Flora Vesterberg Wove Her Love of the Arts Into Her London Wedding at St. James’s Palace
Flora Vesterberg, a curator with a masters degree from The Courtauld Institute of Art and contributor to Vogue Scandinavia, and Swedish financier Timothy Vesterberg were introduced by their best man Alexander Danielsson, who the bride had met in Paris during an internship for Sotheby’s. “He had studied with my husband in Stockholm and then cleverly brought us together in London a few years later,” Flora remembers. Timothy visited an exhibition that Flora, the granddaughter of HRH Princess Alexandra, The Hon. Lady Ogilvy, had curated at Connolly. An evocative ink drawing by Alba Hodsoll sparked an initial conversation that led to their ultimately falling in love and becoming engaged.
Timothy proposed at the couples’ favorite meeting spot in London. “It was a serene and beautiful moment for both of us,” Flora says. The pear-shaped diamond in Flora’s bespoke engagement ring is Victorian—from the late 19th century. Timothy worked closely with the British jewelers Hancocks in Burlington Arcade to encase it with two smaller diamonds and place it onto a contemporary gold band. The two celebrated becoming engaged in Milan with a few nights at Palazzo Parigi while also taking time to visit the contemporary art collection at Fondazione Prada.
“A poignant moment [during our courtship] was when I gave a lecture with my friend Rosa Park of Francis Gallery. I fell in love with a Korean moon jar by Kim Sang In made of two hemispherical porcelain halves, which are forever bound together,” Flora remembers. “I had observed that Timothy was equally drawn to the piece when he spoke particularly eloquently on the subject. Upon enquiry, it had sadly already been sold, and so I commissioned another by Jago Poynter. However, our thoughts were aligned as my then fiancé and I ended up giving our respective moon jars to one another on the same morning.” Now their moon jars are on display side by side, and art collecting remains a focus for the couple.
“A few months after our engagement when planning was underway, the pandemic struck, and we put our plans on hold,” Flora says. “My parents worked closely with our friends Peregrine and Caroline Armstrong-Jones of Bentleys Entertainments, and they were all brilliantly agile.”
On September 26, 2020, Flora and Timothy married privately at The Chapel Royal, St. James’s Palace with the idea that they would also do a blessing of the marriage with more of their loved ones a year later, if protocols surrounding the pandemic would allow for it.
“My mother, Julia—who looked radiant in a pink silk dress by Beulah and ivory hat by the British milliner Rachel Trevor Morgan—recently studied at Harvard Divinity School and expertly planned services for both our wedding ceremony and marriage blessing that interwove Swedish traditions,” Flora says. “The wedding ceremony was a very emotional and intimate experience that Timothy and I both feel incredibly grateful for." To commemorate their nuptials, the newlyweds’ close friends Isabel and Gigi Ettedgui of Connolly gave them a triptych of mid-19th century porcelain Japanese sake vases. “It is now a cherished piece in our collection that ultimately inspired where we want to go on our honeymoon," Flora says.
For this intimate ceremony, Flora wore a structured ivory dress by Emilia Wickstead with a ballerina hemline. “I often wear Emilia Wickstead’s pieces to give lectures at The Sotheby’s Institute of Art or for galleries like Ordovas in London because they feel empowering,” Flora explains. “Traditional and yet contemporary, the neckline is reflective of an iconic dress worn by my great-grandmother HRH Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent many years ago,” Flora says. “She was a devoted philanthropist and patron of the arts.”
Flora’s grandmother HRH Princess Alexandra, The Hon. Lady Ogilvy lent her a delicate pair of diamond and pearl earrings. “I felt very grateful to have these pieces of historical significance close to me during that pivotal moment for Timothy and me,” the bride says.
