A bride wore a sparkly black wedding dress she bought online to her elegant winter wedding (2024)

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Sophie and Chris Buck first crossed paths at a house party nine years ago.

The couple, both 32, moved to London around the same time after they graduated from college 9 years ago.

They ended up at a mutual friend's house party shortly after they both arrived in the city.

"We didn't start dating right away, but we got on really well," Sophie told Insider. "I thought he was very funny."

"Six months later, he just called me and said, 'Do you want to go on a date?' I said, 'Why not?'" Sophie said. They've been together ever since.

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Chris proposed to Sophie in November of 2019.

He popped the question on Bonfire Night, a holiday on which people set off fireworks, host bonfires, and light effigies in honor of Guy Fawkes, who tried to assassinate the British king in 1605.

Chris took Sophie to Chatsworth House for Bonfire Night 2019, where the Bennet sisters live in the 2005 film adaptation of "Pride and Prejudice." It's one of Sophie's favorite movies.

"It was really special," Sophie said of the proposal.

The couple planned to have a "winter chic" wedding in December of 2020.

Sophie said she wasn't a person who spent years dreaming about her wedding, but she liked the idea of a black-tie party with fireworks, sparklers, and winter-themed decorations.

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The Bucks originally intended to invite around 150 people to their wedding, but they had to scale their nuptials back quite a bit because of the pandemic.

Only 15 people attended their wedding at the Manor Estate in Wiltshire.

Sophie started thinking about the type of wedding dress she wanted to wear early on in her engagement.

"I knew I didn't want to wear white. I was looking at crazy colored red gowns," she said, as well as a myriad of other colors. "I really couldn't pin it down. And then the pandemic hit."

She wasn't able to go try on wedding gowns in stores, so Sophie started looking online for her perfect dress.

"I didn't try a single dress on," she said. "I didn't have that moment with any of my friends or my mom, which does make me quite sad."

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Sophie ended up falling in love with a black Jenny Packham dress.

Sophie found the dress on the sale section of the Harrods website, and she was immediately drawn to it.

The A-line gown had a tiered skirt, ruffled sleeves, and it was covered in iridescent sparkles.

"It ticked a lot of boxes," Sophie said of the dress. "I really wasn't looking for black, but the shape I knew would be very flattering on me."

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Sophie said she was drawn to the gown's sparkles and full, tulle skirt.

But most importantly, the gown just felt like her when she saw it.

"I'm known for going into a shop and needing to buy something practical and coming out with a massive pink, fluffy jacket," Sophie said. "That dress is quite me in that sense."

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Sophie also felt like the dress was perfect for the type of wedding she was having.

The gown fit the wedding's theme perfectly, as the sparkles and voluminous fabric captured the event's festive spirit.

She added that she knew the sparkle detailing in particular would be elevated by the decor.

"It catches the light a lot," she said of the gown. "Sometimes it looks silver. Other times it looks multicolored. It's very reflective."

"I knew that would work because we were going to have tea lights and twinkly lights everywhere, and it would catch the light and look different in every picture," she added.

Photography By Louisa Jane photographed the wedding.

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The dress fit Sophie like a glove.

The gown arrived a week after Sophie ordered it, and she tried it on at home by herself with a glass of champagne in hand.

It fit perfectly. She didn't need to get the gown altered at all.

"It was just that feeling of being like, 'Yeah, I feel really great in this,'" Sophie said of how she felt trying on the gown for the first time.

The gown cost around £1,200, which was $1,639.32 at the time of writing.

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"I felt like a Disney princess," Sophie said of how the dress made her feel on her wedding day.

"I know that sounds like a cliche, but I've never worn a dress like that, and I doubt I will wear a dress like that again," she said.

"It was amazing," she added. "I loved it. It was so comfy. I sort of just floated around all day."

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Sophie didn't wear a veil with her nontraditional bridal look.

"I didn't want more because the dress was quite a lot," she said of her decision not to wear a veil. "I just thought the dress didn't need it."

She wore her hair in a simple updo styled by No. 1 Hair, and accessorized the look with a necklace and bracelet, as well as ASOS shoes.

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Chris didn't see Sophie's dress until their wedding ceremony.

"It's all such a happy blur, but he looked happy, so I'm going to say he liked it," she said of Chris' reaction to the dress.

He knew the dress would be black before the wedding, so Chris wasn't caught off guard by the color. But Sophie added that it wouldn't have mattered what she wore to him.

"I probably could have turned up in jeans and he'd be like, 'Cool, let's do this,'" Sophie said.

Chris wore a Suit Supply tuxedo to the nuptials.

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Sophie said she was stressed about the wedding until the moment before she walked down the aisle.

Planning a wedding can be stressful no matter what, but the pandemic added a whole new layer for couples, including Sophie and Chris.

Sophie told Insider she was worried throughout her engagement that the wedding would get canceled or postponed, even though they downsized the event.

But she said her stress melted away the moment before she walked down the aisle.

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"I remember in that moment just being ecstatic," Sophie told Insider.

"My dad said my shoulders suddenly dropped, and I just smiled," she told Insider of the moments before the wedding.

"I remember in that moment just being ecstatic that we were going to be getting married after everything," she added.

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The intimate reception was filled with winter-inspired decor.

Tea lights in ornaments hung from the ceiling, accenting the gold color scheme, and the dining space even had Christmas trees in it.

Sophie's mother, Ruth Wilkinson, did much of the decorating for the event, including providing the florals.

"My mom used to be a wedding planner and is kind of a do-it-yourself florist, and she just took the reins and went for it," Sophie said.

Fond Of Food catered the event, and Sophie carried a bouquet from My Flower Patch down the aisle.

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The newlyweds and their guests had fun with smoke bombs at the wedding.

Sophie was inspired to use colorful smoke bombs for wedding photos after seeing inspiration images online.

"Someone had sent me a bridal post in a magazine, and I thought, 'Oh, that's really cool with the colors,'" she said, adding that the dark hues of her and Chris' outfits would make their photos even more stunning.

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"We had such fun," Sophie said of the photo shoot.

The photos turned out beautifully, and the Bucks had fun taking them.

"All our friends were just lighting them all around us and hoping for the best and people were setting them off at the wrong time," Sophie said. "It was very funny, and it made the photos very relaxed because we were all just running around like loonies amongst colorful smoke."

She added that the experience was even more enjoyable because only their closest friends and loved ones attended the nuptials.

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The more intimate wedding ended up being perfect for the Bucks.

People have asked the Bucks in the last year if they want to have a larger celebration now that big gatherings are safer, but they didn't really feel the need to have an additional party at the time of writing.

"It was so amazing that I actually think we're just really holding on to how incredible the day was and not thinking about anything else for now," Sophie said.

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"It still feels like day one after all these years," Sophie told Insider of her relationship with Chris.

"I don't want to sound like a cliche, but he really is my best friend," she added of Chris.

You can see more of Louisa Jane's photography here.

If you are in the process of shopping for yourweddingdress or have photos from when you shopped and want to talk to Insider for a story, get in touch atsgrindell@insider.com.