Wedding Inspiration

Paris, Summer 1911: Jeanne Lanvin created the first wedding gown for her Parisian house of couture.

One hundred years have passed and the house of Lanvin has continued to create the Blanche collection. The latest 'spirited bride' designs by Alber Elbaz reveals grace and elegance for Summer 2011.

I came across a beautiful statement wedding cake featured on Martha Stewart Weddings that so reminded me of a past trip to The Designer Wedding Show where I met the amazingly talented Javier and Tony from By Appointment only design. As you would expect their stand was stunningly styled and they featured the iconic, adorably stacked packages of scrumptiousness that is Laduree macaroons. A fortuitous meeting for me as Virginie from Laduree invited me to tea with her at Laduree, Harrods in London. Heavenly macaroons of Rose and Pistachio, the taste of summer itself!

The Old Swan and Minster - Transformed into an Idyllic Riverside Wedding Venue and Signature De Savary Boutique Bolt Hole.

The de Savary’s latest wedding venue is an Oxfordshire boutique bolthole at the heart of Witney’s Old Minster village, on the banks of The River Windrush. It is an idyllic country retreat – welcoming and elegant with all the amenities you would expect of a signature de Savary property.

Catherine and Nick’s romantic country wedding has it all, a romantic engagement, French Chateaux’s, fast cars, dreamy styling and simply beautiful wedding fashion…

When you meet up with a wedding photographer one of the most important questions you need to ask yourself is “can I spend a whole day with this person?” The days are long gone when a wedding photographer turned up, said “watch the birdie”, took a few formal photographs and left. Your photographer will be with you for what will be one of the most emotional days of your life and will often end up being a confidante, a shoulder to cry on, a helping hand and on very rare occasions can even become a friend for life.

In December last year Nichola and Adam won our fabulous prize of a trip to Florence for a pre-wedding photography shoot. Not wanting to waste a minute of the opportunity they asked if the trip could be organised for February, so on Valentine’s weekend Nichola and Adam made the short flight to Florence to meet with Kevin from Scott-Wood Photography.

Mark Niemierko and Caroline Burstein were such gracious hosts at their joint Valentine’s Party held at Brown’s Bride, and I can’t thank them enough for their wonderful hospitality.

As proposals go, Terry certainly gets our vote for originality and forward planning. Following a romantic proposal onboard a friends helicopter, with a beautiful diamond ring at the ready and the wedding venue already secretly booked, Terry and Anna got their engagement off to a flying start by touching down at their dream wedding venue, The Grove for a celebratory engagement lunch!

Hanako and Roger beautifully married together cultural traditions of East and West with their stunning wedding at Hengrave Hall. They proudly reflected each of their respective heritages and blended traditional Japanese and English influences by combining their Japanese inspired wedding ceremony with a traditional English marriage blessing.

"We had the most special day, surrounded by our families and closest friends. It had a international flavor with guests coming from around the world including; Japan, Hong Kong, America, Dubai, Spain, Italy, France, Ireland, and all over the UK. We wouldn’t have changed a thing, though it would have been great to have the sun shine!"

Hanako and Roger beautifully married together cultural traditions of East and West with their stunning wedding at Hengrave Hall. They proudly reflected each of their respective heritages and blended traditional Japanese and English influences by combining their Japanese inspired wedding ceremony with a traditional English marriage blessing.

I love how they represented the influence of the traditional Japanese cherry blossom in May and echoed it’s soft shapes and subtle shades of pink with it’s quintessentially English counterpart in the form of old English soft pink garden roses.

Autumn, or fall, as it is commonly called across the pond, is now giving way to winter, but before we forget about all that this wonderful season has to offer, I have squirreled together a small selection of my favourite wedding stationery designs.

Sassi Holford’s stunning 2011 collection entitled Indulgence, certainly lives up to its name. The use of luxurious fabrics such as silk organza, slipper satin and vintage lace, combined with decadent styling and exquisite lines make this wonderful collection arguably one of her finest to date...

When I first laid eyes on Gemma and Ed’s beautiful wedding photos, I instantly fell in love with them. Not only because of the exquisite photography of David and Richard of Galloway photography but also because of their stunning wedding venue, The beautiful Walled Garden at Cowdray. It epitomises, as Gemma and Ed quite rightly said, ‘the perfect image of an English country garden.’

Multi award-winning bridal designer Ian Stuart has achieved international renown for his sumptuous gowns, and we're delighted to feature his latest collection in our Designer Wedding Dress section.

Having begun his training at one of London’s finest couture houses, Ian has gone on to dress women all over the world on their wedding day in his exquisite creations, including many celebrated stars from the television and film world.

From the moment I laid my eyes on the beautiful images of Kelly and Danielle’s wedding, I fell in love with Danielle’s stunning couture wedding dress by Enzoani (not forgetting Kelly’s stylish black and white combo too!) What could be better than looking so stunning on your wedding day, and having the beautiful day documented with a wedding day photo shoot by your extremely talented brother in law, Brett Harkness from Brett Harkness photography?

Oxana and Alex reflected their English and Russian heritage beautifully and combined a Russian Orthodox wedding ceremony with the opulent glamour of Cliveden, a traditional London bus and a Thames river cruise aboard ‘The Georgian,’ managing to merge both extravagant Russian flavours with the best of British.

Suzanne Neville is undoubtedly one of the most popular designers in luxury bridal fashion in the UK. Known for her perfectly structured gowns and dressing the glitterati that grace the pages of celebrity magazines.

Sitting front row at Suzanne’s amazing catwalk show as she previewed her 2011 collection at White Gallery, I was left with no doubt as to why her stunning designs are so popular

Carrie and Adam fell in love with the historic grandeur of Kirtlington Park, one of Oxford's most exclusive, luxury wedding venues. They successfully married both modern and traditional touches including tropical orchids and feathers with an 18th century colour palette, statement socks and classic pocket watches!

Their stunning wedding was beautifully captured by ‘The Bridal Photographer,’ David Bostock who has recently joined the ranks of The Wedding Vine’s exclusive, invitation only Premier Portfolio.

These stunning images of Elodie and Vianney’s enchanted French forest wedding were taken by one of the UKs most talented photographers - the hugely talented Marianne Taylor. I love how Marianne seems to capture nature perfectly. How can you improve on nature? Marianne simply does. Her work has a beautiful organic quality, and the use of colour and light gives this amazing wedding the unique and unmistakable Marianne Taylor style - breathtaking!

What struck me about the wedding of Sarah and James is how effortlessly stylish everything looked, though hardly surprising given Sarah’s glamourous career in fashion. I love the simple but stunning colour palette of midnight blue and ivory and the sleek silhouette of Sarah’s gown paired with her wonderful Cathedral length veil – she looked simply stunning!

Sarah and James chose Premier Portfolio member Brett Harkness Photography to capture their special day. Brett is know for his unique and refreshing fashion influenced style.