Let’s Adore and Endure Each Other: A Lusan Mandongus Gown for a Village Underground Wedding

If you’re considering using colour to make a statement on your wedding day, then this one is for you.  Alexa, a primary school teacher in East London, married Ryan, who works in Finance, on 12th April this year.  The couple tied the knot at Islington Town Hall as they live in Bethnal Green and wanted a London wedding to reflect what they both love.  Their reception was held at Village Underground in Shoreditch.

I love how this couple pull off such elegant style set against such an industrial style, modern city backdrop – the bright colours set against the textures of their incredible reception venue is perfect, and Alexa’s beautiful smile really shines from these images too.

“We are both quite quirky, in that we like bright colours and our flat is quite modern. We liked the vintage look but decided it wasn’t really us and as we had five weddings to attend in 2013  – we wanted ours to be a bit different.”

Film Production Copyright (c) 204, Thompson Granger Films

“Ryan and I met in June 2007 on a night out in Camden. We had seen a band in Dublin Castle and then got chatting. The story goes that I approached Ryan and was quite clear that I liked him! Can’t really say either way! He lived in Essex and I was in Surrey so we had a year of seeing each other at weekends before I moved to south London. We bought a flat in Bethnal Green in January 2011.

Ryan proposed in Victoria park on 22nd December 2012. It was totally unexpected. A drizzly Saturday morning – we went for breakfast and walked through the park on the way back, as we do most weekends. As it was just before Christmas we said we would exchange Christmas cards. We went under a tree as it was lightly raining (no one around though!) I opened a joke card first! Then Ryan gave me the proper one. I opened it and it said ‘Will you marry me?’

As I looked up Ryan was on one knee getting a ring box out of his pocket! I burst into tears, especially when I saw the ring. He had the ring made to look almost identical to a ring my Nan had that I absolutely loved. She had passed away in the September and so this was very emotional. We were both very excited and rushed around to family and friends telling them the news.”

Photography Copyright (c) 2014, McKinley Rodgers

“My dress was by designer Lusan Mandongus .  I got it in The Ivory Boutique in Farnham. They also have a branch in Winchester too.  I had tried on other lace dresses but knew I wanted something a bit different. The shop assistant actually suggested it after I had tried on some others – and when I did, I knew instantly that it was the one.

The silk top and the exquisite detail on the shoulders and waist band just looked amazing. I knew my accessories would need to be minimal which suited me well. I also loved the cut and shape and it ticked all my boxes of having ‘a waist’, not being a straight across dress at the top and having an amazing back to it. (which I really wanted).”

“We did lots of research for alternative venues but once we saw Village Underground in Shoreditch, both of us knew it was the one! Live music and festivals are something that we both love and definitely have in common so it seemed perfect that a gig/ festival theme would work for our wedding day.

We also wanted a late licence so we could have a proper party!”

“We had huge coloured balloons that we found online from an American website.  We also hired a large heart with an ‘A’ and an ‘R’ from Gods Own Junkyard in Walthamstow, was slightly over budget but was a hell of a focal point!”

“Graphic designer Marty McColgan made our invitations, table names and seating plan. We had a festival ticket idea straight away and after some online searching we found him. So pleased with his service and support as he helped design our favours too.”

“For wedding favours, we arranged festival type wrist bands displayed on coloured card with the guests name and a lyric that we felt was relevant to them or our relationship with them.”

“Our photographers were Pen and Cam from McKinley Rodgers. What can I say? They were absolutely amazing in all areas. They are both really lovely people who made us feel relaxed when we met them for a pre-shoot in January – we secretly wanted them to be our friends! On the day they were fantastic, everyone commented how fab they were and we couldn’t be more pleased with the finished photos.

They capture the feel of the day and just look absolutely beautiful. Really can’t recommend them highly enough.”

“My very very good friend Joanne Stringer did my hair and makeup. She is fantastic and does lots of vintage styles too.”

“My hair accessory was from Glitzy Secrets, and my only other accessory was my earrings which were made from a ring my Nan had left me. It had 2 diamonds and a sapphire in it and was beautiful but I was worried I’d never wear it. So I had the diamonds made into earrings in the original settings.”

“Our florists were Grace & Thorn based in Hackney. Nik runs the company and is absolutely lovely, we had a quick chat and looked at some pictures and I couldn’t have been happier with what she did. I knew I wanted wrist corsages and buttonholes to be cream gerberas so it was my bouquet which I said ‘colourful and some gerberas’. It was fab!”

“I knew straight away that we would get married at Islington Town Hall as we had seen it previously and loved it. So that meant our venue search needed to be local to us.  Neither of us is religious and we loved that you get married in the middle of such a grand room at Islington Town Hall, and how everyone is physically around you.”

“My Dad walked me down the aisle to the sound of ‘Make You Feel my Love’, by Adele just because the words are so lovely. The deal was that I chose this song as a surprise for Ryan. We left the service to ‘There She Goes’ by the La’s.”

“When it came to our vows, We had three versions of words from the registry office to choose from and we chose the most relaxed version as we felt it reflected us. We wanted a line about always being friends in it too.

The registrar told us to have part of our words written out so we could read them without repeating her, and I found that to be very moving as it felt like we were just speaking to each other.”

“We had two readings at the wedding but we didn’t know what either of them were – we had asked a friend (who did my hair and make up) to choose a reading and my brother to also do one. My friend found a poem that she adapted. My brother wrote his own reading which was amazing.

We also had Ryan’s cousin Liam, who is in a band called The Light Assembly, play the guitar and sing ‘First day of my life’ by Bright Eyes during the service.”

“We loved the paper pom poms but found that for us, they were quite expensive. So we bought tissue paper and wire and Ryan’s mum kindly made them for us – all 40 of them!”

“Gemma of Little Gem Bakery is actually our sister-in-laws sister! She is brilliant and so accommodating. She made the cake topper minions a few days before as I suddenly had the idea to surprise Ryan!”

“An amazing singer and his band, Tony Bowen and Kingtastic provided the entertainment. As a couple who love music the band was always going to be a key part of our wedding. After seeing Tony play in a pub in North London, listening to some of his sets on XFM and stalking his YouTube page, we made one of the best decisions of the wedding, to add to the budget to get this guy.

Not only is he a fantastic bloke, his band had the dance floor filled as soon as they took to the stage. He also didn’t mind sharing the vocals with the groom for a song and having a bridal backing dancer for Beyoncé!”

“When I think of my favourite moments of the day – I loved walking in to the town hall and seeing Ryan’s grinning face, I’ll never forget that moment, it was so exciting and I felt so proud to be becoming his wife  But as everyone says I’m sure the whole day was beyond my highest expectations and I was so happy with everything.

I don’t think we would have done anything differently apart from maybe hire a wedding planner for the day. We only had the venue from 9am on the morning of the wedding as there had been a rave the night before, this put a lot of pressure on Ryan and the groom’s party to get things to the venue and do the basic set up.”

“I cannot recommend our catering company Food Events highly enough. Before the wedding they were so helpful and we really felt like we were listened to. They were happy to deal with many emails about all the little details that bride’s worry about!! They were the organisers on the day as we couldn’t get into the venue beforehand.

The supervisor on the day was fantastic, very helpful and organised so we didn’t need to worry about a thing. Above all, the support they gave us when we were at our most stressed was a godsend.”

“Our first dance was to ‘You do something to me by Paul Weller’. I Love the song – we’ve both seen him play live and it was one we both agreed on! Plus it’s a tune!”

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

“Enjoy it all! It seems like such an overwhelming task at the start and it can cause some interesting discussions when you’re making your dream a reality, but it really is worth every second of thought, care, planning and love that goes into it.

I was very lucky on this front but involve the groom!!!! It felt like ‘our’ day because we had both worked so hard for it. I don’t think grooms should just turn up to their own wedding day, they should be invested in it as well.

I also love the stories of each wedding on Love My Dress – you really make them come to life and it helped me to picture how my day might go. The names of companies etc helps too when doing research.”

What a gorgeous colourful day! Perfection for a Friday morning like this one when some of us may be needing a little lift!

Have a really great day everyone, and as always, our huge thanks to Penny and Cam from McKinley Rodgers for sharing these wedding photographs.  You can see more from this wonderful duo here on Love My Dress.

Love Annabel xx

 

Photographer – McKinley Rodgers
Flim – Thompson Granger Films
Venue – Islington Town Hall + Village Underground in Shoreditch
Dress – Lusan Mandongus via The Ivory Boutique in Farnham
Brides Shoes – Mimosa by Rachel Simpson
Brides Hair Accessories – hair accessory via Glitzy Secrets
Bride’s Scent/perfume –
Grooms Suit – Edward Sexton + Charles Tyrwhitt shirt/pocket ties + Dune shoes
Bridesmaids Dresses – Bespoke via Polka Fashions + Very shoes
Florist – Grace & Thorn
Cake – Little Gem Bakery
Transport – via the bride’s Dad
Entertainment – Tony Bowen and Kingtastic
Rings – family friend/jeweller
Catering Company – Food Events
Stationery – Marty McColgan
Hair + Makeup – Joanne Stringer
Hired props/giant letters – Gods Own Junkyard