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What They Wore...

The Dress...

I went to a number of bridal shops and saw beautiful gowns but wanted to look perfect for Geoff and knew he had high expectations of me and the way I looked. I found Angela Stone in Kew, took some pics of evening gowns I liked - I was determined I would not have a traditional bridal type dress. I knew from first meeting Angela was perfect to design my dress. We planned the initial design which was nothing like the end product - the dress evolved, I had more than a dozen fittings - the experience and the end product and was everything I hoped it would be.

The dress is ivory chiffon with a beautiful satin contrast on the boning detail and the bust. It has a very simple and elegant skirt with a very structured and glamorous corset style top with wide halter neck straps - very Hollywood glamour without the jacket. It was finished with a beautiful jacket in satin. The detail on the corset was fabulous and it is bridal!

Angela and her team worked incredibly hard to get the dress just right. Everyone commented on how stunning the dress looked on the day. Geoff was overwhelmed when he saw it for the first time - exactly what I wanted to achieve. He was so proud.

I had decided I was not going to wear anything on my head especially a veil - too much I thought and Geoff was clear he thought a veil too much. However, Angela produced the most beautiful full length veil to try with the dress - perfect - at two fittings in her shop in Kew we literally stopped the traffic as cars stopped to look at the dress and the veil. She did the most amazing job creating a beautifully unique dress for our special day.

One of the hardest things was finding the right piece of jewellery to wear with the dress. My friend Nicky and I spent days searching across London and the suburbs for the right piece, Angela through her contacts tried to find something just right.. eventually Nicky and I found the necklace at Butler and Wilson - everyone thought it worked perfectly - it's a reproduction 1920's design.

Hair and Make-Up...

My close friend and hairdresser Martin Balestri from Coombeside Hair Studio's in Kingston, Surrey styled my hair..he was incredibly nervous - we had two sessions beforehand neither of which went well.

Details:

The Brides Outfit:
Max commissioned her fabulous dress from Angela Stone.
Contact:
Angela Stone...

The Photographer:
She was amazing, she guided us through the day, made the photo’s fun and captured a great record of the events.
Contact:
Moments Captured...

The Venue:
Contact:
Ham Polo Club...
Hunt Kendall...

The Extras:
Choccywoccydoodah...
Friendly Triffids...
BHS Bridal...

Other brides should take heart.. I was incredibly worried as I had been ill earlier in the year and my hair had got very thin. I usually have very straight hair but had decided to put some curl into it to give it body..not easy with dead straight hair the curls kept falling out! I wasn't sure how Geoff would react to the change. However on the day it all went perfectly, much to both Martin's and my own relief. We took the tongs and hair spray to the ceremony but thankfully did not need to use them. My close friend Nicky and I went to Selfridges and met with a fabulous make-up artist who showed me how to manage my eye make-up on the day - it all worked brilliantly on the day. My make-up was almost all by mac.

What about the Bridesmaids...

Everyone..including Angela Stone told me to look at the bridesmaids dresses in BHS. In all honesty I never thought for a second they would have what I wanted for the girls on the day - Saskia aged 5, Lara aged 3 and Katie aged 2. We found the most gorgeous ivory butterfly dresses - the girls loved them, Katie had a slightly different design, same range and we added some ivory fairy wings..we finished with white stockings, ivory satin shoes and ivory butterfly hair bands..another great find by Nicky! The girls had flower baskets decorated with ivy full of ivory rose petals - decorated by Yvonne at Friendly Triffids. It was complicated to try to arrange fittings - Lara lives in Bristol and Katie in New York - her dress was flown to her literally FIRST CLASS to ensure it was not damaged.

The Groom and the Male Guests..

Geoff wore a classic Hugo Boss dark navy suit with a white shirt. My father wore navy and Hayes the best man and our Usher's Adam (my son) and Tom (my nephew) wore dark suits - all had silver ties. Geoff and Hayes had beautiful miniature calla Lilly with grasses as buttonholes. The rest of the party had ivory roses and the ladies had ivory freesia corsages.