It really is so special to be able to share today's real bride feature with you. Not only does it include a whole host of brilliant Miss Bush recommended suppliers, but it's also the wedding of a bride whose family we've worked with for a number of years now. Robyn followed in her sister Laura's footsteps, who was married in a Miss Bush wedding dress back in 2017. See Laura's wedding here - on our old blog!
Robyn and Chris were married in May at St John the Evangelist in Merrow, followed by a beautifully styled reception at Botleys Mansion. With a colour scheme of bold, vibrant yellow and tons of flowers, the feel of the day was happy and joyful, with lots of personal touches including stationery hand made by the bride and her sister. It was also wonderful to spot bridesmaid Laura looking fabulously 'on brand' in Miss Bush Yellow!
It was an absolute pleasure to work with Robyn on her very own version of Suzanne Neville's Gigi wedding dress, which we customised with the most beautiful removable puff sleeves, created in-house here at Miss Bush by our production manager, Jo. Robyn styled her look with delicate floral hairpins, a simple veil, finished with a pair of Valentino's iconic Rockstud heels.
Read on to find out more about the day and the dress shopping experience in Robyn's own words...
Custom Suzanne Neville Gigi wedding dress with sleeves
I went for the Suzanne Neville Gigi, the very first dress I tried on! I had a pretty good idea of what suits my shape but couldn't decide if I was going to go minimalist or maximalist. I was so torn between the Gigi and the Hailey, but it was the Gigi that I could really see myself in on the day. While I was sold on the Gigi, I was a little apprehensive about having my arms out, so the genius that Emma is, fashioned me some sleeves during our appointment which Jo then made bespoke for me. They made that dress even more special and made me feel more comfortable, with the bonus of being able to un-popper them for pure freedom on the dancefloor.
My dress made me feel so fancy! I loved it.
Dress Shopping
My favourite part of dress shopping was how easy it was! I knew I only really wanted to buy my dress at Miss Bush, as that is where my sister got hers and I knew the team were fab. I didn't even bother trying another shop and fell in love with the first dress I tried on... although I have to say I loved every dress I tried on in that appointment, I could have happily got married in any of them. Emma made me feel so comfortable at the appointment and does so much more than just provide you with dresses to try.
One of the main reasons for only wanting to buy my dress at Miss Bush is I knew how flexible and supportive they would be for the whole journey. My Dad passed away a couple weeks after I bought my dress, and 5 months before my wedding. I'm a massive comfort eater and Miss Bush were very accommodating at changing my fitting dates to give me as much time to grieve and eat chocolate as I needed. Emma also took some lovely photos of me at my appointment in my dress so that I could show them to my Dad in his hospice bed, as I knew he wasn't going to be there for a big reveal on my wedding day.
Ever the drama queen, I got rather warm at my first fitting and had a seizure! (Luckily only in the toile, not the actual dress!) Sorry for scaring you Jo, and thanks to Corinne for coming to my rescue with a Kit-Kat. You'll be pleased to know that on the day I ate a bag of minstrels before leaving for the church so it didn't happen again!
Styling
The styling was very simple as the dress and bouquet did all the work. I went for a very simple veil, with some beautiful hair pins from Vivi Embellish, which I'm obsessed with and matched the dress perfectly. My shoes (Valentino Rockstuds) were my something old and added a little bit of rock chick to an otherwise soft look. As for jewellery, I just wore what I wear every day. No necklace and little diamond hoops that my Dad got me some years ago.
A joyful Botleys Mansion wedding
My dress actually inspired my whole day. The same week of my first dress shopping appointment, I met with my florist and we talked about all these amazing things they could do and from then I decided to just go all in on flowers as a theme. I am also a big fan of colour, and wanted everything to represent that, so my primary colour was yellow (very Miss Bush.) Music is extremely important to both Chris and I so we made sure we had plenty of it. A gospel choir for the church, string quartet for canapes and a band for the evening.
Walking into the Ballroom at Botleys was a pretty spectacular moment, seeing everyone's smiling faces and that all the hard work had paid off as the room looked amazing. There were beautiful flowers everywhere, stationery my sister and I had spent hours on and the string quartet playing us down the stairs, It was a real moment of seeing the whole vision come together. When explaining the theme of the day to my suppliers, I said "Happy". Life had been tough for the past 6 months and I just needed a day of pure joy, colour, food, drink and music. All my suppliers were the best and made that happen.
People told me not to stress the small stuff and often questioned why I was bothering to spend money and time on things that people wouldn't even notice...Well I noticed them and they added so much to the overall vibe. I took great pride sitting at dinner drinking from my specially hired in water glasses and wiping my hands on my yellow napkins. And people did notice! I had lots of comments on some of the 'small stuff'.
The best bits
I think my favourite part of the day was actually the first dance! In that moment I just felt so happy for the amazing day we'd had already and so in love having that moment dancing with my new husband to 'something about the way you look tonight' by Elton John. Then the whole evening that followed was so much fun just dancing the night away. My mum decided to surprise me too by arranging for me to sing with the band, that was a pretty cool moment.
Robyn's Advice
"Just buy the god damn dress!" Words of wisdom a colleague gave me when debating if it was too much to spend on a dress just for one day.
Finally, ignore the traditional grandparents. You do you. My gran could tell me off as much she wanted, but I still wasn't going to order a cake, have more bridesmaids or toss my bouquet. They weren't important to me so I didn't have them. Krispy Kremes did go down a treat though.
Suppliers
Photographer: Sophie Duckworth Photography
Videographer: Musk Photography and Films
Florist: Mad Lilies
Make-up: Stephanie Dorelli
Hair: Sharon Roberts
Hair accessories: Vivi Embellish
Stationery: Bride and Sister, Simple Line Calligraphy
Gospel choir: CK Gospel Choir
String quartet: Chiqas
Band: XO Party Band
Magician: Unbelievable Magic
Bridesmaid Dress: Dessy
Suits: Moss Bros
INSTA
Photographer: @duck_photo
Videographer: @muskphotographyandfilms
Florist: @mad_lilies
Make-up: @stephaniedorellihairandmakeup
Hair: @sharonrobertshair
Hair accessories: @viviembellishbridal
Stationery: Bride and Sister @simplelinecalligraphy
Gospel choir: @ckgospelchoir
String quartet: @chiqas_music
Band: @xo_partyband
Magician: @unbelievablemagic
Bridesmaid Dress: @dessygroup
Suits: @mossbros