After months of postponements and uncertainty, Hayley and Ian were married in Italy last Autumn, at an idyllic villa in Tuscany. The day was relaxed, intimate and romantic, with delicious food, chic styling and beautiful scenery.

Hayley's dress was a brilliant example of how you can tailor an existing dress and really make it your own. Starting with Jesus Peiro style 166, Hayley chose to have it made in a stunning dotty taffeta fabric, adjusting the hemline for a 1950's feel. A former ballet dancer, Hayley accessorised with the most beautiful Swan Lake inspired feather headpiece, lovingly made by her mum.

Read on to see more from this beautiful, intimate wedding day...

Jesus Peiro 166 wedding dress

I told Emma what I was looking for but she asked me who I was, what kind of person I wanted to be, how I felt about myself and she buttoned me into the Jesus Piero 166 dress that was meant for me. Jo then helped me customise the shape to create my dream dress. I knew what look I was searching for and Jesus Piero was me all over! There were a couple of styles we narrowed it down to but I knew that the high neckline, the modern  crossover back and the traditional full skirt suited my shape just perfectly. We then added a few tweaks to give it some extra chic drama.

I knew I only needed to bring my mum with me to find the dress. She is both a trained seamstress and the only person who knows my style, taste and what suits me best. We are both very practical people, we shop with each other all the time, once managed a full 10 hours at Bicester village together. I wasn't waiting for a 'tears in their eyes' 'this is the one' moment - I just knew it when had a great feeling of strength and certainty. Because the dress I was trying on in the chapel wasn't exactly the dress I was ordering, I had to imagine it in a different fabric and with a different hemline. So I didn't actually see 'the dress'' for 11 months (between ordering and my first fitting).

Dress Shopping

My favourite part of the shopping experience was actually the Jesus Piero 2020 collection launch party. It was fabulous being able to go to the event and see all of the dresses on live models, in motion and styled in so many fabulous ways that really elevated the whole experience. The evening felt like the great vintage salon catwalks of Dior and Balenciaga and I just knew that this designer was who I would wear down the aisle.

Of course, being a 2020 bride my experience like so many others was - rocky. We started planning our wedding in May 2018 and as we knew we wanted to get married in Italy, we immediately hired the incredible wedding planner Emily Stoner.

And when the pandemic hit, we already had everything planned and ready for our September Italian dream wedding. And then, it all stopped. Months went by with tears, tantrums, and then we just decided to wait. Emma and the team were perfect. The last thing we wanted was to be bombarded with emails of false promises of 'it will all be fine'. We actually couldn't even talk about our wedding for around 4 months in our house. Emma's emails and phone calls were all focused, realistic and genuinely heartfelt. We all were going through something unfathomable and we were all doing it together. And through a series of small windows / opportunities and luck, we actually managed to squeeze it all in and pull it all off.

Styling

The dress was made with a spotted texture taffeta and satin fabric which just shone perfectly in the Italian sun and the front hem Jo altered to a high low length, as I wanted to replicate the classic silhouette of the vintage ballgowns of the 1950's. It was perfect and my shoes peeked out perfectly.
One of there more unusual accessories I had was my white jewelled face mask. I didn't actually need it as the wedding was all outside but it was good for some pictures. It would be a shame not to acknowledge the year we battled to get there.

But the best accessory by far was the hairpiece that my mum made. As I used to dance ballet, an iconic favourite feature of mine is the white feather headpiece worn in swan lake. This started my endless scrolling through Pinterest, where I found the royal wedding outfit of Sofia Palazuelo. She had the most stunning feather headpiece. So mum went to work with wire, millinery mesh and 150 white feathers and created a delicately stunning piece of art. As one of the main reasons I wanted the high low hem was so that you could see my shoes!! I specifically wanted a kitten heel (because I wanted my height next Ian to be true) It was a very long search to find the perfect glass slipper. But I ended up with the most fabulous shoes in the world, a pair of Mui Mui crystal embellished slingbacks. Comfortable, chic and unforgettable.

A romantic Tuscan villa wedding

Our wedding took place at a private rustic tuscan villa in Greve in Chianti, in Italy. The villa, Terre di Baccio was able to accommodate our guests on site and the owner, Ilaria, looked after us as if we were old family friends. She took every precaution needed to make us all feel safe and was professional and flexible working around the restrictions in place at the time. It was totally gorgeous, with it's quirky Native American interior styling and loads of fresh produce grown on site and all of the wine from it's own vineyard. We had fresh pastries delivered from the village every morning and took regular dips in the pool to cool off and calm down.

The guests all arrived the day before and the small group of us all ate freshly made pizza and drank wine from the vineyard together getting to know each other. A couple of us had fuzzy heads on the morning of the wedding but we had until 4 to get fresh faced and ready. The sun was shining and we were all out hanging lights, making fresh coffee and Emily and her team were lugging all the tables and chairs up to the garden.

We had almost no flowers because both Ian and I were set on surrounding our guests in the natural beauty of the villa. It needed no dressing up at all. Just some wonderful music provided by Enry and Frencesco on their guitars and some strong Aperol Spritz. I walked down the aisle with my dad to Led Zeppelin's Bron y Aur and then danced into the morning wearing a handmade white silk jumpsuit so that I could really get moving.

The best bits

I honestly couldn't single out one favourite part of the day, but what I was looking forward to most was actually the incredible Italian dinner that our fantastic caterers La Terrazza cooked for us. The Chianti soaked beef was everyones favourite and the collective orgasmic noise from the dinner table made everyone laugh. They also specially baked a gluten free Italian wedding Mille-feuille cake which was to die for! Spending the whole weekend with my loved ones was everything we wanted and we savoured every second, and every bite.

Hayley's Advice

Do exactly what you want! We only invited the people we couldn't get married without and we planned everything around what makes us happy. Don't fork out hundreds on people you feel you have to invite and things you think you need to have. It is your party, make sure you enjoy it.

Finding your dress should be the same. I don't believe there is 'one dress' that will just be yours, there are so many you will look amazing in.

Don't take everyone along to find your dress. Trust your instincts, all that matters is that you feel amazing! If you feel great, can sit comfortably, can eat your fantastic food and dance wildly with your friends, that dress is for you.

Don't be too precious about the little things. This year has shown us what is really important. You are marrying your soul mate, list out the 3 really important things for your big day, as long as they happen, everything else you add on is a lucky bonus. Small weddings are fantastic!! Less time going round saying 'hello, thank you for coming' and more time laughing, dancing, singing and celebrating.

We were very lucky with our wedding, being in Italy in the exact 2 weeks that the pandemic subsided enough to make it safe for our friends and family to come together. We already had a small guest list but I think that we learned what to let go of and what not to give up on. If you still want to keep your full dream wedding alive, be patient - we aren't going anywhere. Hold on to what is most important.

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