A Pink Sequin Gown for an Earth-friendly and Vegan London Wedding

Happy Wednesday readers.  Today we have the most glorious wedding for you- that of Nina, a yoga teacher and trainee nutritional therapist, and Jack, a tattoo artist.  The happy couple married at the fabulous Asylum Chapel, London, on the 2nd of April 2016, followed by a reception at Friendly Place, in Greenwich.  Both venues are very funky choices and seem perfect for this cool couple. 

“Our wedding was inspired by our ten year anniversary and when we noticed it was on a Saturday we decided we had to book it for that day.  The only other inspiring factor that continued throughout our planning and the day was that the wedding was to be earth friendly and vegan – we already live our life this way so to also have our wedding day reflect that was so important to us.  It was hard to find a suit without wool, but everything else was really easy and after some hesitation from family about the food, my bridesmaid and I decided to make the whole buffet and cake.”

Photography by Dale Weeks

Nina’s utterly fabulous pink sequinned gown was a bespoke piece, made especially for Nina by Margo Stankova.

“I had seen some sequin-adorned brides online before and hadn’t really considered it for myself as I thought I wanted something understated and simple, but the closer it got to the day the more I thought ‘I don’t want to be dressed in white lace; I want to be a sparkly pink mermaid!'” (And why not?)

“I took a drawing of what I wanted to Margo and she made my dreams come true.  I initially bought a different dress but the closer it got to the day I just wasn’t happy with it so after meeting with Margo I knew I was in the right hands.   Her knowledge of the wonderful little details of wedding dresses and enthusiasm to create something unique for me was amazing.  She also made my veil.”  

The bridesmaids looked fabulous in pink gowns from Chi Chi London, worn with synthetic leather jackets from H&M.

Meanwhile, the flower girls looked very cute in dresses by Maileg, purchased via The Sisters Guild, which they wore with flower crowns made by Jack’s sister.

On her feet Nina wore vegan friendly shoes by Kurt Geiger, while for jewellery she chose a bespoke necklace by Tessa Metcalfe, which depicted a rose gold pigeon claw holding a pink opal.

Jack’s vegan-friendly suit was a purchase from good old Next.

“The Asylum is so stunning.  When I first visited I was choked up just walking in- it has such an amazing vibe.  We were so unsure about where to hold our reception and money was a big factor but when we first experienced the unique Friendly Place and all the possibilities within it we just couldn’t resist.  It had eclectic furniture across three floors and our guests were blown away.”

Nina walked down the aisle of the Asylum to ‘Boats and Birds’ by Gregory and the Hawk, the lyrics of which (‘Leave me your stardust to remember you by’) are tattooed on her ribs.

“My Dad accompanied me; he cried from the moment he arrived in the morning and possibly more than anyone else for the whole day.”

“Jack and I wrote our own vows, accidentally starting with virtually the same line. When Jack began his vows that’s when the whole room broke out in sobs; I hadn’t noticed how quiet it was until I could hear all the crying and the noses sniffing.  I had managed to hold it together until then.”

“Jack’s vows began ‘Ten years ago to this day I met the love of my life’ and mine ‘When I met you ten years ago today I could already picture our lives together’. “

“My vows ended ‘I’ll be yours and you’ll be my first and last love’ and Jack ended his speech the exact same way- its a quote from our favourite song by The Maccabees, ‘First Love Last Love’, which is also engraved on Jacks engagement ring.”

The day was beautifully photographed by Dale Weeks.

“Dale was truly fantastic in every way.  He glided through the wedding interacting with guests and keeping a low profile and took on board every bit of information we provided him with about what we wanted from our photos.”

“Dale is a gentleman, extremely professional and very fun to work alongside- a creative visionary.” 

Flowers were the work of Jack’s sister Natasha Pearce (sadly no details),  who created beautiful huge crowns for the flower girls, huge displays for the ceremony and reception and incorporated fruit and the pink colour scheme as requested by Nina.

“I made all the stationery, signs and invites myself.  I used a picture of our cats dressed as a bride and groom on the front of the invite and our place cards were attached to quartz crystals, along with my necklace.  Our favours were also quartz crystal points as I wanted to incorporate crystals into the day where I could.”

Nina made the (vegan) cake herself, using a recipe by Minimalist Baker, while bridesmaid Grace made vanilla, oreo and violet cupcakes.

I love that Nina shared this recipe with us (I do love to bake) and may have to try this one myself very soon.

“We wanted to keep our first dance playful and so instead of a slow dance we opted for ‘Toothpaste Kisses’ by the Maccabees as the lyrics have always meant so much to us and it was also short.”

“Jack wasn’t too keen on the idea of a long slow song and I’m glad we didn’t choose one as the dance was wonderful but felt a little awkward.”

“Right after it we had ‘You’re Making my Dreams Come True’ by Hall and Oates to have a good dance and sing to.  Jack said that it’s one song that without fail makes him think of me and it was one of his only requests about the wedding.”  

Jack told us that his favourite part of the day was seeing Nina’s vision come to life,  as he was so proud to see the day come together and all the work she put in pay off.    

“My favourite part was the entire day celebrating our love with my love.  I also loved showing my bridesmaids the dress as I had kept it a secret until the day.  They were so shocked since they expected the dress I chose a few months before.  My best friend screamed, my Dad cried, my sister swore and my other bestie just shouted ‘WHAT IS THAT?”

Words of Wedded Wisdom 

“Be warned, you’ll read everywhere that it goes so fast.  I thought ‘no way, I’ll sit back and soak it all in’ but it really does go so fast.  Absolutely a million percent get a videographer to capture the day- we regret not doing it and so will you.

My second thing to say would be do not think for a minute you’ll be satisfied if you let other people have control over the day.  Choose the venues you want, wear the dress you fall in love with and remember it is a day about the love you share – everyone else will love it because they love you.”

So many thanks to Nina and Jack for sharing their gorgeous love-filled day, as well of course to Dale Weeks for allowing us to feature his beautiful images. The Asylum Chapel is a venue which is very popular with Love My Dress brides, and for very good reason – take a peek here to see some more real weddings which have taken place here.

Much love,

S x