Ally & Kerry’s Wilton’s Music Hall Wedding in East London, Inspired by the 1950’s

Investment banker Ally and Kerry married in August with a ceremony at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Peckham before celebrating with family and friends at Wilton’s Music Hall, the extraordinary East London venue they chose for its history, atmosphere and connection to the music world they both love.

The couple met on the rock’n’roll scene more than twelve years ago and create their wedding inspiration from the films, fashion and music that have shaped their relationship ever since, with references to the 1950’s era threaded through the entire day.

Bride Ally wore an ivory Roksanda Bridal gown she tracked down after years searching for the right version of the dress, having first discovered the design completely by accident whilst shopping for a birthday outfit. She paired it with a hat she designed and made herself using donated lace, silk from an old pillowcase and flowers crafted from gifted leather, with her late grandmother’s handkerchief stitched into the lining.

Throughout the day, there was a real sense of things being made, collected, borrowed and considered over time, from the vintage programmes Ally sourced on eBay to inspire the stationery, to the theatre ticket style invitations, usherette popcorn trays and the silver rose bowls she gathered as gifts for bridesmaids and family.

Music ran through every part of the celebration too – opera singers performed during the ceremony, friends played live during the evening and the dance floor filled with jiving late into the night beneath the worn paintwork and red velvet interiors of Wilton’s. Enjoy!

We were initially conflicted as whether we would stick to our normal style with Kerry in a 1950s suit or go down the more traditional morning suit route. My sister found a picture that served as the perfect inspiration for the latter, with the men all dressed differently but cohesively. I’d already found my dress at the time, which was almost identical to the picture, after which everything started to fall into place.

We didn’t have a wedding planner, but we had a strong vision of what we wanted the day to look like aesthetically and I enjoy juggling tasks and paying strong attention to detail.

Moreover, we knew the vast majority of our suppliers and on the day itself, Lucy at Cater London was a superb coordinator and has worked closely with Wilton’s many a time making sure everything we’d planned together flowed smoothly. 

We had our ceremony at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church in Peckham, London, where Kerry attends Mass. We love where we live and having our ceremony in a place rooted in community, tradition and a sense of belonging was important to us.

The church was only round the corner from our house where we got ready, so we booked taxis to take the wedding party there. My Dad drove me in our car, and Kerry drove us from the church to Wilton’s via a little Peckham detour so we had a moment to ourselves.

My Dad walked me down the aisle. I’m a 41 year old woman and consider myself very independent so it didn’t feel like I was being ‘given away’ as such, more that he was accompanying me in support and offering his blessing.

Years ago, Kerry and I had gone to see ‘The Pearl Fishers’ and adored it. Whilst we’d previously repeatedly decided not to get married, we had planned our ‘fictitious wedding’ many a time and the duet from this opera was what we always said I’d walk down the aisle to. I managed to secure Louis Hurst and Robin Whitehouse to sing at the ceremony, accompanied by Lucy Morrell on the organ. As accomplished opera singers they were phenomenal and brought a really special air to the ceremony and a tear or two to the eye of the congregation.

Abbot Hugh, from Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church presided over our ceremony. Kerry knew many of the clergy well as a regular attendee but I didn’t, so we came to meet with them a number of times ahead of the wedding which made for a really relaxed, lovely day. 

As we had a Catholic ceremony, the vows were pre-determined. However, we also wrote some personal vows which we shared with each other later in the day,  just the two of us. The Catholic church has a list of readings to choose from. We chose ones that aligned closest to our values and way in which we lead our relationship. 

We got both wedding rings and my engagement ring from Daryl Gigg at DB Gems in Gray’s Antique Market. We knew we wanted vintage pieces and Daryl was so brilliant in helping us pick out rings that would suit both our styles. We’d highly recommend him and his expert eye.

My Dad and I have ‘a song’ which is ‘More I cannot wish you’ from the musical Guys and Dolls. Robin and Louis sang it as the most beautiful duet while we signed the register. For the recessional, Robin sang (on his recommendation) the most breathtaking rendition of ‘Because’ by Mario Lanza. I’ve never known a standing ovation at the end of a wedding ceremony before, and it was entirely deserved. Guests still talk about it now.

Danny Jackson, also known as ‘Barskey’ for his street photography, is the most wonderful photographer. He has such a lovely way with him and I knew he would make Kerry (and everyone) feel comfortable, which he did, resulting in some spectacular shots. We wanted real more than posed shots and Danny’s street photography background was perfect. 

Patta Binder was our second shooter who also produced some cracking shots. Having a second shooter proved invaluable when it came to getting moments captured where we weren’t around and Patta has a particular eye for seeing the details which is magic.

I’d known both Danny and Patta for a few years having met them at The London Colourwalk and knew their work well, so choosing them was a really easy decision.

Kerry was not keen on the idea of a videographer until we came across Alex at Zorro Film. With his background in documentaries, we were confident he would embrace our desire for ‘realness’ and convey the love and fun without the sap. He aced it. 

We met years ago on the rock’n’roll scene, we’re both into 1950s style and music. We’d danced together many a time and had numerous friends in common but first started dating in February 2014 and moved into together a few years later. We’d spoken about marriage in the past, always deciding not to, just happy with the status quo. 

Kerry must have changed his mind as he proposed in April 2024. All typically him, very understated but very thoughtful – in our early days dating he gave me two perfumes on the morning of my 30^th birthday. On the day he proposed (a non-eventful Monday) I’d come home from work to find two presents and a card on the table. They were the same two perfumes, almost exactly ten years later, and in the card he asked me to marry him. 

We kept our engagement a secret for a few weeks except for certain family, announcing it at my 40th birthday celebrations.

Our reception was held at Wilton’s Music Hall in East London. It’s the most incredible venue, steeped in history, and particularly resonated with us given our love of music – we met dancing on the 50s Rockin’ scene twelve years ago.

On top of this, Zena and the team there are exceptional, they couldn’t have done any more for us. 

Where I really fell down the wedding rabbit hole was embracing the music hall aspect of Wilton’s. Initially it was gentle, we designed the invitations to mimic 1950’s concert tickets, including the ‘stub’ to return. Then it was little catering details, having popcorn in boxes handed out in usherette trays at the reception and mini ice creams in the evening ‘interval.’ 

Before I knew it, we’d ordered 25 vintage programmes from eBay and I’d fallen head first into Canva.

With no qualifications in graphic design whatsoever, I set about designing an order of service to include a cast list (and bios!), synopsis of scenes, ‘script of service’…..even personalised vintage adverts. It took forever and at times I questioned what on earth I was doing, but I’m so glad I did as it’s one of my favourite physical mementos. 

Final touches were in the seating plan (which I replicated from Wilton’s) and the Box Office, from which people collected their ‘tickets’ on arrival to confirm their seat arrangement, all in the ‘stalls’ and A1 to F30. I designed all the stationery myself using Canva and got it all printed with Printed.com.

The fabulously creative Yan Skates, who I also knew from The London Colourwalk, was another very easy decision and I was so grateful he agreed to do it! Yan is a floral artist and creates the most incredible pieces.

We had one single meeting where we agreed on the anthurium as a focus and I kept him up to date with the colours we were using in my hat and Kerry’s waistcoat, but other than that we left it entirely in his hands. 

His floral arrangements were spectacular, really striking and unusual, incorporating edible parts to the table arrangements for example. A total genius.

Other than Yan’s floral artistry, Wilton’s itself was the most spectacular décor which required nothing else other than lighting to be able to appreciate its beauty. Additional décor would almost have detracted attention.

We hired Cater London. Wilton’s have a list of preferred suppliers from which we spoke to two. Cater immediately stood out, mainly due to the professionalism of Lucy, our contact there. They were absolutely epic on the day and it really felt like they had everything in hand. Moreover, the food was exceptional and guests were hugely complimentary.

We’ve been friends with Jim Vaughan for over fifteen years now, having met on the rockin’ scene. He’s been a chef for years and is renowned for his cakes. When he offered to make our wedding cake, we weren’t going to refuse! We had carrot cake and lemon drizzle tiers for the main cake, and Jim was extremely attentive to dietary requirements, carefully making gluten-free and vegan cupcakes to match. 

Given we were getting married in August and fans are common on the rockin’ scene, we had paper fans personalised with our names and the wedding date engraved on the wooden handle.

We gifted the bridesmaids, flower girl and my mother each a silver vintage rose bowl which I’d sourced over time in vintage shops and ebay. It meant they effectively had a vase for their bouquets after the day. 

The strength of that first batch of frozen margaritas scalped a few people, though the two of us weren’t aware of any of it until the next day!

We adjusted the budget a few times. I don’t regret it for one moment. 

If the venues allow it, get ready near each other. I got ready at home with my bridesmaids and family and our lovely next-door neighbour let Kerry and his brother get ready in their house. It meant that the photo/videographers were able to easily capture both of us and removed any sense of rushing. 

Related to that, in marrying close to home we maintained familiarity and predictability. Kerry went for a shave in the morning in his usual place, and then he and his brother/best man had breakfast in the local cafe with Danny and Alex (photographer and videographer). It was really relaxed and set the whole tone for the day. 

The most important thing we did was to have a bit of time just “us”. Once the ceremony was over, Kerry and I got in our car and drove the short distance home. Danny and Alex joined us for a few photos and we had some time walking round our local area, newly married, before driving ourselves to the reception. In the interim, our guests got themselves on the buses and to Wilton’s, glass of champagne in hand for our confetti arrival, so we didn’t feel like we’d missed out at all. 

In the speeches Kerry made a point of thanking our mums, presenting them each with one of Yan’s gorgeous bouquets. 

Lastly, we asked our guests to Irish goodbye if they wanted, so as not to impose any requirement to wait or to disturb the energy of the dancefloor.

We’ve been living together for years so had no need for traditional gifts. It was genuinely most important for us to be gifted people’s time in attending. For those who insisted, we decided to use Buy-our-honeymoon.com (you can adapt the name you use so ours was “gift of memories”), who we discovered on Love My Dress – given our love for travel, and those who wished bought us experiences, hotel rooms and meals for our upcoming honeymoon to Japan. It was perfect, allowing for a range of budgets including the ability for people to gift a recommendation of their own which made it particularly personal.

I spent a fair amount of time on Instagram, saving individual reels that were helpful. We enjoyed Love My Dress and I was attracted to real weddings that displayed a high level of individuality.

Register here, it will only take a few moments – you’ll then be able to save all your favourite Love My Dress content, including real weddings, shop items, ceremony readings, inspirational editorials and recommended supplier / vendor and venue listings. Enjoy!