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A Dusky Pink Wedding with a Touch of Vintage: Louise & Paul

April 4, 2012 in British Brides, Wedding by Kat | 18 comments

Louise & Paul were married in London on 11th February, just a few days after their 12 year anniversary. ”Our 12 year anniversary was the Thursday before our wedding!” Louise told me. “This is the reason why we chose this date. We got engaged two year’s previously on our 10 year anniversary! We were lucky enough to find our photographer Annamarie Stepney through a wedding blog and we just fell in love with her pictures. They are so romantic and unconventional. Her photos just tell a story of the day – people who were there can re-live every fab moment and fill in the gaps on the moments they couldn’t remember or missed. And those who weren’t there, get transported to the day. I’ve been blown away by all the amazing comments on them!”

The ceremony took place at The Old Marylebone Town Hall with the reception at The Union Club in Soho. “We just fell in love with The Union Club the moment we walked through the door” the bride continued. “Quirky, cosy, relaxed and friendly – which pretty much summed up what we wanted from our day! Then we ate there and the food was amazing. All their food is homemade – they don’t even have a microwave on site. We are proper foodies, so the grub was really important to us. We also loved how we didn’t have to choose a menu six months before – our guests got to pick their meal on the day.”

Louise wore a bespoke dress by Conchita Couture with Kurt Geiger shoes and a headpiece from Glitzy Secrets. “From the moment we got engaged I knew I was going to struggle to find a dress ‘off the peg’. I didn’t want a traditional strapless full length gown,” she explained. “They just aren’t my style – plus I’m only just over 5ft and a size 8, so didn’t want to be swamped! I just liked the idea of having sleeves and a high neck – I wanted that real Grace Kelly feel! My Mum actually married in a long sleeved dress too. I also wasn’t sure about marrying in white or ivory, so opted for a dusky pink number which was uniquely made by layering up different coloured fabrics. This kind of set the colour scheme for the wedding too.”

“We wanted to make sure our wedding day stood out from the rest!” Louise concluded. “We wanted it to be romantic but fun-filled at the same time! We didn’t follow the crowds, we chose not to have bridesmaids and ushers and favours on the tables and we also made sure our DJ pumped house tunes all night long. House music is what brought us together so was such an important part of our day!”

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A ‘US Meets UK’ Rock n Roll Wedding: Aaron & Melanie

April 3, 2012 in British Brides, Wedding Day/Day After Shoot by Kat | 4 comments

Aaron & Melanie’s rocking 50s wedding does exactly what it says on the tin.  This is unadulterated Rock n Roll Bride gold and I’m thrilled to share it with you today. The couple, who met in San Francisco while Melanie was there on holiday, were married at the end of January at Old Marylebone Town Hall, London. “We met whilst out dancing at a rockabilly club called the Jay n Bee, and whilst there was instant attraction, I was only on a two week holiday so nothing really happened,” Melanie told me. “However, I returned to the USA a few months later for Las Vegas and a three month stay in San Francisco, and that’s when we started dating.  We continued travelling between San Francisco and London, and got engaged on our 8 month anniversary (which was also Christmas Eve) whilst out dancing at the Southbank Centre in London.  We had originally planned to get married in SF, but one sunny day last October, we were laying in the garden here in London, and I said to Aaron ‘We should get married in London…in January!’ and so we planned our wedding in just over three and a half months!”

In order to keep the wedding personal, to save money and to enable them to organise everything so quickly, the couple did as much as they could themselves, with the help of friends & family. “We are really fortunate to have a lot of talented friends who were kind enough to help us make our day exactly as we wanted it to be,” Melanie continued. “My niece’s friend Claudia made our cake for the cost of the ingredients, numerous DJ friends took to the decks on the night and my sister’s friend Leena Teperi made my dress for me (exactly how I envisioned it!) My friend Natasha from Pretty Me Vintage did my hair and make up for me and an old school friend of mine, Mike Massaro, was our photographer.”

“We knew that we wanted our wedding to be very personal, and Aaron and I spent many evenings crafting until 2am in the weeks running up to the wedding! We made bunting, table decorations, cookies for favours, the table plan, signs, labels for the sweetie jars, mini-bunting for the table names, and my personal favourite – Aaron made Mr & Mrs 3D letters from scratch, using card, glue and tube maps (to keep with the UK part of our UK meets USA theme!)”

The most important thing to these two though? Well it’s all about the love baby! “Without trying to sound too cheesy, we were inspired by our love,” smiled the bride. “We planned our wedding around all the things that are special and meaningful to us, and did the best we could, with our budget, to make the most fun, memorable, romantic and personal party possible. We wanted rockin’ music, delicious food, attention to detail, and a fun atmosphere. We started out with a very non-traditional approach, and ended up with the perfect mix of traditional and non-traditional elements. We honestly feel that even if we were not on a tight budget, and had access to double or triple the money to spend, we still  wouldn’t change a thing.”

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Katie & Eoin Got Married

April 2, 2012 in British Brides, Wedding by Kat | 4 comments

Something a little different for you this afternoon because these photos were taken by yours truly! Wedding photographers, fret not, I’m not considering a career change(!) but how could I not take photos of two of my best friends getting married?!

So on Saturday I headed down to St Peter’s Church in Reading with my trusty Canon 550d and 50mm 1.4 lens in tow and took a few snaps. For a non pro I think I did pretty good…hell, I even shot in Manual!

The confetti shots I nabbed are probably my faves…

The wedding was beautiful, simple and emotional. Katie looked utterly gorgeous and Eoin and his groomsmen looked seriously cool in their military style jackets. A good time was had by all!

I didn’t manage to grab any portraits of the two of them which was a bit gutting. Being the Uncle Bob of the wedding I’m sure their pro photographer was annoyed enough my me though!

Check out the Katie & Eoin badge I’m wearing in the photo below. Such a cool favour idea, everyone at the wedding had them on!

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A Country Vintage, Festival Inspired Wedding: Nichola & Jay

April 2, 2012 in British Brides, Wedding by Kat | 10 comments

I’m loving the fact that the gorgeous country vintage/ festival-inspired wedding of Nichola & Jay is brightening up Monday morning on my blog! Talk about heading into a brand new week with some gusto!

The August wedding was held at New House Organic Farm in Derbyshire. The farm is not a wedding venue (the couple were legally married at the resister office after their handfasting ceremony in the field) but they chose it to host their celebration here because it’s a place that’s very special to them. Their theme was chosen to not only compliment the farm setting, but because they love Glastonbury music festival – they met there and were engaged there (not in the same year!)

“We spend a lot of our time camping during the summer months and the farm is our quick getaway place,” Nichola told me. “We’ve spent many happy weekends there and I always imaged getting married to Jay in the top field looking over the most amazing views of the Derbyshire countryside. We wrote to the farmer (a proper handwritten letter!) asking if we could hire the field for our wedding. Being a farmer and very busy he didn’t get right back to us. I looked at many other venues but none matched my idea of our farm. Eventually Jay called him and asked the question… He agreed although I don’t think he quite understood why we wanted a bare field when he’s surrounded by traditional wedding venues!”

The bride wore a genuine vintage wedding dress which she bought from The Vintage Wedding Fair, a fair that travels all around the UK. “I love vintage clothes, I literally have over a hundred vintage dresses and we regularly go to vintage fairs,” the bride continued. “That being said I didn’t think I wanted a vintage dress for my wedding but I did the usual bridal places and got more fed up with each dress I tried on. Nobody understood my style or what I wanted. We’d planned to visit The Vintage Wedding Fair for a look round and immediately I realised I had been kidding myself and I wanted a vintage dress. I tried on a couple and then found my dress. It was the dress I had in my mind, I went to the fitting room (a room full of other vintage brides…very different to the bridal shop experience) and the dress fit perfectly. I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face. A friend’s aunty did a couple of little alterations but it was always perfect.”

To compliment their countryside festival theme, the couple decorated the field and their marquee with bunting, vintage crockery and even vintage floral napkins and wooden cutlery tied in brown string. They managed to find many items in charity shops, car boot fairs and even in their local pound shop. “Never underestimate the local pound shop,” Nichola laughed, “we found little windmills, seeds, rainbow umbrellas (luckily not needed) and hooks for the aisle etc!”

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A Casual London Wedding with a Bride in Yellow Tights: Annick & Robert

March 28, 2012 in British Brides, Wedding by Kat | 6 comments

Any bride that rocks yellow tights and teal shoes on her wedding day is instantly awesome. Are we in agreement?

When Annick & Robert’s London wedding landed in my inbox from wedding photographer Marshal Gray, I literally couldn’t wait to share it with you! The whole wedding was planning in just 6 weeks. The ceremony took place at Sutton House, and after an emotional service the couple walked to London Fields for a hotdog lunch and some portraits. “On the way we met a friend who was coming to the evening event,” Annick told me. “It was a wonderful walk to really reflect on the day and our personal journey. We use to live near London Fields so the walk had real emotional significance to us.”

After the photos, including a few outside the St Pancras Hotel where the couple were spending that night, they headed to Smithy’s Wine Bar in Kings Cross where they met back up with their guests. “Smithy’s was a cozy place for our winter evening wedding,” the bride continued. “It has two spaces within it which was perfect for what we needed – one for talking and one for music. It was great to have a live jazz band to entertain our guests.”

“We didn’t really have a theme apart from slightly retro and wanted to have fun,” the bride concluded. “We wanted people to be relaxed and for our day to be easy for all which is why we did it in London. We were also able to show our out of town guests places in London that we enjoy.”

So fab! As a side note I have to say that Annick’s vintage feather jacket from Charlotte Casadejus is just divine! I actually know Charlotte very well myself and I’ve visited her fab studio a number of times. I always lusted after that jacket (and put it on and pranced around!) and so it’s really exciting to me to see the bride who finally bought it!

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