Incredible French Vintage Lace Wedding Dresses

Can I let you into a secret? I didn't enjoy choosing my wedding dress. I've never been one to go shopping in a group, so I took myself off dress hunting, and never really had the fun giggly girly experience. I wish I had now, because although I loved my Delphine Manivet wedding dress, I think it's one of the 'getting engaged / married' experiences you shouldn't miss. If you're still hunting for the 'One', then please do check out Laure de Sagazan. She's a French designer I discovered via the Cup of Jo blog, and I'm totally obsessed with her vintage style, simple lace dresses. They're exquisite and delicate without being fussy. I'm also loving the urban edge of her publicity shots by Laurent Nivalle, and the Twenties-style headbands worn by the model. Incroyable styling!

 

A Mountain-View Wedding with Vintage Pink Louboutins - The Reception

Clouds of baby's breathy, bridesmaids in blush, and the prettiest lace wedding gown you've ever seen. This stunning big day is going to seriously float your boat. Xenia and Jeff live in Hong Kong, but they planned their destination wedding in Spain, at the beautiful La Garriga de Castelladral. You're going to love their sweet, romantic style - from the gorgeous miniature roses bridal bouquet, to the red velvet wedding cake - yum! Enjoy these beautiful shots by wedding photographer,  Noemi Jariod, and don't miss the Getting Ready and Ceremony pictures. For more details about Xenia's wedding decisions and suppliers, be sure to check out her brilliant blog Olivia's Choice - it's a great read!

We got married on October 6th at La Garriga de Castelladral, in inner Catalonia. Since we didn't want a religious ceremony but a civil one, it was a must for us to find a venue that offered this service in the prettiest possible way. This is the main reason we fell in love with the venue. 

La Garriga de Castelladral has breathtaking views to the Montserrat mountains. We held our civil ceremony on the terrace, and it was more we ever could have wished for. Regarding the decoration, all I knew was I wanted it to be sweet, just like I am!

My photographer was Noemi Jariod, the most talented wedding photographer I’ve ever met. I’m so lucky to have met her through La Garriga de Castelladral, I’m SO in love with my pictures!

I wanted our wedding to have a sweet, pretty theme, with white and pink being the main colours of our decoration. My dress had a pretty pink ribbon in keeping with that colour palette.

My florist was La Flor, in Manresa, the town next to La Garriga de Castelladral. I desperately wanted pink peonies for my bouquet, it’s something I’ve always known, but in October, peonies were just a no-no. Admittedly, I was sad, but my florist came up with a gorgeous pink pitimini roses bouquet that I loved.

I chose baby's breath for my bridesmaids, and for the rest of our wedding flowers. Also, the white of the little flowers was the perfect match for the pink bridesmaids dresses, while my pink rose bouquet perfectly matched my white wedding gown. We complemented each other!

I bought my dress in Guangzhou, China. We were living in Hong Kong at the time, and I knew wedding dresses were a steal in China, so I made up my mind to buy there. We spent several days looking around until we found the one. I got it at Knightly Bridal, a Chinese brand with amazing designs. 

I chose my bridesmaid’s outfits, which I got tailor-made in China as well. They were pretty pale pink long dresses, I absolutely loved them!

My husband got his outfit tailor-made in Shenzhen, the Chinese city that borders with Hong Kong. He designed the whole thing by himself and I was so impressed with the result! 

We chose a black tie theme for our wedding, so all the ushers dressed in black and white, with bow ties!

We had a couple of DIY projects. We made and set up all the pom-poms that decorated our photo booth by ourselves.

I absolutely loved our caterers, who came from a restaurant called To+. Shortly after our wedding, chef David García won the Top Chef program in Spain. He's really talented, everything was beyond delicious.

I chose for my favourite cake: Red Velvet! Of course you couldn’t see that from the outside, because it was a 4-tiered white cake with pink decoration, but Red Velvet it was! We ate it on the following day for breakfast.

I designed the wedding invitations myself with Adobe Illustrator, which was quite a challenge for me since I was just a beginner! 

We had little iced biscuits as our place-markers. The doubled up as sweet treat favours.

I loved planning our wedding! Jeff proposed in October 2012, so we had a whole year to plan our big day. I know some couples like hiring wedding planners, but for us it was a definite no-no.

My advice to brides planning their wedding? Start as soon as possible! Have ideas and things in mind even before he pops the question!

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An Elegant Mountain-View Wedding with Vintage Pink Louboutins

Wedding planners often say that once a bride has chosen her wedding venue and her wedding dress, everything else falls into place. Xenia and Jeff picked the incredible La Garriga de Castelladral in Spain, and Xenia found most exquisite Knightly Bridal gown I've ever seen, so you can guess that every other wedding detail is pretty exceptional as well. I'm going to let the lovely pictures by Noemi do the talking, but look out for Xenia's perfectly round miniature rose bouquet, her pink vintage Louboutins, and Jeff's smart black tie get-up. You'll also love their music choices - they picked a special song for every moment - so lots of great ideas for your own wedding! Huge thanks to the lovely Noemi Jariod for her fantastic pictures - look out for more of her work when I publish the reception photographs. Also - make sure you take a look at Xenia's blog - Olivia's Choice - it's packed with lots more details about her wedding planning.

We got married on October 6th at La Garriga de Castelladral, in inner Catalonia.  Since we didn't want a religious ceremony but a civil one, it was a must for us to find a venue that offered this service in the prettiest possible way. This is the main reason we fell in love with this venue. 

La Garriga de Castelladral has breathtaking views to the Montserrat mountains. We held our civil ceremony on the terrace, and it was more we ever could have wished for. Regarding the decoration, all I knew was I wanted it to be sweet, just like I am!

I've always dreamed of getting married in pink shoes, and these vintage Christian Louboutin heels couldn't have been more perfect.

I bought my dress in Guangzhou, China. We were living in Hong Kong at the time, and I knew wedding dresses were a steal in China, so I made up my mind to buy there. We spent several days looking around until we found the one. I got it at Knightly Bridal, a Chinese brand with amazing designs. 

I chose my bridesmaid’s outfits, which I got tailor-made in China as well. They were pretty pale pink long dresses, I absolutely loved them!

I wanted our wedding to have a sweet, pretty theme, with white and pink being the main colours of our decoration. My dress had a pretty pink ribbon in keeping with that colour palette.

My florist was La Flor, in Manresa, the town next to La Garriga de Castelladral. I desperately wanted pink peonies for my bouquet, it’s something I’ve always known, but in October, peonies were just a no-no. Admittedly, I was sad, but my florist came up with a gorgeous pink pitimini roses bouquet that I loved.

I chose baby's breath for my bridesmaids, and for the rest of our wedding flowers. Also, the white of the little flowers was the perfect match for the pink bridesmaids dresses, while my pink rose bouquet perfectly matched my white wedding gown. We complemented each other!

My husband got his outfit tailor-made in Shenzhen, the Chinese city that borders with Hong Kong. He designed the whole thing by himself and I was so impressed with the result! 

We chose a black tie theme for our wedding, so all the ushers dressed in black and white, with bow ties!

We chose a lot of music for our wedding ceremony. Jeff walked in to Bach's Trumpet Voluntary, our bridesmaids and groomsmen arrived while an orchestral version of Only Time by Enya played.

I walked up the aisle on the arm of my father to the sound of Bach's Canon in D Major.

At the end of our ceremony, our recessional music was Handel's Water Music, Suite 1, and as we left in a flurry of rose petals and rice, 'A moment like this' by Kelly Clarkson played.

We even had music for our romantic balloon release - we chose 'I do' by Colbie Caillat.

My photographer was Noemi Jariod, the most talented wedding photographer I’ve ever met. I’m so lucky to have met her through La Garriga de Castelladral, I’m SO in love with my pictures!

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A Pretty Pastel Blue Winter Wedding with a Tea-Party Theme

After years of not receiving many winter weddings, my inbox is suddenly full of lovely photographs! The latest bride to choose January for her big day is Natalie, and I've fallen for her stunning ice blue and gold colour palette. Natalie's Cotton and Crumbs cake was the first thing she ordered, and the inspiration for the rest of her wedding. I love its tea-cup topper, and ornate lace icing, but there's plenty of other wedding details for you - from the gorgeous Coast bridesmaid maxi-dresses, Natalie's stunning Charlie Brear gown and Glenn's specially tailored suit. Enjoy! Many thanks to the lovely Kayleigh Pope for sending over these lovely wedding pictures.

We got married in Coombe Abbey Hotel on 31st January 2015. We didn't actually view many venues because we wanted something local to make things easier for my family.

I'm not a typical bride and I wanted my wedding dress to be very simple, I choose a stunning Charlie Brear silk slip, with a beautiful handmade lace dress overlay.

I had my hair and make-up done on the day by Chloe McCall and Kelly Cooper Hairdressing.

I found it in The Wedding Club in Birmingham, they have the most amazing collection of less traditional yet stylish and elegant dresses.

My shoes were Gucci and on the border of trashy yet classy. This is what drew me to them - the bright yellow gold metallic was really appealing, and I just had to have them!

 I chose a very long veil with a lace trim by Joyce Jackson. This came from The Wedding Club as well.

Glenn's suit was from Marks and Spencer, and he had the waistcoat specially tailored into a horseshoe style to make it unique to him for our wedding day.

His tie and pocket handkerchief matched the blue of my bridesmaids' dresses, and he also had the most amazing two-toned shoes from Ted Baker.

Dressing my bridesmaids was hard - I had all the girls' outfits before I even choose mine - I was so determined to get it right. I had eleven bridesmaids including flower girls, and I wanted them all to feel beautiful in the dresses we choose.

I didn't choose typical bridesmaids dresses - they were a beautiful pastel blue maxi dress from Coast teamed with a fur scarf from Miss Selfridges. The flower girls had very simple white dresses from Monsoon.

Our wedding florist was Arcadia on the Binley Road in Coventry. The florist there, Hayley, was really good. I showed a number of pictures on Pinterest and she created her own version for our wedding day.

I had white roses and gypsophila in my bouquet, and the bridesmaids had small hand-tied bunches of gypsophila.

The men had gypsophila button holes, and Glenn had a single white rose lapel.

Kayleigh Pope was our wedding photographer and I can't recommended her highly enough. 

One of Kayleigh's first shoots was a charity football match in honour of my late brother and it felt right when we met her to discuss the wedding.

Our theme colours were white, gold, pastel pink and blue, with lace detailing.

My dear friend and bridesmaid Junie Poonie designed and created our wedding stationery. What made it extra special is that she designed the lace print with roses created especially for us. June is extraordinarily talented.

We wanted to keep it simple, we had a traditional afternoon tea with our own crockery. It was all mis-matched but that added a little fun to the occasion. 

We had candelabras on the tables so we opted for a reef of gypsophila at the base. It looked really simple and pretty.

We had bone-china trios as our wedding favours. It made everything more personal on the day, plus every time our guests have a cup of tea, they can be reminded of our wedding.

Our wedding cake was the first thing that we ordered, and everything else feel into place once the cake had been designed, with its gold and pastel blue icing, and tea-cup topper.

It was my whole wedding inspiration. Tracy from Cotton and Crumbs is so talented and made the most beautiful four tier cake. It tasted as good as it looked.

Weddings are hard work and require a lot of attention, but it was all worth it on the day! My advice to brides is to no rush into the planning. Take your time and enjoy each and every second. Often we forget about ourselves, by putting everyone else first, but try and remember whose day it is, it all goes by far to fast.

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