Hello lovelies – did you see this morning’s wedding feature, our first for 2015? It’s a very different kind of celebration to the one I’m blogging about now – but both weddings are full of glamorous Love My Dress appeal. This is the wedding of Anna and Alex both journalists, who tied the knot on 12 July 2014 in London. The ceremony and dinner were held at The Asylum in Peckham and the bridal party and their guests then travelled by bus to Brunswick House in Vauxhall for drinks and dancing.
“We wanted to celebrate being together with all our favourite people. The chapel we got married in was so beautiful in its own way that we didn’t want to do much to change it or decorate it, so we just brought flowers and candles.
We used natural materials as much as possible for the invitations and order of service, which we made ourselves, and we sourced plants as well as cut flowers so we could keep them afterwards. But Brunswick House’s cellar bar was already filled with so many interesting bits and pieces that we didn’t really need to decorate it.”
Photography Copyright (c) 2014, The Image Garden Photography
“Alex and I met as reporters for a fruit and vegetable magazine based just by New Covent Garden Market in Vauxhall, right opposite Brunswick House. We sat next to each other and were friends for a few years before we got together, initially bonding over what weird jobs we had. We got married almost exactly a year after Alex proposed on holiday in Florence, Italy, after two and half years together.
When we were thinking about where to get married, we remembered how much we loved the antiques/salvage at Brunswick House and went to visit it again. It was perfect for us, but you can’t get legally married there so I started Googling registered venues in the area. I found The Asylum on Southwark Council’s website and thought it looked very interesting. We went to see it on a very rainy afternoon and met one the artists who run the venue. It’s a very atmospheric place, very beautiful. We pencilled ourselves in then and there.”
“For transport, we had a mint green Piaggio Ape Calessino, lovingly restored by family friend Salvatore. I was driven from west London to Peckham with my dad, past Buckingham Palace on a beautiful sunny day… It was one of my most memorable parts of the day, with tourists and taxis waving and beeping the whole way.
We got married in Packham, we had to have three wheels, didn’t we?”
“I wanted a tea length dress as I wanted the freedom to move in it and dance. My sister sent me a link to it from Google image search, saying she thought it would suit me. I clicked through and found that it was from an independent dress designer, Lily & Louie, who at the time was based in Twickenham not too far from where I live.
I got in touch and went to try on her dresses in her garden shed, where she made them. In the end, I picked the dress my sister had sent me. I didn’t even try on dresses anywhere else.”
“I chose a birdcage veil from Lily & Louie, made to match my dress.”
“Our wedding cake was a simple angel cake made by a family friend, but we also had chocolate cake, lemon drizzle and scones for everyone from Vintage Dotty – who also supplied tea and fantastic coffee, which was approved by my Italian side of the family.”
“Our photographer was Sharron from The Image Garden Photography. When we first saw Sharron’s photographs, we relived a wonderful day and saw some beautiful moments we’d missed. Sharron is incredibly talented, at point grabbing us for a photo when she spotted a ray of light in the chapel. It’s the one of us kissing in front of a table of champagne glasses against a blue wall, and it’s one of our favourite photographs from the day.
It was a pleasure to have Sharron there on the day, as she is so relaxed and lovely to be around but at the same time took so many photos without people even realising she was there. We are so happy with her photographs. I will be recommending her to anyone who tells me they are getting married.”
“I wore my grandmother’s ring, which I borrowed from my mum. I also wore a bracelet with blue stones, which my grandmother gave me as a gift years ago and I bought my earrings from Accessorize just a few days before the wedding.”
“The stationery was all homemade by Alex and I. Alex made the order of service in the style of his cut and paste fanzine, ShadowPlay.”
“Alex’s mum Heather arranged our flowers and very kindly got up at 5am to get them from New Covent Garden Flower Market a few days before. We wanted the look to be natural and wild in whites and greens, which I think Heather did a fantastic job at.”
“The bridesmaids wore all their own dresses which were high street purchases. I also got them each a pink crystal bracelet from Oliver Bonas as a present.”
“My dad, Mario walked me down the aisle to the sound of ‘I’m in the Mood for Love’, by Lord Tanamo. We love that song.”
“To help style our venue, we borrowed some paint spattered ladders from my dad to put flowers on. The venue supplied the festoon lights and candles.”
“We hired caterer Van Dough who supplied crostini canapes, wood fired pizza and interesting salads.”
“Our caterers were ‘Just Joe‘ – for lunch, we had charcuterie and antipasto from a family friend at caterer Just Joe, pizza and lovely salads made in a wood fired oven from Van Dough then cake and coffee Vintage Dotty, both parked outside the front of the chapel. The drinks were chilled in ice buckets in a corner and everyone just helped themselves.”
“For entertainment, we hired ‘The Ukebox’, who consist of lead singer Joe Danks and his mum and dad, playing covers on ukeleles.
Our first dance was to ‘Kiss’ by Prince – my signature party song.”
“The day felt like a lot of favourite moments strung together, I couldn’t pick one. The highlights for me were riding through London in the Calessino, being cheered all the way, full of excitement and having everyone except Alex outside to greet me when I arrived. I also loved saying our vows; and coming out of the chapel and being showered with confetti and seeing everyone looking happy and amazing.”
Words of Wedded Wisdom…
“Just do what you want to do, it’s going to be a wonderful day whatever happens.”
What a fabulous day – our love and congratulations to you both Anna and Alex – thank you for letting us share your wedding day celebrations – I’m pretty sure they’ll be inspiring more than a few of our readers.
Folks, you can use the tag links at the end of this feature to find other similar content on Love My Dress.
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Love Annabel x x
Photographer – The Image Garden Photography
Venue – The Asylum (Peckham) + Brunswick House (Vauxhall)
Dress + Veil – Lily & Louie
Bride’s Shoes – Topshop
Perfume – Chanel No 5.
Grooms Suit – Kenneth Cole at House of Fraser + Paul Smith handkerchief
Bridesmaid’s Dresses – Oasis dresses + River Island shoes
Flowers – Marks & Spencer
Cake – Vintage Dotty
Entertainment – The Ukebox’
Rings – Andrew J Ullman in Hatton Garden
Catering – Just Joe + Van Dough
Stationery – DIY (the bride & groom)
Hair and make-up Artist – Lipstick & Curls
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.
