Fit for kings: Hampton Court Palace wedding

Isn’t it incred­i­ble to think of the won­der­ful wed­ding cel­e­bra­tions we can cre­ate these days — from tipis to cas­tles, mar­quees to manor houses and more.

As I sit to write this wed­ding blog post I’m more than a lit­tle over­whelmed by Ellie and Dean’s wed­ding venue: the for­mer home of Henry VIII and a suc­ces­sion of kings and queens after him, archi­tec­ture designed to rival Ver­sailles, with 60 acres of beau­ti­ful gardens…

Back in King Henry’s day who’d have imag­ined a lovely cou­ple like Ellie and Dean would be get­ting wed in his palace… but if you ask me it’s days like this that Hamp­ton Court Palace was made for. You’re going to love this wed­ding blog feature.

Hamp­ton Court Palace wed­ding pho­tog­ra­phy by Pippa MacKen­zie — I think she’s fantastic!

Ellie’s wed­ding dress is Duyen by Cym­be­line, which she bought from Miss Bush Bridal Wear in Rip­ley. I love the clas­sic shape of the dress with all that beau­ti­ful lace… and it looks incred­i­ble on Ellie.

Dur­ing the day Ellie wore French Sole flats — in the evening these cute sil­ver sequin sneak­ers came out fully pre­pared for danc­ing the night away!

How do you put a tie on prop­erly for a wed­ding? Watch and learn…

Ellie and Dean’s church wed­ding was held at Saint Nicholas 12th cen­tury his­toric church in Thames Dit­ton — this col­lec­tion of images by Pippa MacKen­zie is just beau­ti­ful — the glow­ing sun­light seems to pour in through the win­dows and pool just where it should for some incred­i­ble wed­ding photographs.

An unfor­get­table moment — all that time spent plan­ning a wed­ding comes down to these few incred­i­ble sec­onds in church, and doesn’t it show…

Ellie told me, “My jew­ellery was my mother’s dia­mond and emer­ald neck­lace and ear­rings were dia­mond studs (wed­ding present from my hus­band). I wore silk roses in my hair from Miss Bush Bridal.” — Those flow­ers are gor­geous and I love wed­ding jew­ellery with a story behind it!

Dean wore a grey morn­ing suit and sky-blue tie from Parkes in Leam­ing­ton Spa, with shoes by Samuel Wind­sor.

Tra­di­tional Travel pro­vided some cool buses for the jour­ney from church to Hamp­ton Court Palace — and I love how Pippa found a red phone box to hide behind for the photo!

I love this clas­sic image — the gar­dens are sculpted to per­fec­tion, the sky is pure white and Ellie’s wed­ding dress takes cen­tre stage… and yet you really get the feel­ing the bride and groom were com­pletely alone on the planet for this moment.

Pala­tial, stun­ning, mind-blowingly beau­ti­ful — a top wed­ding venue for a fab­u­lous cou­ple and an imag­i­na­tive and tal­ented doc­u­men­tary and fine art wed­ding pho­tog­ra­pher.

I’ll leave it to the wed­ding pho­tog­ra­phers read­ing to add their com­ments below about these images… I’m stunned by the light, the lines, the shine, the com­po­si­tion… but I’m not an expert, I just admire beau­ti­ful images. And I’m blown away by these!

Ellie rec­om­mended some of her favourite wed­ding sup­pli­ers: “Dawn Jen­nings did amaz­ing flow­ers, Patis­serie Valerie made our deli­cious and beau­ti­ful cake, and Pippa was the best pho­tog­ra­pher!”

Ellie said, “The most mem­o­rable moments in a day full of them was tak­ing our vows and our first dance — both felt so pri­vate and spe­cial, even though every­one else was watching.

“We also had the best party danc­ing the night away with our fam­i­lies and best friends, such a great way to end a per­fect day.”

I asked for any advice she’d give to brides read­ing the blog and Ellie told me, “Remem­ber that you are mar­ry­ing the per­son you love, and that is the most impor­tant thing– not whether things match or all the details go right. It’s about the two of you, and every­thing else is just nice fluff.”

• Flow­ers– Dawn Jen­nings at www.dawnjennings.co.uk
• My dress was by Cym­be­line from Miss Bush Bridal at www.missbushbridalwear.co.uk
• Hair and makeup was by Clare at Mar­vel­lous makeup at www.marvellousmakeup.co.uk
• Food and drink was by Digby Trout for HCP and HCP did all the dec­o­ra­tions and gar­den games
• The DJ was Pat Coy at www.patcoy.co.uk
• Cake was by Patis­serie Valerie

Huge thanks to Pippa MacKen­zie Pho­tog­ra­phy for shar­ing such beau­ti­ful images and point­ing me to her wed­ding pho­tog­ra­phy blog where I first saw Ellie and Dean’s wed­ding day.

Con­grat­u­la­tions, love and thanks to Ellie and Dean for shar­ing their wed­ding day with us here on the blog. You guys make a gor­geous cou­ple and it’s been a joy for me to write about your wed­ding and admire your pho­tos. Have a won­der­ful marriage!