It was such an honour making the wedding dress for Thea Thompson, T&H's first bespoke wedding dress! A talented Landscape Architect  and ceramicist Thea married Andy Sturgeon, the internationally renowned Landscape and Garden designer (author and broadcaster).  Andy has won Gold medal at RHS Chelsea Flower Show an incredible nine times and Best in Show three times.

Their wedding was a wonderful celebration and took place in their beautiful home in Sussex in July.

T&H: Thea everyone said how amazing you looked on your wedding day did you enjoy the design process?
It was an absolute joy working with Zoe (T&H co-founder and designer) on my wedding dress. I found an initial image of Bette Davis looking very glamorous in the 1950s. Zoe took this image and worked up some mood boards. It was such a fun experience and I loved driving down to the T&H studio in Folkestone to see what she had come up with next. Zoe came up with an idea of including embroidered and embellished swifts on the dress. The swifts represent marital harmony which I thought was so lovely.  The silk dress was made in Folkestone by The Robing Room.

My favourite aspect of the dress is the cape style back and the beautiful birds flying all over the silk.

The highlight of my wedding day was getting to marry my favourite person ever at our home in Sussex and celebrating with all my family and friends.

T&H: Thea you've had an amazing career as a Landscape artist, we’d love to know your top five gardens / outdoor spaces.



I love whimsical, surprising and enchanting outdoor spaces. Some of my favourite places to visit are gardens that evoke memories or feelings.



Our garden in Waldron, East Sussex.  Andy created a wonderful meadow which looked its very best on our wedding day.



wedding images Claire Vogeli

Chanticleer Garden Pennsylvania  a beautiful inspiring place with lovely people.

 Magic Garden Philadelphia for the weird and wonderful mosaic madness.

 Andy Sturgeon Chelsea Flower Show Garden for Mind 2022. A garden for such a worthy cause. 

Chelsea Physic Garden- an oasis of calm in the middle of London. Chelsea Physic Garden’s plant collection is unique in being the only  botanic garden collection focused on medicinal, herbal and useful plants.
 
T&H: You’ve worked on so incredible projects is there one work project that’s really stood out?


I have worked for over 25 years as a Landscape Architect and one of my favourite projects was a temporary installation in Piazza Vecchia, Bergamo in Italy. We ran a summer school in Bergamo with students from all over Europe and we worked to formulate a design based on the brief  ‘The Feeding Landscape’. We took these concepts back to our office in Brighton and designed a space which was inspired by the surrounding landscape in Bergamo. Features included vines, water rills, hay bales, forest and fruit trees set out in a parallel pattern to mimic terraces and field patterns. I love the way the space was used by the public. It was playful and provided spaces to sit and get close to the water, plants and

T&H: Tell us about your ceramist work
I have always been interested in ceramics and am really fascinated with the texture and complexity of using slips, engobes and glazes to create interesting finishes to pieces . I am in the process of designing and making some large scale pots which can be used in the garden and for interiors. I am really excited to know how these will turn out.
I am also currently undertaking a garden design in Holland Park which includes a rear garden and roof terrace. The client wants to have lots of flowers and soft natural palette of hard materials.