We're looking back to the summer today for Lucy & Laurence's idyllic Summer wedding at Chiddingstone Castle in Kent. The ceremony took place at the beautiful St Mary’s Church, also in Chiddingstone, which is just a short walk across stunning countryside to the castle.

Lucy was a vision in perfectly fitted Suzanne Neville. With a figure hugging bodice, floaty chiffon sleeves and an elegant, flowing mermaid skirt, Ariel was the perfect choice for Lucy, who had wanted a dress with sleeves and to be able to wear a bra.

Read on to find out more about Lucy's dress shopping experience at Miss Bush, and see more images from Lucy & Laurence's wonderful wedding, by James White Photos.

Suzanne Neville Ariel wedding dress

I knew I really wanted to have some kind of sleeve on my wedding dress. I had come across Suzanne Neville's Ariel dress early on when looking online at different wedding dresses. I always imagined I would go for a long lace sleeve but I loved how floaty and delicate the chiffon sleeves were, and the shape of the dress was just so feminine and elegant but also a little bit sexy.I came dress shopping with my Mum. As soon as I started trying on some Suzanne Neville dresses I fell in love with how feminine and figure flattering her dresses were. My mum and I both loved several of the SN dresses I tried on, and I ended up being quite torn between two very different styles. Corinne was SO patient with me as I went back and forth between the two styles, but in the end I knew that Ariel was the right dress for me as it felt most true to my style and personality.

Dress Shopping

I loved the whole made to measure service – it was amazing having something made to your shape! Jo and Willow were so lovely and incredibly talented at what they do. Jo was amazing during my toile fitting (which I was a bit nervous about, as quite a bit of time had passed since I first tried on the dress). She was so friendly though and made all these little changes to the toile which made such a difference (in the best way!), pinning everything so it fitted perfectly.I finally felt like I had my emotional ‘omg I feel like a bride’ moment at my final fitting, when I could see my whole outfit come together with my dress and veil, and I ended up getting really teary!

I actually found the whole wedding dress shopping experience extremely stressful and not at all what I imagined before I came to Miss Bush. I am not an off-the-peg shape or size and I quickly realised that so many bridal shops only stocked tiny sample sizes to try on. This was pretty demoralising, especially when it became apparent that my choice of wedding dresses to try on was often very limited by what I could fit into, and that was often only a handful of dresses that were not my style or what I was looking for at all! I was also put in dresses that were so small I couldn't even pull the sleeves up above my elbow but was told "I could order a dress in my size" which seemed ludicrous when I couldn't even tell if the dress actually suited me when I couldn't put it on properly... It really knocked my confidence and I was worried I would never find a wedding dress or feel beautiful on my wedding day.

The other problem I had is that being the owner of a large bust meant it was so difficult to find a dress that I could wear a bra under. Many bridal shops did not seem to understand this problem and I was often put in dresses where most of my bra was on show, and I was told that I wouldn’t need a bra as the dress would have enough support anyway (although this was most definitely not the case...!).

When I came across Miss Bush I found it so refreshing that the focus wasn't on high street sizes and I genuinely felt like I had found somewhere that understood my boob/bra concerns!! As soon as I visited the Chapel, I finally felt like I was having the wedding dress shopping experience I had been hoping for. From the moment I arrived, Corinne was super lovely and instantly put me at ease. I didn't feel embarrassed about the way I looked, and for the first time I enjoyed trying on wedding dresses!! Emma was so lovely as well letting me try on one of her own SN evening dresses to get a better idea of what a tailored dress could look like on my figure and I really appreciated getting honest feedback (in a good way!) from both Corinne and Emma about what I looked like in the different dresses, rather than just being told I looked ‘lovely’ in dresses that clearly didn’t suit me (which was my previous experience when wedding dress shopping...)

In terms of our wedding planning journey, along with many other couples, we found that trying to get married during a global pandemic wasn’t exactly ideal or what we had in mind...! Our original wedding date was on 22 May 2021, which we then postponed until 16 July 2021 after Boris’ announcement of ‘Freedom Day’ on 21 June. It was a very anxious wait up until very close to our wedding as we didn’t know whether the rules were going to change again, and whether we would be allowed to have all our wedding guests in attendance.

We ended up being caught out again by the restrictions after Freedom Day was pushed back until 19 July 2021, and so there was lots of last minute changes of plan, but we were determined to get married, and luckily our venue and other amazing suppliers were really flexible and went above and beyond so that our wedding could still go ahead on 16 July and we didn’t have to compromise on what were important aspects of the day for us.

The main disappointments we had were that some of our friends, family and bridal party living abroad were unable to come due to the travel restrictions, and one of my bridesmaids/best friend also caught Covid a few days before our wedding and so was unable attend, which was so heartbreaking for both of us. (Thank goodness for technology/FaceTime though, meaning that they could still join in virtually for the celebrations!).

Styling

As the dress was so floaty and delicate, I picked accessories that were quite delicate as well. One of my bridesmaids bought me some beautiful pearl vine earrings from Hermione Harbutt and I also got the matching pearl hair pins to wear in my hair, which I wore in a half up hairstyle with soft waves. I went for some classic ivory satin shoes from Avalia with a silver sparkly trim and block heel (to avoid sinking in the grass at our reception venue!).I was initially planning to go for either a ribbon edge or pearl veil but after trying on some different style veils at one of my fittings (and some very helpful advice from Rosie and Willow!), I decided to go for a long single tier stitched edge veil from the Couture Veil, which added some drama to the dress with the long length but didn’t detract from the pretty floaty sleeves and shape of the dress.

An elegant Summer wedding at Chiddingstone Castle

We got married at St Mary’s Church in Chiddingstone, near to where I grew up, followed by our wedding reception at Chiddingstone Castle. Chiddingstone is such a gorgeous quaint Kentish village and it worked perfectly that our guests could gather before the ceremony at the village pub (which was opposite the Church), and then after our ceremony we could walk with all our guests from the Church over to the Castle across the beautiful lake. Our venue was stunning with lovely grounds, and so we went for English summer garden party vibes - we wanted it to be elegant and classy, but most importantly fun and relaxed, with lots of great food, drinks flowing, and surrounded by our friends and family.The weather was absolutely incredible on our wedding day (and ironically the complete opposite of the weather on our originally planned wedding date in May, where it was freezing cold and rained all day!). It could not have been more perfect, and our photographer James, got some gorgeous golden hour shots as well!

The best bits

I know it sounds so cliché but it really was hands down the best day of my life. I was quite emotional on the wedding morning and during the ceremony saying our vows, but I cannot explain the feeling of pure joy and happiness that we both felt throughout the whole day, of being able to finally get married after all the months of anxiety and uncertainty about our wedding day, and to be surrounded by our friends and family as well – it was just so special.

Being one of the first larger weddings to take place as well, meant that all our guests were super up for a big party! (The after-dinner espresso martinis probably played a part in that too...!). Our band were absolutely incredible, and everyone was living their best lives on the dancefloor from start to finish (even our Grannies!!).

Lucy's Advice

Definitely go for the dress that you feel most comfortable in and that you like the best, not what you think you ‘should’ be wearing.If things don’t go right on your wedding day, just roll with it. Some of my favourite memories of the day are of things that didn’t quite go to plan – for example, during our ceremony, our organist started playing “Here comes the bride” by mistake as I was about to walk into the Church, at the same time as the twinkly piano music we had actually picked for my entrance was also playing… Everyone was so confused, and apparently the vicar was shouting at the organist to stop (much to the amusement of all our guests, who could hear me cackling with laughter outside the Church) - it was so funny!Enjoy every second of your wedding day as it really does go by in a complete blur!!

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