Whether your go-to fragrance is vanilla, sandalwood or rose, scent is such an understated detail, which can completely transform and personalise your wedding. We’re sharing our top tips for how to scent your wedding.
Author – Charlotte Hay
Photographs – Elizabeth Rose Photographer
Choosing your Perfume.
We all remember our first ever perfume? There’s something about spraying a bottle of CK One that takes me straight back to my teenage years, wanting to be Kate Moss, but a few pounds heavier and a shade of hair just a little too dark. Just as much as Coco Mademoiselle reminds me of walking into adulthood and moving away to university, Santal 33 reminds me of owning my late 20’s and finding a little more contentment in myself and my relationship. For most Brides & Grooms, it’s a case of pulling out your ultimate go-to and feel-good perfume or aftershave. For others, it’s the experience of shopping for a new fragrance, that you’ll forever remember as being your wedding day perfume and only wear for special occasions in the future.
Whilst our shopping experiences are limited in Grimsby and Lincolnshire, the Perfume Shop offer a wedding scenting service and so does Jo Malone, with the closest being in Leeds.
Groom – Steven – Chanel, Allure Homme Sport
Bride – Charlotte – Le Labo, Santal 33
We opted to wear the perfumes that we already loved. Mainly because we planned our wedding in 4-6 weeks, but also because we didn’t feel the need to choose new fragrances. Santal 33 has been my go-to scent for the past few years. It has a violet base note and sandalwood at the heart, making it quite a unique scent. Steven has worn Allure Homme Sport since we started dating, so both choices were apt in their own way. If you’re shopping for something new, opt for something light and warming or delicate and floral, definitely don’t rush into your choice or opt for something because it’s fashionable. Spritz a fragrance that uplifts your mood, but doesn’t over-power. We all own a perfume or aftershave that comes out for ‘that’ job interview or tough day in the office and your wedding day is definitely not the day to overpower with scent. If you are opting to wear a new fragrance, wear it a few times before your big day, to make sure it sits perfectly on your skin type and it is a fragrance you truly love.
To increase the longevity of your fragrance, try to wear it as a body cream base and layer with spritzes of the fragrance throughout your wedding day, to ensure it will last from ‘I do’ until the last dance.
The Ceremony
Whilst our summer wedding is still a little up in the air due to COVID-19, we had always planned to have a very small and intimate wedding before the big day in July. As a couple, we had spoken about how we wanted our day to be and what was going to be important to us. Running a wedding venue, we often see the stress and frustration over details, that in the grand scheme of what weddings are and should be about, ultimately don’t matter. There was so much that was out of our control when it came to our intimate wedding. For one, I managed to slip over 4 weeks before 1st February, break and dislocate my elbow, and rupture two tendons between my wrist and elbow, which meant I’d be in a brace on our big day. For us the smaller and more personal details, ended up being more important than what type of flowers we were going to have (we’ll talk about that more in another post). Like how I was going to fit my robotic arm though the dress that I’d always wanted and never ended up being able to get, because we’d had to plan our wedding so last minute.
Most weddings in The Barn are a minimum of 70 guests, however we were only inviting 22 guests to our wedding, which included Liz, both our friend and photographer. The Barn is such a large open space, so we wanted to really create a sense of warmth and closeness. A set-up that didn’t make us or our guests feel like they were sat alone in a big room. Whilst the aisle of lit candles and decor styled by Amy from Jack Loves Jill, completely transformed the Barn, scented candles played a huge part in this too.
An hour before the ceremony, Kerrie & Kirsty from our team lit all of the candles to ensure that there was enough time for them to fill such a large space with a noticeable scent. It wasn’t until they opened the curtains for me to walk down the aisle that I realised how much of an impact scent had on our ceremony. A place that I call work and home, was transformed into the most magical setting, and now every time I light one of the candles we had burning on our wedding day, it takes me back to 1st February.
Finding the right Balance
As fragrance is such a personal thing, we were conscious that we didn’t want to overpower our guests with what we deemed to smell beautiful. If you’re considering scenting your ceremony and you have to opportunity to trial your scented candles in the venue beforehand, speak to your wedding planner to arrange this, as it can be a fine balance of one candle too many. We’d originally planned for our combination of three to be lit for the ceremony as it’s a large enough space to carry the scent and to only light Byredo Bibliotheque during dinner.
Layering Scents
I already had an idea of the that candles I wanted, but wanted to involve Steve in this process. We went into Jo Malone for a consultation, just to rule it out as an option, as we were in Leeds at the time. However we couldn’t find a scent that was ‘us’. I dragged him over the road to Space NK to smell the candles I had in mind. Originally I had my heart set on Byredo’s Bibliothqué, which has been my favourite candle for almost 10 years. It smells like sweetened old library books and is constantly lit whenever I’m working at home, so it’s a scent we are both familiar with. I was going to combine this with Diptyque Rose to add a little romance, however Steve wasn’t so keen on this. Instead, we ended up choosing Diptyque’s Baies. The anti-conformer in me was rather reluctant, as it’s become such a cult scent, however it ended up working perfectly and tied in with the berries which Coco in the Country had included in my seasonal bouquet. We also opted for Byredo Burning Rose as a smokier version of Roses. This combination ended up being our perfect balance of feminine and romantic, with a touch of masculinity.
Whilst there’s nothing more perfect than having your favourite single scent burning throughout your ceremony, if you have the time and opportunity to play around with layering fragrances, you’ll create such a unique scent combination, making it so much more personal for the two of you. This can be applied to your choice of perfume too!
Wedding Breakfast & Reception
Our wedding day was split into two, as we’d opted to travel to Yorkshire for our Wedding Reception, purely so we were away from work and to offer a different background to our big wedding planned here at Healing Manor come July. We underestimated how much the scent of the candles would tie together the two halves to our wedding, even with a two hour journey between ceremony and reception. We were conscious that we didn’t want the fragrance from the candles to overpower guests whilst we were enjoying food, so opted to light a smaller amount of candles for the dining room and have the rest burning where guests would enjoy drinks.
Whilst our table decor was slowly removed as more wine was drunk, we’d filled the table with a variety of candles to carry on the theme that Jack Loves Jill had created in the Barn. We opted to tie in pale blue, plum, white and dark pink candle sticks which were dotted down the centre of the table and these remained all night.
If scented candles aren’t in your budget, H&M, Zara and & Other Stories have some incredible smelling high street versions.
Author- Charlotte Hay
Photographs – Elizabeth Rose Photographer
Venue Styling by Jack Loves Jill
Flowers – Coco in the Country
Make up by LC Makeup Artistry
Wedding Dress – Coates Couture & ASOS
Candles – Byredo Bibliotheque, Byredo Burning Rose & Diptyque Baies.
