We have a wedding with a real sense of fun on the blog today! Our lovely bride and groom chose a 1920s prohibition style wedding theme with a nod towards the prohibition era.
With a hint of gatsby and 1930s glamour too, Charlotte & Steve married at the majestic venue of Port Lympne Safari Park. With it’s quirky and eclectic vintage vibe, it was just the perfect place to hold a speak easy style celebration.
Words by Charlotte. Images by Contemporary Weddings.
I have always been interested in the 1920’s era, as the elegance and zest for life has always inspired me.
My husband liked the ideas of the 1920’s suits in America and the Prohibition was inspired by Drama’s such as Boardwalk Empire and literature such as The Great Gatsby.
We did not fix the colours for our day until later in our planning and were happy for different elements to have a range of vintage style tones.
My wedding dress was a Maggie Sottero, however it was completely altered by local dress maker Karen and I was very lucky to find someone who was able to completely reconstruct the dress. I altered the dress to fit with the theme and loved that it could be dressed to make it look 20’s and 30’s style.
I loved the backless element and the detail on the front of the dress as often the front of the dress can be quite plain when the main detail is on the back.
I made my own 1920s style veil and then my own headpiece using a necklace from Alan Hannah and individual diamantes bought from Barnett Lawson trimmings in London.
The vintage style bridesmaid dresses were adapted from an original 1930’s pattern and each was made uniquely for each maid by one of my bridesmaids, Ankie Lam. This is her blog make sew and love. I also made all of the bridesmaids accessories including the earrings and headband!
I chose the bridesmaid colours because I needed to find a colour which would match all of their different skin tones and I liked the semi-transparent chiffon as this created an elegant shape and colour.
Steve’s suit was from Moss Bross. His vintage style shoes were from Shuperb and his hankie was made by me.
My dad walked me down the aisle to Hoppipolla instrumental by the Vitamin String Quartet.
Our wonderful wedding photographers – Marta and Adi made the photography aspect of the wedding fuss free and relaxed. They focused on capturing natural photos of people which is what we really wanted.
We decided to select Port Lympne Mansion and Garden for our wedding venue as we like to support wildlife and we liked the fact that the funds from our wedding would go towards supporting the release of endangered species back into their natural habitats.
The Mansion was also built in the 1920’s and we loved the style and geometric patterns of the tiles and the beautiful paintings which depicted scenes from different landscapes.
We also wanted to have the ceremony and the reception on the same site and the gardens were beautiful this time of year.
When it came to the styling of our day we wanted a real 1920s look and feel! To create that feeling we had a 1920s film play during dinner.
Wedding favours were hand made lavender love heart cushions for the female guests and home-made sloe gin for the male guests.
Table centerpieces were created using wine box crates to fit in with the 1920s prohibition theme. We also created our own ‘moonshine bottles’ lit from underneath the bottles, with candles sitting on sand in the center of each crate.
Around the venue were 20s styled props and on each table we had a variety of vintage games for our guests to play with.
There are so many memorable moments throughout the day and the whole weekend as we stayed at Port Lympne which made it special as we were able to spend time with close friends and family for the whole weekend.
However, our most memorable moment of the whole day was an impromptu dance to ‘I will Wait’ by Mumford and Sons at the end of the night where close friends and family joined us.
Our 20s style wedding cake was hand made by the Mother of the Bride and also my Maid of Honour.
Our first dance was to the Damien Rice and Ray Lamontagne cover of the Beegees; To Love Somebody. It was chosen as these are two of our favourite artists and one of our first dates was to see Damien Rice live in a small venue in London.
If you could impart any words of wisdom?
Create a mood board of things that you would like as this will help you to stay focused on the style of wedding that you would like. Also, put together a spreadsheet of costs so that you can prioritise the things that are important to you.
And your most memorable moment?
There are so many memorable moments throughout the day and the whole weekend as we stayed at Port Lympne which made it special as we were able to spend time with close friends and family for the whole weekend.
However, our most memorable moment of the whole day was an impromptu dance to ‘I will Wait’ by Mumford and Sons at the end of the night where close friends and family joined us.
What a fantastic wedding! I love that Charlotte handmade so many of her wedding day accessories and decor! What a talented lady she is and what a gorgeous wedding too. Congratulations.
Big thanks go to Contemporary Weddings for sharing their gorgeous wedding images too! Want to see another of their beautiful weddings? Check out this stunning and v. glam vintage winter wedding!
wedding credits / photographer: contemporary wedding photography / wedding venue: port lympne / brides dress: maggie sottero / brides veil: handmade / grooms suit: moss bross / brides shoes: strictly 4 dancers / grooms shoes: shuperb / bridesmaid dresses: hand made / bridesmaid shoes: their own / hair & makeup: rebecca brown and cuts in broadstairs / florist: dream of flowers / wedding cake: homemade / catering: in house
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