Emily and Jon were married in May, at the idyllic Euridge Manor in Wiltshire. The day was a classically elegant country house wedding with personal, thoughtful touches to make their day extra special. The styling focused on beautiful floral arrangements and natural details, with Cornish elements mixed in as a nod to the couples love for Cornwall.

Emily wore Suzanne Neville's striking Penny wedding dress, from the 2022 Nova bridal collection. Penny is a stunning gown, featuring a unique folded bodice with strapless v-neck, above a wrap skirt with split. Emily styled her look with soft romantic curls and a romantic veil, finished with bold emerald green mules from Manolo Blahnik which worked wonderfully with the split skirt.

Find out more about Emily and Jon's day below, with words by Emily.

A Suzanne Neville wedding dress

I chose Suzanne Neville, Penny.  Ahead of my search for a dress I'd always said I didn't want a strapless dress (imagining I would have to be 'hefting it up' over my boobs all day) when selecting my top dresses to try in my trial at Miss Bush it was very much my 'wild-card'. I thought it was far too glamourous/girlie for me (I'm quite a halter neck/dress with boots kind of girl!) but couldn't resist trying it!

When I put on Penny, I felt INCREDIBLE. The structure of the bodice held me in a way that felt so special and elegant, but not overly formal - and appropriately sexy! I adored the geo-cut of the bodice which was so different and forward from the many sweetheart necklines in strapless dresses I'd seen before, the way it framed my shoulders and waist, and, having curvy hips, the gorgeous fullness of the skirt made me feel so comfortable. The fabulous slit in Penny was an added bonus as it allowed so much movement in the full skirt, plus having actually chosen my green (!) shoes before even looking at dresses, was a great opportunity for them to make a statement!

Dress Shopping

I was lucky enough to be accompanied to Miss Bush with my mum and my sister. Whilst we all tweak our style slightly differently from one-another, we all adore each others style and taste, and are extremely close. Although I chose my choice of dresses to try based on my style and what I wanted, it was really important to me they felt how I felt when I found 'the' dress and Penny delivered! The previous beautiful dresses I tried, there was lots of "Oh that's gorgeous, you look beautiful etc". When I put on Penny - I think even I may have started crying as Emma finished dressing me in her - I stepped out and they were speechless. We all just looked at other and welled up!! They immediately knew how I felt and totally felt 'it' too!

In terms of my favourite parts of my dress shopping experience  I have two, in a chronological order!1) Arriving at the Chapel and meeting Emma who had read my pre-questionnaire (unlike every other vendor I had visited) and understood me, I already felt Miss Bush was vested in MY best interests. Emma read me so well, recommending other dresses to try I hadn't initially chosen which were so to my taste, and allowing me the time to take everything in. It was a true experience and not a sales appointment. It was dedicated to me trying new things and finding something I loved. An understanding and assurance that this was a whole new world trying on bridal dresses.2) My fittings - Jo, what can I say. She is incredible. Having fittings, stripping off and having measurements is quite daunting but Jo was just so amazing. Reading my mind on things I felt with the fitting of the dress I couldn't articulate, Jo read my mind! I didn't want the dress to be too low and have too much cleavage on show and Jo totally read my mind and restructured the bodice to be just perfect. Confiding in Jo during my fittings I was struggling to find my 'something blue', she even stitched in a beautiful blue bow within my dress. She made sure I was 100% happy before leaving every fitting and ensured my dress was mine. It was incredibly special, I cannot thank her enough.

I felt a huge pressure in wedding dress shopping to find the dress which will make me look/feel like the most incredible I have ever been before, when I have never tried on such formal, couture style, WHITE, 'big', dresses. Every other boutique I visited prior to Miss Bush felt very transactional, without my interests  being priority and more towards making 'the sale'. Not even taking the care to try and make the sample sizes fit me or style me. As I mentioned above and sorry to repeat but - arriving at the Chapel and meeting Emma who had read my pre-questionnaire (unlike every other vendor I had visited) and understood me, I already felt Miss Bush was vested in MY best interests. Emma read me so well, recommending other dresses to try I hadn't initially chosen which were so to my taste, and allowing me the time to take everything in. It was a true experience and not a sales appointment. It was dedicated to me trying new things and finding something I loved. An understanding and assurance that this was a whole new world trying on bridal dresses.

Styling

I chose a long veil which I adored - I always thought I didn't want a veil, but when I tried it, it felt so special and right!I knew I wanted a fab shoe I would wear again, so fell in love with my Emerald Green Manolo Blahnik 'Lutara' mules with a bit of bling!I wanted modern and elegant jewellery to pair with Penny and after lots of searching, felt very special for my 'something borrowed' to have my mum's Boodles Roulette earrings and bracelet.

About the Day

We wanted to make sure our day was really personal to us and our friends and family - and we love a party! Rather than giving each guest an order of service, order of the day, table-plan and menu; we made a newspaper with everything in it!

One of our inspirations was Cornwall, it is where we got engaged and where us and our families spend many years making amazing memories. We wanted to made sure we brought that to Wiltshire; so named every table a bay from Polzeath (where we stay with Jon's dad and step-mum) to Mawgan Porth (where Em's grandparents first took her Dad) and used Porthilly (a beach in Rock, where Em's family now stay, and our dog 'Tilly' is named after) oyster shells as our name places. Laughter, food, drink and amazing music were our priorities, and being able to host at a venue like Euridge was just so perfect. Being in May (and so lucky with the weather) the gardens at Euridge are so beautiful, with the Wisteria blooming , we kept our colour scheme very neutral with tones of white and gold. We were married at the boathouse, with guests looking over the water, and our reception in the beautiful topiary gardens. After years of buying flowers for special occasions, we knew and felt local florist, Ronny Colbie would create beautiful floral arrangement and bouquets' for us.

Our wedding breakfast was held in the ballroom. One our best friends, Owen, was our amazing MC, introduced each speech with a backing soundtrack. My Dad's (lifelong Liverpool supporter) Father of the Brides speech was introduced with "You"ll Never Walk Along" with hidden scarves and flags waved by all our guests!

Cocktail hour after dinner during sunset was so wonderful followed by our amazing girl band, Trapstars!

The best bits

Dancing all night with your best friends to our amazing band was definitely a highlight! But, I never thought I would say this, I loved our actual ceremony. I thought I would be so conscious of being watched by so many people, and just want to get the formalities done so we could socialise and party. But actually, being in the moment with just yourself, partner and our fabulous ceremony leader, making our vows to one another was incredibly special. Our wonderful friend Madelaine, and Jon's sister Rachel gave such beautiful readings. I forgot everyone else around us watching whilst making our promises to one another, with our mums as our witnesses, it was truly special.

Emily's Advice

Words of wisdom: 1) Go with an open mind when trying dresses and don't be afraid to try styles you think won't suit you. Don't put the pressure on yourself to find 'the one' at your first/second/third visit or feel you don't have that "say yes to the dress" cliche moment. You will know when you try 'your' dress. 2) Enjoy the process and planning. It's so exciting getting everything ready and so sad when it's all over, so enjoy the excitement, planning and build up, don't make it stressful and put pressure on yourself3) Remember YOU - as long as your guests are fed, watered and have a tune to dance to, they're fine. Focus on yourself and partner, and what you want from the day and how you want to feel. Invest in yourself before the day, take a couple of days of prior to plan, prep and relax.4) If you hire a dry hire venue, get a wedding day manager. One of the best things we ever did. They will be your fairy wed-mother and manage everything on the day so you can just enjoy yourselves!

This entry was posted in Our Brides and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.