Inside: The Elegant Garden Wedding Of Sophie Breitmeyer

Join The Wedding Edition as we sit down with jeweller Sophie Breitmeyer and discover the thoughtful details of her wedding celebration—and the meaning behind her jewellery pieces to accompany the occasion.

The Story So Far

John and I met on a dating app towards the end of the pandemic, so our first date was a dog walk around Ravenscourt Park. John proposed in The French Alps—we both love the mountains and I grew up in Meribel, so this was very special. As for the ring… John likes to call this mission “How the hell do you buy an engagement ring for a jeweller?”

I can hand on heart say I had no idea what was going on, and the proposal was a massive surprise. My production manager Tatijana and John worked behind my back amidst the Christmas rush to find a central stone, which they put in a placeholder ring for the proposal. The stone is a tsavorite garnet, which is only mined in one place in the world: Kenya, between the Tsavo National Parks.

John’s father was born and raised in Kenya, and they still spend a fair bit of time there in a family house on the coast. While John and I were visiting Kenya a couple of years prior, we travelled to the Tsavorite mines together— so he always knew he wanted to propose with a tsavorite stone, and then leave me to design my perfect ring around it.

The Venue

We got married in the church where I was christened, and the reception was held in my parents’ garden. I love their garden in June— It’s an explosion of colour, and being in at centre of a farm, you are surrounded by wheat and barley fields that are just starting to turn from green to yellow.

Our reception was incredibly relaxed and informal. Instead of hosting a Sunday event, my parents invited 70 of their friends to join the reception alongside the 150 guests who had come to the ceremony. We had a champagne reception with canapés that turned into a summer evening garden party, complete with bowl food and music.

The Fashion

My dress came from Sassi Holford. It was a million miles away from what I thought I would choose, but it was definitely the one. I paired it with a pair of Gucci sandals that I knew were comfortable, and my something blue was a huge silk ribbon that went the whole way down my back instead of a veil.

John wore his grandfather’s tails, and bought a new waistcoat from Favourbrook.

The Jewellery

Being a jeweller, this was always the million-dollar question for me… I wore pearl and diamond earrings inherited from one grandmother, and a brooch within my bouquet from another grandmother.

Having decided to keep the placeholder engagement ring as is and not design a ring around the stone that John chose, the wedding band was where I chose to leave my mark. I have a plain gold wedding band to be worn day-to-day, and then a party jacket that fits either side of my engagement ring for high days and holidays. Over time, I may even make a couple of jackets that fit around the engagement ring— creating totally different looks from the same central garnet stone.

The Bridal Party

The maids of honour wore floor length blue silk Galvan dresses. I wanted my page boys and flower girls to be comfortable, so the girls wore white linen dresses with blue bows and silver Supergas, and the boys wore Zara Kids and blue Supergas .

My dog Hackle was the final addition to the bridal party, with a big blue bow around his neck.

Transportation

I was taken to the church by one of my best friends in his father’s vintage Bentley. It was the most beautiful car. After the ceremony, John and I left the church in a tuk-tuk belonging to my mother.

The Tablescape

We had an old sail and petal marquee, with Indian swags lining it. Our flowers were blue and white, with a focus on daisies and cosmos. My obsession in the lead-up to the wedding was creating a living garden which you walked into the church through, and this installation was then moved to the marquee along with hundreds of bud vases.

To complete the marquee setup, my sister’s boyfriend also built the most beautiful bar from a 3-metre piece of wood taken from a fallen tree on the farm.

Food & Drinks

We served crowd-pleasing canapes, and lots of them (think 3,000+). These included sausages, quail’s eggs, tuna tartare, and panko-coated prawns, followed by bowl food such as Thai green curry and prawn orzo.

There was then a table of cheese and nibbles, with the most beautiful cake from Sugar Plum Bakes. Throughout the evening, we sipped on champagne, wine, and homemade elderflower and cocktails.

Entertainment

We had a loop pedal artist who performs at Apres-ski named Sian Smith, who was BRILLIANT!! She sang 3 sets throughout the evening, which had everyone heading to the dance floor. Our very impromptu first dance was to Fleetwood Mac.

Beauty Regime & Wellness

I had a brilliant hair and make-up artist on the day named Jo Clayton, whom I had worked with in the past and would highly recommend. Before the wedding as skin prep, I had facials at Skin Matters in Holland Park.

Favourite Wedding Gifts

We had a wedding list with The Wedding Present Company— one of our favourite gifts was a croquet set, which was set up during the reception. Everyone was so incredibly generous, that writing our thank-you letters has become quite the task!

The Honeymoon

The Monday morning after the wedding, we flew to Croatia and spent six days on Hvar at two brilliant but very different hotels. The first was called Little Greene Bay, and the second Maslina. We would highly recommend visiting both.

Advice

We got married 6 months almost to the day post-proposal, and for me this was perfect. I couldn’t have spoken about the planning of the wedding for much longer! Not having a sit-down dinner also made the whole event so much more relaxed and easy to plan.