Hey! As you read this, I'll be preparing to make my debut BBC radio interview this morning! Yikes! Tune in to BBC Radio Tees here around 10.45am this morning, where I'll be questioned over a 15 minute period or so about my role as a wedding blogger and to talk about my book, Style Me Vintage Weddings! Don't worry if you miss it, you'll be able to tune in to the station to listen later in the afternoon when the 'listen now' feature goes live on this page.
But first, let's enjoy this very stylish couple's wedding that was submitted by the rather stupidly talented photographer (and really lovely guy), Nabeel Khan. Nicoletta and James tied the knot on 23 February 2013 with a ceremony at Shoreditch Town Hall, followed by a reception at Ozone Coffee Roasters for our Reception.
I'm a little bit smitten with Nicoletta's personal style, in particular, that beautifully fitted Alan Hannah wedding dress (it's called 'Sorrento), and lovely little white lace gloves. This is a woman after my own heart...
Love My Dress Wedding Blog - Photography Copyright (c) 2013, Nabeel Khan
"I wore the Sorrento design by Alan Hannah. I’d initially wanted something vintage, so going to the Teokath bridal boutique felt like a bit of a gamble. I tried a few different dresses but this one felt different – it made me feel glamorous! I just loved everything about it, and the fact that it was of a ‘Hepburn’ style and a vintage inspired silhouette satisfied my desire for a vintage wedding dress.
Also, because it was a sample dress, I was able to get it off the peg - so I got it dry cleaned, made some very small alterations and voila! It was my perfect dress."
"Our florist was Linda Cottee who was amazing! She understood what we were after and made recommendations/gave suggestions based on the colours we wanted, types of flowers (seasonal) and style. She was the consummate professional and super nice to boot."
"We met in India at the end of 2008. I was on a solo holiday and James was travelling through South East Asia en route to London. We actually spied each other out on Palolem Beach in Goa but only met in Hampi and then ended up bumping into each other again on a beach in Gokarna. Random. James makes a small joke about how he was stalking me but I think it might be true. We hit it off in a purely friendly way (or so I thought), he moved over in February and we hung out for about 6 months before he finally showed me ‘his true feelings’. That was pretty much that.
Towards the end of October 2012, a job offer in New York precipitated the decision to get married. We then realised we were really excited about getting married and focused on that rather than leaving London. We gave ourselves a short deadline – originally wanting to do it in January but we landed on the 23rd of February – my mom’s a teacher and that date sat in the middle of her half-term. So you could say we ended up planning our wedding in just 3 months."
"When it came to planning our wedding, I started out looking at wedding blogs. We both wanted something that would reflect our personalities and had a bit of character – nothing too fancy or chintzy but still at least a little classy.
We also had people coming from all over the world - the ‘UN of weddings’ - and wanted to give our guests a bit of British flavour, and as a result, it all became a little ad hoc. We loved the light and colour at the Shoreditch Town Hall, we got a Routemaster to drive us around East London, stopping at Victoria Park for sundown (love Viccie Park)."
"My friend
made all our bunting and we used that to decorate the Town Hall and
Ozone."
"Our cake designer was Lily Vanilli. Our cake was going to the served as dessert and we wanted it to be good but not ridiculously extravagant. So we went for a simple chocolate cake with a pistachio and petal décor."
"James is from New Zealand and I'm South African. We always thought that choosing where to marry was going to be a bit complicated but when we decided that we were actually going to do it, we knew it had to be in London, near Bethnal Green where we live. We chose Shoreditch Town Hall for our wedding ceremony – we both fell in love with the room as soon as we walked in, it was full of beautiful, natural light and had a piano too! We used Ozone Coffee Roasters for our Reception - we’d been trying to find a venue where we could eat, drink, dance in one space and Ozone was perfect.
Ozone was open and light but still provided intimacy, the kitchen was in the middle of everything and the whole venue was just a great canvas. We went for blues, purples and whites because we saw a colour swatch in a magazine and thought they felt like the right colours for a winter wedding."
"I’d been so worried that everyone would get bored on the bus...ha! Provide some champagne and a pretty route and voila! People were pole dancing by the time we met them at Victoria Park!"
"Linda Cottee, our florist, sourced our little cacti and put them into little purple pails. We used them as name placeholders and a little take home for our guests."
"Nabeel Khan was our photographer - he took the photos for a friend friends’ wedding. We loved their photos - they were natural, uncontrived, fun - and we loved the rest of his work on his blog.
So I called Nabeel and he was available (getting married at the end of February makes speedy planning relatively easy). We met at the Dovetail in Clerkenwell and hit it off immediately. He’s fabulous!"
