A Sabina Motasem Gown for a Vintage Blue Inspired East London Wedding

Morning all! I so hope the weekend was kind to you and that you are embracing today feeling rested an ready to take on the next few days.

We’re starting the week with a really lovely East London wedding, courtesy of the photographer Leela Bennett.  Rosie (who runs Cath Tate Cards) and Dan tied the knot on 6th October 2012, with a ceremony at St Mary and St Michael’s in East London, followed by a reception at Trinity Buoy Wharf.

I really love the laid back nature of this wedding and I love Rosie’s cowel neck dress, a beautiful slinky creation by designer Sabina Motasem

“When
I started looking for a dress my initial experience with bridal shops
was awful. I called one shop to make an appointment the first question
was my budget, having no real idea of what to answer to this I
tentatively answered, under £1,500?. Only to be told that I was CLEARLY a
sample sale customer and perhaps I should think about getting back in
touch when they had a sale on.

Gutted, I decided that I wasn’t going to
enjoy this wedding dress hunting business! I was going to have to find a
dressmaker who would make me a nice simple dress that didn’t scoff in
the face of what I thought was quite a reasonable budget…”
 

 Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2013, Leela Bennett

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

“I went to a
vintage wedding fair with two of my bridesmaids where I met the lovely
 Sabina Motasem. One of my bridesmaids spotted her Josephine dress
hanging on the rail and egged me into trying it on. It was the first
dress I’d tried on but I instantly loved it! It had a real 1920’s feel
to it and was simple and glamorous.

I was a bit worried about buying the
first dress I’d tried on but then I sort of knew that I wouldn’t change
my mind and I didn’t. Now I just wish I could wear it again!”

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

“Our bridesmaid’s dresses were from French Connection and Tiffany Rose
(who specialises in creating dresses for pregnant ladies). I always
liked the idea of my bridesmaids all wearing different dresses in the
same colour shade, because I wanted each bridesmaid to feel comfortable
in their own style and have a dress they might actually wear again.

Also
my bridesmaid Carly was due to give birth two weeks after our wedding
(how glamorous does she look for a lady about to give birth?!) so having
the girls all in different dresses meant that she didn’t feel like she
was the odd one out in a completely different dress. Little things
helped unify the girls look like the flowers and the hair flowers I made
for them.”

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding 

“I found Shoes of Prey
on Love my Dress, I loved the idea of designing my own shoes (I’m
definitely a shoe girl!). I wanted to design a pair of shoes I’d wear
again with a 1920’s look. I also liked the idea of matching Dan’s blue
suit.”

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

“My hair piece was from Rosie Weisencrantz
I met Rosie at another East London vintage fair. I loved the fact that
her pieces are genuinely 1920’s or round about that era. I asked her to
add lace to the piece so it stood out a bit more against my brown hair.

I wore my grandmother’s pearl earring. It felt nice to wear a piece
of family jewellery and they became my something borrowed…”

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

“Running a greeting card company with my mum (Cath Tate Cards), the
design of all the stationary was something I really enjoyed doing. I
wanted our invitation to have a sense of fun! I took an old 1950’s
knitting pattern of a couple in matching jumpers and I put our heads on
the couple, adding the caption-Happiness is a perfect match!”

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

“I spend everyday of my life working with and looking at vintage
images because I design vintage style greeting cards with captions. So I
knew that a bit of vintage style would have to feature in our wedding. 
Dan and I both are both from London so finding a
distinctively London setting for our reception venue was important. I
liked the idea of softening a city setting with lots of flowers and a
bit of vintage style.

Our day ended up featuring rather a lot blue! The
staring point for this was Dan’s fantastic bright blue suit and
everything else blue seemed to follow…”

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

“Dan and I know very little about flowers, I know what I like the
look of but I don’t really know one bloom from the next. I wanted lots
of flowers but I knew that could end up being quite expensive, luckily
Dan’s sister in-law Carolyn kindly offered to do all our reception
flowers and even went on a floristry course before the wedding. She went
to covert garden flower market and filled our whole reception venue
with lots of beautiful blooms.

I decided it was too much to expect Carolyn to do the bouquets as well so I found Rebel Rebel, who
are based not far from us in East London to do these and the flowers in
the church. When I went to see Athena at Rebel Rebel my brief was
stupidly vague-she took my request for something bright blue and
something vintagey looking and suggested blue bee delphiniums and
amnesia Roses. Athena really has a great sense for colours that work
with each other to create a really varied bouquet, she did a great job
for us.”   

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

“Dan’s niece Isabella was our flower girl and her dress and lace jacket were from Monsoon. Dan’s Nephew’s Joseph and Amos were pageboys and their little jackets were from John Lewis.

My dress designer Sabina Motasem kindly gave me some off cuts of my dress
fabric. I used this and followed an online tutorial to make fabric
flowers for the bridesmaid’s hair…”

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

“We are both Londoners born and bred so we always knew we’d get
married in London. We chose our Church-St Mary and St Michael’s in East
London because it had a connection to Dan’s childhood. It is where he
had his Holy Communion and went to the primary school attached to the
church. Dan’s family is Catholic and although I didn’t have a religious
upbringing I knew that it was important to Dan that we married in a
Catholic church, and a church that held family significance seemed
ideal.

We met our Priest Father Thom and we knew straight away he was
the right man to marry us. He wasn’t phased by my lack of knowledge
about Catholicism and is such a lovely man.”

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

“We first met on a blind date around 5 years ago, set up by a mutual
friend. We had about five dates and then I got cold feet! Too quickly I
jumped to the conclusion that we were at different life stages. Two
years later the same mutual friend cunningly orchestrated another
meeting between us at the pub. When we saw each other again I think we
both felt a little spark and I hoped Dan would message me again, and
luckily he did! He asked me out for a drink and we started dating again.

Jump to 3 years later and a weekend away in the Cotswolds on a cold but
sunny late February day in the countryside Dan proposed. I was really
surprised and didn’t expect it at all. Getting married had never really
been on my radar as something we had to do but as soon as Dan proposed
it was such a happy moment. We married 8 months later.” 

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

“We both felt getting a good wedding photographer was really
important, because they’re the images you’ll take away from the day for
the rest of your lives.

I stalked all my friends wedding
pictures on facebook where I came across
Leela Bennett, she’d been the
photographer at friend’s wedding so I asked about her and after a very
glowing review from my friend we decided to go with her. She really was
marvellous she had such a brilliant and natural manner with our guests
and put everyone at ease. Also she’s brilliant with a camera so as well
as having a great temperament for the job she produces wonderful
photographs!” 

trans1Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

“Our favourite part of the day was the moment we stood in front of
each other and swore to be man and wife. Everything else was brilliant,
wonderful, creative and fantastic fun but that moment when you vow to
spend the rest of your lives together makes it a day like no other.”

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

“We had traditional Catholic wedding vows.  We chose a reading from
the book of proverbs and a reading from the first letter of St Paul to
the Corenthians. The first letter to the Corenthians is a really
beautiful reading because it speaks simply about the meaning of love.
Christian or not you can empathise with it as a reading.   What was
wonderful was that our Priest allowed Dan’s dad to read the bidding
prayers, so he was the first person to read straight after we married
and it felt so right having him play such an important part in our
service.”

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

“Our cake was from Choccywoddydooda.  Mum got
the cake for us. She had always wanted an excuse to buy a
Choccywoccydoodah cake and this seemed like the perfect opportunity! If
you’re based in London for Brighton or are ever visiting I recommend
visiting their shops they’re AMAZING! They are the most elaborate and
camp cakes I’ve ever seen! We had lemon and ginger cake which was
delicious and they even matched the colour of the flowers on the cake to
our flowers.” 

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

“Our reception venue was Trinity Buoy Wharf.
When I started looking online for venues that weren’t too far from our
church l stumbled across Trinity Buoy Wharf. It was the ideal venue for
us, we wanted somewhere we could seat over 100 guests, had quite a late
license, didn’t cost the earth to hire and gave us the scope to do
something creative with the space. Although a totally dry hire venue (no
kitchen, no toilets!) was a bit daunting the view from the venue was
just amazing with the O2 opposite and the city skyline we knew we had
found a venue that was perfect for us!”

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

“The venue was basically a huge empty warehouse space. I knew the
décor was quite important so the venue didn’t feel too empty. I made
hanging paper fans and brought some Papel Picado from Milagros
in Columbia Road. I loved the Papel Picado because it had a hanging
lace effect. We also hired bamboo trees to divide up the room. Dan’s dad
then really went to work on the outside space and tied foliage to poles
and anything he could find to soften the concrete area outside. Because
the venue was dry hire we arrived the day before the wedding to a
completely empty reception venue. All our family and friends were
amazing and helped really transform the space.”    

“My
Dad gave me away.  I walked down the aisle to ‘Ave Verum’ by Mozart. We
had a choir who we found through my uncle’s church. We filled our
service with lots of music and had several pieces of beautiful classical
music such as a John Rutter piece called ‘May the Lord Bless you’. We
also had a friend’s band play during the signing of the register, they
played ‘You’ve got a Friend’.”   

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

“Our first dance was to ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ by Van Morrison. We
wanted to dance to something a bit up tempo and you’ve got to love Van
Morrison (plus I do actually have brown eyes!). I was slightly dreading
the whole first dance because it’s the one moment you feel like you have
to perform in front of everyone. Dan’s take on it was if we were going
to do a first dance he wanted us to do it properly so he organised a
couple of dancing lessons for us, which I have to say in the end were
quite fun!”

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

The band were great, they played a brilliant mish mash of covers and
had real personality on stage, they were a wedding band who didn’t feel
like a wedding band-just a brilliant band!”

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

“The music at our wedding was really important to us and we wanted a really great band. We found our band Jumpin Music because the lead singer Tom lives near my dad.”

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

“If friends and family
offer to help accept their offer. There is a lot to organise and you
shouldn’t take it on alone! If someone offers to help it’s because the
genuinely want to help and be part of your wedding.

The
only thing that really matters is that you get married! That sounds
stupidly obvious but it’s easy to get caught up in decorations, food
etc. but all those things are really quite small compared to the
wonderful moment you marry each other.

If
I could do it all again I think the only thing I would have done
differently is to take a bit of time off work just before the wedding. I
worked right up until practically the day before and it’s good to have a
little more space to just before your wedding day.”

Sabina Motasem wedding dress East London vintage inspired wedding

Such a lovely relaxed day isn’t it, and a really very beautiful wedding dress by designer Sabina Motasem – one to check out ladies if you are in London and seeking something just as beautiful and slinky.

Huge thanks to photographer Leela Bennett for sending these lovely photographs our way and congratulations Rosie and Dan, your wedding day was truly lovely and we feel lucky to be able to share it with our readers today.

Have a lovely day all,

Annabel

Heart

Photographer – Leela Bennett
Venue – Trinity Buoy Wharf
Brides Dress – Sabina Motasem
Brides Shoes – Shoes of Prey
Brides Hair Accessories – Rosie Weisencrantz
Grooms Suit – Mark Marengo
Bridesmaids – French Connection and Tiffany Rose + shoes from New Look + M&S
Florist – Rebel Rebel
Cake – Choccywoddydoodah
Favours – Via the brides own design company, Cath Tate Cards
Entertainment – Jumpin Music
Hair + Makeup – Luscious Lulu

 

Annabel

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.

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