Three things struck me as I oohed and aahed my way through these photographs. Firstly the bride’s fabulous sense of style – I adore the contrast between the pale, silvery beading on her dress and her gorgeous dark hair. Secondly, the photos themselves are incredible – the black and white shots especially capture the drama and excitement of the day. And thirdly, the couple chose a traditional London pub for their reception. I do love a proper pub!
The glamorous bride in question is the lovely Michelle, a project manager, who wed handsome groom David, a regional sales manager, on 23rd November 2013. Amazingly, the couple pulled the whole day together in just five months.
“We agreed we wanted a short engagement as we knew we wanted a relaxed wedding and didn’t want our lives being taken over by wedding planning for a long period of time.”
Photography Copyright (c) 2014, Claudia Rose Carter
The couple met through mutual friends in 2010. “David was living in London at the time, whilst I was living in the Northeast. It started casually, with us seeing each other whenever David was home, but soon we we travelling to see each other every other weekend. After only six months we decided we wanted to live together and I moved to London.
We’d already agreed we would get engaged so it wasn’t massively romantic, however the actual place and time was a lovely surprise. It was July 2013 and we were having a picnic in St James’s Park, which is one of our favourite places.”
“The bridesmaids wore gold embellished dresses from Frock and Frill. They matched my dress perfectly – which was lucky, as I hadn’t seen everything together until the actual day! David wore a bespoke suit from Spencer Hart and gold knitted tie from Richard James.
Michelle’s dress is by Victoria Jane for Ronald Joyce – a lucky purchase from The Wedding Dress Outlet, Northallerton, North Yorkshire.
“Given I only had five months, I had to buy a sample dress off the shelf. I originally wanted something simple, more of an evening gown. But when I found my dress, I thought it had something special about it. The sleeves meant it was perfect for winter and the detail was amazing.
“Our photographer was Claudia Rose Carter. She was fabulous and we’re so happy with our pictures. We wanted the pictures to capture the fun, informal style of the wedding and they certainly do that.”
We love London and it means a lot to us and our relationship so we knew we wanted to get married in London rather than the Northeast, where we’re both from originally. We also thought it would be cool to have a London theme given that many of our guests would be travelling from the Northeast. We chose Camden Town Hall, a traditional London pub – The Prince Albert – and a London Routemaster bus for transport. Our table plan was based around all our favourite places in London.”
“We love the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel and chose to stay there the night before and the night of the wedding. However we wanted somewhere more informal and relaxed for our reception, and the Prince Albert provided the exact atmosphere we were looking for.
As well as breaking tradition by spending the night before the wedding together (in absolute luxury no less) the couple also walked down the aisle together.”
“On arrival at the Prince Albert we had the AMP band playing an acoustic set to keep our guests entertained whilst we were having photographs taken – the lead singer is an old school friend of mine, which made it extra special.
The wedding breakfast was good old pub grub including burgers and fish and chips. We weren’t going to have a cake as we thought it wouldn’t get eaten. But in the end we decided to get a cheese cake and have it as part of our evening buffet. It ended up being a really good buy!
“We couldn’t choose a favourite part of the day, the whole day was awesome and our guests thoroughly enjoyed every minute. People have commented on how relaxed yet well planned it was. The night time turned into quite a party too.”
“We did our first dance to an acoustic version of Sweet Disposition by Temper Trap, sung by the AMP band. It’s a song we both love and it really reminds us of when we first met. In the evening we had DJ Rice playing all of our favourite music. Our DJ was also originally from the Northeast so it added a really personal touch.”
Words of wedded wisdom…
“Don’t worry about doing what you think is expected of you. It’s your special day so do things your way. You can’t please everyone and people will get over it.”
I do admire Michelle and David for doing things their way – and having so much fun in the process.
Michelle, that dress may have been a sample but it looks like it was made for you. You look stunning. And those bridesmaids dresses (soon to appear on my very own Pinterest board!) are pretty special too. What do you think readers? If you can, take a moment to tell us what you love about this wedding.
Love Kate
Photographer – Claudia Rose Carter
Venue – The Prince Albert
Bride’s dress – Victoria Jane for Ronald Joyce purchased from The Wedding Dress Outlet
Shoes – Christian Dior
Groom – Suit Spencer Hart, tie Richard James
Bridesmaids – Frock and Frill
Flowers – the bride, buttonholes The Artisan Dried Flower Company
Wedding cake – Marks & Spencer
Transport – Routemaster Hire Ltd
Entertainment – The AMP Band, DJ Rice
Rings – Bedazzle, Hatton Gardens (no website)
Stationery – Designed by the bride and groom
Follow Love My Dress® on Google+