A little personal post from me, but then again, it is a personal blog so it is alright.
Five years ago to this day, Bruno and I got married in our home away from home in Sussex, UK. When thinking about how we wanted to get married, it was important for us that we did it our way, or not at all. We are not religious, so we are not bound to a mother church. We are not emotionally bound to the country or town that we live in, so that was not an option either. So this little quintessentially English town that had been our favourite place in the world for years, and for me in my teens, was the only place we really could see us getting married.
The day came and so did the rain, it felt like it was march, the time when we had our fixed date in the calendar to visit this little town. The week before on our visit to sort the last paperwork kerfuffle it had been a heat wave here, but on our wedding day it was windy and cold. Although my dress was made for summer, the cold didn’t bother me that day, the wind did mess up my hair, but the torrential rain waited until we had to go for our dinner at the towns oldest and most haunted Inn.
We got married in town hall, where I arrived late making everyone there nervous as hell. The town crier was there to be a witness to the occasion and to loudly accompany us to the nearby historic public house for a toast. The whole town came out to see us and followed us to the pub, over the cobbles and in the light drizzle of rain. When we arrived at the pub, the blessed town crier threw open the heavy 17th century door and cried that the bride and groom had arrived. The unsuspecting punters at the bar nearly choked in their pints. We toasted with Stout and Cider and after my fresh husband and I got two hours to be together and walk around our beloved town while our friends Sassy and Frank took photo’s for our album and a little video.
Our wedding story really began a year before on a dramatic cliff in Cornwall.
I bought a simple silver ring from a jeweler/pirate in a barn at Landsend. He had made this ring by hammering it onto rock and the imprint was therefore that of the surrounding Cornish coast. Bruno took the ring and kept it with a silly promise he was going to give it to me later. It was inexpensive but nonetheless it was special for being unique. When we finally sat down on a rock watching over the rough see, on the most beautiful and dangerous cliff path, he quietly went down on one knee. We were there alone with the seagulls, and he got the ring out and asked me with a delicate and trembling voice if I wanted to marry him.
And so we did, a year later in another part of England with the same ring but this time in gold, made by the same jeweler/pirate in Landsend who had been so kind to make them for us. No other rings would have been right for us, and Bruno told me he had been looking for an engagement ring and wedding rings for months but could not find something that was right. For us, it is important that items have a meaning, otherwise they are just items.
My weddings dress was a vintage late 1950’s gown in white lace which had to be adjusted to fit my shape. Sadly the seamstress took ages to work on it, joking that she promised it would be ready the week before the wedding. If you’ve been a bride, you know that this is the kind of joke you can not deal with. I was worried I wasn’t going to have a dress and 3 months before the wedding, nothing had been done about it and the seamstress kept postponing the fittings. So I did what every bride(zilla) would do, get a backup plan. I went with a company in London to make me a red wedding dress in the record time of 2 months. The dress was ready, after two fittings that calmed my nerves, a month before the wedding, the vintage dress was ready a week before. So on my wedding day I had two dresses to choose from.
I wish my vintage dress would have been ready earlier or that I had had the guarantee that it would be. If you know me I’ve always preferred the old over the new, and I had spent ages searching for this gown. It had come from the US, though it had been made in the UK. The red dress was a financial headache but in the end I am really happy I had it, if not only so I knew I would have a dress on the most special day of my life. After all, I was only planning to get married once in my life so everything had to be perfect.
Five years on today, I still cherish the white vintage lace dress more than the red dress. I think it is just the way I am.
And the day after the wedding I put it on, and my new husband and I went out to take some pictures with it to keep as a memory.
Picture by us
Picture by yours truly
Picture by my husband.
Pictures by Sassy Lafford from Assassynation photography
Regula Ysewijn is a food writer, stylist and photographer, with a particular interest in historical recipes. he is a Great Taste Awards judge and a member of The Guild of Food Writers, as well as one of the two judges on 'Bake Off Vlaanderen', the Belgian version of 'The Great British Bake-Off'. A self-confessed Anglophile, she collects old British cookbooks and culinary equipment in order to help with her research. She is the author of 5 books: Pride and Pudding the history of British puddings savoury and sweet, Belgian Café Culture, the National Trust Book of Puddings, Brits Bakboek and Oats in the North, Wheat from the South. 
It took me a little while to take the time to visit this post, but I’m happy I did: this is such a lovely wedding! I love how you have the two dresses, it’s almost as if they represent different parts of your personality. Although I have a slight preference for the white, vintage one. And once again, you can see the eye you both have for details: if everything might fail in your professional life (as if!) you can always try the party planning market!
Absolute favourite snap is the one with the both of you in the pub: Bruno gazing lovingly at his new bride, but that cheeky looking lady in red only seems to have eyes for her pint, ready to dive in! (which I can imagine after all the weddingdressstress). But to be honest, all of the pictures are beautiful and moving.
I got married in jeans and a sweater, on an icy cold January morning (back then you could marry for free on Mondays). We were the first couple of the year 2002 and late for our own wedding because the roads were covered with sleet and we had to walk to the town hall. After eight years of being together and two months away from becoming parents for the first time, we only married for administrative reasons: it was the quickest and to be honest cheapest way to settle things for the bun in the oven!
Now we have 14 years of marriage and a brood of three behind us and still going strong. In hindside I wish I did it properly, vintage weddingdress and all, just to celebrate the love we still have for each other. Might I ever fall in the trap of the weddingvow renewel (which my children would be ecstatic about, although I find it a bit … déclassé) I’ll be sure to pop into your blog and nick some of your ideas, with the balloons as the number one loot! After all, the secret of my creativity is just about the good sources 😉
Hopefully you’ve enjoyed your wooden anniversary, up you go for the pewter!
So nice – the bride’s dress! Her shoes!! So romantic – the beginnings! The ring!! – Wish you and your husband all the best!
Greetings from Munich, Germany!
So beautiful! My wedding dress was very similar in shape and style to your two dresses.