Wedding Planning #7 | How I styled my wedding dress

When I was into serious wedding planning mode I was searching for inspiration on how other brides had styled their wedding dress. 

I honestly spent hours upon hours trying to find a bride who had styled the beautiful Eliza Jane Howell Clarissa dress but no luck. So I thought this post would be really helpful for someone who is considering purchasing the same dress, designer or a similar style and has no idea what shoes to match and what accessories to wear!

The dress.  I wore a beautiful Eliza Jane Howell gown, 'Clarissa' was it's name (it's now sadly sitting in a duster bag in my wardrobe). A beautiful classic 1920's design with the most gorgeous detailed beading. It had a the most flattening v neckline, soft fluted sleeves and a fairly small train. It was so lovely to wear and I knew it was 'the one' instantly.

The shoes. I knew I wanted a pair of inspired 1920's heels to match but with a bit of sparkle. I was browsing Pinterest and my eyes lit up when I came across Rachel Simpson's 'Charlotte' heels. How unbelievably beautiful are these babies and they were really affordable for wedding shoes! 

The undergarments. With a super hugger figure fitting dress, I needed a pair of spanx, not the sexiest choice of underwear I know, but boy were these amazing. I had never owed a pair before but I really do think they helped accentuate my figure.  I also wore a strapless wonderbra, my boobs looked great (if I do say so myself ha).

And of course I wore a garter, I spotted this gorgeous hand-made design on notonthehighstreet. It was a one-off design so unfortunately I don't think you can get your hands on this exact one but there are so many that are similar on notonthehighstreet and etsy. 

The veil. I ordered my veil from Morgan Davies Bridal shop in Hitchin where I purchased my bridal gown from. It was the most stunning delicate long veil, it paired so beautifully with my gown. 

The bag. Accessorize have some really beautiful wedding bags. I was so lucky to find my ideal one - a gorgeous embellished number which matched my shoes so perfectly. 

The jewellery. As the dress was heavily embellished, I wanted to keep it simple with the jewellery. I kept my neck bare and wore these stunning antique pearl earrings made by the designer, Katharine Swaine. 

The hair. Luckily with this particular style of dress you can wear your hair up or down, I decided to have my hair down.

I almost immediately knew what hair-style I wanted, soft 1920's curls. I printed off some hair-styles I found on Pinterest, took them to my bridal hair tutorial and wall-lah, Denise from D&D Make-up created exactly what I wanted.

The makeup. I did my own make-up on the day as I'm a fuss pot and know what I like best. I went for a soft natural glowy look. You can read more about what I used on my face here.  

The flowers. I opted for a wild bouquet with burgundy, soft pinks, white and lots of foliage. I thought these colours were gorgeous for the winter season and looked amazing in photos.

I hope this post was somewhat helpful to any brides-to-be. If you have any questions or any other wedding styled blog posts you'd like me to talk about then please leave them in the comments below.

If you're interested in reading more about my wedding experiences, I blogged about mine and Joe's initial ideas here. As well as my initial hair and make-up ideas here. The stressful period with eight weeks to go, which you can read here. I talked about choosing your wedding make-up here. And last but not least, designing your own wedding stationary (travel theme inspired) blog here.

As always you can reach me on social media. I have Instagram: @zoeyoliviablog, and twitter: @zoeyoliviablog