The magnificent Bignor Park provided the perfect romantic backdrop for Emma and Dave's beautiful South Downs wedding, with Emma looking radiant in her Jesus Peiro 906 wedding dress in dotty taffeta.
View the full gallery of images by Nicki Feltham below, and read on to find out more about Emma's Jesus Peiro wedding dress.
Jesus Peiro 906 dotty taffeta wedding dress
I chose the Jesus Peiro 906 in spotty taffeta. I went to my first Miss Bush appointment with an open mind and loved a number of the beautiful dresses i tried on. But the 906 with its classic crisp silhouette and sports luxe spotty textured fabric was the dress that stuck in my mind from day 1...
A second appointment 2 months later confirmed my suspicions that this creation was made for me and I ordered it in the Jesus Peiro trunk show Made to Measure offer.
I loved how the dress had so much more to it than you saw at a first glance; elegant and simple but full-on dots under closer viewing, and the contrasting combination of a casual sporty fabric on a glamorous puddle train dress with very clean lines.
Both the fabric and cut made it a showstopper. And gosh the fit was millimetre perfect. All eyes were on me and my dress all day and I didn’t want to ever take it off.
Dress Shopping
My mum and my sister came to my first appointment. With my poor sister tasked with doing some sketches to try and remind me which dresses I had tried on! It’s amazing how many I forgot I had tried just hours after the appointment.
The 906 definitely stood out at the time and I lingered in it but no one whooped with joy or cried (I later teased my mum about this) as they were all beautiful dresses thanks to the carefully curated selection at Miss Bush.
But when I tried it on for a second time and told my mum that this was It, she cried on cue, there were hugs all round and I had the biggest grin on my face.
I loved dress shopping. But it was bloody knackering at times. I’d come home from a couple 1-hour appointments and need a nap after so much critical evaluation. My favourite part was first getting into some dresses in the chapel. There was no doubt at that point what was happening -shit had just got real!
Styling
I wanted to experiment with styling throughout the day. For the ceremony and reception I wore a long light veil that covered my train and some cute Monica Vinader jacket earrings.
Then for the evening I glammed it up and accessorised with a custom-made Bush black satin belt and statement black and gold drop earrings. Rosie was great at giving styling advice (even offering me her own earrings to try) and I loved being able to change my look in just one minute - even some of the guys at the wedding noticed that “something was different”.
I wore an Agnes Walker blush-coloured pansy comb hairpiece which was beautiful and perfectly suited the summer garden wedding. And I kept the Spanish and sports luxe vibes going with some white wedge espadrilles from Dune which I danced the night away in.
A beautiful South Downs wedding
We got married in the beautiful gardens of Bignor Park, with stunning vistas over the South Downs, near to where I grew up.
We wanted our wedding to be laid back, with a few surprises and just provide the opportunity to have fun with our favourite people.
We had an amazing string quartet (The Bossard Quartet) who played requests and I walked down the aisle to Daft Punk’s “Digital Love” which is mine and Dave's favourite song and I left as a surprise for him on the day.
I wanted to have statement flowers that everyone would notice and could not have been happier with the bouquets, buttonholes and arrangements that were put together by my amazing bridesmaid Nic, her Mum Kate and the incredible floral extraordinaire Jane Scott.
We wanted our guests to be well entertained during the reception, so we had a crazy golf course (provided by Altitude Events) which was great fun whilst sipping on Cremant - especially when being the bride means everyone has to let you win! We’re both rather sporty so it was a good way to incorporate that into our day. Continuing that theme, The Naked Food Company served up some delicious food, including mini pies and mini pints for the canapés. Being hockey players, pints are a regular feature on our Saturdays!
The Best Bits
I absolutely loved getting ready in the morning with my girlies and mum. It was such a special time to share together and we had such a giggle. Another highlight was being caught in a confetti downpour with my new husband as we walked back down the aisle which was hilarious. Turns out you can definitely over-order confetti and we spent the first 15 minutes as newlyweds picking it out of each other’s hair and clothes! (Confetti shots look damn good though so no regrets there)
In fact, I could describe every minute of the day as a different highlight. But an unexpected favourite part of the day was the speeches. To have all of our nearest and dearest all smiling, crying and laughing along as one in the beautiful quadrangle was an amazing scene. It would be fair to say that I didn’t have any particular expectations for the speeches and that they all wowed me. My friends still talk about how my dad made them cry...twice. I don’t think Dave’s best man has yet forgiven him for calling him a “fucking potato”...And, Luckily for Dave, his best man had insufficient time to do a redraft of his generous and heart-warming speech!
Emma's Advice
You may have found ‘the one’ person to share the rest of your life with but I don’t think there is ‘the one’ perfect wedding. My advice would be to embrace that there if are many variations of what your perfect wedding could be like and unfortunately you won’t be able to realise them all, so don’t get any fear over missing out on alternative choices. So stop scrolling the seemingly infinite world of Pinterest when you find something you love and don’t get too hung up on decisions over things you’d be equally happy with. You’ll end up with your perfect wedding regardless of whether you have a doughnut wall or profiterole tower (or both!).
Suppliers
Photography: Nicki Feltham
Venue: Bignor Park
Caterer: The Naked Food Company
Hair: Natasha Chanel
Make-up: Amy from Kristina Gasperas
Florist: Jane Scott Flowers with help from Nicola and Kate Phillips
Bridesmaid Dresses: Ted Baker
Mini Golf: Altitude Events
Hairpiece: Agnes Walker Jewellery
String Quartet: The Bossard Quartet
Accommodation: The Angel Inn
Cake: Foxwood Wedding Cakes
Props/Bar hire: The Toast
Marquee: South Downs Marquees
Groom's suit: Reiss
Confetti: Shropshire Petals
Table plan flower pot stand: Richardsons opposite Miss Bush in Ripley!