Chris & Olivia’s Pre-Lockdown Wedding…..Just!

A Beautiful March Wedding, with so much relief and love, that it actually happened at all!

Grab a cuppa! This one is so special.

Where to begin with Olivia, that sounds like I’m speaking of a naughty child! I am not, I pause because….Well this was a wedding literally like no other. So where to begin?! We all know what happened once ‘in’ lockdown, but the uncertainty of the few days before…. well that was The Setting for this wedding. The last wedding before lockdown.

So back to our introductions;
One of the first questions I ask people is if they think they need some hair extensions, to add thickness, length or just some help to create a style that is Pinterest and Instagram worthy. I was so thrilled, when Olivia walked in to my hairdressing studio in Whiteley, with her almost waist length, naturally highlighted thick hair! AND a strong idea of how she wanted to look. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE a bride who knows what she wants!

Olivia showed me some pictures of her dress, which is utterly gorgeous and I haven’t actually seen one before the same (which is unusual in my job, I feel I’ve covered quite a few dresses over the last 19 years) but it really was that little bit different and it suited Olivia down to the ground.

She wanted to have a different look in the evening and change her lip to a more bold statement colour, so we decided as it was a March wedding and we couldn’t predict the weather, maybe an up style for the day and then some clever coding of hair grips, so her girl crew knew which ones they could take out, which ones had to stay behind, All blonde of course, but just different tones, a lovely little trick that I like to use, it makes changing the style seamless and quick for a bridal party to do, When it’s dressed out because of the way I pin the curls up, they actually support a curl and when they’re dropped-down it creates the most beautiful bouncy mass of waves.

Olivia came back to the studio the week of the wedding, to have some highlights put through, just to add a little bit of definition and create a little bit of interest in the criss-crossing of the sections adding texture and it really made her hair go from lovely to gorgeous and Brightened it up!

I like my Brides to be able to contact me with questions regarding their wedding and feel that they can freely drop me a message whenever, if something is on their mind. With Olivia’s wedding being on the 20th of March we had a Very anxious few weeks. If I’m being completely honest, I was petrified I could become ill or someone in my household would. The Strict procedure set out by the government for COVID at that time, we would have to self isolate for two weeks and I wouldn’t be able to look after Olivia. They closed my Sons school the week of the wedding! So I had to scramble to find childcare. Luckily, my husband ‘worked from home’. I actually had many sleepless nights, I drafted in a colleague as back up, ( I’m not sure I ever actually told Olivia this, so she’ll be reading this for the first time) I can never bare the thought of letting someone down, I know how precious a wedding day is. Choosing suppliers is so personal, but it is so important that those suppliers have a backup plan! None of us are invincible I think we’ve learnt that, this year more than anything.

Olivia and I pretty much messaged every day asking each other the same question do you think the wedding is going to go ahead? Do you think we’re going to go into lockdown? And every day or every time we messaged (I’ve gone back over my messages) I said the same thing, ‘I think you’re going to just get away with it’ and she did!! Could you imagine all you’ve hoped for, your big day is the next day, final fittings had, suits picked up, food for the wedding morning collected…you’re so nearly there…for it all to be cancelled with less than 24hours to go? One day later and that would have been this wedding. The day before the wedding you wouldn’t sleep, none of us slept.

So I set my alarm on the Thursday evening for the Friday, The Wedding of the 20th of March 2020, at Lainston House Hotel, in Winchester.

I arrived to greet Olivia with a hug and a ‘phew’ we got here!! The morning went really well and everyone was in good spirits. Evie from Made Up arrived to work her beauty magic and the day unfolded, to be a beautiful March Wedding. I adored Olivia’s look, the soft golds and the flowers… Just stunning.

Olivia’s Low ‘up do’, went perfectly on the day, with a little softness and we added some little pearl details to the bridesmaids hair, to tie in their look with Olivia’s hair. Her shoes were like the classic Manolo Blahnik, so pretty and simple yet stylish, the dried flowers tied all the colours together, the soft pinks, golds and ivory.

Little did we know that, that was going to be the day that Boris told us, that, that night was the last night everything would be open. Tomorrow it closes. Everything closes.

So I look at these pictures by Stephen Goodall, with such fondness, the emotion wrapped up in this special day, will stay with me. This will be one wedding I remember for a very long time. And how very apt, that I publish this, on the day Boris has literally just announced, I can go back to work and weddings can happen again! Woohoo!

Tori x

Photographer Stephen Goodall 

Make Up Artist Evie, MadeUP

Hair Stylist, Tori, Riot Hairdressing 

Venue Lainston House