Real bride Amy is obsessed with collecting true vintage knick knacks, in particular anything kitsch (and a bit tacky) so her home is filled with all sorts of curiosities which now husband Martin has grown to love too! They thought it would be fun to carry this through to their wedding day but didn’t want to get to pigeon-holed into one particular era or be overstyled – just a collection of all the things they love.
In my humble little opinion that is exactly what your wedding should be about. Following your heart and being inspired by the things you love.
Words by Amy. Images by Jacqui McSweeney.
I knew I wanted a vintage dress but I was overwhelmed by the choice of styles from the fifties, sixties and seventies. However I had seen a photo of Laura Jackson in Betty Magazine wearing a cute sixties dress with a jacket so was hoping I might find something similar.
As we didn’t have long to plan our wedding, it was tricky to find a true vintage dress in the style and size I wanted. Luckily I went looking for one at Fur Coat No Knickers and my dress was one of the first dresses I tried on! I was instantly drawn to its little jacket and bow combined with the lovely daisy lace which I hadn’t seen before.
The wonderful Jeanne Picot at The Wild Orchid was our florist. I knew I definitely wanted vintage swan planters with pastel coloured flowers when I went to see Jeanne and she helped me to select my favourite flowers – peach roses, pink carnations (an underrated flower very popular in the sixties!), pale blue nigella, pink astilbe with a scattering of tiny daisies to match the lace on my dress.
Martin’s suit, tie and pocket square was from ASOS and his shirt and trousers were from All Saints. All the groomsmen wore their own suits.
My Dad walked me down the aisle to Angels by the XX and Martin’s mum is from Peru where it is traditional for the Mum’s to give away their sons so we that happened too.
The Bell was the first and only venue we looked at. As soon as we saw it we knew it would be perfect for an intimate and relaxed wedding and we loved all the little details such as the stuffed bull’s head and neon sign.
We were both quite nervous about having our wedding pictures taken but Jacqui was so lovely and relaxed, she made us feel totally at ease straight away and we even enjoyed having our photos taken in the end.
She knew exactly how to get the right shots from the venue which some photographers may have found restrictive and we are so happy with all of our photos.
I came up with the idea of having Ladybird books as favours and name places for each of the guests and Martin tirelessly bidded on ebay for books to specifically suit each one of our guests! We then tied them up with string, stamped brown labels with guests’ names.
We had a tower of the most delicious macarons from Julien Plumart, my favourite patisserie in Brighton – https://www.julienplumart.com/ and pretty peach cupcakes from my colleague’s sister https://facebook.com/cupcakespenny.
We also bought a traditional wedding cake from M&S on which I put our vintage wedding topper from Etsy and placed coloured ribbons underneath for another Peruvian tradition. All the single girls have to pull a ribbon out of the cake and whoever gets the lucky ribbon with a ring attached, is the next to get married!
Poms poms were made by Pop Pop Papier https://www.poppoppapier.com/Swan planters, tins and vintage sweet shop was mainly put together by myself, my mum, dad and sister hunting all over the South East for the particularly elusive swan planters! Some of the swans and tins for the flowers were from Rosehip Sussex https://www.rosehipsussex.co.uk/
What was your most memorable moment of the day / evening?
The Ceremony, the speeches and the dancing!
If you could impart any words of wisdom to future brides planning their wedding day, what would they be?
I would really recommend having a pre-wedding shoot as I am camera shy and felt uneasy about having to pose for ‘cheesy’ romantic photos but the pre-wedding shoot was lots of fun and I loved the shots. I felt relieved and t meant I wasn’t at all nervous on the day for the photos!
Our first dance was ‘Baby I’m Yours’, by the Arctic Monkeys.
wedding credits / photographer: jacqui mcsweeney photography / wedding venue: the bell inn / brides dress: fur coat no knickers / brides veil: fur coat no knickers / grooms suit: asos / brides shoes: rachel simpson / grooms shoes: / bridesmaid dresses: / bridesmaid shoes: kurt geiger / hair & makeup: lipstick & curls / florist: / wedding cake: julien plumart & cupcakes penny
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So charming, very unique, stylish and vintage. Adore this wedding!
This is too gorgeous for words! Not only does the theme fit the couple perfectly (they look right at home in those 60’s inspired outfits!) but that vintage tablescape is BEAUTIFUL! Definitely feeling some inspiration from this!