Modern

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After a cliff top proposal, Abbi & Jools, who met while working at the Cadbury factory, planned their 5* boutique wedding at The Hempel Hotel, London.

“Jools and I met 8 years ago, when we both started working for Cadbury. Clearly, having a Cadbury chocolate/sweetie bar at the wedding was obligatory!” Abbi explained. “We got engaged in Australia, on a cliff top on the Great Ocean Road, while sitting on a bench and eating some delicious cake. When Jools said ‘I’ve got a question to ask you’, I replied ‘Do you want the rest of my cake?’ Usually he would have jumped at the opportunity – but instead went down on one knee… to which I responded ‘oh my God oh my God oh my God… where shall I put the cake?’ I put it on the ground. It was fine. I ate it later.”

“Our wedding day was the best day of my life. I thought I would be nervous, and I was worried I would cry (I’m a bit of a blubber at other people’s weddings), but as soon as I started walking down the aisle with my Dad, I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face. I just wanted to throw my arms around Jools – but when I reached the front and tried to kiss him, he refused because we weren’t married yet! By the end of our wedding day, my face was aching with grinning so much. When we got our beautiful wedding photos back, you can see the exact expression I was pulling all day!”

“I’m not terribly creative, but I did a little bit of DIY,” Abbi continued. “I made all the name tags we used for place settings. My favourite wedding purchse may have been the heart-shaped hole punch I used before tying on the ribbons. At dinner, I went round pointing out the heart shaped holes to everyone. No one else had noticed. I did. They made me happy.”

“Jools and I have been lucky enough to be invited to a LOT of friends’ weddings – about 19 in the past few years.” she concluded. “I’ve been bridesmaid at 5, witness at 2, a reader at one, photographer at one… basically, we’re wedding pros! We’ve been to all different types – churches, castles, country houses, barns, hotels…but mostly fairly traditional. We just wanted ours to be a bit different – so we decided on a city chic, boutique hotel, slightly quirky feel. Basically, we just wanted it to be a really fun party with great food, great booze and great music!”

“Colour-scheme wise, I guess it was black and white with flashes of colour. The guests were all in black tie, the venue was fairly monochrome, the bridesmaids dresses were all different versions of the little black dress… and then there was my dress. The most fun dress in the world. God I love that dress. Clearly I couldn’t tell Jools about the dress beforehand, but I just knew it was perfect for the feel we were going for. The 50s style, the black and white…. Wearing it blew me away – and everyone else fell over themselves to say how much they loved it. I felt like a movie star. And it was great to dance and spin around in, unlike the more traditional, restrictive long dresses I tried on. Plus it gave me a genuine excuse (as if I needed one) to buy some Christian Louboutins… you could see my feet! I was nervous that my outfit would look too OTT, that Jools would fall about laughing when he saw me – but it was the best decision I ever made.”

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Carl & Emilia’s hipster wedding was held at The Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm, Sweden, which they chose for it’s breathtaking view and because it is one of their most favourite places in the city. “We planned to have the ceremony outdoors in an adjacent garden,” explained the couple. “Instead of sunshine however (which really is not asking to much even in Sweden that time of year) we got rain. Then we got even more rain and after that thunderstorms. Thus, we had to make some last minute changes i.e. move the ceremony indoors, but it all worked out perfectly thanks to our wonderful family and friends who gladly moved around all furniture. In the end the ceremony turned out even better than originally planned!”

The bride’s dress was made in Thailand by a designer called Senada. They saw it in a shop window when on holiday in Bangkok and bought it then and there! While on holiday Emila also found her perfect dancing shoes, Lanvin Ballerinas flats, “They are sill the prettiest pair of shoes in my closet!” she laughed. Her actual wedding shoes were from Swedish designer Carin Rodebjer.

A lot of the reception details were DIY or from non-wedding suppliers which kept costs down and gave the wedding totally unique touches. They also fell in love with etsy and loved how they were able to find things out of the ordinary as inspiration, “The pure joy of carrying a little something that some sweet person living on the other side of the planet has made especially for you – need we say more?!” they said. The bride and bridesmaid put together the bouquets from dahlias that they’d picked the day before and the cupcakes came from a local bakery. The DJ’s were friends of the couple (they out together a playlist of songs so they cold enjoy the dancing too!) The stationery was also made by a friend, “Our super talented and very dear friend Lisa Bengtsson incorporated our love for Polaroid pictures (as well as Emilia’s admiration for bows) and created the most fantastic STD, all of our invitations (there were four different ones with pictures of us two), the menus and the individual seating cards for all our guests (which they got to take home with them as a memory). It all looked fabulous! We have saved copies of it all in a little “memory box” that Emilia’s little sister gave us.”

“Neither of us really had any ideas on how we wanted our wedding to be except that we knew we wanted to throw our family and friends the funniest and most amazing party ever,” concluded the couple. ”As is could all feel a bit overwhelming (the choices are endless to say the least) we decided to stick to our original idea of a great party and tried not to focus on whether or not our way of doing things were “wedding appropriate”. In the end we got the party of our dreams! During the course of planning we did read a lot about other people’s weddings (wedding blogs are the best inspiration) and there are two things that really can’t be said too many times: 1) everything may not go according to plan but no one but you will notice since they will be too busy having fun as will you and 2) money spent on a photographer is money well spent. Our photographer Alicia is not only a remarkable photographer but the sweetest and funniest person to be around. Our pictures make us smile no matter what and the slide-show Alicia made out of them is now our new favourite bedtime story. Also, brunch together with your loved ones the day after the wedding is a great way of prolonging the festivities. You never want it all to end, it is that much fun!”

The night ended by everyone going swimming! “Go a little crazy!” they said when I asked if they had any words of advice. ”We ended our day with a late night swim. We had a blog were our guests could get hold of all the practicalities. A couple of days before the wedding we told everyone to bring their bathing suits (the Museum of Modern Art lies right next to the water in central Stockholm) and people did! It was the perfect ending! Then  we had a brunch a couple of hours later so we didn’t actually have to end things until the next day!”

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Sarah & Jonathan found the perfect photographer to capture their modern London wedding though Rock n Roll Bride so I was over the moon when Annamarie Stepney asked if I’d like to feature their wedding!

The couple chose to have their wedding in their local borough of Islington, North London as they both felt it was very important to support their local businesses and friends. “The fact the venue and all suppliers were local in Angel was very important to us and this is why we chose them. Jonathan’s business and our lives in Islington are important and it was all about a sense of community. We also wanted a relaxed inclusive wedding, but not casual. We involved as many people as we could with 18 ushers and bridesmaids altogether, four readers and roles for everyone individually. We have been together for 9 years and have many great friends together who we wanted to be very involved.”

The wedding took place in August at St Johns church Duncan Terrace, London and was followed by a super cool drinks and canapes reception at The Breakfast Club in Angel. “The bar is one of Jonathan’s favourites and is round the corner from the church on the pretty Camden Passage,” Sarah told me. ”This was great because the local businesses who supplied the wedding could join in, including the dressmaker!   We served our favourite homemade scotch eggs, mojitos, champagne and also other retro treats.”

The main reception was then held up the road at a gastropub The Canonbury, a large beautiful old English pub with a huge garden on a quiet square in the best residential area in Islington. “In the pub we had a pretty raj tent with comfy lounge chairs and the cake was also on display,” continued the bride. ”Most importantly we lead a walk with the wedding party and anyone else who could manage it from  The Breakfast Club straight up Upper street to The Canonbury. Everyone else took the green Route-master bus.”

Sarah had her dress, veil and acessories made by local dressmaker Jacqueline Byrne. ”She makes beautiful vintage styled dresses and wedding accessories,” exlained Sarah. ”After trying on a few off the peg disasters (quite hard because I am just over 6ft tall) it was a no brainer to with her. Basically she got to know me and my sisters and Mum and found out about the wedding and gradually designed a dress together that evolved as it was made, that was so fun and she really knows what she is doing but at the same time the dress can be really personalised too. We were still working on right up u to, 2 days before. She also made my vintage veil and 20s hair band, she even beaded my cardigan which is didn’t need because it was such a balmy hot day hot the end.  She also makes dresses for the princess Ann and she a real pleasure to work with!”

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When planning our wedding I found organising the venue the most stressful. As soon as we got engaged I wanted to get the venue sorted as, really, the whole day - the theme, the style and the ambiance – anchors around the setting.

For the modern, urban bride, The Sage, Gateshead could well be the answer. Set just outside of Newcastle, The Sage offers a modern and affordable way to get married in style. The venue offers 3 rooms available for wedding hire.

The Barbour Room with it’s dramatic views of the city holds upto 220 guests for a ceremony, 180 for the wedding breakfast and up to 250 for an evening reception. The space includes a fabulous internal terrace for something really striking. Prices for hiring The Barbour Room start at £1600.

Click here for a 360º tour of this stunning room

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I really love featuring weddings that I feel like I was in anyway a little part of shaping. Not only did the bride Carolynne read Rock n Roll Bride throughout her planning (yey!) but she even won one of my contests for a cute Lissita Treasure Ring by TokyoMade which she gave to her Maid of Honour to wear on the day!

This fabulous diy wedding was held at Prairie Production in downtown Chicago. Carolynne looks fabulous in her $75 dress which she found on Ebay (wow!) and her Joan & David shoes. She teamed these with a hat/veil combo which she found by Cyndef Designs on Etsy and vintage gloves and jewellery. Her groom, Andy looked pretty damn dapper in his Michael Kors suit too!

“We wanted to have a chic, urban wedding that we would want to go to if we were the guests” the bride explained.  “Since I had only been to one other wedding in my life before this, I had little to go on, but as long as it had awesome music & food, and no boring speeches or dumb traditions (like throwing a garter) then really anything was possible!” The couple really wanted to have a mix of modern and vintage styling and found the minimal loft space of Prairie Production to be perfect for this. They were able to add classy touches with the simple flower designs and vintage touches with their outfits and that cool car!

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