Where do I start! Rose & Brendan’s garden tea party wedding at the Larmer Tree Gardens in Dorset really was a pretty special affair. I don’t think my words could ever do it justice (hence I take photos), so I’ll borrow some words from the bride herself – this is how she described her theme for the wedding: ‘I’m a sucker for tradition, but I love tiny personal details. For the day I wanted to create a real inside outside feel – like a vintage 1940s tea dance that has come through time and ended up in a garden – so everything’s a little distressed from the elements but still beautiful.’
Rose and the bridesmaids got ready at the gorgeous Launceston Farm, which really set the mood for the day from the start. Rose’s dress and veil were from Pronovias Bond Street, her shoes were Louboutin and her lovely little bag was a last minute buy from Monsoon Bridal.
One thing that made this wedding feel very special, was the fact that the whole wedding party was just 14 people in total (Brendan lost his best man as he had to be onboard his Navy ship on the day of the wedding as the queen was visiting). It really felt exceptional to be a part of such an intimate party, and it made for a beautifully relaxed day – the often normal ‘stresses’ of a wedding day seemed far away. I still can’t get over how beautiful all the carefully selected details looked. Here’s what Rose told me about them: ‘I collected a lot of mercury glass as it looks like formal interior decorative items that have been left outside – silver glass that has been worn away with sun and rain. They came from places such as Niki Jones, Cox & Cox, Graham & Green, and from antique shops.’
‘The candelabras were from eBay and all our cut glass vases, candle sticks, bowls and ornaments were all vintage/charity shop finds. There are some fantastic charity shops in Devon and Cornwall where you can find the best things for a bargain. Woodside is probably the all time best where most of the things came from.’
‘I used all country garden based flowers that were in season, very unstructured – no “floristry” as such, just flowers in pots and vases. I ordered all our flowers through our local market Petals Florists and we made our bouquets and buttonholes ourselves the night before the wedding. My mum did all the vases at the venue for us in the morning before the wedding.’
I should mention that Rose is a designer and she made all the table cloths and linens, and designed and made all the beautiful stationery herself (Rose’s website). ‘I tried to keep all the stationary formal in style as I really like formality, but like the contradiction that it was a garden party event,’ she said. I think that in itself sums up the feel of this wedding.
Thank you so much Rose and Brendan for letting us share your stunning and intimate wedding day, we really felt privileged! Thank you also to Susanna (whom I really should thank at the end of most weddings, as she’s quickly become my ‘right hand woman’), without whom I probably couldn’t have covered this wedding as it was the first one after injuring my ankle.
