Today’s real wedding is just a whole heap of romantic, whimsical, boho gorgeousness!
From the beautiful blush pink Claire Pettibone wedding gown to the the stunning styling that incorporates whimsical botanical touches, heaps of romantic boho florals and a modern colour palette that includes copper! Divine.
I think you are going to just adore and be majorly inspired by this beautiful real wedding!
Words by Kyla. Images by Natalie J Watts.
After my husband (then fiancé) proposed to me on a gorgeous beach in Mykonos, Greece he said that he wanted to take me in to town to choose my engagement ring. We must have gone into ALL the jewellery shops in Mykonos when we found the perfect ring and accompanying wedding band.
Having made friends with the local jewellers we were told where to find the workshop that they all use, so that we could choose the weight, carat, colour and style of Keith’s wedding band. It was such an amazing experience to watch his ring being made literally before our eyes! Choosing our rings on the island that we got engaged was a special memory that will stay in my heart forever.
Keith wanted to be within an hour radius of Brighton so that our guests would have easy access to the venue. I came across the venue whilst doing some on-line research and thought that it would be a good compromise between our love of nature & protection from the unpredictable English weather (as I had always imagined getting married in nature amongst the trees).
Southend Barns was the perfect option for us with the simple Dairy Barn (ceremony room), the stunning Thereshing Barn (for the reception dinner) & the super cosy Milking Parlour (bridal suite) all enclosed within the beautiful grounds, we were in heaven!
My beautiful bridesmaids wore vintage pearl earrings, detailed flat lacy slip on shoes with vintage style ivory & lace summer dresses from Zara.
The moment I saw Claire Pettibones’ Genevieve on-line I knew that it was the perfect wedding dress. Thinking that there would be absolutely no way I could afford it, but like seeing your favorite artist in a gallery I went along to Leonie Clare in Brighton for Claire Pettibone’s trunk show.
Leonie (aka the bride whisperer & owner of the boutique) let me walk around to begin selecting the dresses I wanted to try on, however, I only had eyes for Claire’s pieces. She started to remove each dress I had chosen off the rail, as she came to lift Genevieve off the rail I started to cry- yep cry (!). I believe both Leonie and I were just as surprised as each other when the overwhelming emotion came over me??
However, it all became clear when I put Genevieve on it was as if everything made sense, the wedding, the decor, even me, it was the ONE! Eek! At a loss of how to extend a £1,500 budget to £4,000 wasn’t the biggest challenge, it was how to tell my soon-to-be-husband that I was willing to pay £4,000 dress I was only going to wear once! At the same time, I had absolutely NO idea how I was going to make it happen?!
So I did it, I took a leap of faith and trusted that the abundance would come in and that I would be provided for because in my heart I knew it was the ONE – to my surprise (and my fiancés) it did!
I appreciated Claire Pettibone’s incredible eye for detail, it would seem as if every thread has it’s place. I loved the romantic use of soft luxurious silk underneath a canopy of elegant lace, blush rose velvet and gold detailing.
The low reaching back, the subtle heart shape that just happened to come together over my lower back and beautifully designed shoulder detail had the dreamer in me falling in love all over again.
For my bridal accessories, I wanted something natural, simple and elegant. As I could not find the perfect baroque style drop pearl earrings I went for some simple drop pearl earrings with a rose gold & pearl necklace. I also found it difficult to find the exact flower garland I had envisioned, so I decided to make my own using two different coloured flower garlands which would tie in the girls soft ivory colours and the blush pinks from my dress.
Leonie Dunlop is a friend who kindly offered to help us with the flowers for our wedding. I initially wanted to use loads of anemones, poppies, ranunculus, peonies and various roses, but was then persuaded to use more sturdier flowers such as peonies, a selection pink and white roses, along with a scattering of ranunculus. My intention was to create a very soft and romantic feel using a selection of fine, delicate flowers and colour palette.
We wanted Keith to feel as special in his suit as I would in my wedding dress, so we sought out a tailor to have one made; choosing the buttons, thread, cut and style of the suit. We also picked out a form fitting Hugo Boss shirt so he would feel amazing on our special day.
I LOVE all things intricate, unusual and creative, so when I came across the gold steam punk cufflinks I knew they would tie in everything perfectly. Keith picked out his stunning pair of brogues from Jones, which worked really well with the rest of the outfit.
We chose to have a Blessing Ceremony held by a friend and teacher we hold close to our hearts.
“The minute I heard my first love story, I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was. Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They’re in each other all along.” – Rumi
When Keith and I were looking into each others eyes, we were ever present and committed to the moment as we came together during our blessing ceremony; at which point several of our guests mentioned that they could feel the love between us permeating the room and touching their hearts.
Do you love my Genevieve, Claire Pettibone wedding dress? I am selling it on preowned!!
For the groomsmen suits & accessories we bought ASOS skinny fit suit jackets, waistcoats & trousers in blue dogstooth. They accessorised with steam-punk gold cuff links, brown brogues and for boutonnieres we used Cox & Cox, copper mini frame with a selection of found objects (various butterfly wings & four leaf clover) that I collected over the years.
I absolutely LOVE styling, so we decided that I would invest the time doing the majority of the researching, sourcing and styling for our wedding. In fact styling our wedding has inspired me to start my own interior styling business!
We wanted our guest to feel loved and appreciated. So I decided to use a black & white dragonfly drawing that I had drawn years before, and styled it using colours that would pull together all aspects of the wedding. I then hand stamped each print, framed it, hand wrapped, tied and added a hand stamped gift tag to each of them; ensuring each gift was made with the most love and careful attention.
I chose the dragonfly remembering that the Japanese give them to those closest to them as a sign of friendship, but it also happens to be regarded as a symbol of new joy, light, and marital success (which was lucky).
The décor was a selection of carefully selected whimsical pieces that we found, purchased, recycled or made by hand. Our wedding colours were: Pinks, Creams, Ivory, Copper and the theme was: Romantic, Boho & Whimsical.
For table centerpieces I discovered several stunning distressed turquoise vintage troughs which we filled with various flowers pouring over the sides.
I first came across the inspiring beetroot chocolate mascarpone cake at my favourite Café in Brighton Igigi General Store/ Café and asked them who their supplier was, which lead us to a multiple cake tasting at Treacle & Co Bakery in Brighton. I don’t think I have ever seen Keith so happy! He said and I quote ‘Well it’s a tough job but somebodies got to do it’ he did make smile.
We ended up with a Rose Buttercream Sponge tiered cake, lavender & vanilla cheese cake, of course the beetroot/ chocolate & mascarpone cake, Chocolate/ Orange & Almond gluten free cake, as well as a delicious layered Carrot Cake- Needless to say the cake tasting left us feeling a little indecisive & indeed inspired!
When I first came across Natalie’s work I felt an instant connection. To be honest choosing the right wedding photographer was right up there with choosing the perfect dress- it was extremely important to me. We knew we were in good hands for our wedding once we had our engagement photo shoot with Natalie, we had so much fun that time seemed to evaporate before our eyes.
If you could impart any words of wisdom?
Be creative and resourceful to save money, so you can still have what you want within budget. However, if it’s not within your budget, but your heart knows it’s meant to be, trust that it will be yours and manifest it!
Pinterest was a great way for me to develop my vision and proved to be a great resource to offer our photographer, make-up artists, hairstylists, etc.. Here’s my gift from my heart to yours <3 Enjoy!
Remember at the end of the day its about celebrating the love between the two of you…. I was told by several people leading up to the wedding that I should make sure that I stop at different points during our wedding and to turn around on the spot and take it all in, as it goes by so quickly- and they were right it did- but I was able to take in every moment.
Oh wow Kyla and Keith, what a beautiful and heartfelt wedding you had! There is just so much to love about your big day.
Huge thanks to the the talented Natalie J Weddings for sharing these beautiful images, can’t wait to feature more of your work on the WTW blog.
Ladies, gents… you know what to do.
wedding credits / photographer: katebackdrop @ natalie j weddings / brides hair system & make-up: newhairline / jewellery: rose gold pearl drop pendant & deconstructed necklace, crystals shop in brighton / bridesmaids hair: id make-up, hair & beauty lounge / bridesmaids make-up: perruquemoinscher in chichester / brides gown (designer): claire pettibone, geneveive / shoes: rachel simpson, esme shoes both via leonie clare boutique / venue: southend barns / wedding cakes: treacle & co bakery in brighton / caterer: field & fork / stationery & wedding website: love vs design / entertainment: friend, sophia campeau / florist: friend: leonie dunlop
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Congratulations to our lovely couple. What a fantastic wedding!
Gorgeous bride! loved her dress too.
Lovely! Nice location, one we are considering. Love the suits! Any idea where they were from?