When Rosie Boydell-Wiles’s mum took her to a Vivienne Westwood retrospective at the V&A when she was 10, she instantly became a super fan – as a teenager she scoured Topshop for all things tartan and covered her walls in the brand’s ad campaigns, and she now works as a personal stylist and as part of the Vivienne Westwood team, as a bridal specialist and couture consultant. Not only did she wear a custom Vivienne Westwood couture gown for her own wedding, the entire day referenced the punk London spirit of the late designer, from her groom Joe Boydell-Wiles’s Dr Martens to the safety pin motif.
Rosie and Joe had always planned to have their ceremony and wedding reception this month, however, shortly after booking their venue in December 2021 they received worrying news about the health of two close family members and decided to tie the knot in a small family wedding with 30 guests in July last year. But having already put down deposits for the venue, florist and catering for their May 2023 date, they decided it was too late and too costly to cancel, so went ahead with throwing a big party with all of their friends.
There was no question of what Rosie would wear on her official wedding day last July. “When Vivienne died, friends messaged me as if she was a relative because they knew how much I idolised her,” Rosie explains of her emotional connection to the designer. As part of her job, Boydell-Wiles has access to the house’s amazing couture archive, and the most memorable gown she’d ever tried on was an emerald-green dress made for the red carpet, featuring the signature Westwood corset with a Swarovski mesh panel. Rosie asked the studio if they could create an ivory version with silver Swarovski crystals. In a happy coincidence, the team was already working on the next bridal collection, and so made a one-off couture version in time for her wedding.
“I grew up knowing that my late father wouldn’t walk me down the aisle, and I was worried that I would feel something was missing on the day,” Rosie says. “My sister Alice was really emotional and kept crying from the moment I put my dress on. It was a tough day for her I think, as it was a stark reminder of who we’d lost, and because she knew there would be a day when she would be in my position too.” Rosie considered walking down the aisle by herself, but eventually decided she wanted someone to be by her side. Alice was the obvious choice. “I’ll be giving her away at her wedding one day too, and I know it would make my dad so proud to see us supporting each other like that.”
Instead of a traditional veil, Rosie wore a navy blue checked shirt with a long, dramatic train inspired by the relaxed, collared shirts her father used to wear. His checked shirts are her most cherished possessions. They “feel like home to me”, she says.
“I sent my Dad’s actual shirt to the designer Aleks and she copied the shape of it exactly, so that I would feel like I was wearing one of his shirts on the day,” Rosie explains. “She then cut a heart out of the inner chest pocket of my dad’s original shirt and sewed it into the pocket of my new shirt, so that I’d have a piece of my him with me as I walked down the aisle for this important moment he should have been at my side for.”
Rosie kept this unique and meaningful detail under wraps in the run up to the wedding party. “My sister, whose opinion I value over anyone else’s, was understandably horrified at the thought of me covering up my dream couture gown with a checked shirt,” jokes Rosie, who knew she’d made the right decision when she put the shirt on on the day. “Checked shirts and wedding dresses are not often paired together, but the combination felt like the perfect summary of me as a person,” she says.
Rosie was even wearing one of her father’s checked shirts on the day Joe proposed during a coastal walk near her childhood home in Devon. Although the proposal was a surprise, the couple started talking about marriage after only three months of dating, and started dreaming up a design for her engagement ring together. “My mum then kindly offered for Joe to use three of the diamonds from her engagement ring from my father – provided my little sister Alice could have the other two when she gets engaged.” Jeweller Lylie designed an Etruscan ring with inky baguette-cut sapphires to contrast the heirloom diamonds. Although Rosie approved the sketch, she didn’t see the finished ring until Joe surprised her on that cosy walk three months later. Rosie wanted to give Joe an engagement ring of his own, and presented him with a chunky oval signet ring engraved with the letters BW, in honour of their new combined surname.
The couple’s intimate summer wedding was a “short and sweet” ceremony in a beautiful orangery-style space within 100 Queen’s Gate Hotel, followed by an intimate dinner and drinks reception at AllBright club. The bride and groom travelled by Tube and taxi on the day, at one point jumping out of their cab and walking down Regent Street to avoid being stuck in traffic – a decision that resulted in some of their favourite wedding pictures.
This month, the couple finally enjoyed their blow-out wedding bash with all their friends at a warehouse space in Hackney. Already officially married for almost a year, Rosie and Joe skipped another ceremony in favour of a big dinner party and disco. They settled on a moody, punky theme that perfectly matched their checked Vivienne Westwood looks. “I knew I’d never be able to find a dress that I loved more than my wedding dress, and also was so excited to wear it again, because not many people get the opportunity to do that,” Rosie says. Joe did change up his outfit for their second outing, swapping his tuxedo for a tartan Vivienne Westwood suit that Rosie had given him as a birthday present, which he wore with Dr Martens and sporty Adidas socks.
They dressed the warehouse space with foraged moss, cow parsley, twisted willow and vintage printed rugs, and stuck to a palette of deep blues, greens and purples. The guests tucked into a hog roast served on long wooden tables, which were covered in tartan and seasonal blooms arranged in vintage milk bottles.
The couple used textile designer and fabric installation artist MiaSylvia to create drapes from inky navy blue and Blackwatch tartan fabric to break up the open plan venue, and made napkins using scraps of tartan fabrics from the samples they had ordered. Below, see more from Rosie and Joe’s two London wedding celebrations.
Sami Weller1/38“The way Westwood dresses are draped is pure magic, they are the most flattering dresses of all time, somehow modern and yet utterly timeless too,” says Rosie. “I think you can tell they were designed by a woman as well – she knows which bits to cinch, which bits to highlight, which bits to skim over.”
Sami Weller2/38“My hair is so key to my look and I’ve never had anyone else attempt to style it, so figured I’d be better off doing it myself. It takes me about five minutes in total to do each morning and my wedding day was no different.”
Joshua Tarn3/38“I’ve been collecting charms and chains since I was a child – the little key I wear round my neck every day was one I found in a box of old rusty keys back home aged 11. I never take them off and they’ve become as much a part of my signature look as the blonde streak in my hair (which I’ve had since I was 16), so I wanted to keep them on for this important day too. I removed a couple of the chains so that the look was a little cleaner and didn’t distract from the dress’s neckline, but it was still very much the layered chain look that I love,” says Rosie.
Joshua Tarn4/38Groom Joe wore a navy blue Alexander McQueen tuxedo jacket with embroidered black silk lapels on the couple’s official wedding day, paired with trousers by the Danish brand Sunflower, Oxfords by Dr Martens and tartan socks by Vivienne Westwood.
Joshua Tarn5/38Rosie surprised Joe by sneakily sewing an embroidered patch with their wedding date on the inside of his tuxedo jacket. It was made from some of the leftover fabric from Rosie’s checked shirt.
Joshua Tarn6/38Moments before their official ceremony at 100 Queen’s Gate Hotel.
Joshua Tarn7/38The couple opted for a short ceremony, with Rosie’s sister reading an an extract from Everything I know About Love by Dolly Alderton, while Joe’s dad read his favourite lyrics from Leonard Cohen’s “Anthem”. The other reading was All Kinds of Trouble by Abigail Burdess, which was read by Rosie’s bridesmaid, Jessica.
Joshua Tarn8/38Rosie had a bouquet made of white roses and orchids, her mum’s favourite flowers.