Real Wedding: Vintage England

I can’t believe its been almost a year since my sister Tracy got married… I traveled to England two weeks prior to the big day to help her with all the last minute details and to gather all the decor for the wedding. My sister wanted something that felt appropriate to the reception space and we talked about a color palette of soft blues, bits of lavender, and cream. I threw out the ideal of Toile which is that perfect shade of blue/grey and definitely had that old world elegance. Once we had that piece decided on, I ordered fabric and had my linen vendor make a runner for the head table and napkins for all the guests.

I brought the menus, linens & napkins, and a suitcase full of floral supplies with me (TSA was a big fan I’m sure). Tracy and I bought containers ranging from old tea sets, to old trophies, to vintage biscuit tins from flea markets and antique stores. I sourced flowers from the London Flower Market (I used Alagar, who were easy to work with and delivered the flowers directly to my sister’s house) and I ordered  garden roses from David Austin.

For seating cards, we found a vintage letterpress drawer to tuck the cards into. My mom was kind enough to write them all out, since I elected her as having the prettiest hand writing. The menus are from Wedding Paper Divas. I accented them with Italian paper from Paper Source and a “R” seal for Ryan (the groom’s last name). I got the seal and the wax from Letter Seals. My sister made the majority of the seals which we dubbed “Ryan money” since they looked like copper pennies.

Of course, what would an English wedding be without many proper pints? My dad, up top making friends with the groom’s family, and myself, after finishing setup.

There was much laughter and love that night, the two families with extremely different backgrounds came together and crushed many a pint. Above, my sister with my dad, below Tracy and I with the two bridesmaids, Lisa, my sister’s BF, and our cousin Jocelyn sharing a moment right after toasts.

My sister’s first dance was adorable… She chose “At Last” by Etta James which was fitting. They met in Australia while both were back packing and working… Mark is from England (though ethnically Irish) and she was an American… After much world trotting back and forth and going through the immigration process to get into the UK, it was nice to simply celebrate their new lives together.

I was absolutely in love with the adorable cake my sister designed with Georgina’s Cakes. The bride and groom figurines are sitting on a rucksack with a map and book saying Australia in reference to how they met. It was so much fun to get to spend time hanging out with my sister and her husband and seeing how happy they are. Congrats you too!!!

*And where is ceremony you might ask? It’s up on Snippet & Ink right here. Go look, the bride & groom photos are adorable! And I’m a big, big fan of the UK tradition’s of a confetti toss.

**And a very special thank you to the amazing Kirsten at Beaux Arts Photographie for coming all the way to London to shoot my sister’s wedding!

*** You can see more about my adventures in London right here, here, here and here.