Eloquence by Claire Pettibone for an Elegant Finsbury Town Hall Wedding

Our afternoon wedding feature is that of Ineka and Nick, who were wed in a stylish London wedding last August and had their wedding photographed by one of our highly recommended suppliers and sponsors, Laura DeBourde.  The couple held both their ceremony and reception at Finsbury Town Hall in Islington, a building that has made a number of elegant appearances on Love My Dress already – it provided the perfect backdrop for their elegant celebration.

“We wanted our wedding to be in London so that all our friends could come without having to spend lots of money. We also had concerns about the weather, so decided to do it indoors. Also, it’s absolutely gorgeous in Old Finsbury TownHall – it’s rather an ageing, slightly crumbling beauty.”

Photography Copyright (c) 2015, Laura DeBourde

“Our photographer was Laura De Bourde – she was brilliant and has a wonderful, informal style that suited us, and we loved the idea of a photo booth. She did some beautiful pre wedding photos and the wedding photos are perfect – the colours are gorgeous. She also put us at ease – neither of us like to be photographed so she was great.”

Ineka’s beautiful wedding dress was the ‘Eloquence’ design, by Claire Pettibone.

“My dress is beautiful – most dresses I saw were all quite similar, boned top and fishtail skirt in a variety of colours/fabrics, all very stiff and formal, which weren’t really me. I thought this dress just suited my personality and style. It was a take on 1920s, vintage and old Hollywood glamour – not obviously a wedding dress, just a beautiful, and very glamorous gown.  I wanted lace, but didn’t want to look like Kate Middleton – and this lace was a bit unusual and the gold colour ensured it didn’t fit the typical wedding dress look. I also loved the back, it’s just very special.”

“I didn’t want to buy some white shoes I would never wear again. I thought colour would be a much better option. Initially I thought of green but couldn’t find anything. Then my (male) boss at work suggested red, so I went shopping with my bridesmaid and as soon as I tried these on we both knew they were perfect – they’re red suede and Prada, amazing!”

“My make-up artist, Monica Storrs normally does TV, Stage and model shoots. She was recommended to me by a colleague and she was great, the makeup wasn’t too heavy and looked gorgeous.

My hair stylist was Alex James Fairbairn. Both stylists were great and put us all at ease, we had a good laugh getting ready, and knew exactly what I wanted.”

“I have short hair and thought it might look a bit boring without a feature/accessory. I thought flowers would wilt, so a hair band seemed the best option. I couldn’t find anything that would match my gold-ish dress until I saw my dress in a bridal magazine and the model was wearing a hairband from Flo & Percy. I contacted them and they suggested the one I eventually bought. It worked perfectly.”

“I used to go to tea dances at Finsbury Hall – one of my friends used to be a dance teacher and he would swirl my friends and I around the Hall, we would pretend we were wonderful dancers and not just being led around by a professional. Then when Nick and I first got together he lived on the same street as the Town Hall, and we used to go past it all the time, so it seemed like a perfect choice of wedding venue. 

“My Mum and two brothers walked me down the aisle to the sound of  ‘For once in my life’ by Stevie Wonder, which is a favourite of mine. We walked back down the aisle to Elton John’s Tiny Dancer, we both love it and frequently (badly) sing along to it.”

“We met through a mutual friend Sasha, I worked with her at the Old Vic Theatre and Nick went to Uni with her. One day Nick got invited for drinks, we hit it off, and then a boozy theatre trip to the Edinburgh festival ensured we got together. We had been together for 5 years before we got engaged, and had recently spent a year travelling through Africa, which was amazing, stressful and overwhelming! But it also made it clear that we were meant to be together (without sounding corny). We were in LA to visit Nick’s family for Thanksgiving. On our last day Nick dragged me to the beach, insisting on a walk – just round the corner, just up this hill, just to the top of the dune. We were on the top of Point Dume on Malibu beach, looking at some seals. I turned back to see where Nick was and he was on his knees. I swore at him in surprise! That was in November 2013, we got married in August 2014.

Our trip to Africa inspired a lot of the table decorations – each table was named after a different country we visited (Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda). Then each table had a photo Nick took from each country. The table plan was then a map of the continent. Each name tag was made out of scrabble pieces because when Nick and I first started seeing each other we used to go to our local pub and play scrabble for hours and hours. The venue then inspired us to hire vintage crockery, which looked amazing. Then I love wild flowers and irises so our florist made wild arrangements in beautiful white jugs. We then had an old suitcase for cards and gifts and our friend carved us some wooden ‘beer, food, gifts, music’ signs made out of our old table. It had to be a mix of styles, Nick is quite casual, whilst my style is vintage and a bit more formal. It was all quite eclectic but somehow worked!”

“We wrote our own vows – they were a bit ridiculous but particular to us, and therefore very special. I have pasted them below.”

Nick’s vows”
‘In the presence of our friends and family,
I make a promise to you, Ineka Hall, my stubborn, pretty clown,
I vow to minimise how often I force you to stay in the dives and brothels of the third world
To not kick you in bed, to keep grudgingly letting you coax me to visit the theatre, even though I secretly love it
I vow to keep my shoes on in the cinema, to keep you in steady supply of peanut butter, and to invest in my appearance, potentially beyond my sacred jeans and a tshirt apparel
Even as you and I and the world around us changes
I vow to keep you when we see eye to eye, and when we disagree
My place will always be with you. You are my best friend.’

Ineka’s vows:

‘From the beginning I knew that you were it, that I wanted to share my life with you even through pain and sadness.
So I promise you, Nicolas Frankcom, my Hokey Bear to periodically comment on how amazing your hair looks and refrain from mocking you when you adjust it in every mirror you walk past
I vow to continue to feign an interest in football, laugh at your puns and keep your belly button free of fluff.
I will even occasionally consider dressing like someone from this century.
I promise to continue to follow you to the ends of the Earth even though I may complain and hate you for it because it and you change my life for the better.’

Everything we do together is full of mischief and joy, I have more fun with you than with anyone else, you enable me to be myself and make me feel cherished and I promise to love you for ever.
Did you have any readings at your wedding and if so, could you list what they were? Please feel free to include full readings, or your favourite extractions from your chosen readings.’

“We both had a friend do a reading of their choice. This included Nick Drake’s Northern Sky and Louis MacNeice’s meeting point.

My wedding ring is my Mum’s (my Dad passed away over 10 years ago so Mum gave me her ring). Nick’s ring is his Grandma’s just resized. My engagement ring is a redesign of Nick’s Grandma’s.”

Nick wore a Armani suit from Selfridges…

“His best friends bought him a beautiful tie from Thomas Pink (turquoise that matched his socks!) and my Mum had him made some blue flecked opal cufflinks.”

“Our florist was Helen Main Ellen, who was recommended to me by an old family friend. I wanted Irises because my mum had them at her wedding. We then wanted wild flowers on the tables – I saw some other arrangements, all roses and lilies and just thought it looked a bit stuffy. Wild flowers seemed more youthful and fun.”

“We hand made all the invitations, menus, name places, table arrangements etc – we used animal stamps, vintage maps, scrabble tiles etc.  We also used a handmade wooden signs saying ‘cake’ and ‘beer’ etc, and pictures from our African trips, along with a vintage suitcase for gifts and flowers, and when it got dark we used paper lanterns and vintage crockery.”

“We bought 80 individual Lamingtons from Blackbird Bakery – I’m half Australian, Lamingtons are an institution that I have converted Nick to. Blackbird’s does amazing lamingtons!”

“Our caterers were Purple Potato – their food was really unusual and interesting – we wanted to avoid the whole ‘meat and veg’ wedding dinner, and we had several vegetarians so we wanted to give them interesting veggie food a friend of ours did the music.”

“The song for our first dance was ‘Benjamin Brown’ by Jonny Kearney and Lucy Farrell. It was one of the first gigs we went to, we actually went for another band but Jonny and Lucy were supporting and they sounded beautiful, pure & whimsical. It kind of became our song, a bit cute and silly. All the way through the dance, Nick was freaking out because we hadn’t choreographed anything and we were just making it up as we went along, with almost 100 people staring at us!”

“I loved getting ready with my Mum and Bridesmaid, that was a lot of fun and very relaxed. But the best bit was walking down the aisle, seeing all my friends there, trying not to cry and then seeing Nick blubbing at the other end of the aisle. Also, my brother gave a beautiful speech that made me cry.

Nick says that his favourite part was seeing me walk down the aisle, it was the moment where his nerves vanished and he knew he’d made the right choice.

Done differently – stress about it as much as we did! Ideally we would have had one person on the day coordinating everything, instead we had multiple people not managing to coordinate and Nick had to run around finding people and things.”

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

“Often you want to do things that are handmade because they are bespoke and potentially cheaper – we thought it was worth it in the end but it takes a HUGE amount of time and effort.

Don’t let anyone tell you to lose weight to fit into a dress – it can be adjusted and you shouldn’t have to stress.” 

Oh Claire Pettibone, you design the most exquisite gown – I wonder what on earth wedding world was like without you!  Huge thanks to Ineka and Nick for allowing their beautiful day to be shared on Love My Dress, and love and thanks to photographer Laura DeBourde too for sharing her beautiful work.

“I’ve always loved filling my photographs with lots of light and love and happiness – this is a huge part of my style and also the way I work. I’m not into overly posed photos because I want my photographs to be fresh and warm and to deliver timeless images to my clients that they’ll adore forever.”  (read more from our Interview with Laura Debourde here).

Love Annabel xx

 

Photographer – Laura DeBourde
Venue – Finsbury Town Hall in Islington, London
Wedding Dress – Eloquence by Claire Pettibone
Headpiece – Flo & Percy
Brides’ shoes – Prada
Grooms Suit – Armani from Selfridges
Bridesmaids – Dessy via Les Trois Soeurs
Florist – Helen Main Ellen
Cakes – Blackbird Bakery 
Rings – Heirloom
Catering Company – Purple Potato
Stationery – DIY
Make-up Artist – Monica Storrs
Hair – Alex James Fairbairn