An Leafy Headpiece and Claire Pettibone Gown for a Tuscan Wedding
Hello bridal beauties! I’m so excited to finally be able to share this day with you, a union over two years in the making, and it also just so happens to be the wedding of a lovely lady I call a friend. Bride Emily and I first met at the fabulous launch of Halfpenny London’s 2017 collection at the über-swanky Ritz hotel; she blogging for Love My Dress, me adorning the stunning models with my sparkle alongside Kate’s divine designs. It’s safe to say Emily and I clicked – two Yorkshire lasses still finding our feet in London and the wonderful world of weddings.
Fastforward to the present day - a LOT of mate dates stuffing our faces with pizza, an infamously tipsy Uber ride after her hen do, spreading the Tilly Thomas Lux love together at A Most Curious Wedding Fair – this is a girl after my own heart. Fair warning, the images I’m about to share with you, beautifully captured by Amy Shore Photography, might incite some strong feelings of wanderlust and a sudden desire to eat ALL the pasta.
Emily wed her love Lawrence in rural Tuscany on 17th June surrounded by olive trees, sunshine and their closest friends and family. The tiny mountaintop village where the groom’s parents live played host to their bi-lingual ceremony, a blessing at the stunning sanctuary church, and finally an evening of feasting (I’m not joking, there were 5 courses), drinking and dancing in the olive grove in Lawrence’s parent’s garden. I’m hungry already. Let’s start with a little insight into what inspired this lovely pair’s Italian nuptials.
“From the moment Lawrence proposed in Copenhagen on my 25th birthday, in bed with a really terrible cup of tea, there was absolutely no question of where we would hold our wedding. We both love his parent’s hometown in Italy – its sense of family, community, and its staggering beauty – and we knew we wanted a day that was relaxed, fun and true to us. Our nuptials were authentically Italian with some modern, simple twists – all about delicious local food, great music and everyone having a really good time. We saw our wedding first and foremost as a celebration that belonged not just to us, but to every single person that was there with us.”
Every inch the Italian bride, Emily chose a stunningly detailed, lace-layered dress by Claire Pettibone, with a beautiful open back. The flowing silken skirt was set off perfectly by a delicate eyelash-lace edged veil and a pair of pretty flat satin pumps, crowned regally with an opaline, leafy headpiece inspired by the olive grove where the couple held their reception. I so love that Emily wore her piece both as a traditional headband, and then after she removed her veil, styled it backwards above her relaxed up-do.
“The second I met Sally and very quickly realised she was one of the single most talented, humble, genuinely kind human beings on this planet, I knew I wanted to be a Tilly Thomas Lux bride. After our fateful meeting at the Halfpenny launch at the Ritz, Sally and I met in a park near Embankment station to look over the beautiful mood board she’d created – a plethora of leafy motifs and delicately twinkling stones – I fell for the very first idea she showed me.”
“I’m not a huge fan of sparkle, but I knew I wanted a leafy headpiece with a subtle shine to wear with my veil. Sally suggested a beautifully intricate yet stunningly simple combination of glistening gold leaves and twinkling grey opals, and I loved it so much I asked her to create a headband and some delicate hair pins to wear in my hair. My darling friend also surprised me with a beautifully simple pair of opal stud earrings, which I wore to our pre-wedding dinner.”
“Sally seems to know what you’re thinking before you even know yourself. She makes you feel safe, pampered and unique like it’s second nature. And with Sally it really is, she’s a genuinely incredible person. The incredible care that goes into each and every piece she creates is astounding – Sally is a designer who truly adores her craft and relishes working with the most beautiful materials.”
Emily and I came to realise we had a shared love of all things mythical, magical and divine – beating angelic wings and heavenly constellations, powerful goddesses and fleeting nymphs. The laurel wreath crowns of Greek mythology were a source of inspiration for both of us in designing her bespoke headpiece and pins, coupled with the image of a lace-wearing Dolce and Gabbana bride with a long veil perched high on her head.
“There were so many special moments during the day, which I’m eternally grateful were captured on camera by the immensely talented Amy Shore. My dad walking into my bedroom and having to turn around and walk back outside to stop the tears, seeing Lawrence’s smile and his eyes glistening as I walked down the aisle towards him, my mum crying freely during my speech (in the Italian part too, which she couldn’t understand a word of!), slipping away from the dinner table with my husband for some photographs in the golden Tuscan sunlight with the chatter of our guests floating on the summer air, our first dance where the rest of the world simply slipped away and it was just us two swaying under the stars, looking down from the terrace at our guests dancing to Arctic Monkeys and lighting the night with sparklers…”
“…and a moment that will stay with me forever from our wedding morning; the moment I realised it was all happening for real, after an 800-day engagement, I was about to marry the love of my life…the moment I lifted my leafy crown and secured it atop my veil and stopped to look in the mirror at this person, this bride, who was somehow me – still the same person I’ve always been, but somehow a person who was about to change irrevocably, forever.”
I love my job. I thank my lucky stars on a daily basis that I can call my craft and my passion my career, and it’s stories like this and brides like Emily that make the aching fingers, the strained eyes, the self-doubt and the hard work worth it a million fold. I really cannot express how much working with my brides inspires and invigorates me, how much genuine pleasure I get from getting to know so many incredible women.
I’m off to eat my body weight in pizza and ice cream (rude not to really, after writing about this Italian dream), and then to get back to my studio and immerse myself in glistening metals and shimmering jewels, pausing occasionally to daydream of golden Tuscan sunsets and the gentle swish of bowed olive trees…
With love and sparkle,
Sally x
