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The wedding season is here. Hundreds of couples all over the #UnitedKingdom are waiting with bated breath for the day they will finally enter a new phase of life together. Huntsham Court is gearing up for the season as well. As one of the most popular country house wedding venues, Huntsham Court offers a plethora of options and services to ensure that couples have the most memorable day of their lives.

Situated amidst the beautiful Devon countryside, Huntsham Court rises up from the greenery as an impressive baronial mansion. Dating back to the Victorian age, this house has a distinct period feel to it. The house has undergone extensive maintenance and has been fitted with all the latest amenities to offer a luxurious stay for wedding guests.

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All the 35 rooms in Huntsham Court have been tastefully furnished and come with various bed options so as to accommodate up to 80 guests with ease. More importantly, Huntsham Court prides itself on its flexible ethos. Guests get to choose exactly what they want here.

This carries over to the wedding side of affairs. Huntsham Court offers an event manager to handle all the aspects of the wedding. They also have a large suppliers directory which the couple can use to select the various services they may need such as florists etc. However, the couple can choose to use their own choices if they want. The same applies to catering. Guests can opt for their ow catering service or select Huntsham Courts silver service.

Huntsham Court provides complimentary use of all the banqueting furniture and dining sets. Fully licensed, couples can hold their wedding inside one of the 5 impressive reception rooms. Beautifully decorated, each reception room is an experience in its own right. For those interested in outdoor weddings, the house garden of Huntsham Court is an excellent facility. In fact, there are a few beautiful spots all round Huntsham Court and its estate. Select any that takes your eye and make your wedding a memorable one.

Whilst the history of the Huntsham Estate can be traced back to the 1700s, Huntsham Court itself was built in 1868 to replace the existing Tudor mansion. The new house was literally built for a bride. Hosting weddings at Huntsham Court is exactly what it was built for. The country house has won several awards as a venue.

Huntsham Court is an award-winning country house located in Devon. Renowned for its stunning baronial architecture, the house and the breathtakingly beautiful estate offers an excellent backdrop for weddings and other kinds of events. It has its own silver staff services and suppliers directory for fulfilling all client requirements.

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She’s on a tour around the country to promote her latest venture – a new novel.

And Vicky Pattison has packed an impeccable wardrobe for her promo tour, wowing in a gorgeous print dress as she hit Watford on Sunday.

The ex Geordie Shore star looked gorgeous in her summery frock, which showed off her trim figure to perfection.

Vicky chose a fitted floral print number for her day at WH Smith, with the sweetheart neckline flaunting her ample assets while the fitted waist made the most of her hourglass curves.

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The frilled skirt was set off with strappy wedge sandals, while Vicky styled her long locks into pretty waves.

The reality star, 29, dressed perfectly for the balmy summer weather again on Saturday as she signed books in Manchester in a frilled white bardot top.

Her a-line skirt fanned outwards and was patterned with sprigs of pink flowers and green leaves.

The demure skirt fell to Vicky’s knees, which she paired with nude pointed heels.

Vicky, who shot to fame on Geordie Shore, was signing copies of her new book at the Arndale centre in Manchester.

She wore her highlighted hair in loose waves, which fell over her shoulders.

The star looked in high spirits as she signed copies of her calendar and posed for selfies with her young fans.

Vicky pulled funny faces for her photographs and stuck out her tongue for a cheeky selfie.

Vicky has published five books, including two autobiographies about her time in the public eye.

The reality star soared to fame in Geordie Shore’s 2011 inauguration, yet left the show in 2014′s series eight after many dramas played out.

She was later hurtled into yet more reality stardom including a victorious stint on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here.

In 2016, Vicky presented spin-off show I’m a Celebrity: Extra Camp alongside Chris Ramsay, Stacey Solomon and Joe Swash.

During a recent appearance on Celebrity Juice, Vicky left viewers blushing when she when she spoke to host Keith Lemon about her ‘post sex’ routine.

As the cheeky host spoke of a ‘sex towel’, the reality star stunned: ‘Don’t most people just do it on a curtain?’

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In a move that is as unorthodox as it is economical, one Singaporean couple decided to forgo the conventional Chinese wedding banquet routine when their turn came round to get married.

Instead, they opted for a photo shoot in the recently-opened Apple store (a brand the groom is a huge fan of) and a buffet lunch right at home (which also conveniently doubled up as a housewarming event for the couple’s relatives and friends).

Jermyn Wee, 34, and his wife Chia Suat Huang, 31, registered their marriage in October 2016, but only held their celebrations on June 3 this year.

They forewent a traditional Chinese gatecrashing, but Wee did “pick up” his bride from her family home, and did the customary tea ceremony later in the day.

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They initially had the idea to take pictures at the Tampines Round Market, before they learned that the Apple store was opening in Singapore.

“(Wee) was very resistant to the idea of a photo shoot until I proposed taking photos at unconventional places,” Chia told Mothership.sg. “He’s rather awkward in front of the camera in general. But when we thought about going to the Apple store, suddenly he was no longer awkward.”

A risky plan

Even Wee’s best man was not privy to the plan until days before Wee and Chia’s celebration day. And up till half an hour before the Apple store opened at 10am that Saturday, no one in the wedding party had any certainty of being able to execute the couple’s decidedly crazy idea.

In fact, Wee told us they spoke to the Apple store employees when they arrived there at 9:30, through the locked doors, to request permission to take photos inside.

Thankfully, the store’s manager allowed the wedding party to enter 10 minutes before the store opened to the public, but they stayed on even after other customers entered, and even staged a walk down the aisle, where other store patrons applauded them:

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Everyone loves a wedding. Unless, of course, they are paying for it, which at this point in time, may equal the starting salary of a National Football League first-round draft pick.

Still, it is an exciting day and one which may quickly be around the corner as we head into the wedding season.

Come on, who would miss the opportunity to be present where two families come together to witness a couple participating in a meaningful ceremony, which will culminate at the end of a long day in a food fight, with chicken wings flying across the tables? It can resemble a legislative session in the Venezuelan assembly.

If that’s not enough, it might be your last chance to hear the most nauseating lyrics in history, as guests groan during the first dance to, “Precious and few are the memories….”

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But it’s not all that bad. Destination weddings are the latest trends. With beautiful sunsets and clear ocean waves as a backdrop, they create a wonderful photo op. Not for you, since your budget calls for a backdrop of city hall. Unfortunately, sometimes a person in handcuffs, sitting on a bench gets into those pictures.

Let’s get the biggest headache over with, the guest list. No document in the history of mankind has been so contentious as this piece of paper that will be crossed out, inked over, shredded and spit upon like a common criminal. Well, maybe the Congressional Record.

Oh, it starts out reasonably enough. You know, the families split the numbers down the middle. There are so many guests allotted for the bride’s side and so many guests for the groom’s side.

This is the A List.

Family comes first, but when you get into the biological mom, the stepmom, the stepdad, the test tube mom, the sperm donor dad, the odd uncle who can’t stop jingling loose change in his pocket, and the aunt who hasn’t spoken to anyone since she filed a police report claiming someone poisoned her hot dog at the annual family reunion, well, it gets a bit tricky.

Then there is the category where, if you invite one person, then you have to invite the other people in your family who will otherwise feel slighted, which recently was the real cause of a restraining order.

Now comes the B List, which would be considered the fillers; these are people to be called upon if someone declines an invitation.

You wouldn’t want an empty church, after all. This is never a problem since these people will attend anything at the drop of a hat if there is free food and alcohol.

Also there are plenty of folks out on the highway that you can just corral into the church.

But once all reason has gone by the wayside, there is the actual ceremony itself.

Well, that and a few other things like the caterer, florists, engravers, tailors, dresses, people who make the little figures on top of the cake, the band, the napkin people, and we can’t forget the wedding planner.

Yeah, Las Vegas looks pretty good. All you need is the right vending machine, and you are just a package of rice away from the “I do’s.”

Anyway, that big day finally arrives when the couple stands in front of their family and friends to make a lifetime commitment to each other. It’s a sobering occasion. Well, at least until the reception.

I know the groom’s family sits down front on one side of the aisle. Most of them are awestruck by the solemn, intimate details, like the one long strand of hair sticking out from the side of the bride’s neck.

And of course the bride’s family is just as overwhelmed, mostly by the fact that she was able to find the only deadbeat to wed in the whole county.

It’s not all as bad as I paint it to be, but still, Las Vegas might just be the retreat you are looking for. For whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas – or not.

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Get ready to say “Awww” when Joy-Anna and Austin say “I do!”

The countdown to Counting On’s wedding special is just about over. On Monday, June 12, Joy-Anna Duggar and Austin Forsyth’s special will air at 9 p.m., on TLC.

The young couple tied the knot in a secret ceremony on May 26 in her native state of Arkansas.

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“What an absolutely wonderful day our family will always treasure. As parents, we could not be more grateful for the godly woman Joy has become, and the loving husband she married! We love you, Joy and Austin and are so happy for you both, as you embark on this exciting journey together!” her parents, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar wrote in a blog post on the Duggar Family’s official website.

Austin — who has been a long-time family friend of the Duggar’s — proposed after several months of courting, which means dating with the intention of marriage.

The newlyweds are already talking about having lots of babies, which should come as no surprise considering Joy-Anna is one of 19.

“We love kids and we’re excited to have a family. We’re just going to see what the Lord does. We want as many as the Lord thinks we can handle and we are putting it into his hands,” the newlyweds told People.

Congrats to the happy couple!

Be sure to watch Joy-Anna and Austin tie the knot on Counting On on Monday, June 12 at 9 p.m.!

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Dear Dr. Marcia,

My husband and I had a small wedding, which we paid for ourselves.

We invited only immediate family members and just a couple of our very close friends.

My husband’s brother had been going out with a girl for only a couple of months so we did not invite him with a guest and he had absolutely no problem with that.

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My sister was another story.

It seems like every time we see her at a family function she’s with a different guy. She gets way too serious way too fast and has told guys she loves them on a second date. She also talks about how much she wants to get married and have a baby by the time she’s 30. She is 27 years old now.

I told her she is scaring them away but she can’t help herself.

Needless to say, she was also not invited with a guest. Much to my disappointment, she did not come to my wedding. She did not even tell me she wasn’t coming but just did not show up. I was disappointed in the choice she made but not that upset about it.

The weekend after we came home from our honeymoon, we had dinner at my parents house. We were of course talking about the wedding, and my father told me how upset he was with me for excluding my sister. I told him she was invited just not with a guest because we did not want a stranger that we would be meeting for the first time at our wedding, and that her not attending was her choice.

We had some serious words over it and my husband defended me and my father made a comment to him that this was between him and his daughters. I then defended my husband saying it was our wedding and our decision not to invite her or his brother with a guest.

I told him my brother-in-law had no problem with it even though he had been seeing his girl for three months. I have not talked to my sister since before the wedding but want to resolve this. Please help.

Signed,

Stumped

Dear Stumped,

Be the mature one and invite your sister to coffee or dinner out. Tell her how much you missed her being at your wedding.

Keep the conversation positive – explain to her why she AND your brother-in-law were invited without guests. Make certain not to discuss her dating history or why she can’t keep a boyfriend.

Tell her you did not mean to hurt her feelings as you hope she did not mean to hurt you – and that you want the two of you to be able to move on from this.

Unfortunately – if she still chooses to be immature – you just have to wait for her to grow up.

Either way – explain to your parents that you took the initiative and spoke to her to try to resolve the situation.

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A bride who said “no” to her wedding dress got a “yes” in Nova Scotia Small Claims Court this week.

In a decision posted Wednesday, adjudicator Gregg Knudsen favoured Ginger Kim Roy’s claim against seamstress Ruth Ryan, doing business as In Stitches with Ruth.

The dress was to be a mash-up of two different gowns, as Roy was unable to find one exactly to her liking.

“However, she found two dresses, each with a part she liked, i.e. one with the skirt and train, the other with a bodice that she preferred over other styles,” Knudsen noted. She asked the seamstress to combine the two, along with making the bridesmaids’ dresses and pocket squares for the groom, best man and ushers.

“In reviewing the evidence, I have no doubt that Ms. Ryan worked hard and tried her best to complete the best wedding dresses and sew it as stipulated by Ms. Roy. The job was more complicated than anticipated and took longer than either party had planned,” Knudsen said.

Pauline Mullin was the seamstress who ended up sewing the bridal gown Roy wore down the aisle after rejecting the original creation. After multiple delays and fittings, and 10 days before the wedding, she saw the dress and testified there appeared to be “one dart too many,” a lack of seam allowances, and that the dress wasn’t the same on both sides, appearing to pull to one side.

Knudsen acknowledged the subjective nature of what constitutes a “skilful and workmanlike manner” for different wedding gowns, but said there were some basics that should have been followed.

“For example, it must fit properly and look how a dress should appear in terms of symmetry and design . . . If the Claimant had not provided photographs in evidence, I would have disallowed the claim. The photographs are clear. The dress was tight, but it was too tight and did not fit correctly as it could not be closed in the back. More significantly, as Ms. Roy described it, the top is ‘lopsided,’” he wrote.

While Roy paid for the cheap wedding dresses and gave Ryan a $100 tip, she wasn’t legally stuck, Knudsen said.

“Although acceptance and payment are relevant considerations in assessing credibility, the Consumer Protection Act applies regardless of whether the garment was delivered and paid for,” he noted.

Knudsen awarded $300 — the amount Ryan originally contracted to do the sewing for — in special damages, $100 in general damages, and costs of $191.26. Roy had sought a total of $1,331.26

“By all accounts, the Roy’s wedding was a happy occasion. That said, Ms. Roy has experienced disappointment, upset and stress as a result of the breach of contract,” he wrote.

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Any American can get a note from the White House congratulating them on getting married, but for most people, getting married at the White House isn’t a reality.

There have been White House weddings—17 in all, according to the White House Historical Association—but they’ve mostly been confined to members of the president’s family or, in two cases, people close to the president.

First Daughter Nellie Grant had “the first really grand White House wedding,” writes the Association, on this day in 1874. President Ulysses S. Grant and his wife redecorated the East Room especially for the wedding ceremony, writes the Association, adding gold leaf accents and replacing chandeliers from the Andrew Jackson years. Big sections of the House were turned over to preparations for the wedding, the Association writes, and the decorations ranged from a big wedding bell made of pink roses to red-white-and-blue bunting.

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At Grant’s wedding breakfast, held in the State Dining Room, the impressive menu included such delicacies as “aspic of beef tongue” and “Wedding Cake iced with Doves, Roses and Wedding Bells,” according to another Association piece. “The wedding breakfast menu was printed in gold on white satin and given to guests as souvenirs of the occasion,” writes the Association.

By all accounts, it was a beautiful day, but though the bride carried a bouquet with the word “love” on a flag in it, the marriage didn’t last. Grant’s controversial husband who she’d fallen in love with while sailing the ocean, “became an alcoholic,” writes the Association, “and Nellie left him, taking their four children with her.”

“It was the first wedding to be held in the White House in thirty years, since President Tyler married Julia Gardiner,” writes Edwin S. Grosvenor for American Heritage. Grant’s famous nuptials were “perhaps the most celebrated nuptials of the nineteenth century,” he writes. The White House weddings of later First Daughters, like President Theodore Roosevelt’s daughter Alice, were big news.

It isn’t just the daughters or sons of the president who have gotten married there:

The first White House wedding was the wedding of Lucy Payne Washington, who was the sister of Dolley Madison. In the 1812 ceremony, which was probably held in the Blue Room according to the White House Historical Association, Washington married Thomas Todd, a Supreme Court Justice.

The most recent wedding at the White House was the 1994 wedding of Anthony Rodham, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton’s brother. He married Nicole Boxer in the Rose Garden, before a black-tie wedding dinner was held in the State Dining Room. It was the first since Tricia Nixon, the daughter of President Richard Nixon, got married in the Rose Garden in 1971. Nixon’s wedding to Edward Finch Cox was highly publicized, and she appeared in her wedding dress in Time magazine not once, but twice.

White House weddings in general stopped being much less common in the second half of the twentieth century: after three happened in the 1910s, the next wedding was that of Harry Hopkins—President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s assistant and one of only two non-Presidential family members to get married at the White House—got married in FDR’s study in 1942.

There are a lot of reasons to have a wedding at the White House if you can, former social secretary to Jacqueline Kennedy Letitia Baldridge told Sheryl Stolberg for The New York Times. World-class catering and staff are at your fingertips, along with the White House’s own florist and social secretary to handle all the decorating and inviting.

But there’s one good reason not to: privacy. “Historically,” Stolberg writes, “such affairs have been feel-good occasions for the country and the commander in chief, casting presidents in the sympathetic role of father.” But there are times when the First Family, or its relatives, just want to fly under the radar.

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Londoner Gabrielle Gant spent months planning a traditional church wedding with her boyfriend Matt, before they realised their perfect day was two plane tickets to Manhattan, a couple of close friends and zero regrets. Here, she tells the Evening Standard why eloping was the best decision she ever made

​I met Matt on a sweaty July evening in 2010, at a mutual friend’s gig in a South London club.

We started talking and something clicked into place. Six years later, lying on a dusky Bridgetown beach with salty hair and sleepy eyes, he put a ring on my finger with relief and revealed that he’d been trying to hide it from me without losing it. We celebrated with beers in the Barbados sunset and talked about the DIY festival-style wedding party we wanted to throw with our friends and family.

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We talked about the wedding a lot. We wanted to grow our own wildflowers, make our own food, dance through the night without a curfew and watch the sunrise with our best friends around us. Matt was keen to get married as soon as possible; he had asked me because he wanted our marriage, not an over-planned wedding ceremony.

We pencilled in the following summer and asked a few loved-ones to get involved as bridesmaids and groomsmen. We both wanted a really intimate DIY feel to the day and set a small budget aside to try and bring everything together.

I started looking into marquee hire costs, food-van options, church fees and colour schemes. It was fun to begin with, but as things got serious I realised I was starting to get anxious.

I didn’t like the idea of being the centre of attention and as the guest-list grew with family expectations, it became clear that we were not going to get the intimate firework display and indie disco we wanted.

On a miserable Sunday evening in December we realised that of our 150 guests, only 30 were friends. I felt Matt withdraw at that point and knew that our wedding plans had lost all meaning.

On the drive home I muttered, “I wish we could just elope.” By the time we climbed into bed we had decided that it was easy, cheap, ridiculous and perfect.

On February 8, the chaotic Manhattan climate gave us a bright, perfect day of love and happiness. It felt perfect as we took a couple of photos in a sunshine spotlight on the steps of City Hall, marriage certificate in hand and a handful of close friends around us.

Our uncertainty led to the best decision we ever made – here are eight reasons why eloping might just be the answer for you too.

1. Do something different

Everyone has that Jenny Packham dress, the naked cake decorated with edible flowers and a photo booth in the corner ready to capture drunk pictures of unknown guests. Ironically it can be a struggle to inject your personality into a day that’s supposed to be all about you. We found the easiest way to get around this was to do something completely different and elope. When we talk to people about our wedding the usual response is, “That’s so typical of you guys!”, which is exactly what we wanted on the day.

2. It’s really easy

You only have to go onto the Internet and search ‘easy places for Brits to get married abroad’ and you’re presented with countless locations around the world. Some embassies need a bit of time to prepare paperwork but you can get clear information online or hire agents to organise things for you. We chose New York as our wedding destination because it’s a city we love, it’s legal to marry there and very easy. It took 24 hours to get a marriage licence and we were married at Manhattan City Hall the next day.

3. Save the money for something useful, like a house

Honestly, both our families were able and willing to foot the bill for a modest wedding, but as the predicted costs started to add up (and oh how quickly they do) we didn’t feel comfortable about it. For many couples now this isn’t even an option, which results in many using savings and loans to fund their big day. We saved our cash and put down the deposit on our first home, which cost less than the average wedding in the UK.

4. Combine your wedding and honeymoon

Obviously you save money because you’re already there. More importantly, you save time. You could choose to stay where you were married or travel onwards to another spot. We spent the week after our wedding celebrating in New York with our guests; it was great to spend the extra time with everyone.

5. Avoid saying your vows in front of people you don’t know or like

The hardest part of organising a wedding is planning the guestlist. If you have a big family, it’s easy to spiral into chaos before you’ve even considered which friends you have space for. Should you invite your partner’s cousin’s kids? Have you even met them? Our British manners meant we were genuinely concerned that we may cause offence if we missed out an unknown plus-one. By moving our wedding to the other side of the Atlantic we were able to politely limit our invites to those closest enough to travel with us. Understandably there were friends and family members who were unable to make the trip, however their support and excitement for us made our return to the UK an even bigger celebration.

6. Don’t compromise on the food

When you’ve sorted out the invites and the theme, you then have to deal with planning the food. It can be a huge compromise trying to feed so many people at the same time. Not only do the costs go up as you start to add options for the children, gluten-free, dairy-free or vegan guests, the quality of the food tends to go down. We tried to think outside the box with our food options but the reality is, when you have 150 mouths to feed it gets expensive. By taking our wedding abroad, cutting out the guests and opening up the budget, we were able to look at truly special restaurants and ended up having a post-marriage meal that was so good we will never forget it.

7. Be selfish and make the day about yourselves

There aren’t many opportunities in life where you can completely, selfishly make a day about your relationship. As we started planning our wedding we realised that although we appreciated how much friends and family wanted to be involved, the event was no longer about our commitment to each other. Both of us were becoming distant and uninvolved as the romance of ‘marriage’ disappeared. By flying away and making the experience exactly how we wanted it, we felt much more intimate and relaxed.

8. Break the traditions

Stuffing into a large white dress, being ‘given away’ by Dad, awkwardly slow dancing in front of a crowd of flashing smartphones and making a speech about the in-laws; a traditional marriage was never going to feel comfortable for us. We chose our low-key outfits on Net-A-Porter, took a cab to City Hall, asked our few guests to stand with us in the ceremony, ate lobster rolls and Oreos afterwards, played pool and finished the night with karaoke in a dive bar. Naturally, our perfect day won’t to everyone’s taste, but the idea is universal: break the traditions and do what makes you feel comfortable. It’s your wedding and you don’t have to listen to anyone (except probably your spouse).

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Actress Vanessa Hudgens cites the Marchesa gown she wore to the Oscars in 2009 as one of her favourite garments.

Vanessa Hudgens always keeps her purse stocked with around 20 lipsticks.

The Spring Breakers actress never shies away from dramatic transformations, and can be seen rocking everything from classic dresses to bohemian-style ensembles on the red carpet.

To switch-up her look while out and about, Vanessa relies on lipstick, and carts around numerous shades in her favourite handbag.

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“I carry a pouch in my purse with probably 20 different lip colours all in the kind of nude to red to coral to rust category. Just anything in there. Whatever I am feeling that day, whatever goes with the outfit that makes me feel a little more confident works,” she told People.com.

“When I’m not feeling 100 per cent I throw on a bold lip and feel better.”

Vanessa doesn’t just change up her make-up from day to day, but also plays around with her hair colour and length via the addition of hair pieces and extensions. At the moment she is loving extra long hair, and is very inspired by the sleek tresses worn by singer Cher in the 1970s.

“Right now it would be very chill. Just like a cool girl. Just chill and laid back and from the ’70s,” she shared, adding that her looks depend on her mood.

The 28-year-old is one to watch at California’s annual Coachella festival, where she is known to sport an eclectic mix of prints and accessories. But Vanessa’s favourite fashion moment actually happened in 2009, when she attended the Academy Awards in a black Marchesa gown.

“(The dress) was actually a little cocktail dress and I asked (the designer) if there was any way we could make it long, so she grabbed this tulle and started wrapping it and pinning it on me, and I just felt like an Audrey Hepburn mermaid princess that night,” she smiled.

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