The Prettiest Dress I Ever Will Wear

Girls, no matter how much of a tomboy you were as a kid (and I was, I've the scars to prove it), or how 'sensible' you think you are going to be when it comes to choosing your wedding dress, it's one if those things, that whether you admit it or not, you REALLY care about, you've probably ALWAYS cared about. I know I thought about it for a long long time!

I only went to a couple of shops and tried on a dozen or less dresses, but my dress was most definately MY dress. I LOVE it.

I picked Devenport by American wedding dress designer Watters who don't have a lot of stockists in the UK, but Jenny Lindop Bridal in my hometown of Bangor just happened to be one of the few!

I know how frustrating it can be when the only pics you can find of a wedding dress you love are on a model, it's so hard to envision what it will be like on your own figure, I spent months trawling the internet looking at wedding dress resale sights to see real brides in my dress! So hopefully this post will help another Devenport bride! :)

I bought my dress of the rail, the sample, which when I bought it was far too small, I'd put on weight gradually over a couple of years after I stopped smoking, (having a BIG love for good food didn't help either) and I was uncomfortable with my size and shape, I don't just mean I felt embarrassed of my tummy and my hips and bingo wings (although I did) but I was becoming physically uncomfortable too, getting sore lines on my tummy and rib area from my work trousers and bra being tight and sitting in them all day at my desk, having to wear shapewear to fit into dresses and skirts and then feeling like I couldn't breath all day - not fun.

I wanted to lose a bit of weight for a long time but I'm lazy! I love food and hate exercise, but I knew if I didn't lose some weight before the wedding, I'd hate myself forever.

I did lose some weight, not as much as I'd have liked to, but the dress fit!

After trying it on a dozen times over 18 months, one month before the wedding, that little covered zip finally made it the whole way to the top!!!

It was a strapless dress, and I had a lace keyhole (thank you again Jenny!) strap attached, and I'm so glad I did!

Anywaaaay... This is my dress and I loved it :) it was exactly what, when I closed my eyes and imagined a 'wedding dress', that dress looked like.

I loved having to lift up my skirts to walk up stairs and climb into the car, some brides might hate that but it made me feel like a princess. One of my fave little things about the day was sitting in the back of that beautiful classic car surrounded by pouffy dress!

If you have any questions about picking your dress, details of my dress or about our wedding day I'd love to hear them!

Suppliers

Location - Mount Stewart House, Garden and Temple of the Winds

Classic Cars -  Ivory 1964 Princess (interier shown) and Ivory Daimler, Klass Cars NI

Dress - Watters Devenport from Jenny Lindop Bridal wear in Bangor

Lace Keyhole Strap - from Jenny Lindop Bridal wear in Bangor

Sash - January Rose Bridal Boutique via Etsy

Shoes - Dragonlady by Vivienne Westwood (Mine were the original pearl with red heart, they are discontinued and I got mine on ebay!)

Bees - for my hair - The Peddler via Etsy

Boys suits - Light Blue Tonic Slim Fit from Burton Menswear

Flowers - Floral Earth Belfast - See full blog post on flowers here

Hair - Laura Rodgers @ DKY Hair Company Bangor

Makeup - Jenna Somerville 

(I'll post further details on the Bridesmaid's and Groomsmen's outfits, hair and makeup and some of the other details at a later date!)

Arriving in Style - Picking Wedding Cars

I know zero about cars, nada, zilch. But when it came to picking wedding cars I knew one thing - they had to be classic. I'm not a big fan of modern wedding cars, they just aren't my style but they look great with a more modern wedding theme.

I researched a few local car companies online and spoke to a couple of them about the cars they had and their prices etc. but whenever I spoke to David from Klass Cars it was such a refreshing change from the usual sales pitches the other companies had given me.

David, unlike a lot of the others, didn't expect me to know everything about the cars, about how many would fit in each, how long journeys would really take and the transport plan for the day.

 David patiently let me explain my wedding party to him, where we would all be setting off from and to and ask him lots of questions about what would happen with the cars on the day, he then very kindly explained the plan to me and answered all the questions.

 He told me 'I'm the expert, I've done this before, you haven't, I wouldn't expect you to know all this'  - whether you are currently planning your wedding or are already married, I'm sure you'll already know that a lot of wedding suppliers do not realise this simple fact!

After checking out the different cars on the Klass Cars website, we decided on the 1964 Princess (yes this was due partly to it's name) for the Bridal car and the black & ivory Daimler for the Grooms car.

David organised for the Daimler to first take Ross and the boys to Mount Stewart and then come to my house to collect the bridesmaids and my mum, my dad and I travelled in the Princess to the ceremony. After the ceremony, the bridesmaids and groomsmen travelled to the reception in the Daimler and Ross and I took the Princess.

 

I would highly recommend Klass Cars to anyone looking for a car for a wedding or event, nothing beats arriving in style.

Thank you once again David and Klass Cars!

Photography - Jake Samuels

Location - Mount Stewart House, Garden and Temple of the Winds

Classic Cars -  Ivory 1964 Princess (interier shown) and Daimler, Klass Cars NI

Dress - Watters Devenport from Jenny Lindop Bridal wear in Bangor

Beautiful Blooms

When it came to picking a florist for our big day, I was extremely fussy... it was probably the one part of the wedding I was properly fussy about (sorry Tim!) but really... it's the one time in your life you get to buy yourself amazing flowers - whatever flowers you want and lots of them!

I had a VERY clear idea of what I didn't want, no red roses no gerberas no tropical colours - that's just not me, and I had one serious demand PEONIES!

We got married in August and peonies were wellll out of season but the amazing Tim of Floral Earth made it happen!

I wanted a big messy pretty variety of flowers and greenery in my bouquet, lots of different shades and textures and I gave Tim a BIG list of what I wanted and he really did such an amazing job! 

Details of flowers below each pic;

My bouquet had so many different flowers I really can't remember them all but there were; blush peonies, roses, eucalyptus, and that big crazy lookin' fella in the middle is a king protea, isn't it amazing?!

In my hair I had a gorgeous floral comb with more mixed flowers and I also wore some little golden bees!

That's another view of my bouquet (above and below), I absolutely loved it, it was so crazy and pretty!

The bridesmaid's bouquets were similar to mine with a slightly smaller selection of flowers, the colours were so perfect with their dresses weren't they?!

Our table flowers followed the same mixed texture and colour theme and were displayed in vintage gold urns, teapots and mercury glass pieces that I had been collecting for a couple of years.

I honestly couldn't have been happier with our beautiful blooms and would recommend Floral Earth to anyone!