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John proposed on our 22-month anniversary. After a lovely meal at the restaurant where we celebrated our first month’s anniversary John got down on one knee (after bumping the table to ensure everyone was looking) and simply said “I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?” I nodded and started crying.

I loved planning our wedding. John and I live in London; he’s English and I’m American. Our wedding quickly became a huge mix of US and UK customs, traditions and planning. A week after the proposal we were headed to Arizona to visit my parents. While there, my mom and I went dress shopping. I didn’t expect to find something so soon, but after the second store, I had my dress. We chose to get married in England as I wanted to be hands-on in the plans, and we are planning to re-locate to the US after the wedding. It seemed only fair!

As soon as we saw Northbrook Park we fell in love with the venue. It’s not too far from where John grew up and has the perfect English garden charm, near enough to London for visitors, but far enough out of the city that you get the English countryside feeling.  I love crafting and making things, and really enjoyed to getting hands on with our wedding. We solidified our ideas around a garden theme and the words “Love in Bloom.” I created a design that we had screen printed on tote bags for our out-of-town welcome gifts, and the words crept into several elements of the day. I couldn’t decide on just one color, so we had three, and I put each of my bridesmaids in a different color and my bridesman in a matching bowtie.

I had had my eye on the amazing Marianne Taylor before we actually got engaged, and we were lucky enough to enjoy a fabulous engagement shoot with her prior to our big day. She did an amazing job of capturing the feelings behind the day.

We had a Humanist ceremony in the stunning walled garden filled with blooms, and true to English weather it rained! Luckily we got through ¾ of the ceremony before the umbrellas had to come out. Our pet rabbit, Shakespeare, joined us for the ceremony with a fabulous carrot corsage by Fairynuff. As part of our ceremony we included the old European tradition of hand-binding, where your hands are tied together with a cord. The handbinding cord is meant to stay tied forever as a symbol of the union (this is where “tying the knot” comes from). It was really important to me that our handbinding cord represent our families coming together, so I created a delicate custom cord using lace from my mother’s and grandmother’s wedding dresses and a piece of re-constructed crochet from John’s mother and a piece of lace from his sister.

We created two memorial chairs for John’s parents who have passed away, choosing a small token we remembered them by along with some flowers. I also designed, printed, and individually cut scalloped edges (!) for the programs as well as creating the seating signs,  and folders for the reading folders.

Unfortunately, a few of our “games time” activities got scrapped due to the rain, but our amazing coordinator Andri and her team kept everything behind the scenes running smoothly on the day. We were still able to have our dress-up photo booth and our pick-n-mix candy buffet and no one knew any different. We wanted to keep a rustic feel and hung the frames with rope from a tree, along with a few bottles holding flowers dotted about. Guests loved the mix of US and UK sweets for the candy table (we had a battle over who had the “real” Smarties – in the UK Smarties are M&M-like sweets and the US they are sugar candies that come in a roll.)

We kept to the theme of US/UK and served mini burgers and mini fish and chip. One of my favorite things was that we served the mini fish and chips in newspaper cones that we made with personal stories, the Thealey Times. We kept finding people unrolling the cones to read all of the stories! On the back of the place cards at dinner I also included wedding customs and trivia. It was a great way to get the families to mingle.

I loved sourcing things for our wedding, whether from antique shops, French flea markets, or the side of a dumpster(!) Our flat became overflowing with wedding things from the vintage scales to the bowler hat, to many photo frames and loads of small glass bottles. EBay actually became a great resource in the last few weeks of planning: I found our console table, letter box, plant stand, umbrellas, candy, and loads of odds and ends. Very few things were hired in, and I found that making things ourselves or sourcing was a great way to save a bit too!

For the reception we wanted bring the garden inside and onto the tables; Steph from Fairynuff created amazing centerpieces of mixed plants and herbs in various metal pots. Our favors were multi-colored vintage glass bottles (that I collected from numerous sources) to be used as bud vases, and I tied name tags on with various strings and lace. We named the tables after our favorite parks and gardens, and provided children’s activity packs for the kids with things like vintage yo-yos and bedtime books.

For our guest book we wanted something a bit unique. I had recently gotten into quilting, and was planning to make a wedding quilt, so we decided to incorporate our guests signatures into the quilt. I went through creating at least 7 different quilt patterns before choosing a very simple horizontal stripe pattern that would allow guests to write on one of five long narrow strips of fabric that will be sewn into a queen-size bed quilt. The last two strips with writing will be filled in with our vows.

Both John and I have a background in dance, so we convinced our bridal party to help us out with a surprise twist to our first dance…which quickly made its way to YouTube: http://youtu.be/YOVWWhTTctQ  It was so much fun, and made a great memory. The day was absolutely magical, and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. Someone commented that it had our fingerprints all over it, and that is exactly how we wanted it to be.

Photography: Marianne Taylor Photography / Day-of Coordination: Always Andri / Cake: Ema Cakes / Flowers: Fairynuff /Ceremony and Reception Location: Northbrook Park / Invitations: “Petal Clusters” by Wedding Paper Divas / Shoes: Jimmy Choo / Dress: “Lucy” Vineyard Collection, Priscilla of Boston / Earrings: Haute Bride / Bridesmaid Dresses: Jenny Yoo from Bella Bridesmaids

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Post tags: Always Andi, Bella Bridesmaids, Ema Cakes, Fairynuff, Haute Bride, Jimmy Choo, Marianne Taylor, Northbrook Park, Pricilla of Boston, Wedding Paper Divas
Post categories: Vintage Chic

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From Marianne Taylor: When Isla & Ewan’s wedding moved from the originally planned location in London up to Aberdeenshire in their native Scotland, I was so very excited. I’d never been to Scotland before and I don’t think there can be a better way for a first visit than attending an absolute fairytale of a wedding!

I find it impossible to think of anything that wouldn’t have been either sublimely beautiful – flowers, handmade pom poms, Isla’s wedding gown (Pronovias from Teokath of London), or amazingly impressive – the poetic Scottish countryside, the incredible venue (Aswanley), men in kilts, or heart-warmingly touching – the cute VW van, Isla & Ewan’s most adorable cat, all the people in attendance. There was just nothing not to love about the day.

I will forever remember how welcomed I felt by everyone, and how Isla’s attention to details created an absolutely magical day.

Photography: Marianne Taylor / Flowers: Val Morrison / Ceremony and Reception Location: Aswanley / Shoes: Christian Dior / Dress: Pronovias / Ceilidh Band: Illusion / Cake: Bride’s mum / Stationery: Rifle Paper Company

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Post tags: Aswanley, Casual Elegance, Christian Dior, Marianne Taylor, Rifle Paper Co., Scotland wedding, Val Morisson Flowers
Post categories: Casual Elegance

{click here to see the full wedding}

Rose & Brendan’s garden party wedding at the Larmer Tree Gardens in Dorset really was a pretty special affair. This is how Rose described her theme for the wedding: ‘I’ve tried to keep all the stationery formal in style as I really like formality, but like the contradiction that it is a garden party event. I’m a sucker for tradition but I love tiny personal details. For the day I wanted to create a real inside outside feel – like a vintage 1940s tea dance that has come through time and ended up in a garden –  so everything’s a little distressed from the elements but still beautiful.’

Rose and the bridesmaids got ready at the gorgeous Launceston Farm, which really set the mood for the day from the start. Rose’s dress and veil were from Pronovias Bond Street and this is what she says about finding the perfect gown: ‘I searched for ages because I really wanted a Spanish style dress but couldn’t find anything that didn’t look like I was drowning in fabric! It was really hard to track down the dress I chose and I had to order it before I’d even seen it in real life, but it worked our perfectly and was totally “the one”. I LOVED the fabric of the dress with its tiny flocked dots all over the tulle, mixed with the cotton lace. And I loved the gros grain bows. My amazing friend and colleague Lisa Roberts did all the alterations (It was meant to have a halter neck and we changed some of the detailing on the bust). She did an exceptional job and I’d recommend her to anyone.’

‘My shoes were Louboutin and my bag was last minute buy from Monsoon Bridal.’

‘I got the Bridesmaids Dresses came from Topshop as I really wanted something that looked quite cute, with a hint of vintage, and in a daywear fabric! We made little net underskirts to go under them to puff out the skirts so they looked a little fuller. I made the Bridesmaids hair ornaments with fabrics I bought online from The Trimming Company and bought the bridesmaids shoes from New Look.’

‘Brendan’s suit was from Topman and  the groomsmen just wore their own black suits to match. Brendan’s shirt was a River Island buy, as were his excellent very long shoes (which had beautiful roses carved into the leather soles which was a nice hidden detail). The bow ties were from Tie Rack.’

One thing that made this wedding feel very special was that the whole wedding party was just 14 people in total (Brendan lost his best man as he had to be onboard his Navy ship the same day as the wedding as the queen was visiting). It really felt exceptional to be a part of such an intimate party, and it made for a beautifully relaxed day – the often normal ‘stresses’ of a wedding day seemed far away. I still can’t get over how beautiful all the carefully selected details looked. Here’s what Rose told me about them: ‘I collected a lot of mercury glass as it looks like formal interior decorative items that have been left outside – silver glass that has been worn away with sun and rain. They came from places such as Niki Jones, Cox & Cox, Graham & Green, and from antique shops.’

‘The candelabras were from eBay and all our cut glass vases, candle sticks, bowls and ornaments were all vintage/charity shop finds. There are some fantastic charity shops in Devon and Cornwall where you can find the best things for a bargain. Woodside is probably the all time best where most of the things came from.’

‘I used all country garden based flowers that were in season, very unstructured – no “floristry” as such, just flowers in pots and vases. I ordered all our flowers through our local market Petals Florists and we made our bouquets and buttonholes ourselves the night before the wedding. My mum did all the vases at the venue for us in the morning before the wedding.’

Photography: Marianne Taylor Photography / Flowers: Petals Florist (DIY though!) / Getting ready: Launceston Farm / Ceremony & reception location: Larmer Tree Gardens / Invitations: Rose Phillips (the bride) / Shoes: Louboutin/ Dress: Pronovias / Groom’s suit: Topman / Bridesmaid’s dresses: Topshop

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Post tags: Christian Louboutin, Dorset, England, Larmer Tree Gardens, Launceston Farm, London, Marianne Taylor, Pronovias, Rose Phillips, Topman, Topshop, UK
Post categories: Traditional Elegance

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Anna & Russ’ charming London tea party wedding took place on a beautiful spring Friday in April. Anna had put such care into every beautiful detail, that the whole day was literally bursting with prettiness! Everything from the gorgeous Montague Hotel, where Anna was getting ready, to her beautiful dress and accessories, and especially the flowers (oh the flowers!) were carefully thought out to carry the theme and colours throughout the day and the different venues.

Anna has a keen interest in the Tudors and so Fulham Palace was an ideal venue for the reception. Being a tea party, the food consisted of delicious sandwiches and mouthwatering cakes, which were all laid out in the most gorgeous manner, such a feast for the eyes as well!

There were also lots of thoughtful little touches, such as a bead bar for the young ones to make their own jewelry, and a pretty awesome candy buffet, which got both the children and adults pretty excited! This really was the most charming wedding!

Photography: Marianne Taylor Photography / Flowers: Euphoric flowers / Catering: Create / Getting Ready Venue: Montague Hotel / Ceremony Location: St George’s Holborn / Reception Location: Fulham Palace / Shoes: Monsoon / Dress: Stephanie Allin / Candy buffet: Party Belles Events / Hair: Severin Hubert / Make up: Lina Cameron / Bead bar: Beadoir / Car: Polly Pootles

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Post tags: Beadoir, Create Catering, England, Euphoric Flowers, Fulham Palace, Lina Cameron, London, Marianne Taylor, Monsoon, Montague Hotel, Party Belles Events, Polly Pootles, Severin Hubert, St George's Holborn, Stephanie Allin
Post categories: The Blog

Simple, but sophisticated centerpieces set on classic white linens in an undeniably beautiful space…it really doesn’t get much better than that. Simple, simple elegance. It’s probably my favorite style of wedding.

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: British, Chelsea, Chelsea Park Gardens, London, Marianne Taylor, St Andrew's Church, The Garden Museum, UK
Post categories: Casual Elegance

I mean, seriously! How gorgeous is this. A pretty little garden party with some serious edge. I love when guests can add another dimension to an already stunning party. They can truly bring a wedding to life!

More from the reception on the way!

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Post tags: British, Chelsea, Chelsea Park Gardens, Garden, London, Marianne Taylor, St Andrew's Church, The Garden Museum, UK
Post categories: Casual Elegance

From Marianne Taylor, the amazing photographer behind the affair…The ceremony of Claire & Hywel’s wedding took place in St Andrew’s Church in Chelsea, London. It was conducted both in English and in Hywel’s native Welsh, and really was one of the most touching ceremonies I’ve had the pleasure to attend. After the ceremony the bride and groom, followed by all the guests, piled into two old Routemaster buses, that drove everyone to the reception at The Garden Museum. I adored this unusual venue, with pretty flowers and colours everywhere!

We have so many more gorgeous pictures on the way, just stay tuned!

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Post tags: British, Chelsea, Chelsea Park Gardens, Garden, London, Marianne Taylor, St Andrew's Church, The Garden Museum, UK
Post categories: Casual Elegance

Here are some words from Marianne…the couple, Claire & Hywel, were the sweetest people I’ve ever worked with, and everything about their wedding day was full love and pretty things.

So much more to come! It just gets prettier and prettier!

© Style Me Pretty : The Ultimate Wedding Blog, 2009. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: British, Chelsea, Chelsea Park Gardens, London, Marianne Taylor, St Andrew's Church, The Garden Museum, UK
Post categories: Casual Elegance