Today’s post features Miss Bush bride Felicity wearing her gorgeous Sassi Holford Georgia wedding dress for her wedding to her husband Nathan at the stunning Woodlands Park Hotel in Cobham, Surrey.
The Dress
Felicity chose Sassi Holford Georgia, a beautiful wedding dress with sweetheart neckline, patterned full skirt and pretty sweetheart neckline, finished with a big bow belt.
Felicity tells us about her dress shopping experience;
“Although I didn’t think I had a clue what I wanted to wear, after talking to Emma it became clear that I really loved heavy satin fabrics and clean structured lines. She immediately pointed me towards Jesus Peiro, which I adored! I loved every dress I put on and we eventually narrowed it down to two dresses. We agreed to let me sleep on it and come back again to pick between those two dresses.”
“When I walked into the shop for a second time, greeted by Emma, I noticed a dress on display on the mannequin. Mum and I looked at each other and then back at the dress, like in the films, and then I said to mum “Oh my god I love that dress!!!” Mum replied with “That’s the dress Fee” before even seeing it on.
Emma quickly whipped it off the mannequin and put me into it and I fell in love right there!!! It was not the dress I had gone in for and wasn’t even the designer I was looking for but it was exactly what I wanted.”
To keep the whole experience stress free and intimate, Felicity chose to take just her mum to her dress shopping appointments and fittings.
“My mum is my best friend and I knew she would give me the opinion that is brutally honest above all others but would also have the power to make me feel incredible if she felt it was the dress I loved. To be truthful she loved every dress on me but she also understood my vision perfectly. When I came out in my Sassi Holford dress her expression changed and she was beaming. She was like “yep Fee that’s the one!” I never had any doubts after that moment!”
“I loved every aspect of dress shopping and wouldn’t have wanted to do it anywhere other than Miss Bush. Less than a year before I brought my dress, my sister had also brought her dress from Miss Bush. It was evident from the moment that you walked in that there was a brilliant range of carefully selected dresses which had be chosen for their uniqueness and with a fashion forward eye rather than a warehouse of hundreds of very similar dresses.
Emma listened carefully to what I believed I wanted and then steered me in the direction of dresses that matched that criteria and a couple of wild cards she wanted to throw at me for fun! As I tried on each dress she listened to what I liked and then chose the next selection based on previous comments. I also loved having the chapel to myself! It was the perfect intimate setting we were looking for and made me feel relaxed enough to have my own opinions. ”
Felicity accessorised her dress with a diamante Pronovias headband and a veil from The Couture Veil Company, along with rose gold jewellery to match her engagement ring. To finish off her look she added a glamorous pair of sparkly Jimmy Choo shoes.
About the Day
Fee and Nathan wanted an intimate, local, family day; they wanted it to be about them as a couple and didn’t want their personalities to get lost in the extravagance of an over the top elaborate wedding day.
“After we found the venue we quickly found a colour theme of Peach and light blue with hints of rose gold. I had always wanted a rose gold engagement ring and this now became a bit of a theme for the wedding. To keep it local we used a local venue, local dress shop, local flowers, local hair and make up. To keep it intimate we decided only to have 20 people each to the ceremony and to go with one of the smallest rooms in the venue. We wanted to look around and see just those we love rather than a group of people we felt obliged to invite. Keeping it super small made it easier to avoid other peoples disappointments.”
To keep things personal, Felicity and Nathan did lots of the work themselves and pulled in lots of favours from family and friends.
“We made, printed and posted all the stationery, made every favour, made all the place settings and planned every decoration on a strict budget buying wholesale where we could. My sister (The best maid of honour anyone could wish for) lovingly sprayed every single charger plate rose gold to go with our theme. To make sure it was all about us, we did all the decision making together and we personalised everything where we could. There was a personalised cake topper, personalised sweet bags for the sweet cart, small poems dotted around the venue which I had written and lots of collages of photos us everywhere. Nathan’s favourite desert is crumble so we made sure that was on the menu even though its more of a winter desert. To bring in the musical element of our day we chose to do a fingerprint picture instead of a guest book for our day guest. To incorporate the musical part Nath suggested making the finger prints the notes along a piece of music and we both loved the idea! It wasn’t until afterwards that I realised that the music he had chosen was the song he wrote and later performed for me! Keeping to those simple themes and ideas allowed us to create a very personal and intimate experience.”
“I know it seems cliche but the whole day went from one incredible moment to the next – it’s hard to separate them and chose one favourite moment. Starting with waking up with my bridesmaids and knowing it was my wedding day, putting my dress on and revealing it to my bridesmaids and dad, walking down the aisle, seeing Nathans face, seeing all our friends and family, hearing the speeches, cutting the cake and then also dropping into this huge four poster bed at the end of the night still dressed in our outfits and looking at each other and realising we were husband and wife! But my favourite part of the whole day was saying my vows. We decided straight away to write our now vows and I am so pleased we did. To stand there in front of our friends and family and speak the vows from our heart was a moment I will never forget. Also I couldn’t mention my favourite moment without describing that half way through the evening reception my new husband (who is a composer and a musician) surprised me by taking to the stage and performing a song he had written for me. To top it off he had gone to the effort of getting a full band to perform it and included all our friends and email (professional musicians) in the band. My father in law played the sax.”
Cherish the Dress
Felicity and Nathan had two photographers to capture their wedding; one on the day and afterwards for a special ‘Cherish the Dress’ shoot afterwards.
Felicity explains;
“After the wedding we got our photos back from our photographer Nicola Milns and we were absolutely thrilled. She captured the day in such a gorgeous way and we were surprised with amount she had been able to capture in such an eventful day. I decided that I wanted to frame one picture of my in my dress to put on the wall and began flicking through the images. Unfortunately in the busyness of the day there wasn’t an opportunity or time to take a photo that I felt capture the full beauty of my dress. I pondered on it for ages and chatted it through with my husband and family and then I decided that I wasn’t going to be happy unless I had that one photo which showed thereupon I fell in love with my dress. So it was at that point that I booked a ‘Cherish the Dress’ shoot. It seemed a bit extravagant but if you can’t be extravagant on your wedding then when can you be and also it was one more opportunity to put on my beautiful dress. “
“We found a photographer we loved who focused on more arty shoots and prepared for the day. I had my hair and make up done again and the hotel kindly let us come back and use the venue so it was almost like reliving it! Nath, always the supportive husband, was happy to support the idea but I think quietly though I was crazy but when we got to the day and we had a few hours of wandering around our venue just the two of us he confessed that actually he had loved it. I had wanted to do it straight away but due to work commitments etc the earliest we could do it was the 3rd July 2016 which meant that we were reliving it 3 months since the day we got married there. I was very clear with the photographer what I was looking for and she was amazing at working with us and making it an amazing experience. When we got the photos back we were both blown away and are soon glad I trusted my gut and did another shoot. When I talking to some of my recently married friend they all started to confess that they wish they had done the same thing but never got around to it!”
Final Words
Some final words of wedded wisdom from our bride, Felicity;
“When looking for your dream dress, be completely open minded, more honest than you may normally be about your opinion but ultimately trust your instinct! On the day of the wedding make sure you live in the moment and take in every second around you.”
Suppliers
Wedding Photographer: Nicola Milns
Cherish the Dress Photographer: Joanne Collins
Videographer: I Do Productions
Venue: Woodands Park Hotel Cobham
The dress: Sassi Holford Georgia at Miss Bush
Inclusive Flowers: Blomsters Bookham
Bridal Party Flowers and all additional flowers: Stevie at Dobbe’s Florist
Wedding Arch: The Perfect Peice
Wedding Cake: Homemade by Mummy Lynne Corbould!
***
Thank you so much to Fee and Nathan for sharing their beautiful images with us! We hope you’ve enjoyed seeing this lovely wedding and hearing all about Felicity’s wedding planning experience.
Leah x
Digital Media Manager at Miss Bush
Miss Bush is Surrey’s leading designer bridal shop
