Love, Laughter and Family ~ A Beautiful Brooklyn Inspired Urban Wedding in London

Good afternoon darlings.  I have such a absolutely gorgeous wedding to share with you this afternoon. You need to go grab a cuppa and afternoon snack and truly immerse yourself in this one.  Eagle-eyed readers may recognise this bride without any introduction, from this wedding film we featured last week, produced by Reellove Films.

Bride Bridge married her love Matt on 10 November 2012 at Burgh House in Hampstead, followed by a reception at 06 St Chads Place in Kings Cross, London.  Now before I share this couple’s images, I thought it would be a nice idea to get to know them a little first. This fabulous little ‘save the date’ film was produced by the couple themselves to share with the close friends and family they wished to attend their special London wedding. 

“I was an American living in London and he was a Brit living in New York City, and we were working for the same company on opposite shores. When I moved back to NYC, we started working together and became best friends. We were inseparable, blissfully ignoring all the raised eyebrows and insisting that we were just friends. After dancing around our feelings for ages, we finally got together in 2009. In 2011, Matt proposed to me in DUMBO, in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge. After looking at options in Italy, Brooklyn, and Colorado, we decided to get married in London. We were engaged for just over a year. 

We made our own video save the date. It still makes me laugh!”

Film produced by Bridge & Matt (the bride & groom!)

Wasn’t that fun, and *puts hand to heart* how much do I adore that image below? The look of love or what?  Bridge and Matt were rather smart in their choice of wedding photographer, selecting the delightful McKinley Rodgers to record their special day in images…

“Here’s where I say what every couple who has ever hired Penny and Cam of McKinley Rodgers say: I want them to be our forever friends. They are, very simply, the most fun and genuine people. Who also happen to take pictures that will stop you dead in your tracks.  We loved the moody, honest and natural feeling of their photos.

We were a bit iffy about taking engagement photos because it just seemed a bit over the top, but Pen made the excellent point to us that it’s not always about the pictures, it’s about feeling comfortable in front of the camera and with your photographer, and probably the worst day ever to feel awkward is on your wedding day. Pen and Cam are madly in love and it radiates through their work. Our guests were equally smitten with them.”

Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2013, McKinley Rodgers

“Matt loves design – graphics, fonts, Japanese toys, etc.  I love
words and music. We both have a keen appreciation for street style and
urban culture. We were most inspired by the city we call home – Brooklyn
– and were very focused on finding a venue in London that felt like the
places we love so much in our neighbourhood. We booked 06 St Chads Place sight unseen. We saw photos of it online and just knew it was
perfect and felt like us.

The bunting we used to decorate our reception venue was a real labor of love, our families cut out letters for
months and Matt strung them all together in the days leading up to the
wedding. They spelled (and in some places, misspelled – oops) out lyrics
from all our favourite songs, and I couldn’t be happier with how they
turned out.  I think I actually gasped when I walked into 06 St Chads
Place.”

“I purchased a very simple single-layer elbow-length ivory veil from The White Gown in New York.  I never really envisioned myself in a veil (and after
trying on one with a blusher that made me feel like a frantic bug caught
in a net, I still wasn’t sure) but it’s true what they say – it’s one
of the small things that truly makes one feel like a ‘bride’.

They’re
not for everyone, but I’m so glad I wore one.”

“We had a fabulous on-the-day wedding coordinator who oversaw the decorating at the restaurant. Lizzie King is a designer who came to us via our florists, and she was a lifesaver in getting the venue looking fab for our arrival.  

Our
dear friend Kate and her husband (with a toddler and newborn in tow!)
helped to decorate Burgh House. We never could have managed without
these ladies.  Everyone really pitched in to help though – our attendants and families worked miracles that day!”

“My dress is by Alyne and I actually won it in a contest! The amazing bridal boutique The White Gown is based in Brooklyn, New York,
and every Valentine’s Day, they hold a contest for brides-to-be to win
the gown of their choice from their shop. A friend recommended that I
enter the contest so I wrote a little essay and I couldn’t believe it
when I won! (here’s my essay on their blog).
Then, just a few days before my appointment, they blogged about the
Alyne dress as a new arrival. I had a hunch it was the one, but that
didn’t stop me from trying on a few more when I got there, because
hello, why not?

I cannot say enough about the staff at The White Gown. They were so warm and welcoming.”

“Before winning the contest, I had visited three other bridal salons
with the intent to purchase a dress. I tried on lots of different types
of dresses, from very simple to extreme creampuffery. So by the time I
was heading into The White Gown, I knew what did and didn’t look good on
me. I never ever thought I’d wear a strapless wedding gown, especially
one with any kind of bling, but I knew the shape of the Alyne dress
would suit my figure, and the silk material made it so lightweight and
beautiful.

The bling-y accents were done very subtly and in such a
modern way that I really embraced them. Also, when we got married, our
daughter was 15 months old and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to hold
her or pick her up in a gown with restrictive straps. Mommy logic wins
every time!”

“My bridesmaids are all so beautiful and unique. I wanted them each to pick a black dress they loved. Their dresses were from BCBG, Guess, BHLDN, and Ted Baker.”

 

“My earrings were from Emma Stine and my bracelet was a Miriam Haskell cuff hired from Rent The Runway.
Rent The Runway’s operations were seriously disrupted by Hurricane
Sandy, and they were absolutely phenomenal in getting the bracelet to my
awesome maid of honor in time for her to bring it to London.”

“The gals at The Flower Appreciation Society
did not laugh when I told them we didn’t know what we wanted, oh but
also, here’s a list of 1001 flowers I don’t like. I mean, honestly. They
were sweet and patient and the flowers were perfection. I don’t know
much an awful lot about flowers so I was very happy to have Anna and
Ellie take the reins and just show up on the day with their gorgeous
creations. They are bloomin’ (yes, I went there) wizards at what they
do.”

“Matt and I are really into music, and we both very much link
special moments in our lives to particular songs. We struggled to narrow
them down, so in the end we played three different songs for the
processional. First was The Strokes ‘I’ll Try Anything Once/You Only
Live Once’, and the flower girls and bridesmaids walked down to The
Lumineers ‘Hey Ho’ (before it was cool! I swear!).

My dad gave me away – we walked with my dad
to one of our all time favourite songs ‘Slow Show’ by The National. The piano solo makes my knees go weak. It was such a big deal for him to come from
Colorado to London, as he’s elderly and suffers from early stages of
Alzheimer’s. The moment was just beyond anything I could imagine. I feel
so blessed that he was able to make the trip and walk me down the
aisle.

Actually, the aisle was teeny-tiny, full house don’t you know, so
I kind of had to walk ahead of him! I really get the giggles when I
remember when my mom asked, ‘Who gives this woman’ and my dad, with his deep southern-American accent said, ‘I do. Bob.’”

“My nieces’ dresses were from Monsoon, and our daughter’s dress was Tutu du Monde and came from Thumbeline.
It was really important that our daughter felt comfortable in her
dress, because a baby will certainly let you know if they’re unhappy.
Her hi-tops and little shrug came from Next.

Seeing Matt for the first time at the end
of the aisle was just so special. I mean, he is just the handsomest. And
he was holding our gorgeous ginger baby. All I could think was, ‘That’s
my family. I love them. I must get to them. Without tripping.'”

“Oh. I could write a novel about the quest for the perfect shoes. I
was more focused on my shoes than anything else about my ensemble. After
many, many, MANY hours online devoted to finding the perfect shoe, I
strapped my daughter in the stroller on a very rainy day and took the
subway to Soho to Kathryn Amberleigh’s shop.
Holy bananas, the woman knows how to make a drop-dead shoe. I saw the
greenish-gold velvet heels with ankle straps and I was done for.”

“Matt’s suit is the Ludlow Suit from J.Crew. Matt knew from day one that he wanted a simple gray suit from J.Crew,
but heavens alive, I didn’t know he was going to be so particular when
it came to the rest of the ensemble. I dare say we spent more time on
his look than mine!

We asked the Groomsmen to all wear dark suits and gave them each a tie,
pocket square, and patterned socks to match Matt. I just adore these
boys – they’ve been loyal friends to Matt since they were all kids, and
they were amazing on the wedding day.”

“Matt chose a blue and white check shirt (also J.Crew) with a skinny black tie from the The Tie Bar. I love The Tie Bar.
If you can’t find what you want there, it doesn’t exist. His shoes were
gray oxfords that we jazzed up with some pink laces. Changing out the
laces is a great way to inject a little personality into a groom’s look.
Of course, his friends took the piss all day about his fancy footwear,
but I’ve never seen Matt look boring, so they were just right for him.”

“My nephew and godson wore matching cardigans from Gap.  As ring-bearers, they also carried a custom made flag…”

 

“We had family wedding pictures all around the venue for people
to enjoy. It was so important to us that every aspect of the day felt
unique to us, so we came up with the idea to create hand-drawn table
runners with imagery from our life together. I created the drawings and
then we had them printed on fabric. We provided fabric markers for our
guests to colour them in during dinner and the speeches. I have plans
now to make a big quilt out of the fabric, something we can keep
forever.”

“We didn’t really provide favors, but we did have a bunch of fake tattoos from Tattly,
another small Brooklyn company. They were the hit of the night. Our
guests went mad for them. Also, everyone’s escort card had a different
little pinback button to wear, share, and take home.”

“The big light-up letters came from Vowed and Amazed, who were awesome and easy to work with.”

I can vouch for that! They also supplied the incredible light up letters for my book launch!

I adore these photographs of Bridge on the dancefloor with her dad Bob…

“Our invitations came from Minted.
We had the best intentions to design them ourselves, but a certain
little daughter had other plans for us. Like every day, forever. So that
didn’t happen. Enter Minted! They are awesome, affordable, and offer a
wide array of styles to suit every style. We loved how easy th  

But oh. Oh wow do I have a crush on the
company that did our programs and menus, Hello Lucky. There’s not enough room on this blog, or the
entire internet for that matter, to say how rad Hello Lucky was to us.
Again with Hurricane Sandy and her parade-raining ways. But Hurricane
Sandy was no match for the team at Hello Lucky who, when our darling
programs and menus got trapped in a warehouse indefinitely, had all of
our stationery re-printed in their UK office and hand-delivered to our
hotel with some mega-short turnaround time. And they were completely
lovely about it. In fact, it was all their idea. I was ready to just go
without menus and programs, and they wouldn’t let me!

In conclusion, I
love Hello Lucky and so should you. They’re the bomb diggity of
stationers.”

“My hair and makeup artist was Elbie van Eeden.  I emailed Elbie
a lot leading up to the day, and she understood my vision completely.
Winged eyeliner is my ‘thing’ (you guys, I wore a full face of makeup,
cat eye and all, in the delivery room whilst having my daughter), and I
wanted to look like myself on the day, so I enlisted Elbie, who is far
cooler than I’ll ever be. Her work is perfect and unique, and she was so
lovely and patient with me, giving me exactly the look I was going for.

She
really focuses on skin, which for a bride, should appear flawless and
supple. I am a little bit insane when it comes to makeup – I love it,
and I love playing with it – so having it done for me was my real zen
moment before all the craziness started. Elbie also did my hair, giving
me a simple, slightly retro half-up do with a floppy ribbon at the back.
It was perfection.”

“In the ceremony space, we had bunches of rosemary tied to the chair
ends, and we made a fringe banner that said ‘Let’s Adore and Endure
Each Other’, a nod to one of our favourite street artists, ESPO, and his mural in Shoreditch.

I love ribbons, and still wear ribbons in my hair like a giant
toddler. I didn’t want anything perched on my head, so I bought a
variety of ribbons from the famous M&J Trimming. In the end, I went with a velvet ribbon that complemented my shoes.”

  

“Due
to legalities and residency restrictions, Matt and I could not get
officially married in London (which meant a City Hall wedding in NYC
when we got back. Which, to me, meant another dress, so heck yes, that
was A-OK with me!). I am so lucky that my mother is a judge in the U.S.
and we didn’t even consider anyone else to perform our ceremony.

We also
knew this would be one of the few times all our friends and family from
both sides of the ocean would be together. We are not religious, but we
never got to have a blessing for our daughter Mae, so we opted to
incorporate that into our ceremony. Her godparents wrote letters to Mae
and read them, absolutely shattering all our guests in the process, and
we hadn’t even begun the ceremony yet! Tears for days, people. We wrote
the ceremony together with my mom, and then we each wrote our own vows.
Having my mom perform the ceremony made it so personal and intimate.
Matt’s mom and one of my best friends Kate did our readings. We wanted to keep them light and sweet, so we chose ‘I Wanna Be Yours’ by John Cooper Clarke and ‘I’ll Be There’ by Louise Cuddon.”

“It was very important for us to get our rings from a local Brooklyn designer, and Nora Kogan
has a shop in our neighbourhood. We chose matching bands, very thin and
light, with hand engraved milligrain edges to accent my engagement
ring.”

“In terms of entertainment, for the ceremony, we hired Dan Greener
to play before the ceremony and also during the tea and cakes that
followed. I didn’t hear a single note he played, as we were off doing
photos, but everyone raved about him. And the ladies said he was very
easy on the eyes. Fist bumps all around.  06 St Chads Place was so easy to work with – they provided a DJ for
us and he was fantastic. We wanted to hear songs we knew and would get
people dancing.”

 

“Matt’s mum lovingly made the oversized flower wands for the flower girls…”

“We hired a Routemaster from Alphabus
to take our guests from the ceremony to the reception. They were super
great, I only have positive things to say about them. We also took the
routemaster to the ceremony – it was such a fun way to arrive, although
the bus was unable to squeeze up some of the tiny Hampstead streets,
which meant I had to walk up a massive hill, in the rain (!!!), to my
own wedding ceremony.The bus company had warned me about this in
advance, so it was totally not their fault, and it was actually kind of
hilarious and gave me some time to chill out and realize that nothing
else really mattered except getting to the top and marrying the man of
my dreams.”

 

“Our reception venue, 06 St Chads Place ,
has a brilliant special events menu, an inspired chef, and impeccable
service. Matt and I are very much the Brooklyn cliché in that we’re
totally obsessed with good food. It was top priority for us to have
exceptional yet simple food at our wedding. Many brides say they never
got to eat at their own weddings, but you better believe I was in my
seat, napkin across my lap, ready to eat all the lovely food coming out.
Our guests really loved the mini cheeseburgers and American-style corn
dogs that were passed around during the cocktail hour.

 However, Matt doesn’t like cake (I know, who is this man and what am I going
to do for the next 60-odd years?) but we both have a real sweet tooth.
We’re a little donut-crazy so we had a ton of jam doughnuts from St John Bakery.
I had to eat mine bent over at a 90 degree angle so that jelly,
shooting out at light speed, didn’t wreck my dress. We also had a spiffy
and delicious selection of mini sweet pies from Phoebe Flynn Oliver at Rita’s Bar & Dining.”

“Our first dance song was ‘For Lovers’ by Pete Doherty and Wolfman.
Matt picked this song for us long before there was baby and a ring. I
like to think he picked it for its sweet lyrics but I suspect my
spotlight-shy guy also liked that the song is shop.”

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

“Get ready for the cliché: I have many, many favourite
parts of the day.  We were so grateful that our families and friends were all there.
It was terribly difficult for some of them to get to London, but they
were all there. Despite issues with health, finances, and a hurricane,
they were all there.

I loved that after the wedding, I got to
walk back to our hotel with my new husband, and also my best friend in
the world and her husband. We walked amongst the late-night drunk
revellers outside Kings Cross, my dress swishing around and picking up
bits of garbage. We laughed so much on that walk.

Seeing my dad meet Matt’s family, especially his grandparents, was incredible, and something we never thought would happen.

On our seats, we had two custom pillows made by Le Petite Wolf
to represent our cats (they were not invited to the wedding due to
perpetual bad behaviour).”

“My
whole world opened up when I discovered wedding blogs! Particularly
when I discovered UK blogs like Love My Dress.  also love me some
Pinterest. It’s so easy to just go bananas and pin every darn thing.   I
really loved the in-depth write-ups (as you can see from my extensive
reporting) because there’s nothing worse than looking at a set of
gorgeous wedding pictures, seeing things you love, and not having a clue
as to how to go about finding those things for yourself!

I loved
knowing the ins and outs of why couples chose specific vendors (or
alternatively, why they didn’t), and where they bought or hired things.
It made a world of difference in planning a wedding overseas because we
didn’t really have any local contacts or knowledge of where to get the
things we wanted.

“I would however keep a budget and try to stick to it. I would stick to that budget like the dickens.  Also,
planning any wedding is just about the nuttiest thing you can do, but
planning one from afar is downright mental. It was so hard to get all
our bits to the UK, and we couldn’t have done it without our families.
We were so lucky to find vendors that shared our vision and that we
could trust without ever having met any of them.   But more than
anything, I would have liked to have spent more time with our families
and friends before and after the wedding.

Try not to fight about money. I did the bulk of the wedding planning
and Matt assumed I was keeping a tally but I’m very ‘LA LA LA FINGERS IN
EARS’ about money. I hate talking about it and that’s b-a-d BAD.

Be
transparent about finances and spending, because arguing about it is the
pits.  Know when to scrimp and when to splurge. i.e. if you don’t
like cake, don’t have cake, even though you think your guests expect it.
Matt stayed in a totally sub-par hotel the night before the wedding and
we splurged on a lovely room at the St Pancras Hotel for our wedding
night.”

“Let people help. When they volunteer themselves, they usually
mean it and will rise to the occasion. Matt’s groomsmen and his dad
were superstars in keeping things running smoothly all day long. Both
our mums were spectacularly organized and supportive. My bridesmaids all
pitched in, and I absolutely couldn’t have made it through the day, or
the whole planning process, without my brilliant maid of honor.

Last,
Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast less than two weeks before our
wedding. Most of our NY-based guests were basically homeless, their
apartment buildings flooded and they had no power or water for weeks. We
were lucky that our building wasn’t affected, but it definitely put
things into perspective for us in those precious days leading up to the
wedding. We were far more concerned about the welfare of our friends
than silly wedding details. The fact that everyone still made it to
London is amazing.

And just because, here is Bridge and Matt’s gorgeous wedding film shot by Reellove Films that we featured last week. Enjoy!

“When
we came across Frances at Reellove Films, there wasn’t a doubt in our
minds that we wanted her to film our wedding. Her videos are absolutely
wonderful and she truly invests everything she has in her work. She
brought along the lovely and talented Beccy Goddard to help on the day, and we
couldn’t be happier with the result. Our film sums up everything about
us and our friends and families –  every shot is beautiful, the music
works perfectly, and she managed to convey who we are. Frances and Beccy
blended seamlessly into our wedding. They were so warm and
professional, and we couldn’t be more grateful. 

When we watched
our video, it was the first time I got to see our daughter walking down
the aisle. I literally burst out crying about 20 seconds into the film
and I don’t think I stopped until the end. Matt got to see all the
behind the scenes prepping, and it felt really special to view our day
from so many different perspectives.”

 

Isn’t it all wonderful? I think I want to meet and hang out with Bridge a little after this, she feels like a friend!  Bridge, huge, heartfelt thanks for taking time to share so many fabulous details about your wedding day, I welled up a number of times reading through your words as I prepared this feature. Our readers will love this I know.  Huge, huge congratulations to you and Matt – here’s to your nearly 7 month anniversary – not long now *cheers!*

Huge love and thanks as always too, to Penny McKinley Rodgers for sharing these photographs. They really are quite something Penny, you have perfectly captured a very special day full of love and affection, wonderful, wonderful stuff.

If you would like to see any more wedding photography by McKinley Rodgers on Love My Dress, go here – they are amazing!

With much love,

Annabel

Photographer – McKinley Rodgers
On the day co-ordinator – Lizzie King
Venue – Burgh House in Hampstead + 06 St Chads Place in Kings Cross, London
Wedding Dress + Veil – The White Gown (New York)
Brides’ shoes – Kathryn Amberleigh
Bride’s accessories – Emma Stine earrings + Miriam Haskell cuff hired from Rent The Runway
Grooms Suit – The Ludlow Suit from J.Crew
Bridesmaids – BCBG, Guess, BHLDN, and Ted Baker
Flowergirls – Monsoon + the couple’s daughter’s dress was Tutu du Monde via Thumbeline + hi-tops + little shrug came from Next
Page Boys – Gap cardigan
Flowers – The Flower Appreciation Society
Cake – doughnuts from St John Bakery
Transport – Routemaster from Alphabus
Entertainment – Dan Greener  + in-house entertainment at 06 St Chads Place
Rings – Nora Kogan

Catering – 06 St Chads Place
Hair and make-up Artist – Elbie van Eeden 
Custom made flags – Betawife on Etsy
Green ribbon – M&J Trimming