A peaceful lakeside setting for a heartfelt ceremony, followed by a lavish marquee reception complete with feather centerpieces and a unique wedding cake, you are sure to be bowled over by the Gatsby inspired glamour of vintage loving couple Sarah & Adem’s fabulous 1920s Summer celebration…..

Married on the 8th of July 2017 at the quaint Mangapp Manor in rural England, the couples celebration abounds with Gatsby glamour in fresh shades of turquoise, but it couldn’t have been further from what they originally had planned for their big day! Beautiful bride Sarah is here to share all the details with us…..

“We were going to wed in Cyprus as Adem has family roots there, we even found a wedding planner and a venue we both really loved – the venue was a lovely fish restaurant with a pier going out over the sea! Unfortunately, after looking into the restrictions and requirements, this option proved just too difficult for us. I had set my heart on getting married over water though, so started looking at venues closer to home. After many failed Google searches we happened across Mangapp Manor . It was perfect for what we wanted as we would get to say our vows on a wonderful gazebo over a lake!

The 1920’s theme came after I was looking into wedding dresses. We both really like the style and elegance of the era and decided to embrace this fully, even asking guests to partake in our vision with their attire. Then, whilst looking for a wedding dress, I came across a lovely sequined art deco style dress in turquoise, it was chosen for my Maid of Honour and set the colour scheme for the day.”

“I chose not to have flowers for the wedding and I opted for more keepsakes bouquets for the day. Feathers featured highly in our vision, including feather centerpieces at our reception, so I made my own broach bouquet with touches of our turquoise colour and feathers. I also made a feather bouquet for my sister, along with feather wands for the young bridesmaids all with a hint of turquoise to tie in the overall look.”

“My dress is “Hope” from Phase Eight, I knew my dress was “the one” before I had even tried it on, in fact it set the whole vision for the day. It was the only dress I had tried on and fell in love with it as soon as I saw it.”

“Adem’s suit was purchased from Marks and Spencer, inspired by Savile Row and the groomsmen’s suits from Next. These all fit really well with our theme and had little 1920’s touches, such a relief to find something from the high street as we thought finding suits would be of the most difficult tasks of the wedding.”

“The Maid of Honours dress is a Joanna Hope art deco inspired dress and the two older maid’s dresses are from GatsbyLady London. The younger maid’s dresses are from MelissaJane Designs from the USA, these dresses worked out pretty costly due to shipping and customs costs but were simply a must have. Having such different ages (6 and 12) for the younger maids it was difficult to find a style of dress that fit both age and body shape, theses dresses worked perfectly!”

“Entertainment was top priority for us on the day, we wanted all our guests to enjoy every second and wanted the day to flow smoothly. The venue provided an array of lawn games for the reception drinks and we also booked a saxophone and singer duo from guest arrival, during the Ceremony and throughout reception drinks.  Sax and Honey were a huge help throughout the planning of the wedding helping us with ceremony song choices and reassuring us about the feel for the day and how they would keep to the Jazz feel. The evening DJ, Peter, was amazing, really helped the day and night run smoothly, he was very energetic and friendly getting everyone up on the dancefloor.”

“All wedding stationary, invites, RSVP cards, Name Place cards, Table numbers and Table plan were handmade by my maids and I.”

“As favours we had miniature Whiskey and vodka bottles with little “prohibition ends here” labels. We also put some of the labels around mini bottles of coffee syrups for the non-drinkers.”

“I can only describe the cake as a simple extravagance. The cake itself was a vanilla sponge, white iced two-tier cake with our invite template placed on the bottom tier with silver draped pearl beading around the top tier, quite a simple cake. We then added a 7-tier silver Ferrero Rocher cake topper, holding 120 silver wrapped Ferrero Rocher. This made the cake very unique and very big!”

“There is so much stress and worry surrounding wedding planning its sometimes so consuming. It seems like your trying to please everyone else and sometimes forget that it is about celebration the love you have for each other with your nearest and dearest. Be it a lavish extravagance or a small quiet ceremony, keep true to yourselves and what you want out of the day and you will have the day of your dreams.

Also, seriously consider a videographer, we chose not to have one and somewhat regret it now, as Bride and Groom you miss out on such a lot of the day just being busy it would have been nice to have something so sit down and watch even if just the once.”

“One of our biggest wow factors was not to have a first dance. We wanted quite an informal feel to the day so opted out of traditional speeches and dances. Instead we were called up to the dance floor to take position for our pretend first dance, Peter called all the guests to gather round. Peter then started playing a song, we both looked at Peter and acted like he had messed up by playing a song that wasn’t the one we had chosen, Peter looked so upset that he had made such an error and that’s when our 1920’s Dancers entered the dancefloor and took over. Everyone was taken aback when they realised that this was in fact our first dance. The dancers also got the guests involved by having a little dancing lesson, our guests loved this and it was one of our highlights of the day.”

“Danielle was recommended to us by a friend whom recently had Danielle photograph their own wedding. Danielle is amazing, her work is stunning and the attention to detail is paramount. She made us feel at ease with the type of photographs we wanted, understanding that our vision would be informal and unstaged, while capturing the highlights of everyones amazing attire. Danielle was thorough throughout the whole planning stages, making sure she knew all the people that were of importance and making sure she got the perfect shots we had asked for.”

VIEW THE GALLERY

Isn’t it fantastic? I love Sarah’s flapper inspired bridesmaids, and the feathers! A huge congratulations to her & Adem and a big thankyou to their photographer Danielle Smith for letting me share their fabulous wedding with you. If you love these photographs and would like to see more of Danielle’s work, head over to her website www.danielle-smith-photography.com  – and be sure to follow her on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

If this has you dreaming of creating your own Art Deco affair you will find plenty of inspiration amongst the archives of Chic Vintage Brides. Why not start with this truly stunning shoot with Downton Abbey inspired elegance, or take a peek at this celebration with a glamorous speakeasy vibe, and I just know you will love this gorgeous Gatsby inspired shoot. Oh and if you’ve only just started out on your wedding planning path, and are giving any thought to having an e-sesh take a look at this one – it is fab-u-lous!

Amy

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Credits & Contributors

Photography – Danielle Smith // Venue – Mangapp Manor // Stationery – DIY // Wedding Cake – Melanie Ferris Cakes // Rentals – Lovely Wedding Touches // Hair – Katie Jane (Sister) // Makeup – DIY // Wedding Dress – Hope by Phase Eight // Groom’s Attire – Marks and Spencer // Bride’s Shoes – Perfume Pink by Paradox // Bridesmaids Dresses – Joanna Hope Simplybe, Gatsby Lady & Melissa Jane Designs // Headpiece – Melancholy Magpie // Catering – Valentine Cuisine // Entertainment – Find a performer- 1920’s Girls & Sax and Honey // Bridesmaid’s Hairpieces – Claire’s // Miniatures – Skoodo