Emily in Suzanne Neville & Sassi Holford for a traditional countryside wedding

Our lovely wedding today is the perfect example of a classic, beautiful traditional countryside wedding. Against a charming backdrop of beautiful Surrey hills, Emily and Jim were married at the perfect picturesque church in Arbinger Common, followed by a marquee reception in ‘Bert the Farmer’s Field’ in Dorking.

Over to Emily to tell us more…

A SUZANNE NEVILLE, SASSI HOLFORD COMBO

I chose the Suzanne Neville Botticelli dress with a Sassi Holford lace jacket over the top. I had been completely anti wearing a strapless dress as I was getting married in church, but Emma convinced me to try the Botticelli and I just knew straight away that I had to have the dress!

I remember putting it on for the first time and thinking ‘wow, this is awesome’. I’d tried on lots of other dresses and said I felt like a princess. This dress? I felt a million dollars.

The first time I tried ‘my’ dress on I felt like I couldn’t move in it as I was so scared of damaging it! However I was very quickly very comfortable swanning around the chapel, and it was so easy to wear on the day – yes, I even ran through a corn field in it!

DRESS SHOPPING

I’d actually gone to try on a different ‘the one’ and when I put it on I just didn’t get the feeling I thought I should. Three of my bridesmaids and my mum were with me and they all said it was nice but agreed it probably wasn’t ‘the one’ anymore. Emma said that I’d ‘grown’ as a bride (not physically!!) and she wanted me to try something more daring. That’s when she brought out the Suzanne Neville. I put it on, walked out and they all said YES. That is definitely the one!

My favourite think about dress shopping was the chapel and the wonderful girls who work there. I’m not a particularly girly girl so I’m not very good at wearing pretty (and expensive!) dresses – I’m far more comfortable in a pair of jeans and a jumper. However, from the minute we stepped into the chapel, I felt comfortable, relaxed and SO excited to be there. I also loved that I could tell Emma the sort of image I had in my mind and what our wedding was going to be like and she then worked with that to help me find the right dress. She was really honest with me as well when she said things wouldn’t work; it’s always good to have an expert on hand!

STYLING

My style was very traditional I would say. I’m quite fortunate in that I’m tall and ‘bean-pole’ like so I could get away with a figure hugging dress – I always had a feeling I wouldn’t go for a big dress. The Botticelli is very simple in detail so the wow factor came from the shape. The Sassi Holford lace jacket added a little bit of detail and sparkle but complemented the dress really nicely too. Jo added on the beautiful ribbon to it so it lay over the top of the ribbon on the dress and seamlessly fitted them together. I then had a beautiful waterfall veil which was the same length as my train – I absolutely loved it when it all came together!

I wore a pair of Rainbow Club shoes that were again very simple. As we were having our reception in a field, I certainly wasn’t about to wear a pair of stilettos!

I accessorised the look with some gysophelia in my hair, some pearl earrings my godparents bought me for my 18th (something old) and a diamond bracelet my mum leant me (something borrowed). Jim also gave me a gorgeous silver bracelet with the date and my new initials engraved onto it, so I wore that on the other wrist too.

A TRADITIONAL COUNTRYSIDE WEDDING

Our day was very British and a typical country wedding. Ever since I was a bridesmaid at the age of 3, I’d wanted to get married in a church opposite a pub. My dad had been best man at the time and I love watching the wedding video back and seeing my dad and the groom pulling pints before the wedding, and all of the guests meeting up there beforehand for a quick drink. So when we moved to Dorking and stumbled across The Abinger Hatch, opposite St James’ Church, I said to Jim, “this is where we’re going to get married” (we weren’t even engaged at this point…!) So, three years later my dream became reality and it was PERFECT.

The church service was very traditional and really lovely – we sang hymns that everyone knew, had a selection of religious and non-religious readings and the church bells rang as the choir sang us out of the church.

At the field, our reception was very classic country wedding. We had a traditional style marquee which, as the weather was gorgeous, we were able to take the sides off so we could see the stunning view of Ranmore Common. We decorated the site with flowers my mum had been lovingly growing, watering and dead-heading for months at home and we had made lots of signs and garden games as well.

We had 16 bell tents at the far end of the field with a fire pit surrounded by straw bales, we had Chinese hats (in case of rain, but actually very useful for shade!) with strawbales and oak barrels underneath, and we had rustic wooden cable reels which worked as bar tables.

There was certainly a lot of Pinterest at our wedding but hey, if you like what you see, why not take the ideas!

We were so lucky with finding our field that the stunning views really helped turn it into a little magical pocket of fun down in the valley of Ranmore.

As our flat looks out onto Ranmore, it just felt right having that as our view. We wanted to keep the wedding as local and about us as we could, so Jim had brewed his ‘I-Do Brew’ beer using hops from just down the road, our favours were Sloe Gin using sloes from the field, our caterers are based in Dorking and have a coffee shop a stones throw from our flat, and the field we hired off a local farmer. It was exactly what we wanted!

THE BEST BITS

I honestly don’t think I could pinpoint an exact moment. It was all absolutely incredible, but I mean what else do you expect when you have all of your nearest and dearest there to celebrate the marriage of you and the love of your life?! From the moment I woke up to the moment we went to bed (yes, it was light when we finally made it into the bell tent…) I was absolutely buzzing and just had a permanent grin plastered across my face!

ADVICE FROM THE BRIDE

Enjoy it. In fact don’t enjoy it, absolutely love every single minute. Jim and I had a blast planning ours and if we could do it all over again, we would! Yes, there were slightly stressful times but just remind yourself why you are planning it and trust me, it’ll be worth it in the end. Also don’t let it become all consuming – take time out, go and have fun and remember why you are getting married.

Go to Miss Bush, listen to their advice and when they bring out something you think ‘no that’s completely not what I want’ just go for it – it will probably be the perfect dress for you. It was for me! 🙂