What a treat to share such a gorgeous local wedding with you today! Helen and Simon's Surrey wedding took place just half an hour down the road from Miss Bush, with a traditional ceremony at All Saints Church, Crondall followed by a beautiful reception at The Barn at Bury Court in Farnham.

Helen wore a classic Jesus Peiro dress, Style 2351. The halter neckline, crossed strapped back, sharp V-neck and full A-line skirt are signature elements for a Jesus Peiro dress, creating an elegant but modern bridal gown. Helen styled her dress with a chic low bun adorned with stars and pearls, finished with a romantic two-tier tulle veil. For her footwear, Helen chose block heels from Camilla Elphick, with a stylish crystal embellished buckle. To finish the look, Helen added simple pearl drop earrings and for her 'something borrowed' Helen wore a diamond flower ring that had belonged to her late Grandmother.

Read on to find out more about Helen's dress shopping experience, and her wonderful Surrey wedding to Simon.

Jesus Peiro 2351 wedding dress

I loved everything about it. The deep V neck, the unusual cross back design, the button details, the A line skirt...

My mum and two older sisters came with me to my second appointment at Miss Bush to re-try two Suzanne Neville dresses I'd particularly loved in my first appointment, both quite different styles. When re-trying those didn't bring me the clarity I'd hoped for, and having listened to my reflections about both dresses, Emma brought out a Jesus Peiro style that was new in - the 2351, but with some Miss Bush adjustments. Within seconds of wearing it I knew I'd found the winning dress. The design combined various aspects I'd liked in other dresses, and it felt classic with a contemporary twist. My mum and sisters were very supportive through the dress-buying process and they could definitely see how happy and confident I was in my choice. There were lots of oohs and ahhs, and definitely a few tears from my mum!

Dress Shopping

When I started out dress shopping, I had no idea what kind of style I wanted and so I made the most of the experience trying on lots of styles in a range of boutiques to help me hone my vision. Miss Bush is a boutique like no other: the Chapel area is stunning and gives you space to really move about in the dresses and see how they feel. I found Emma's expertise and direct approach helpful and reassuring in both my initial appointments - I knew I could trust her opinion. I felt I couldn't go wrong with any of the gowns at Miss Bush, and it was just a matter of finding the style that truly felt like me.

Once I'd chosen my dress, I was indecisive about accessories and I turned to the Miss Bush team for some tips. They sent me various links to shoes and jewellery for inspiration, and when I'd narrowed down my ideas I was very grateful for their further feedback on my shortlist. The team really went above and beyond on styling advice. When I attended my first technical fitting with my made-to-measure dress there was a little gaping around the bust which took a couple of seamstress tweaks to get right, and on my final fitting one side of the bodice needed an extra press to get rid of a tiny shadow. I really appreciated the patience and perfectionism of the team in ensuring the dress was 100% perfect before letting me leave with it!

Styling

After a lot of deliberation I settled on some statement pearl and crystal drop earrings from completedworks - the pearls complemented the button detail on my dress but the design felt bold and modern. With those earrings, a necklace wasn't necessary, and I'm not really a bracelet person. But I did wear a Victoria Percival pin for a bit of pearly sparkle in my hair, and I borrowed a diamond flower ring that had belonged to my late grandma. I chose a two-tier tulle veil from an independent bespoke veil maker in roughly fingertip length in a way that subtly blended into my dress but had vintage-inspired structure and volume at the comb. Unconventionally for these modern times, I decided to have the blusher tier over my face as I walked in. (I had to remind my dad to help me lift the veil when we got to the top of the aisle - he was just as excited as me and forgot in the moment!)

With plenty of gravel, lawns and cobbled paths I knew I would have to navigate on our big day, I resisted the temptation to wear silky stilettos, but it took me a while to find some block mid-heels that still felt special and elegant. I was thrilled when I discovered Camilla Elphick's Matilda shoes which were perfect - simple but with her signature crystal embellished buckle, and an ideal block heel that I could wear comfortably all day.

A Surrey wedding at The Barn at Bury Court

We had a fairly traditional English country wedding but with a relaxed feel. Simon wore a smart navy suit he already owned, spruced up with some new shoes and tie/pocket square, and his best men wore beige blazers, white shirt (no tie), and navy trousers. We were keen to fill the day with colour - our flowers were vibrant, varied and meadowy. My best women had a palate to choose from for their outfits and I gave them free rein to choose their own individual outfit - I wanted them to feel amazing and choose clothes they'd wear again. I thought they looked sensational in the two different fuchsia dresses they chose on the high street! We tied their looks together with gold heels and hair clips with a small pearl embellishment.

We kept to a standard format and order of the day with a few little tweaks - I chose to do a speech as well as Simon, one of my best women was MC, and we decided to do speeches before the meal so we could get them out the way and let the speakers relax and enjoy themselves.

The best bits

We loved every minute of the day and we couldn't have been happier with all of our supplier choices. But the Ceremony was probably the highlight for us. All Saints Crondall is a stunning old country village church and we'd chosen it as it's situated at about the halfway point between each of our family homes. Whilst we'd hoped for glorious sunshine and picture-perfect confetti with ringing bells outside afterwards, it wasn't to be: the heavens opened during the ceremony, there was thunder during our vows, and the church roof even started leaking! But somehow the weather and the setting created a magical and quite dramatic atmosphere. (And we were lucky that the rain eased at a couple of later points in the afternoon at our reception when we were able to do some confetti and pictures outside.)

We are both big music lovers so the musical choices were always going to be important for us. We were joined by a choir formed of friends who I've sung with in various groups over the years, and we made the most of their presence with lots of choral pieces and hymns that raised the roof. We also had a string quartet playing as I walked in, and an old family friend played the organ. The clergy allowed us to serve a champagne toast at the very end of the service before our exit which was a unique touch, uniting all our guests and connecting the religious ceremony to the drinking and celebrations at our reception. The champagne also helped take the edge off my nerves of leaving the church in biblical rain! (I needn't have worried, those minutes leaving the church were some of the most memorable and hilarious, well documented by our amazing photographer Tony and videographer Ashleigh who were both completely drenched capturing the moment!)

Helen's Advice

When it comes to dresses: if you're like me and haven't a clue what you want, get trying on dresses as soon as you can, and find experts who aren't pushy and who you feel you can trust - experienced people who can help you see the wood for the trees. Book an appointment at Miss Bush and you'll be in very safe hands!

More generally when planning, my tips would be: focus on what's important to you as a couple (try not to compare yourself to others), and consider how you'd like your guests to feel.

We were keen to make our day feel very personal to us, and to help us achieve that we involved lots of our friends: we trusted a friend to make our wedding cake (she'd not made one before, though she's a brilliant baker, and she did an incredible job!), we commissioned another talented friend to create the illustrations for our stationery and website, another gifted us a special arrangement of our favourite song for the choir to sing in our ceremony, two of our friends wrote and read beautiful, personal prayers in our ceremony... We felt truly surrounded and uplifted by all our nearest and dearest and we particularly loved these more personalised aspects of our day.

There's nothing worse than going to an event where you don't feel welcome: we made a concerted effort to make sure each of us had a conversation with every one of our 80 guests - we circulated the room during the meal which meant we weren't sitting down for much of it, and we had to eat our own plates very quickly, but we are so glad we did that. And, not everyone enjoys the formality of ties and hats, especially in hot summer temperatures: we made ties optional for men, and we had a no hats policy.

Finally: seriously don't worry about rain!! As long as you've followed your instincts in your choices for your big day, and you're prepared for all weather possibilities (and let's face it you have to be in England!), you really won't mind even if a named storm decides to make an appearance, as it did in our case! We had the most unforgettable day, full of joy and love.

Suppliers

Photographer: Photography 34
Videographer: Ash Videography
Reception venue:The Barn at Bury Court
Caterer: The Good Life
Florist: Jones Flower Design
Hair/Make Up: Storme Make up and Hair
Veil: Sash and Veil
Entertainment: Estilo String Quartet and Soul Supreme Band
Illustrations: Imogen Gaitskell