale blue waistcoat that worked with the suit perfectly and helped with the vintage look and feel we wanted.

We wanted Steve to stand out slightly from the groomsmen so picked him a gorgeous tie and retro cufflinks from Paul Smith. The tie was pretty and floral and the cufflinks injected a bit of fun into Steve’s outfit by bearing a 1950’s naked sailor pin-up.

Peachy perfect right?

Just wait until you see the rest… accents of blue, DIY overload an outdoor (yes, outdoor!) ceremony and so many reception details I might just burst with excitement.

Don’t even get me started on the florals!

Yours Truly,

Rebecca
xoxo

Guy Collier is a Rock My Wedding Sponsor, however all real wedding submissions are chosen on individual merit and no part of this wedding has been sponsored.

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