Alexandra and John were married last August on a glorious Summers day in East Hampshire. With the ceremony taking place at St Andrews Church, Medstead followed by reception at Bonham’s Barn in Holybourne, the day was surrounded by beautiful scenery and made the perfect setting for their relaxed and happy vintage inspired day.
THE DRESS
Alexandra chose a beautiful contemporary gown from Jesus Peiro. With a sweeping A-Line skirt and short capped sleeves, the clean lines of this crisp gown have an elegnant 1950s feel that complements Alex’s vibrant red hair and cool, elegant personal style.
“I brought my mother with me both times I tried on my dress. My mother’s reaction was the same as mine, we both knew it was right. There weren’t any tears and neither of us got emotional, we just knew it was the one.”
“My favourite part was collecting my dress, after the months of shopping and then the fittings I was so happy to have the dress in my hands and it was finally mine and fitted perfectly.”
Alexandra accessorised her look with a stunning statement wing headdress from Beverley Edmondson Millinery which she wore for the reception. For the ceremony Alexandra and Beverley designed a smaller winged head piece with three pearls which held a simple cathedral length veil with ribbon edge. Alexandra also added a sentimental touch, wearing her mothers pearl earrings and necklace, and finished her look with Alexander McQueen pumps.
About the day
Alexandra and John dreamed of a day that was relaxed, and captured both of their personalities, and with a small budget they had to be clever with their plans.
It was very much a family affair, with so many relatives contributing to make the day super special. We love all of the little details that really made the day personal to Alexandra and John and reflected them as a couple.
“We loved the idea of having a barn setting for the reception and used this for a lot of the inspiration for the day. We had masses of wild flowers (home grown by my uncle) decorating the barn in a verity of jars, bottles and large olive tins, which tied in with the flowers from our wonderful florist, to bring the outdoors into the barn. We then added a splash of colour into the barn with bunches of large honeycomb balls suspended from the ceiling.”
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We also had vintage china (supplied by another uncle) mixed with vintage table clothes (from John’s Godmother) and homemade napkins tied with twine and a sprig of lavender with a hand printed sweetie bag for the guests pick and mix favours.
All the stationery through from the invitations to the order of service, menus and table names where designed and made by myself including a tandem bicycle (inspired by John’s love of bikes and a link back to John’s proposal following an attempt to tandem ride along the Southbank a few years ago).”
“Guests were greeted at the barn by a family friend playing the guitar and gin and tonics with nibbles and later for the sit down meal a spit roast lamb served along side home cured fish (by my father), bread rolls and salads to tie in with a country picnic feel. This was then followed by a mass of deserts as guests had been invited to bring along a contribution to the pudding table (we ended up with around 16 deserts in total) as you can never have too many puddings and it is the best meal of the day! On top of the pudding table we also has our wedding cake which was a 3 tiered cake consisting of three different flavours, both made and designed by a family friend.”
“Later in the evening the party started and the music was a playlist combining both mine and Johns favourite music, mixing a wide range of genres meaning there was something for everyone and guests helped themselves to glow sticks to get them in the dancing mood. There was a cheesecake in the evening which guests tucked into and we were able to offer a free bar to all guests and contributions were given to charity instead.”
“My favourite part of the day was when John turned to look at me when I entered the church. After running 20 minutes late (not by my choice and I hate being late) I sat in the car and a wave of emotion hit me, once I finally got into the church I couldn’t stop smiling. However John had been given a lot of mixed messages about when to turn around once I had entered the church. This resulted in me standing next to him and he didn’t know where I was as he was staring straight ahead. He did finally turn around and we both couldn’t stop smiling, followed by a few tears of joy. I did check later that he wasn’t annoyed or worried I was late, he wasn’t but was more concerned as he knows I hate being late!
Another moment I will never forget was following a photo the photographer took of us both stood on two logs outside the barn stretching out to grasp each others hand. Whilst getting onto the log had been hard enough, getting off was more of a challenge. The result was john giving me a piggy back to get me down and then running across the field past on looking guests straight into the barn and setting me down carefully onto a chair.”
FINAL WORDS
Some final words of wedding wisdom from our bride…
“Don’t be afraid to ask people for help, everyone we asked was so happy to be part of the big day and it made everything so much more personal.”
Suppliers
Photography: Bill Sykes Weddings
Venue: Bonham’s Barn
The Dress: Jesus Peiro at Miss Bush
Accessories: Beverley Edmonds
Flowers: Fiona Curry
Make Up: Make up by Jodie
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Thank you so much to Alexandra and John for sharing these wonderful images from their special day!
Leah x
Miss Bush
Miss Bush is Surrey’s leading designer bridal shop
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