What is it about the French? They generally just ooze natural style and sophistication don't they?
This is the wedding of Pierre & Rhona, who tied the knot on 23 July at St Salvator’s Chapel, followed by a reception in Kinkell Byre St Andrews, Scotland.
French born Rhona looked so effortlessly chic on her wedding day, sporting her beautiful wedding dress by French designer Delphine Manivet. I adore the simplicity of this wedding gown, the clean lines and dropped waist line reminiscent of gowns popular in the 1920's and 30's. I also love the pale yellow Bridesmaids dresses from the fabulous Twobird Bridesmaids. Watch out next week for an exclusive interview with the founder of this innovative Bridesmaids dress brand.
The orchids in the Brides and her Bridesmaids hair by the way were bought fresh on the morning of the wedding from a local Florist…
"I didn’t really have a vision of myself as a bride, so I tried on MANY dresses (thank you mum & girls for your hours of patience – and prosecco drinking)! In the end though, there was no contest. I loved the simplicity and lightness of this dress, the fabric was incredible, and wearing it I felt like myself (on a very good day) rather than ‘a bride’.
The warm welcome from the lovely ladies at Delphine Manivet may have played a part as well…"
Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2011, Zoe Barrie
Beautiful Bridesmaids dresses from Twobird Bridesmaids…
The Bride wore her Grandmother's antique lace wedding veil…
There is something about the French. They just ooze natural style and grace. Tres chic…
"I wore Jimmy Choo’s Juliet sandals for the ceremony & dinner, and blue patent shoes by Alberta Ferretti for dancing. I had my mind set on simple practical kitten heels, but struggled to find any light enough to go with the dress and ended up with two pairs of designer sky-scrapers instead… although I should add that they were both from outlet stores, so nice and budget friendly!"
Ladybirds Florist in St Andrews provided all the florals on the day…
"They were great – I sent them pictures of the dresses and some flowers & bouquets that I liked, and they went from there. I would have liked Jasmine in the bouquet for an Asian touch but they were unable to source any in time – until the florist saw a Jasmine plant in the garden of the house we were staying in that morning & incorporated the trails into the bouquet right there!
The woman who owned the lovely house we rented for the week is also a partner in the florist, so was very happy for us to raid her garden – one of the benefits of being in a small town…"
"Pierre is French, I am Malaysian and we live in London so we had a few location options! But my mother is from Fife and Pierre and I met in St Andrews where we both went to University. We both have very fond memories of the town which we share with many of our close friends so it seemed like a perfect place to be married. It’s also where Pierre chose to propose!
St Salvator’s is the University Chapel, so alumni can be married there – it’s so beautiful and historic it was an opportunity too good to pass over. We loved Kinkell Byre as soon as we saw it – the stunning location on the cliffs overlooking the sea, and the rustic, laid back flexibility offered by the Byre itself were perfect – along with the lack of license restrictions meaning we could party into the wee hours!"
Rhona's Sister doing her best PIppa Middleton impression…
"I wore my Grandmother (on the Scottish side)’s veil. I had some reservations when my Granny first offered it to me as I was not planning to wear a veil, but when I saw it, it was simple, beautifully embroidered and complemented the dress perfectly so I couldn’t turn it down!"
A quick adjustement of that undeniably beautiful Delphine Manivet wedding dress…
I love this tree branch table plan idea….
"We really wanted the day to be simple, relaxed and natural, and took inspiration from the setting – the beautiful countryside, cliffs and coastline of St Andrews."
"We had a selection of cakes – the star of the show being the carrot cake from the North Point Café where I worked as a student. It’s incredible carrot cake – I ate it after my shift nearly every day! The café is small and the cake is baked by the owner, so she could only make us two. The rest were made by Fisher & Donaldson – delicious chocolate & fruit cakes. We piled them up with fresh fruit as decoration and arranged them on cake stands. The cute little cake toppers were added as a surprise by my bridesmaids…"
"We wanted to keep the setting simple and natural, so a local nursery (Pathhead Nursery in Anstruther) filled the place with flowers, plants and small trees. We used storm candles and sea shells that belonged to the venue as table centre pieces, and my brother & his lovely girlfriend dedicated a day to making intricate origami animals which were scattered on the tables and around the venue…"
"We really wanted to have a ceilidh, but had a lot of Malaysian & French guests so needed a simple introduction and some regular music as well. Callanish was recommended to me by a friend – they have a great repertoire mixing ceilidh with contemporary music, classics & crowd pleasers, and even learnt a few special requests to play on the night. They were wonderful with ceilidh first-timers and kept everyone on the dance floor…"
Words of Wedded Wisdom…
"The best advice we received and could pass on is to relax and enjoy every moment. All the planning and the day itself is so much fun – it passes all too quickly! Sounds simple, but it’s actually easier said than done – we found that everything that can go wrong, will….especially in the last couple of weeks! So maintain a sense of humour and don’t sweat the small stuff – there is so much positivity and happiness from everyone on the day that it will all work out regardless.
Our top tip would be to put some effort into organized delegation – we were amazed by the enthusiastic support offered by friends and family. My sister and best friend became a wedding planning machine, and the bridesmaids and groomsmen were invaluable in ensuring things ran like clockwork and we didn’t have to worry about anything on the day…"
Congratulations must go to Pierre and Rhona on tieing the knot – I wish you a long and very happily married life together peeps 🙂
Thanks too to the lovely Zoe Barrie for submitting these images and sending me lovely warm friendly emails ;) Brides looking for a Photographer located in or near to Fife in Scotland should talk to Zoe 😉
"Zoe was recommended to me by a friend and we’re so lucky to have found her – I can’t recommend her enough! She has a wonderful warm, relaxed, unobtrusive style alongside thoughtful and considered planning and a skill for snatching special moments when you didn’t realise she was watching! She was a joy to have around, threw herself into the task with endless energy and enthusiasm, and perfectly captured the essence of the wedding – her beautiful pictures speak for themselves…"
You can browse through more weddings that incorporate the colour yellow here. You can also see more form Delphine Manivet here on Love My Dress.
I'd LOVE to hear from any other Brides who wore, or who are also due to wear Delphine Manivet on their big day! J'adore………
Much love and French chic,
Annabel xXx
Style Guide
Photographer – Zoe Barrie
Venue – Kinkell Byre St Andrews, Scotland
Brides dress – Delphine Manivet
Brides veil – Grandmothers
Brides shoes – Jimmy Choo + Alberta Ferrett
Brides accessories – Pearl earrings borrowed from the Brides Mother,
Groom & Groomsmen – Lipman & Sons, London + TM Lewin ties
Bridesmaids – Twobird Bridesmaids
Flowers – Ladybirds Florist, St Andrews, Scotland
Cake – North Point Cafe + Fisher & Donaldson
Hair Stylist – Charlie Taylor Make-up – Chesterhill Therapies
Entertainment – Callanish
Annabel View all Annabel's articles
Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Editor. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and star gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she's not working on Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip in the running of the family's sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers. In 2013, she became a published author.
