Adventures in Ye Olde England- Part 1

I went to England for my sister’s wedding, Tracy, (she’s married a Brit, hence the location) but of course I couldn’t not design and plan her wedding. She did most of the leg work there, sorting out the venues for ceremony and rehearsal and booking most of the vendors on her own. I brought a photographer from LA, Kirsten of Beaux Arts Photographie to shoot the wedding. I packed one suitcase full of custom napkins, a runner, floral supplies, craft punches, paper, various forms of glue, ribbon, basically anything I could pack, I did. I landed on a Friday and the following day was her hen do (aka her Bachelorette). We drank Pimm’s Cups and danced to the Spice Girls.

Monday: I checked out her reception location so I can start figuring out what kind of containers to buy and how many. After that we went fascinator shopping at Oxford Circus and then hit up Top Shop. I got some awesome black oxford heels there, the shoe department is freaking huge and fabulous.

Tuesday: We went to Covent Garden Flower Market and figured out a flower purveyor (Alagar). I also ordered garden roses direct from David Austin (both vendors were very pleasant to work with).

From there we happened upon an architectural salvage store, Brunswich House, accross the street from the flower market. It was way too much fun in there, vintage hardware, old children toys, serious period clothing, awesome books, dollhouse furniture and so on. If you’re in the area definitely make a stop there.

After that we ran over to Sunbury Antique Market at Kempton Park Racecourse which is open the last Tuesday of every month. The website says its closes at 2pm, but it in fact closes at 12pm. We got there at 12:30pm and did a speed antiquing job second to none. In 45 minutes, we bought 25 containers for the wedding. There were swords, knights’ masks, (still regret not buying one, especially since they were asking only 55 pounds!) amazing furniture, I mean seriously, even half closed it was the best antique market I’ve ever been to and the prices were really good. We got a ton of awesome tarnished silver pieces, mostly from the 1890’s, goblets, these awesome brass urns that I’m totally obsessed with and which I lugged back in my suitcase.

Wednesday: We hit up the hardware store and got buckets for flowers, I found an awesome tool belt thingie, and of course, the most exciting plant ever: a venus fly trap. For 4 pounds, we had to bring her home.

All photos by me and my crappy cell phone camera.