Oh hello gorgeous bride in a short gown. Gabby looks so super sophisticated. I’d love to see more brides in this style of gown. Such a great choice. And she has accessorised it beautifully (look out for the waist sash – yep, she added it herself!)
And the flowers are gorgeous. Such pretty pretty colours. Also loving that Gabby’s maids are her little cousins with mini versions of her bouquet.
Just lovely…
The Venue
Gabby The Bride: Our venue was The Swan at Shakespeare’s Globe. We knew that we wanted to have our wedding in London as we both live and work in London and so do many of our friends. Our family were travelling from a number of different locations so we wanted somewhere that everyone could get to. The Swan at the Globe was perfect, the venue had the most amazing views over the Thames and across to St Paul’s from the Balcony room and I loved its unique decor. Another key point for us about the venue was that being on the South Bank of the Thames there was incredible variety in the locations nearby for our photos; the shore of the Thames, the ash trees by the Tate Modern as well as the vibrant advertising hoardings outside the theatre.
Romantic
My make up was by Siobhon Luckie, who also arranged my hairdresser as well. I wanted quite a natural look as I do not normally wear a lot of make-up. Andrew loves curly hair, so it was important to me to have a romantic wavy look for my hair for the day. I had a gel manicure for the day which I hadn’t had before but was really great as I didn’t need to worry about my nails chipping.
Fun Accessorising
My dress was by Lela Rose. I am quite petite and don’t wear a lot of long dresses and skirts, so I knew that I wanted a short dress. I love to accessorise, so I was delighted to find a relatively simple dress that I could make my own and getting married offered a great opportunity to indulge my passion. I found my tiara at the National Wedding Show. It was by Sarah Roberts and was created around a vintage broach. My veil was by Temperley London and was a perfect length for me and added just the right amount of height and volume to my look. To accentuate the waist of the dress I opted for an embellished sash by Erickson Beamon. My shoes were a simple pair of white satin heels by Jimmy Choo.
Unique
One of the first things we looked into when planning the wedding was photography. I had seen Julia Boggio’s wedding photos online and knew immediately that I wanted Julia to be our wedding photographer. The uniqueness of the photos and meticulous attention to detail were so important to me as I wanted the photos to be perfect.
Sky Blue
I really struggled with deciding on a colour or theme for the wedding. In the end choosing our flowers had a huge impact on our decision and we went with pale and sky blues and lilacs. We tied the outfits for the wedding party into the colour scheme and flowers. My bridesmaids, my cousins Hannah and Grace, wore dressed in sky blue which made by Sewn Up in Plymouth (where my family are from). We picked this colour theme up in the ties worn by the best man and the Ushers as well as our fathers and brothers. Andrew wore a sky blue cravat.
Flower Novice
I know nothing about flowers, but our florist, Linda Cottee made choosing what we wanted so easy. We quickly opted for quite a lot of seasonal summer flowers with soft petals and beautiful blues, lilacs and peach tones. Linda was fantastic and did a great job ensuring that the flowers would work well in the venue – designing arrangements that would work with the candelabras on each table.
Magical
We wanted to keep the ceremony simple, but it was still a really emotional day for us. We had a DJ in the evening. However, as the Globe is a working theatre, we could not turn the volume up on the music until after the performance had finished. So, until then we had a magician who was great at entertaining both the kids and adults! Our first dance was to Good Thing Going by Sugar Minott.
Fantastic Food
Our menu and drinks were decided upon with the help of our event planner Catherine Knox and the team at the Swan at the Globe. Our starters included honey and clove baked ham and salt pastry wrapped trout with almond and orange butter and a main course of apple smoked chicken. The food was fantastic and I only wish I had been able to have more of it! Our cake was from Patisserie Valerie.
Delicate Details
Catherine at the Swan organised our table plan – which was great as the day was really close at that point. Our wedding invites were by Sarah Edwards of Montague Press. I loved everything about them – relatively simple, but tied in to our flowers in pale lilac and with pretty beads and detailing.
My main piece of advice would be to try to relax and enjoy the day – it will go so quickly!
Click here & view all images from this wedding
Venue – The Swan
Dress – Lela Rose
Make-up – Siobhon Luckie
Maids – Sewn Up
Flowers – Linda Cottee
Photography – Julia Boggio Studios
How right was Gabby when she said about the location of the venue being fantastic? Such a great set of couples shots. They really affirm our belief in how important these shots are during your day. Gabby and Andrew look like they’re having so much fun and that they got to spend a decent amount of time together to reflect upon the vows they had just taken.
And I’m just in love with the flowers. Absolute pastel perfection.
So, who of you are opting for a short sophisticated number for your big day?
Becky
x