Both Rory and Lisa agreed on wanting a wedding that reflected the beautiful English countryside, was unpretentious, comfortable, and without all the glitz and drama (the only glitz you’ll see is the disco ball). Enter The Olde Bell, one of the UK’s oldest coaching inns. A gorgeous yet quaint picturesque country setting, the River Thames a stone’s throw away, with it’s own pub, barn, gardens, field, and accommodation for all 140 guests with a late liquor license to boot! Hey now!
The joys of Lisa’s bespoke dress: In all my research into wedding dresses, every dress I ripped out of magazines happened to be from Britta Kjerkegaard. I booked an appointment with her, and on simply meeting her and entering her shop I knew it was the place I was going to buy my dress. We clicked instantly and I decided to opt for her bespoke dress making option, allowing me to be involved in the creative process from the very start. Being a designer I loved being able to pick the fabric, the lace, the detailing all under the professional consultation of Britta. We based my dress on one of her designs which I had seen in several bridal magazines, making slight design tweaks to enhance my body type. It was the perfect combination of vintage meets contemporary, ballerina meets princess, Town meets Country, suiting our theme perfectly!
Lisa walked down the aisle to the Taken By Trees version of the Guns & Roses classic ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’. It’s a song that means a lot to her and her dad, and was a dedication to him giving her away.
The entrance barn doors were dressed with wreaths of columbian hydrangea, vendella roses, lemon roses, deep yellow roses and alchemillal, with urns of rosemary at each side.
Wondering why there are little piggies and stags at each table setting? Let’s start with the names of the tables. Each table was first inspired by a pub with a comical twist. Each table then had an item to go with the names that also doubled as their favors. Some of the names and their items: The Royal Wee (Head Table): Mini paper crowns. The Pig & Whistle: Pigs. The Stumbled Inn: Vintage silver boot shot glasses. The Barge Inn: mini origami paper boat hats (hand folded by one of my bridesmaids). The Slap & Tickle: Game bird feathers. The Stag & Legless: Stags. The Well Read Lion: Lions. The Cock & Bull: cockerels for girls, bulls for boys. The Juicy Pear: juicy ripe pears. The Insipid Carrot: baby organic carrots with stalks. The Drunken Duck: ducks. The Spotted Dick: Vintage silver dessert spoons (‘spotted dick’ is an English dessert by the way!).
Hello!Lucky dropped an explosion of beautiful typography with their custom seating chart banner for all 140 guests. It was inspired from the Hello! Lucky UK, London office, that represented a typical country fete banner. And get this – they had to source canvas large enough to make it in one piece, so they used old sailing boat sails. P.S. Click here for a behind-the-scenes look at Hello!Lucky’s stationery printing process.
Not many brides tell us about the fragrance they wore, partly because we never tend to ask. It’s usually one of the last things on your to do list, but nonetheless it’s on there – you want to smell good come all those congratulatory hugs, so for the record, Lisa wore Vanitas by Versace. The scent: It’s the perfect combination of ‘all grown up’ and ‘too young to care’, seductive with a hint of girly femininity. Sold!
Everyone embraced the “Town & Country” theme with a variety of looks, from summer dresses with wellies, to tailored suits with hats.
We both aren’t huge cake fans, however we both LOVE cheese, and felt that this concept worked perfectly within the look and feel of our wedding theme. Our ‘cake’ was made of tiers of four different wheels of cheese, created by a little organic deli in the neighbouring village of Eton by the lovely Karen Philips. All the cheeses were organic and locally produced from the UK including: Dorstone, Cornish Yarn, Stilton and Cheddar. On the top of our ‘cheese cake’ we had our silhouette profiles made by Hello! Lucky.
Under one of the most elegant disco balls to date, Lisa and Rory danced to Ella Fitzgerald’s “Cheek to Cheek”. Nice upbeat romantic number, without being too mushy!
Such a fun and relaxed quintessential English country wedding, with a vintage flair. Congratulations Lisa + Rory!
Photography: Caught the Light / Wedding planner: Mary Lee Herrington of Forever & Ever Events / Venue: The Olde Bell / Florist: Chantal Flores Design / Stationery, signage, photo booth props: Hello Lucky / Furniture rental: Theme Traders / Hay bales: Holdshott Farm Shop / Music: New Hot Cross Band, represented by Sternberg Clarke / Ceremony singer: Sara Al-Qaiwani, bridesmaid / Photo booth: Say Fromage / Makeup + hair: Kaz Fernando / Cheese cake tower: Tastes Delicatessen / Lighting + DJ: Gosh Management / Bride’s dress: Britta Kjerkegaard of The Couture Gallery / Bride’s shoes: Christian Louboutin / Jewelry: vintage borrowed from maid of honor / Groom’s suit: A H-Huntsmen & Son inspired made to measure 3 piece tweed suit, made at a tailor in Dubai; using green tweed fabric shipped in from the UK’s Huddersfield Fine Worsteds Ltd worn with green and white floral shirts from Liberty’s and tie from Spencer Hart /
