A Versace Couture Look Inspired This Bride’s Custom-Made Wedding Dress

She bought five different vintage wedding dresses on eBay to get a feel for the shape and material she liked best in the comfort of her own home, before taking her intel with her to Ellie Lowe, a local designer in Stroud. “She immediately got it,” Imogen says. “Six fittings later, we had recreated my dream dress. We added straps, a bow at the back, removed weight from the bottom, added net to the outside, created a miniskirt and ruffles, and shortened it… all using just the existing fabric from the dress, too.” She completed the look with vintage white net gloves, Jimmy Choo satin stilettos, Wales Bonner diamante hoops and a very visible lace garter.

She wanted the dress to do the talking, so she kept her beauty look fairly minimal and classic. “Tomomi Roppongi, my hairstylist, created the most perfect centre parted super-slick, high-mid bun, with my veil hanging perfectly at the back,” she says. “I always think brides choose strange things on their wedding day, like hair and make-up styles they would neve usually have, but a slick tough bun is a usual look for me.”

The ceremony was held in candlelight at the onsite chapel at Lypiatt Park, artists Lynn and Daniel Chadwick’s country estate where the couple also live and run artist workshops and residencies. Imogen’s youngest brother Crispin was the celebrant, and the couple’s son, Valentino, was ring bearer. “I felt nervous, but elated,” she says. “I had a special moment where I walked down the aisle with both my dad and step-dad, and when I saw my mum with my toddler at the top, next to Riccardo, I felt immediate joy and happiness.”

Unsurprisingly, music played a major part in their day, with their friend, Max Maguire, playing “Harvest Moon” as guests entered, while the couple exited to George Michael’s “Faith”. At the reception, the couple’s friend Griff performed on piano, singing an acoustic version of Aretha Franklin’s “I Say A Little Prayer” and her own song “Shade of Yellow.” “During ‘I Say A Little Prayer’, I caught a few tears around the room,” remembers Imogen.

After supper, which was made by Genevieve Frosch and eaten amongst Lynn Chadwick’s sculptures (“Grace Wales Bonner told me it was like eating in an art gallery,” laughs Imogen), the party got started in the upper courtyard with a salsa procession. The bride changed into a two-piece skirt and top by Wales Bonner, switching up her beauty look with a 22-inch blonde ponytail extension, fittingly entering the dancefloor to Madonna. “There were various DJ sets from friends, including Lagoon Femshayma and Phase One, and a classic mirror ball and blue lighting,” shares Imogen. “We danced until 4am!” The bar was run by local legend, Woolpack Pub, while the three-tier cake featured custom jellies by Sienna Murdoch.

Rather fittingly, there was also a final surprise courtesy of the Chadwicks, whose son rode through on a dirt bike with a DIY graffiti Just Married sign with four pink smoke flares at 10pm. “It was like something out of a music video!” Imogen remembers.