When it comes to wedding style, few decisions are more exciting than deciding on outfits. Pinterest boards and bridal boutiques may offer endless inspiration, but often, ideas come from the unlikeliest of places.
For Ashleigh O’Connor, that spark came nestled between the pages of a coffee table book – a thoughtful engagement gift from her mother that unknowingly planted the seed for her dream wedding wardrobe.
Still basking in the post-wedding glow following two unforgettable celebrations – a chic, intimate legal ceremony at Sale Town Hall in England and a sun-drenched destination wedding in Palma, Majorca – Ashleigh remains blissfully wrapped in the wedding bubble.
It’s no surprise that style played such a central role in her nuptials – both Ashleigh and her now-husband Gabe, are fashion buyers by trade. The pair first met as teenagers through a mutual friend, and 15 years later they’ve tied the knot, thanks to a romantic proposal on the Amalfi Coast two years ago, setting the tone for weddings that were destined to be stylish from the start.
Ashleigh gathered close friends and family for her first wedding in the north of England, with a relaxed, English country vibe reception at her mum’s house just around the corner.
It was during this intimate ceremony that she brought her coffee table book-inspired vision to life. “I was always really excited for the registry just because I felt he could do something really cool and really fashionable, because I wasn’t worried about it being ‘classic’ and forever’ it could just be a moment,” Ashleigh tells me.
She did however, end up falling in love with a classic look – quite literally like something from a magazine. The inspiration? A gift from her mum when she got engaged: “When we got engaged, my mum bought me the Vogue Wedding coffee table book, and the centrefold shows Bianca Jagger’s wedding to Mick Jagger in 1971.”
The look in question marked a defining moment in bridal fashion history – Bianca wore a showstopping YSL two-piece suit and oversized hat to marry The Rolling Stones frontman, just nine months after they met at a rock concert.
“I remember opening the book and thinking ‘this is exactly how I want to look.’ I knew I didn’t want a short dress and veil, it’s just not my style. I loved the idea of a suit and making it a little more feminine, and after seeing the image of Bianca, I knew I wanted to look like that woman.”
Ashleigh eventually found her dream Bianca Jagger-inspired two-piece suit in the most modern of ways – on sale at Self-Portrait. But it wasn’t without a little drama. After doing the classic “do I, don’t I” dance, she watched on as it sold out. Her biggest tip for fellow brides-to-be? Set up Google Alerts if you’re waiting on a dream outfit to come back in stock… it works!
“I sized up two sizes because I wanted it to feel really vintage,” Ashleigh explained, “then I got it tailored at the back so that it fit well, but the shoulders and the arms and the skirt were a little bigger.”
The wide-brimmed hat she wore to complement her suit was designed by celebrated British milliner Awon Golding, and Ashleigh spent over a year and a half dreaming about it before finally taking the plunge. “Nothing else I looked at compared to how I felt when seeing this one. I ended up emailing Awon because the hat was in ivory and my suit was bright white.”
“I loved it because Bianca Jagger’s was almost like a sunhat, slightly floppy. But this one was a little more 1950s, and it was so feminine and sophisticated. I was obsessed. A typical parent, my dad asked if I’d come dressed as a beekeeper!”
Her retro-infused registry office look was a world away from the showstopping ensemble she wore in Majorca, though it, too, was a two-piece with a twist.
A picturesque, family-owned former olive oil mill in the heart of the Majorcan countryside provided the dreamiest backdrop for Ashleigh and Gabe’s destination wedding – serene, sun-drenched, and brimming with character.
A fan of Australian fashion, Ashleigh turned to some of her favourite designers from Down Under for the big day, settling on a corset and matching skirt combination that struck just the right balance between modern glamour and timeless elegance.
Khya was her label of choice for walking down the aisle (again). “It was modern yet classic and a little bit sexy with the slit in the skirt. I went to four different bridal boutiques, but I always knew Khya was going to be the brand for me. When I saw the Khya ones in person, I fell in love with the construction and the quality ”
For the evening, she switched things up with a custom skirt made by another Australian designer. “She had worked with Khya before, so she kind of knew the construction of the corset.”
Like many brides-to-be (myself included), the sheer abundance of wedding fashion proved both exciting and overwhelming. “The weird thing,” she says, “is that once you’ve decided on that dress, there’s roughly a nine-month lead time, but you will not be able to escape the wedding algorithm, and all you will see is more gorgeous bridal dresses that you wished you tried on.”
Trying on dresses, Ashleigh quickly realised that what she’d initially imagined wasn’t what suited her best. “Originally, I wanted to go very Hailey Bieber, but I’m quite curvy. So when I tried them on, I felt too sexy, and it wasn’t giving as much elegance as I wanted.”
When it came to accessories, Ashleigh made a savvy decision: keeping her most sentimental pieces for the UK ceremony, to avoid the worry of travelling with them. Her bouquet was tied with her grandad’s signet ring, she wore her dad’s vintage sunglasses, and a delicate pearl bracelet gifted by her mother when she and her sister were young – her very own ‘something olds’, filled with so much meaning.
For Majorca, she kept things simple and chic with diamond drop earrings from cool-girl favourite Monica Vinader, skipping a necklace to let the sculptural corset do the talking.
Looking back, it wasn’t just the outfits or the Pinterest-worthy settings that made it special – it was the unexpected emotion that caught her off guard. “It was the surprisingness of it that I loved the most. Because I was so fixated on myself, I was quite casual about everything other than thinking like ‘I want to look like Bianca Jagger, I want a bouncy blow-dry’, etc, I forgot about the sentimentality. It was so special.”
Ashleigh’s bridal journey serves as a reminder that for all the style inspiration, spreadsheets and fittings, it’s the quiet, heartfelt moments that truly define a wedding.