Beautiful Real Wedding in a Jenny Packham Dress

I was so excited when Lisa Pitchford, from Lisa Pitchford Photography got in touch with me about this stunning wedding. Fay, the bride, is absolute vintage glam perfection in her drop-waist Jenny Packham satin dress, blond coiffe and bright red lips, and the setting at Makeney Hall is straight out of Jeeves and Wooster.

Enjoy the beautiful photos of Fay and Steve's wedding as Fay tells us how the day came together:

The engagement...

"Steve told me in Sept 2008 that we were going on holiday in December somewhere but wouldn't tell me where. Then every week I would find a clue which either told me what the weather was like, what temperature it was, what kind of things to pack etc. When eventually December came, we went to the airport and I found out we were going to Tenerife. At this point I had a feeling the big question might come. In Tenerife he had hired a nice convertible Beetle (which actually broke down on the top of a mountain!!) and got a really nice suite in the hotel. First evening came and no proposal so I did start to wonder. Second evening we had spent the day at Los Gigantes and had dinner by the beach. Apparantly he wanted to propose at sunset but the sun had set really quick so by now the beach was black! He said he wanted to take some more pics of the beach, and because I had already taken so many pics there in the daylight I couldn't fathom why he wanted more pics. So he dragged me there, and then fumbled around in his bag and got on one knee and asked me! And of course I screamed yes!"

The planning...

"I had no idea about anything. Thankfully my mum is a florist so I was able to look at lots of pictures. I didn't have a specific theme but I knew I wanted it quite traditional with a vintage feel.
Our colours were fresh. So my bridesmaid dresses were a limey green colour to match the greens in the flowers. I wanted everything quite simple looking so i just kept to creams and greens."

"We didn't use a wedding planner. Steve is very organised and so we both sat down and made an excel spreadsheet of what things we need and how much roughly we can afford for each. After we had done this, we started at the top and worked down. The venue was the first thing we looked at as some get booked up years in advance so we had to find somewhere that catered for 85 people for the day and 140 the evening and had the right day for us. We chose a thursday as it was our usual anniversary on that day and it also made things a lot cheaper by doing it on a weekday!"

 

The dress...

"The first dress I ever googled was Jenny Packham's 'Sabine' dress. I had saved this picure on my phone. I then started shopping around different dress shops and nothing felt quite right as I kept thinking 'I won't be happy until I try on the Sabine.' So my last appointment was at Jenny Packham in Victoria and I finally got to try Sabine and believe it or not, as soon as I put it on it felt right and fitted like a glove! It was vintage, it was different and felt like me!"

"I had a Jenny Packham headpiece on in my hair as I have short hair and so a veil didn't work. It was a beaded accessory which helped tie in the jewels on the dress. My mum also made the beads on the bottom on the drooped back scoop of my dress to add a vintage feel to the back. Makeup I did myself as I don't trust anyone doing my make up and I think it's silly if you look too different. So I kept a 40's look with eyeliner and red lips and added some false eyelashes for a boost! Hair was white/blonde short cut with a 40's wave put in my fringe. Shoes were Rachel Simpson, cream suede, which were very vintage looking."

"I think the look of everything on the day was inspired by the Jenny Packham dress. I have also done burlesque and I'm in a girlband doing a modern take of motown so this obviously had inspired me too"

The details ...

"I had my dress and look very vintage, we had a vintage car, all the flowers were traditional and just creams and green colours, very fresh, and on the tables for the table numbers were pictures of myself and Steve at that age."

"Steve wore a grey suit with tails from MOSS bros with a cream waistcoat and cream cravatte to tie in with my dress"

"Having my mum as a florist was a massive help. Her company is funkyflorists. She was amazing. She made me a gorgeous traditional shower bouquet and my bridesmaids had the same flowers but made as posies. The centre table pieces were in tall vases which had sliced limes on show around the vase with the flowers sat on top and falling down over the edge of the vase. For the ceremony and used for the top table was a large gorgeous table piece which had smaller versions of itself run outwards. In between each arrangement was a cut glass candle vase to add a vintage feel. Also everyone's favours were made out of flowers and each person had a ball of flowers on their plate which looked like they could eat it (they couldn't)!"

"Our cake was made by the groom's mother as she has always loved baking and makes a mean sponge and fruit cake. So she made the base a fruitcake and the two other layers from sponge so everyone was happy. She kept with the colour scheme and also made it into a wonky cake for a bit of an edge. It was gorgeous."

Favourite part of the day ...

"That is really hard. I actually think the ceremony. Seeing Steve's face as I walked in, I knew there and then that this was all perfect and I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him!"

{all images copyright Lisa Pitchford Photography}

Thanks so much to Lisa from Lisa Pitchford Photography for sharing these beautiful images with us today - make sure you check out her blog for loads more gorgeous wedding photography and inspiration.

And thanks too to Fay and Steve for sharing their memories of their wedding day with us - I wish you the happiest of futures together!

Thanks for reading!

x

Vicky