Justin Alexander Elegance For An East London Winter Wedding

As a former Londoner, I love when venues I know well pop up and I actually spent quite a lot of fun nights in The Artisan of Clerkenwell, the venue for today’s wedding. Nicky and Jason, who both work for Ford were married in the gorgeous circular council chamber of Islington Town Hall on the 12th of December 2015. An avid reader of the blog, Nicky had seen other weddings in Islington Town Hall on Love My Dress and the couple knew it was perfect when they went to visit. Of course no London wedding is complete without a routemaster and the newlyweds brought their guests on a tour of London’s landmarks, stopping for Nichola of Lemonade Pictures to take some fabulous photos. There were a few setbacks on the day, including a flood and the food being ruined but as you will see, none of it mattered and it really was a wonderful day. Grab a cuppa and enjoy…

“We had no theme or colours other than wanting the day to be relaxed and represent us. We had a relatively small budget and of all the venues we visited the The Artisan of Clerkenwell felt like it had the right layout. We had a real eclectic mix of things from West Country pasties (for my hometown), to a Routemaster bus (for our home together) and ski resort themed table names reflecting our favourite holidays together.

Photography by Lemonade Pictures

“Jason and I met playing softball in the company league and have known each other for years. The first three years of our relationship weren’t straightforward as I was living in Paris and he was in Essex, but when my assignment ended we moved in together in East London. After buying a house together Jason didn’t really see the need to get married, so it took me completely by surprise when a couple of years later he took me out for dinner, produced a beautiful ring and asked me to marry him. We married just under a year later.”

“The shoes were the saga of the planning. Over 70 pairs of internet ordered shoes and my sister in law recommended a pair of Benjamin Adams shoes that my sister had also recommended weeks before but I’d disregarded. When they arrived they matched the dress and fitted perfectly. Moral to the story – always listen to your sister.”

Nicky’s nephews agreed to be ring bearers on the condition that they didn’t have to carry cushions ‘like girls do’. The boys look gorgeous in their little suits from Marks & Spencer and got a gorgeous pocket watch from Etsy as a gift.

Nicky had originally planned to get a 1950’s style dress but after a shopping trip that didn’t quite go to plan, she popped into Bella Sposa on the way home and unexpectedly found her perfect dress. With a silver/grey tinge, her Justin Alexander dress was everything she wanted and matched her sister’s veil, which she later decided to wear, flawlessly. Her parents gave her the beautiful Carat London jewellery and her father in law gave her the Chanel No5 perfume she wore.

“Initially I wasn’t blown away with any of the dresses I tried in Bella Sposa, but then the wonderful Jackie suggested another dress. Initially I didn’t like the colour (it looks grey on the hanger), the style (way too figure hugging), or all of the detail (way too fussy), but my sister persuaded me to try it and I am so glad I did. Even before it was zipped up I felt amazing and my Mum cried as I walked out of the changing room, so I knew it was the one. I adored the detail on the lace, particularly on the bottom of the dress, it felt vintage but timeless. I felt amazing on the day and had so many compliments.”

“The bouquets and corsages were made by Lisa at The Bloom Bar. She was absolutely lovely, so down to earth and helpful.”

I love the rich plum shade of bridesmaid Emma’s Watters Wtoo dress, what a perfect shade for a crisp winter’s day. Emma was a great support to the couple right from the beginning of their wedding planning so they gifted her with the beautiful diamond studs she wore on the day.

It was important to Nicky that Jason felt as good as she did in her dress so her wedding present to him was a tailored three piece suit from Cad and the Dandy. His dapper look was finished with a shirt and tie from Hawes & Curtis, a pocket square from Mrs Bow Tie and brogues from Racing Green. Nicky also gave Jason a pair of cufflinks with his initials on one and her new initials on the other, as well as a silver pocket watch.

Nicky walked down the aisle with her father to a piano and violin version of ‘Comptine d’un Autre Été’ from the film Amélie, taking the couple back to the early days of their relationship when she was living in Paris.

“My wonderful Dad has MS and really struggles to walk now so when we got engaged I had no idea whether he would still be able to manage to walk me down the aisle but he was determined that it was going to happen and went through additional physio to make sure he could. It meant so much to me to be able to share that moment with him and I was so proud of his determination to succeed.”

Jason’s nephew Jack is an incredible guitarist and played Jack Johnson’s ‘Better Together’ while the mums signed the register. His niece Alice read ‘Maybe’ (author unknown) during the ceremony, a passage the couple felt summed up their relationship. The couple were friends before getting together so they chose ‘Friendship’ by Judy Biellicki for Nicky’s friend Fiona to read.

“The best part of the day for us was the ceremony, I was worried that it would feel like a bit of a formality given it was a town hall wedding but I could not have been more wrong. The ceremony felt surprisingly personal, I was more emotional than I thought I would be,and loved every single second. I wouldn’t have changed a thing, other than perhaps walking down the aisle a little more slowly – I saw Jason and was so excited that I practically dragged my poor Dad to him.”

The couple chose Nichola from Lemonade Pictures as their photographer partly due to the intro on her website (her gorgeous photos helped too) and Nicky also shares her fear of walking down stairs without a bannister so knew they would get on.

“We met up with Nichola for coffee. She was exactly who I expected and so interested and enthusiastic about our day. On the day Nichola was so relaxed and just blended in with the rest of the guests, she doesn’t stop smiling. Being relaxed certainly helped Jason who has a strong dislike of all cameras but Nichola’s prompts to make us relax and giggle, (along with her complete disregard for her own personal safety) meant we have some fabulous photos to cherish.”

“We hired a Red Routemaster to take everyone to the reception, with a detour taking in some of London’s iconic sites. We made little snack bags with gingerbread men, West Country pasties, Prosecco and a very competitive game of wedding bus bingo. Everyone was in a party mood and so many of our London friends said how much they enjoyed being tourists.”

“Our cake was the most incredibly generous wedding gift from my fabulous talented friend Emma of Emma Bayfield’s Cakes. She did an artistic interpretation of my dress and I think she nailed it. With a bottom layer of fruitcake, then chocolate, salted caramel & vanilla, followed by a top tier of lemon it tasted absolutely amazing too. We also had a cheese cake from The Cheese Shed that we used as part of the evening food.”

The gorgeous décor for this wedding certainly was a family affair, even Nicky’s grandad helped to make pompoms. Her mum was a big help too, making sloe gin and limoncello favours and a gorgeous hula hoop chandelier made of fairy lights.

“I went a bit Pinterest crazy with the décor and half my family was making pompoms for me the day before. My lovely cousin Kelly made all of the place names, the letters for our card box and a ‘Tip Jar’ (advice for the new Mr & Mrs). My sister designed all the signs around the venue and we had a Christmas tree guest book where we asked everyone to sign a bauble so we have our own personalised decorations. My mum and sister also made our card box using my grandmother’s vintage suitcase. We hired giant J&N letters from Light Up Love although it was rather amusing that we only had the J for the first half of the reception, the N arrived five hours later.”

“My favourite thing of all was our photo wall. I managed to find a photo of us with every guest and put them on postcards from Moo. We hung these up and asked everyone to take theirs home and post it back to us at some point in the future when they’re thinking of us. We have loved receiving them back over the past few months.”

“I loved our table plan but was surprised how tricky our guests found it (probably something to do with the Prosecco). We designed a flowchart of questions like ‘Have you or your wife climbed a telegraph pole with Nicky?’ or ‘Did you learn to snowboard with Jason at Brentwood Ski Slope and have seen him fall on his face?’ and was designed by the incredibly patient Jenni from STN Stationery.”

 

“All of the table decorations were made by the wonderful ladies at my Mum’s church. Mum transported them up from Plymouth and dutifully watered and sprayed them every day to keep them fresh. I loved them.”

“Jason didn’t have a best man but I couldn’t let him not have a speech so arranged for his friends to each send a short video clip which one friend very kindly and expertly edited into a video which we showed after the Groom’s speech. I was nervous about his reaction as he’s not a big one for surprises, but he loved it.”

James Pritchard from Legerdemain came and entertained the guests with some magic and had everyone captivated, especially Nicky’s two nephews who were completely fascinated with his multiplying and disappearing bunnies. Later on in the evening they asked their friends The Phonic to get the dancing going.

“The band were simply amazing, the dancefloor was full and we loved every minute of their set, they were superb.”

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“My biggest piece of advice to other brides would be to relax and try to enjoy every moment. Some big things went wrong (all our food was destroyed the night before when the basement of the venue flooded), I was very laid back about it all to start with but as the day went on I did let things get to me a little and I really shouldn’t have. Our guests didn’t notice half of the things that went wrong and really didn’t mind the things that did. Everyone who is there really does just want to join in your happiness. Looking back on it now it really didn’t matter that we were served Brussel sprouts or that our guest book wasn’t put out, we have so many fabulous memories of the beginning of the most wonderful marriage.

Enjoy the planning and the excuse to spend time with your best girls as well as your husband to be. We thoroughly enjoyed the excuse for meals out together at potential venues and after visits to suppliers. My Mum and sister in particular were absolutely incredible through the whole process, so supportive and helpful. We couldn’t have had the day we did without all of their ideas, practical help and emotional support. I can honestly say I loved each stage of the planning and would happily do it all again.

Finally, I love the real wedding features and drew so much inspiration from those for our own day. Since the wedding I’ve become a member of the Love My Dress Group on Facebook, it’s such a lovely community of ladies and so great to share experiences and excitement with people who are just as interested in weddings.”

How amazing is the postcard idea, I love that they managed to find a photo of each guest. Thank you so much to Nicky and Jason, it has been an absolute pleasure to share your wedding along with the wonderful images by Nichola of Lemonade Pictures.

Love Caoimhe xx