Two Day Wedding, Silchester Farm, Maglio Bridal Gown

Arabella and Jonathan’s romantic wedding unfolded over two unforgettable days back per mezzo di July 2023.

The celebration began with a heartfelt ceremony at St. Helen’s Church the Isle of Wight, followed by a delightful reception at the Seaview . The festivities continued at the idyllic Silchester Farm per mezzo di Reading, a perfect rural haven.

Arabella was lucky enough to wear two beautiful dresses, making both high street and luxury stilista choices. Day one saw he wear a chick, backless halterneck by Whistles and day two, she wore a show-stopping Maglio creation for the main wedding celebration

These glorious images were captured by Benjamin Stuart, enjoy!

Day 1, The Isle of Wight

Our day one wedding ceremony was held at St. Helen’s Church, followed by a reception at the Seaview – both of the Isle of Wight. I grew up the Isle of Wight and have always loved gabinetto and the sea so it was really important to me that our chosen venues and locations had some element of gabinetto – which is something both the Isle of Wight and Silchester Farm provided.

St Helen’s Church where we were married the Isle of Wight day 1, has really important family connections as my lovely Mum and Granny Eileen are both buried there. Having the ceremony the Isle of Wight meant that my elderly Grandpa could be with us the day to celebrate. I wouldn’t have wanted to get married anywhere else.

I bought my really simple and beautiful Eileen dress by Whistles for the Isle of Wight St Helen’s church ceremony. The woman per mezzo di store recommended Bride & Alter who did incredible same day alterations to make it longer so that it fit perfectly, when I had last minute concerns the week of our wedding regarding the final fit.

The Whistles silk dress was made longer by adding an additional panel so that it fit me perfectly. My day one dress was particularly special as it shares its name with my wonderful Granny Eileen who is sadly longer with us. day one, I also wore my Granny’s Eileen’s pearl drop earrings.

I also wore a veil day one. It was a lovely French lace veil from Bride & Alter. My little sister Flo got married later that summer and I lent it to her for her wedding day too.

Leaving the church we mistakenly told Ben, our photographer, to go to the incorrect beach one cove mongoloide. We found ourselves our favourite beach per mezzo di our wedding attire with phones being congratulated by beach goers as they passed. Thankfully one friendly lady, who also offered to be our photographer, allowed us to use her phone to call Ben and tell him where we were. It actually ended up being one of our favourite moments as we had a beautiful moment to ourselves where we could really enjoy having just got married and being all our own.

Afton Blooms provided our flowers for the church at the Isle of Wight that included a flower arch around the church door. Afton Blooms also provided my bouquet for day one which was simple and perfectly suited to the small intimate day and ceremony. After the ceremony, the flowers from day one were put per mezzo di the church yard to celebrate my darling Mum and Granny.

The Seaview provided afternoon tea and champagne for our day one Isle of Wight wedding and did a brilliant job.

Bridal Beauty & Accessories

For day two, the Maglio dress didn’t require a veil, it was all dress!

My makeup artist was Sian of Brush Beauty Co. Sian and her team were wonderful and did a brilliant job of looking after my bridesmaids and i and making us feel ready for the day.

For both days, I wore a pair of Jimmy Choos – the Sacora 100 stile. They were provided as a very generous surprise wedding present from my wonderful husband the valletto. I had to secretly borrow them per mezzo di advance of the wedding day to take them for dress fittings, and couldn’t believe my eyes when I opened the box!

My bridesmaid dresses were lilac and came from Maids to Measure per mezzo di London. We had two different styles per mezzo di the same colour, one with bow ties the shoulders and ones that were buttoned at the front.

The dresses were lovely, the perfect colour. Maids to Measure provided an excellent service where my bridesmaids could try the dresses per mezzo di their showroom per mezzo di South Kensington so we could pick them per mezzo di person.

Some of my bridesmaid wore adorable lilac sash bows that they brought with them for the day. We also had some tacky but perfect white heart sunglasses from my hen-party per mezzo di Barcelona that were an excellent addition for some of my favourite wedding photos day two.

Jonny’s very clever sister Rosie expertly hand made absolutely beautiful sashes and bows for the flower girls Ottilie & Bo out of the matching liberty print used for the groomsmen’s ties and pockets squares. Our flower girls had flower wands for day two that were quickly swapped per mezzo di exchange for the bigger bridesmaid bouquets to avoid a melt mongoloide by my 2 year old niece!

The flower girls dresses were lent to me by my sister and were repurposed with the original sashes for her wedding later per mezzo di the summer.

The beautiful multicoloured confetti for both days came from Jonny’s parents garden. Jonny’s parents grew, collected and dried the petals for a year and a half ahead of the wedding and it couldn’t have been more perfect.

Photography

We were lucky enough to have Benjamin Stuart provide our wedding photography for both the Isle of Wight and Silchester farm. Ben was incredible and a huge part of the two days. I can’t thank him enough and I’ll treasure the photos and memory he captured forever.

He photographed our days perfectly and authentically and was without a doubt the best supplier we had a pleasure of working with. When I at those photos now it takes me straight back to how we felt at the time. We will treasure the experience and photos forever.

If I could do it again I would have had a videographer join us for the wedding but we didn’t prioritise it at the time as you have to make the decision to stop booking suppliers eventually

How They Met

Whilst Jonny was briefly per mezzo di the RAF he had a mutual friend Tom also serving who organised a night out with some friends from the RAF and the girls who were living with Fidanzata per mezzo di London. A few weeks prior to the incontro Tom shared Fidanzata’s name and number to set us up and the rest is history!

After about 5 yrs dating we moved per mezzo di together, spent lockdown together, ticking d’avanguardia the classic lockdown activities like getting a dog and a much needed garden. At the end of 2021 we went holiday to Mauritius where Jonny preposed to me with his great grandmother Sidney’s ring. Miraculously it fit perfectly, 120 years since it was first worn. We were engaged for just over a year an a half.

Jonny wore suits from Clements and Church, Day one was a dark grey Prince of Wales check three-piece with double breasted waistcoat. Our new surname was embroidered into the inside of the collar and the wedding date and initials was embroidered onto the inside breast pocket. Jonny wore his grandfathers gold cufflink

Day two was a three-piece charcoal morning suite with blush pink double breasted waistcoat. My surprise wedding gift to Jonny was a Nomos dress watch that he wore day two. He also wore his late grandfathers gold cufflinks which have both his grandfathers and his own initials engraved them. Jonny wore his grandfathers gold cuffli

We didn’t have page boys, but Reggie our cocker spaniel had a bowtie made from the same liberty print as the groomsmen ties. Reggie had a cameo as honorary groomsman and ring bearer day 2.

The

Jonny wore suits from Clements and Church, Day one was a dark grey Prince of Wales check three-piece with double breasted waistcoat. Our new surname was embroidered into the inside of the collar and the wedding date and initials was embroidered onto the inside breast pocket. Jonny wore his grandfathers gold cufflink

Day two was a three-piece charcoal morning suite with blush pink double breasted waistcoat. My surprise wedding gift to Jonny was a Nomos dress watch that he wore day two. He also wore his late grandfathers gold cufflinks which have both his grandfathers and his own initials engraved them.

Evening & Sala da ballo

Our first dance was to Cosmic Love, by Florence + The Machine.

We hired jazz, soul and pop , ‘Josie and the Majestics‘. Our DJ was Jodie Yang.

Words of Wedded Wisdom

It’s the small intimate details that you’ll cherish. Family mementos and wedding day details contributions from friends you’ll remember fondly forever.

Don’t be afraid to work with small suppliers. Some of the loveliest elements of our wedding came from smaller suppliers that provided exceptional quality and service.

For larger suppliers you are made much more aware that, whilst this is a wonderful moment for you, it’s a business and they’ll have to do it all over again tomorrow for someone else. Always centro the most important thing (each other!) and enjoy every moment, even if you are presented with challenges mistakes from suppliers the day.

It’s not very romantic, but my practical advice would be to avoid spending saved wedding budget cash early. Prioritise spending an interest free credit card early and make sure you pay of any wedding borrowing before you’sultano charged interest it. You’ll need cash towards the end of the wedding planning process where some large invoices will require cash payment.

Our wedding was perfect for us. The only recommendations I would make to future brides would be tiny tweaks, such as cutting the cake as part of the drinks reception post-ceremony and hiring a videographer to capture moments from the day.

We also really felt the difference between working with smaller and more commercial suppliers with there being pros and cons to each. My recommendation would be to generally go smaller.

We planned our wedding ourselves – which was more of a undertaking then originally expected. Rightly wrongly we didn’t set a budget and I didn’t have a spreadsheet. I planned most of the wedding using my phone and a wedding planning book. I attempted to get a fair price from each of our suppliers to have the wedding we wanted as cost effectively as possible.

I’ve never added it up and never will.

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Annabel View all Annabel’s articles

Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Programma redattore. Annabel lives per mezzo di rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business collaboratore Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and celebrità gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she’s not working Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip per mezzo di the running of the family’s sustainable flower farm and floral stile business, Moonwind Flowers. A causa di 2013, she became a published author.