WWW readers Sarah and Ross held their London theme wedding at Islington Town Hall, followed by a reception at Lauderdale House. A relaxed atmosphere was order of the day, with a day full of happiness and impromptu singing.

Sarah had one amazing wedding dress by Pronovias which she wore with her chic short hair and simple hair accessory while Ross decided on a blue three-piece suit from Richard James. The pretty bridesmaids wore blue dresses by Coast, clutching lovely flowers arranged by Ross’ mother.

They kept their wedding décor simple, with a London theme cake made by family and London travel theme stationery.

Thanks so much to the wonderful Babb Photo for sharing her photographs with us today.

 

The Vision for the Day… We wanted a very relaxed wedding, free of all the unnecessary traditions. We wanted the celebrations to be in a place that was meaningful to us as well as convenient to our friends. We wanted them to have a great time so gave them copious amounts of champagne and beer and ditched the traditional English mass-catered chicken wedding meal in favour of Britain’s favourite meal: curry.

Budget… We didn’t have a budget for the wedding but we knew we didn’t want to spend a fortune, or get into debt for just one day. In the end we didn’t cut corners, but we did question whether we needed certain things to make the day more special. We found that the things people loved the most about our day were achieved at little or no cost – the things that were most imaginative or personal. We thought of previous weddings we’d been to and what we’d liked or remembered about those weddings. It was rare for us to remember table decorations or favours, therefore we invested in other things at our wedding. We spent money on the things we thought would add most to the day.

The Venue… We picked Islington Town Hall followed by a reception three miles away at Lauderdale House in Highgate which has stunning views across the city.
We had met a stone’s throw from Islington Town hall 13 years previously and had attended numerous council meetings there. We never dreamed that one day we’d marry there. But it was the only place that seemed right. In fact we did not visit any venues and relied on our memories of the building. In the end it was much more striking than we remembered. Lauderdale House gives the impression of grandeur yet it is relaxed and allowed us to bring our own booze and choose our own caterers.

The Details and Decor… We were inspired to create a London themed wedding by our graphic designer friend who was given a free brief for our invites. He came up with a great London design which encouraged us to carry that theme over to the day itself. Our brother in law made a ‘London’ cake covered in the city’s famous landmarks, the bride was taken to the ceremony in a black cab and we hired an old London Routemaster to take us from the ceremony venue to the reception. The table decorations comprised of a few flowers in old London Pride beer bottles. Our DJ played old London songs on a gramophone as guests arrived at the venue.

However, the detail which everyone commented on was our name tags. Under everyone’s name we wrote one cryptic sentence about them. It turned out to be an ice breaker between them and other guests on the table.

Memorable Moments… The moment all our guests spontaneously broke into song. We had two readings at our wedding ceremony – one was the lyrics to ‘It Must Be Love’ by Madness read by our brother in law. The title of the song hadn’t been announced and just as the guests began working out what he was reading, another friend stood up with his ukulele and played and sang the chorus. At the same time our young nieces and nephews stood up and jumped around holding ‘Love’ signs. This happened at every chorus, and in the end we had 80 people singing ‘It must be love. Love. Love’. All of this was a surprise to everyone – including the bride.

The Dress + Accessories… When I bought my dress I still imagined the wedding to be upstairs in a pub and was looking for something informal. In the end I bought a full length traditional Pronovias gown which seemed so right when I tried it on. As I was getting married within a few months I could only pick from the gowns on the sample rack. At first glance there seemed nothing, but my bridesmaid rummaged and rummaged till she found one that not only seemed perfect, but fitted well from the start. It needed minimal alterations, which was great as I didn’t want pressure to slim into a dress. As it was a sample dress, the price was perfect too which meant I wasn’t anxious every time a guest accidentally stood on it during the reception (which happened a lot).

Groom’s Attire… The Scottish groom ditched his kilt in favour of a three-piece suit from Richard James.

The Readings + Music… The music was really important as it set the mood for the wedding. As the guests gathered in the town hall they heard:
Everlong by the Foo Fighters
Racing in the street by Bruce Springsteen
Kind and generous by Natalie Merchant
The only living boy in New York by Simon & Garfunkel
Tupelo Honey by Van Morrison
Crazy Love by Van Morrison
How long will I love you? By The Waterboys
A man is in love by The Waterboys

The bride walked up the aisle to Etta James At Last. This was in recognition of the 13 years it took us to finally get married (although some guests thought the song represented the lateness of the bride).

Elbow’s One Day Like This was playing as we signed the register and Rihanna’s We Found Love boomed out the town hall speakers as left. We pogoed to the Proclaimers 500 Miles for our first dance. The front man of our band is a close friend which made a real difference

Beautiful bridesmaids… My two beautiful bridesmaids were among friends who went out of their way to make sure the day was really special. From couriering over a bottle of champagne the day I announced the nuptials to refusing to speak to me unless I accepted their offer of hiring a professional to do my hair and make up. They were there every step of the way, encouraging us to think big and make it special. Together my bridesmaids found me my wedding dress, designed the invitations and arranged a super-personal and memorable hen party. They wore dresses from Coast and carried flowers arranged by my mother in law.

The Flowers… The flowers were by my mother in law who bought them in a flower market in Glasgow and brought them down to London on the train. This saved us a fortune but more importantly it was special to have them arranged by such a close family member.

The Cake… The two-tier fruit cake was a home made gift from my sister and brother in law who is a chef. He was allowed a free reign – although told not to have anything too traditional or twee – so he came up with our London cake. My sister made the fruit cake and my brother in law covered it with white icing then finished it with iced scenes of London. I loved the attention to detail – he even iced the time of our wedding ceremony onto Big Ben. The cake was topped with bunting bought from notonthehighstreet.com that read ‘Mr & Mrs’.

Your Photographer… We found our photographer Laura Babb on the Whimsical Wonderland Weddings website. As we had wanted our wedding to be casual, we had decided against a photographer. This was an easy decision to make as some of our guests are professional photographers. But in the end we decided to hire someone dedicated to the task. It was the best decision we made. We liked that Laura did a test shoot before the wedding to make us feel more at ease. We liked her eye for quirky detail, her use of light and casual style.
 
The Honeymoon… Our honeymoon was a mountain bike tour of Bali. Not exactly a typical honeymoon but absolutely the best way to any country as the bikes gave us access to all the little villages and back waters. The bikes were parked up for the second week and we spent our time relaxing in several beautiful hotels followed by a few days in Singapore.

Advice for Other Couples… Enjoy every moment of the planning and preparation. Keep reminding yourself why you’re getting married and your vision of the day. Don’t allow others to persuade you to make decisions that don’t suit your personalities.

Credit Where Credit is Due…

Stationery – Andrew Wilcox (friend)

Photography – Laura Babb www.babbphoto.com

Transport – Routemaster bus supplied by Redroutemaster.com

Flowers – arranged by the mother of the groom

Hair & make up – Steven Shander [email protected]

Wedding rings – Arlington & co, Hatton Garden, London. www.arlington-co.com

Dress: Go Bridal, Birmingham www.gobridal.com

 

I just love the whole feel of their day and their honeymoon sounded amazing! Thanks so much to Sarah and Ross for sharing their beautiful wedding with us today XOXO Lou