Where did you tie the know?
Nettlestead Place, Kent – we got married in St Mary the Virgin Church next door to the venue.
How did you personalise your day?
I wanted an elegant theme with lots of whites, greens and a hint of blush pink and gold.
What was most important to you?
I think the flowers were important to me. I love floristry and wanted beautiful, fresh flowers everywhere, and candles to give it a romantic feel. I knew I had to have fantastic entertainment to make sure it was a wedding people wouldn’t forget. We had singing waiters which was a complete surprise to all our guests, and it got everyone up dancing! We then had an electric violinist in the evening and a saxophonist, which everyone loved.
Did you have any idea of what style or shape of dress you were looking for?
I always knew I wanted a satin wedding dress and one that was fitted but I wanted to try on every style wedding dress just to be sure. I probably tried on over twenty dresses in numerous shops. To be honest, a lot of the wedding dresses that I liked on the hanger I didn’t like on me. A lot of them seemed to swamp me or just looked nice but didn’t have the wow factor which is what I really wanted. All I knew was that I wanted something very special and unique. I’ve been to a lot of weddings and seen a lot of people around me get married and I knew I wanted my dress to be completely different from anything I had ever seen before.
Where did you buy your dress from?
I got my dream dress from Ring o Roses in Blackfen. My wedding dress is so unique because it actually never made the Ronald Joyce collection! It was designed by the awards winning designer Veni Infantino but it was felt that the dress was too unique to be put into production and so the protype was sold to the shop and I was the first person to try it on!
Who went with you to try on dresses?
I went with just my mum and nanny. It was important to me to keep my dress a surprise for everyone else.
Any tips for future brides?
I would say make sure you try on every single dress! Even if you don’t like the look of it on the hanger. I really didn’t like the look of my wedding dress on the hanger but I tried it on and thank god I did.
Also if there’s one part of the dress you don’t like, you can make changes! The dress came down very low and showed my cleavage which I didn’t like, but we were able to hide with some sparkly appliqué. It also had three layers at the bottom, and I removed one so I just had 2 layers at the front but kept the 3 layers at the back.
Just try and enjoy the whole experience and not fuss too much about the small things, it all eventually comes together!
For more inspiring stories from brides and how they found their wedding gown head click back to our real brides section.
Photo credits: Gyan Gurung Photography
by Lucinda Jenkins