Blogging with a real '60's vibe today, starting with this beautiful bride in her white tights and original 60's dress of this morning, and now the wedding of Ilse and Hector, which took place on 9th September at Islington Town Hall, followed by a very intimate reception at Brown’s Hotel in London.
Ilse and Hector met on the number 10 bus in South Kensington {how cute! a real life 'sliding doors' moment} and chose to add cute little references to the London bus throughout their wedding day in homage to this. Ilse looked fab in a 60's inspired shift dress, a find from Selfridges…
"I knew I didn’t want a traditional wedding dress as we were having a small, low key wedding and wanted something I would feel comfortable in while still being special. A week before buying the dress, a very good friend of mine came to visit from Glasgow and we went to look at a few options. I spotted the dress in Selfridges.
The dress is simple, a 1960s style shift dress but with intricate lace and beading, giving it a very vintage feel. It’s the type of dress I like, resembling clothes from an era I like – my mum was in her twenties in the 1960s and I have always loved looking at pictures of her from that time and always loved what she was wearing…"
Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2012, Kari Bellamy
"I kept thinking about the dress and a week after I saw it, I made a dash to Selfridges at lunchtime. There were only two left, one of which in my size. It took me all of 15 minutes to try it on and buy it before running back to the office. My colleagues couldn’t quite believe I bought my dress at lunchtime…"
I just love the cute litte London bus references in this wedding…
"We didn’t really decorate the venue as the room at Brown’s Hotel is lovely but we put small London buses on the table…"
"Our Florist was Eli Hartley. Eli looks after all the flowers at Brown’s Hotel and have always loved her work. She made my bouquet out of pink Ecuadorian roses with pink peppercorns and sage leaves as I love to cook.
The bouquet looked great and smelled wonderful. Hector wore a simple pale yellow Ecuadorian rose on his lapel. On the table and on the fireplace at Brown’s Hotel, she had put small speckled silver vases with Ecuadorian roses in pale yellows and pinks with sprigs of rosemary…"
Ilse wore asimple, white beaded headband that she found at Happy Loves It in Covent Garden…
"My hair was done by Rebecca at Andrew Barton’s Salon in Covent Garden and my make up was done by Lucy who tends to do fashion and television work. I don’t tend to wear much jewellery and wore a small, simple silver necklace with a small love knot, symbolising eternal love.
Hector wore a dark blue suit and white shirt from Reiss. He didn't wear a tie as he wanted to keep it casual. He also wore shoes from Jeffrey West and cufflinks by Butler and Wilson in the form of little red London buses…"
"My friend Laura organised the cake as a surprise. She and her husband Chris are good friends but could not make it to London for the wedding. Instead she arranged for a cake to be delivered as a surprise. The cake actually consisted of delicious cupcakes, some with a London bus iced on them and others with London buses made out of sugar on top of them.
They were great!"
"Islington Town Hall is a beautiful listed building with a sweeping marble staircase and domed ceiling. We got married in Room 99 which was perfect for our very small wedding. We tend to spend a lot of time on Upper Street and often went past the Town Hall – it is close to where we live in Highgate and seemed like the perfect option.
Hector is from Ecuador and I am Belgian and though our cultures are different, we share a lot of similarities. We did not have a religious service…"
"I really wanted my Father to give me away but the ceremony didn’t allow for this – instead my Father was my witness for the marriage and Hector’s mum was his witness. We only had our close family present at the ceremony and during the lunch…"
"I work for the company which owns Brown’s Hotel in London and often spend time there, mostly for work but Hector and I have also stayed several times and often go to HIX at the Albemarle – the restaurant – for dinner. It is London’s oldest hotel and has a tremendous sense of history.
Kipling wrote The Jungle Book while at Brown’s Hotel, the first phone call was made from there, Queen Victoria and Winston Churchill often came for afternoon tea etc. It’s quintessentially British but with a modern touch.
I have a soft spot for Brown’s Hotel and the people working there and we knew they would really look after us well – and they did; we didn't hire a wedding planng as such, but Oscar Pimentel who looks after events at Brown’s Hotel was a great help and him and his team really made sure the wedding lunch went well…"
"The chef designed the menu based on our two cultures with a little British touch as this is where we met and live. We started with a ceviche – the national dish in Ecuador, the main course was British and the dessert included Belgian chocolate. Neither Hector nor I like champagne so instead we served a Belgian gueuze beer which is often called the Champagne of the Beers and is served in champagne glasses…"
"For favours, we put mini bottles of Tabasco no the table – Hector, being South American, likes his food quite spicy and always puts Tabasco on everything so we thought this was quite appropriate given half of the guests were also Ecuadorian. We found them at Fortnum and Mason…"
Words of Wedded Wisdom…
"We only had a very short time to plan our wedding and we kept it very small. Though I wish we could have had our friends there, I am also pleased we kept it really small as we never lost sight of what the day was all about and didn’t get caught up in the details. It was about Hector and I making that commitment to each other and that is what matters the most.
All the other bits are extras really. We also had a small budget as we didn’t want to spend the next couple of years paying off our wedding. We stuck to it but still managed to have a wonderful, elegant day…"
I love those words of wisdom. Congratulations Ilse and Hector for doing it your way, and love and thanks to Photographer Kari Bellamy for submitting this wedding to feature….
"We decided on Kari as our photographer as I really liked the images I found on her website. We had a very small wedding party which must have been quite limited for her to shoot but she never made it awkward and made us feel very comfortable.
Everyone who has seen the images has said they really like them. She really captured us well."
Are any of my readers planning a 1960s inspired wedding day? I'd love to hear from you if so. You can browse through these pages for more inspiration. Use the drop down menus at the top of the page to find archived content.
Much love all,
Annabel
♥
Photographer – Kari Bellamy
Venue – Islington Town Hall + Brown’s Hotel in London
Brides dress – Selfridges
Brides Shoes - Kurt Geiger
Brides headband – Happy Loves It, Covent Garden.
Groom – Reiss suit and shirt + shoes by Jeffrey West + cufflinks by Butler and Wilson
Cakes – A friend
Your Florist – Eli Hartley
Annabel View all Annabel's articles
Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Editor. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and star gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she's not working on Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip in the running of the family's sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers. In 2013, she became a published author.
