Vintage lovers, and those who enjoy a dress with a story, you’re going to love the beautiful celebration I have to share with you today.
Here, our bride wears her mum’s wedding dress with a couple of contemporary updates, and did I also mention that it sports a dreamily ethereal cape, too? Read on for a chilled out, laid back and intimate day, organised in just five weeks, after our couple WhatsApped their invitations to loved ones. On Valentine’s Day 2020, Nyomi, who blogs part time on her own site, Nomipalony, and also works in social housing strategy, married her love Mark, who is an IT analyst.
Fiona Saxton Photography + Follow
As I mentioned at the start of this piece, Nyomi decided to wear her mother’s lovely wedding dress from 1982 for her own day. It fit perfectly, so didn’t need any alterations, but some of the material around the neckline had become discoloured over time, so Bexbrides removed it, lowered the zip, and added some delicate beading on the beautiful applique flowers.
“I tried my Mam’s wedding dress on and shared it on my Instagram, and my followers loved it so much they convinced me to wear it. My Mam’s dress was stunning, and I couldn’t believe it fit perfectly. It was so me, and so meaningful to both me and my Mam for me to wear it.”
Bees & Butterflies Flowers made a spectacular dried flower crown, filled with striking texture: gypsophila alongside honesty, bunny tail grass, red spray roses, and dried lavender, the scent of which has very special associations for Nyomi.
“The smell reminds me of when our daughter was born at home in 2015. She wore a Boden Harry Potter ‘Patronus’ dress, with some H&M tights, Clarks brogues, and a hand-me-down cardigan, with a handmade dried flower crown to match mine.”
“We aren’t a very romantic couple, and we aren’t really ‘weddingy’ people, per se, so we wanted something low key and laid back. I love live music and festivals, and like indie/punk music so I wanted it to have a chilled, festival, punky kinda vibe.”
I love the way our talented Little Book member, Fiona Saxton Photography documented Nyomi and Mark’s day, especially her superb, cinematic use of light and shadow. There’s such dramatic beauty to this collection of images.
“I chose Fiona because she had photographed us before, and we clicked; she even photographed me breastfeeding my daughter. I love how she uses light and dark in her photography. Her style is very ‘us’. Fiona is punctual, personable, and accommodating.”
“She always gets exactly what I want, and I love how our photographs turned out. Fiona is also great with our kids. I only booked Fiona for an hour, and she still managed to get about 200 stunning photos for us. I would recommend Fiona to anyone, and I can’t wait until the next time we can be photographed by her.”
On her feet, Nyomi wore rose gold metallic boots from Moda in Pelle, and her hair was styled by Halo Hebburn. Her gorgeous make-up look, complete with sparkly gold glitter on her cheekbone, came courtesy of BecX Beauty, who specialises in vegan and cruelty free make-up and beauty.
Mark put together a great, smart casual outfit, with jeans from Jack & Jones, a shirt from Original Penguin, boots by Superdry, all found at ASOS, and a brown tweed waistcoat by ASOS Design.
“Our son’s outfit was from Next. His boots were from Clarks, and he had a dried flower buttonhole from Bees & Butterflies to match the bride and groom.”
The couple held their ceremony at Newcastle City Council’s Civic Centre Register Office, before heading to Hotel du Vin in Newcastle, for dinner with their immediate family in the hotel’s Shipyard private dining room.
“We have been together for 11 years. We have two children, Arlo, 8 and Lena, 5. We have never been very fussed about getting married, but we decided to get married for financial and legal security, should something happen to one of us.”
The family drove themselves to the registry office in their own car, and kept their ceremony simple, making short but heartfelt vows. They also chose not to exchange rings.
“We decided to get married on a Tuesday. On the Wednesday we got the first appointments where we could give notice.”
“We actually had to give notice separately in order for us to get married on the date we wanted, which was Valentine’s Day. I talk about this all in detail on my blog.”
After their ceremony, it was over to their local Hotel du Vin, where Nyomi and Mark had hired the hotel’s elegant Shipyard private dining room for a delicious, three-course feast with their family, with artisan chocolate favours by The Good Tempered Chocolate Company.
“Our favourite part of the day was the meal, where all of our immediate family were together in the same room, and we got to sit down and toast the day with wine, and enjoy good food and company.”
“We didn’t have any entertainment, but I made a kick ass Spotify playlist to play during the wedding meal/evening.”
“There was only 5 weeks between us deciding to get married and doing it, which shocked our friends and family!”
Words of Wedded Wisdom
“I would have picked a different bra – it felt like mine was trying to kill me! I would recommend wearing your underwear and shoes for a while around the house for a few hours, so you can check that nothing it hurting you. I didn’t do that, and my boots and bra hurt me.”
“My budget was around £2000, and that’s what we spent. There is a lot of pressure with weddings to do things a certain way and have certain things, and the cost can easily escalate. Consider whether you really want something, and if you don’t, just cut it. We cut loads of traditional things from our wedding that we didn’t care about, and just did our own thing.”
Nyomi, thanks so much for your wise words, and for sharing your lovely, chilled day with us. Many thanks to Fiona Saxton for the elegant way she captured it all, too.
Until next time, dear readers.
With love,
Laura
Laura Callan
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Laura is a freelance writer and content creator who loves telling stories. She has keen eye for photography and art, and lives with her husband, cats, and huge amounts of books.