Gemma & Justin

Gemma's gorgeous bridal hair set our Instagram feed on fire when we shared it a couple of weeks ago, so I have a feeling you're going to enjoy pouring over the rest of the wedding. Carla Blain has such a gorgeous editing style, so atmospheric and emotive. Her couple portraits are some of the best I've ever seen. Gemma and Justin's?! HOLY SWOON. I love how pared back and and simple this wedding day is, lots of white blooms, candles and foliage is always a winner if you want to create a day that is elegant and minimal. Gemma absolutely dazzles in her Mikaella Bridal gown, and has accessorised to perfection too, that hair vine!!! This one is all about the love, elegant details and sizzling couple portraits, enjoy!

The Bride

Gemma The Bride: My dress was by Mikaella Bridal, Style 2050. I had been looking for a long sleeved lace dress for a long time. I wanted something vintage, boho and classic all in one and this was just the perfect dress. It had a simple silhouette and delicate detailing and came together with a beautiful belt which had a vintage crystal broach sitting just at the base of the plunging neckline. I fell in love with it immediately and knew it was the one. I bought the dress from a beautiful Bridal Boutique in Bristol, Lace & Grace. I purchased a pearl and crystal hair vine from The Bridal Outlet. I really wanted a loose and natural look for my hair but with some sparkle, the vine was weaved into my hair in an undone-style plait. I opted for a Pearl Back drop necklace. The necklace was a twist on the classic pearl version which I loved, but with subtle sparkle allowing a stunning focal point to my low backed dress. The necklace was a handmade piece by Miranda Templeton. For my hair and makeup, I wanted a really natural look. I love a soft, fresh, dewy skin and thought this would really suit my loose and boho style plait I wore for my hair. My hairstylist, Fiona Lucy Clark created the style after showing her some photos online. It looked even better than I ever imagined, romantic and whimsical, which suited my dress perfectly.

The Wedding Party

My bridesmaids wore a Dove Grey Chiffon maxi dress, with a beautiful satin ribbon around the waist, the colour was very subtle which I loved. I paired the dresses with a white pashmina, which complimented the flower girl’s, as they wore white floaty, fairy-like dresses from Monsoon which had an intricate lace top and a large white bow on the back. Justin (the groom) wore a tailored Navy Ted Baker suit, he paired this with a grey waistcoat and a navy tie with grey polka dots. The groomsmen also wore Navy suits but with a Navy waist coat, and opted for a Grey tie with Navy polka dots. This all came together really well with the bridesmaids, incorporating the dove grey that we styled throughout our wedding décor. Justin also wore a pair of silver engraved cufflinks, with our initials and the date of our wedding on, which matched his new wedding ring perfectly.

The Flowers

For the bouquets, we went for white and ivory flowers with a natural and loose feel. I chose Roses, Peonies, Gypsophila, Hydrangea’s with lots of foliage and eucalyptus. The Eucalyptus really suited the dove grey colours we had chosen for our bridesmaids and groomsmen’s accessories. We mixed large and small flowers to create a textured look. The bridesmaids had smaller versions of what I had and the flower girls had a single hydrangea head each. We chose ivory rose petals for either side of the aisle and each window was decorated with various sized pillar candles. Every forth pew end had a loose bunch of gypsophila tied in twine. For the table decorations, we chose mixed level ivory and white flower displays. This complemented the colour schemes and feel of the room very well. We had an extra length low level garland for the top table which sat small tea light candles in amongst the foliage. Each table napkin had a single sprig of gypsophila alongside our favours of small jars of honey. Justin’s Dad has a beehive in his garden so the honey was locally sourced and extracted, potted and labelled by ourselves. This was a really fun process which we felt it made our favours really special as they were completely handmade with love, by us!

The Food

The cake was made by a local cake maker Sadie Smith. She created a beautiful semi naked cake frosted with white chocolate and white and ivory flowers. We had three layers which consisted of Chocolate, Lemon drizzle and Raspberry and Passionfruit. After the ceremony, we had Canapes and cocktails. We chose Peach Bellini’s, Espresso Martinis and G&T’s. The Wedding breakfast food was supplied by Dine with Style, the in-house caterers at Brympton House. For the evening food, we opted for ‘Posh Dogs’ supplied by Wellies & Garlic. We also chose to have the fire pit lit, with roasting marshmallows. The children particularly loved this.

The Photography

We found our photographer, Carla Blain, online. We fell in love with her work instantly after scrolling through her stunning photographs. She was just brilliant. We wanted natural, candid photos that really captured each moment. Carla was funny, happy and just fantastic to work with. She had a great eye for detail and suggested numerous locations and styles. We wanted beautifully relaxed and genuine photos – and she did just that. Carla is a wonderful photographer with a great sense of humour, we would thoroughly recommend her.

The Venue

Brympton House is a stunning venue. It was the first venue we had looked at, and we walked away that day after hours of exploring the venue and the grounds, and being supplied with copious amounts of tea, we had booked the venue and our wedding date. The venue incorporated all the features and styles we wanted of our day, the fairy tale - like house, the stunning grounds, the swans in the lake, the elegant ballroom and the beautiful trees which turned wonderful shades of oranges and reds on our perfect autumnal day.