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Lara married Gav on 27 July 2013 in the garden of Lara’s parent’s house in East Sussex. They actually had two weddings: one tiny official ceremony in Hong Kong (where Lara was working at the time), followed by the bigger event in East Sussex. The pair first met on their first day at Oxford University as Masters students in 2008; in Lara’s own words, ‘I thought, that’s the man I want to spend the rest of my life with.’
All images by Ellie Gillard, elliegillard.co.uk
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I didn't want to wear a ‘wedding’ dress. I knew it had to be vintage. At first, I couldn't find anything I loved anywhere, and then with five days to go before the wedding, we drove from East Sussex to Bristol where Gav's aunt has a vintage store, Heartfelt Vintage.
I tried on a lot of dresses, before eventually settling on one. I loved the playful drama of the green, grey and off-white.
I was actually going to do my own wedding makeup, but I splurged and it was worth every penny. I went to Space NK in Tunbridge Wells five days before and it was no problem. A member of their team came over and was relaxed, calm, and professional in all the chaos.
I was hoping to have some kind of floral crown, and when we visited Gav’s aunt she threw a few things on my head and I just loved it.
Linzi at Myla and Davis did my hair. She put together the piece beforehand, and then wove it in. I loved my hair so much, I kept the plait in for about three days!
Gav’s jacket was made at a Hong Kong tailor called Il Sarto and his trousers were from Uniqlo. His shoes were from Ted Baker; the shirt was from T.M.Lewin, and the knitted tie was from Charles Tyrwhitt.
I'd had a leaving party one year before the wedding, and we'd tied a frame in the big tree to encourage people to take pictures through it. It looked so wonderful in the garden that we left it up all year.
Our friends were so generous and helped with absolutely everything. Cheesy as it might sound, you could really feel the love.
I had two friends play the violin; they practiced in their bras as I wrote my vows. It was truly a ‘forever’ moment in a day of forever moments!
In fact, we were very blessed to have a real glut of talented, amazing people as friends. We had a band too - also friends: the wonderful Cable Street Collective.
My bouquet and flowers were done by my best friend, Leila who runs her own restaurant-turned-florist, The Wildflower Cafe.
Gav and I are both avid readers and we really wanted to incorporate our love of books into the day.
My mother found over 150 Everyman titles at a local auction, and we stamped each one to say what table people were seated at inside, and they also served as wedding favours. We carefully chose each title for the recipient - it was a lot of work, but a detail that everybody absolutely loved. I still have people telling me now that they've read the book and enjoyed it.
We had welcome packs/survival kits for our guests. Inside them, guests found information about the day and the ceremony, as well as their kazoos and horns, a pack of sweets, tissues, chewing gum, paper fans (in case it got hot in the marquee), and the printed lyrics to The Beatles’ All You Need Is Love.
We used airmail envelopes for the packs because Gav and I write to each other by airmail whenever we are in different countries.
We walked up the ‘aisle’ (actually the little entrance to a part of our garden) together to the Wedding March, followed by the sound of people blowing their party horns and kazoos wildly.
My best friends, Fiona and Helena instructed everyone, each with beer in hand. It was so joyful and hilarious.
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