Oh Friday, how I love you! I’m so excited the weekend is nearly here – we’re going to be helping our eldest daughter celebrate her 11th birthday on Saturday. I’m preparing for a ‘sleepover’ involving six 10/11 year olds. WISH ME LUCK! Do you have anything lovely planned this weekend? A spot of ‘wedmin’ perhaps?
This morning’s real wedding feature is one that stole my heart for all it’s effortless elegance. Su, an Office Manager, married architect Nik on 11th September this year in London. Their wedding was one of modern, effortless elegance and cool. Photographer Maja Tsolo has done such a wonderful job of capturing so many special moments and little detail; the guests posing for a selfie, the page boy busting out a pole dance, the bride’s Mum in raptures with that infectious kind of laughter that erupts deep from your belly and then, of course, that dress – a high street brand purchase that will certainly appeal to those readers on a more limited dress budget. There’s a real sense of early Autumn elegance about this wedding that I love so much. I hope you do too.
“Our loose theme slowly developed as we started to work out the possibilities within the legal and time restrictions we had. Starting with the venues in the city; a restored 60s interior church, 60’s building housing NT’s, to the vintage style Indian influence wedding dress I found and Nik’s preference for a mod-ish English cut suit.”
Photography by Maja Tsolo
“We wanted our wedding to have a certain hint at including the best of British elements started to emerge (sorry my shoes were the oddballs). In short, Modern British Vintage Hipster with a Botanical twist. And Nik’s favourite colour, blue.”“True to today’s modern world of dating stories, we were introduced by Guardian Soulmates. Nik was my first date after an exchange of fun and funny emails. He was also my last first date. It appears our lives crossed paths at the same point where we were looking for a committed relationship. So after 20 restaurants dates, 10 movies, 5 karaoke sessions, 2 long haul flights to Asia, 2 joint cooking efforts – 1 more successful than the other, Nik proposed to me while we were playing Jenga at the hotel bar we were staying at in Kuala Lumpur.”
“We planned for this side trip while visiting my parents in Malaysia. Nik knew he wanted to propose sometime on the trip and made sure he received my parent’s blessings prior to popping the question. My dad especially was so chuffed at this 6502mile genuine gesture. We gave ourselves 6 months as we wanted to have a somewhat simple day and felt it suited us to have a short engagement.”
Su’s beautiful beaded gown was a purchase from high street fashion brand, Needle & Thread.
“I loved that it was ready to wear and had a simple and clean shape. The intricate sequinned flowers made it very romantic for me. Easily wearable from day to night and manageable so I could move around freely.”
“I styled my wedding dress with a scalloped edged Juliet cap veil enhancing the vintage vibe for the church ceremony. My amazing mother handmade the veil right up to the 11th hour as a wedding gift to me.”
All flowers including the bouquet, were styled by the bride herself. What a talented lady!
“This was mostly budget driven, followed very closely by my personal interest in floristry and an ‘easy’ 4.00am access to the wonderful New Covent Garden Flower Market. I wanted the flowers to be quite natural to compliment the indoor plants at NT’s, so we went with British seasonal wild blooms with some deep hues to make the arrangements pop. I used a mixture of jazzed up jam jars and vases purchased from H&M as vessels at the venue.”
“While we decided not to officially have groomsmen and bridesmaids (keeping it simple/casual) it was difficult to coordinate the day without help. Nik’s brothers, Simon and Chris naturally were called upon. They were given a guide on suit colour to match Nik’s outfit and we found ties to complete the look in Nik’s dressing drawer.”
Su was accompanied down the aisle with her mother to Bach’s Suite No. 1, played on Cello.
“We were married in St Matthews church by Father Kevin Scully in Bethnal Green, London. Following our faith, we wanted to have a Christian wedding and the church was a natural choice.”
“Nik being an architect, loved the idea of a wedding in the city which aligns with his choice to live locally in Bethnal Green and while St Matthews was purely driven by certain wedding registry regulations (here’s a helpful site for marrying in a church), we were over the moon to find this historically rich handsome structure steeped in East End history and a lively rector.”
“We both loved the given vows said in church and felt they encompassed everything that we would say to one another. We chose Chapter 2, verses 10-13 from the Song of Solomon as it is deeply romantic and speaks of good things to come.”
10 My lover said to me,
Rise up, my darling!
Come away with me, my fair one!
11 Look, the winter is past,
and the rains are over and gone.
12 The flowers are springing up,
the season of singing birds has come,
and the cooing of turtledoves fills the air.
13 The fig trees are forming young fruit,
and the fragrant grapevines are blossoming.
Rise up, my darling!
Come away with me, my fair one!
“Hannah at family run Ovadia, Hatton Garden helped Nik source and put together the engagement ring as he wanted to build in Su’s favourite stones into his design. Hannah is great at sourcing beautiful gems and gave a truly personal experience throughout the process.”
“We loved her honesty and objective opinion the most as we went about choosing our wedding bands, a platinum band with a twist to match the metal of the engagement ring and brushed palladium which has a steeley hue for something a little different for the groom.”
“We had a brilliant photographer Maja Tsolo who captured our day for us. We knew she was the one as she was great at putting us at ease in front of the camera when we had a prior engagement photo session with her.”
“On the day, she was sensitive to our needs and made sure she was up to speed on the priority shots. This was hugely important as photography was not allowed during the marriage service apart from the official photographer.”
“I loved the story that Maja put together for us through her lens. The icing on the cake was an ad hoc sunset shoot in our finery as we were lucky to have a warm beautiful autumn day.”
“We spent many an evening folding paper origami birds to add a little whimsy to the day. Apart from the current love of all things geometric, we liked the idea of birds flying around the room filled with plants.”
“Later we held our reception at NT’s cocktail bar. We fell in love with the amazing windows framing the rooftops and London’s skyscrapers. You could also enjoy this westward, sunset view on the terrace. On top of that, NT’s made scrumptious cocktails and had an open, relaxed and leafy space to hold our number of guests.”
“We had cupcakes made by Hayley, Nik’s colleague as a gift to us. She loves baking and had us taste test prior to the event. Her two favourite flavours – passion fruit and rum and chocolate fudge with peanut butter icing were hits. She even threw in gluten free options so everyone could have something sweet.”
“My mum cottoned on to the idea of including animals and brought some glass paper lanterns from Malaysia for table décor as a hint of colour. We wanted something a little different for our guest book so we had our friend write the word ‘Love’ in Chinese on a painted canvass. Guest were encouraged to make their mark on the piece which we will eventually hang up in our home.”
“Following our approach to holding the reception at a bar, it was natural to request Morty and Bob’s who runs the café at NT’s where they co-own the space. M&B were so flexible and worked with us to achieve an easy-going and delicious menu that would fit all our guest.”
“My favourite part of the day was the impromptu after party we held back at Nik’s flat. This was the best part of the day purely because it was a big contrast to the hectic schedules, tasks and paper bird/flower arranging activities before the wedding. Even during the reception, we felt the pressure to host our guests well and tried to speak to everyone (challenging). We were able to kick off our shoes and enjoy some champagne and fried chicken with a good douse of house music! What more could a newly-wed ask for?”
Words of Wedded Wisdom…
“Not everything needs to be fixed upon in the beginning. Being flexible and managing your own expectations is key to enjoying the process and loving the results of the day. Also remember to take a minute to breathe in the day i.e. mindfulness, as it is a blink and you will have wondered where you were that day apart from cloud nine.”
Wow! Evidence beyond doubt that if you are serious about saving money on your wedding dress purchase, that the high street offer some gorgeous, affordable options!
My love and thanks to Su and Nik for sharing their beuatiful wedding with us today.
Happy Friday morning everyone,
Love Annabel x
Credits & Thanks
- Photographer - Maja Tsolo
- Venue - NT’s cocktail bar, London
- Bride's Dress - Needle & Thread
- Veil - Juliet cap veil made by the bride's Grandma
- Bride’s Shoes - Stuart Weitzman
- Hair comb - Jenny Packham
- Flowergirl - Estella Original from Monsoon
- Accessories - vintage earrings
- Groom - Suit + tie from Hackett + Oliver Sweeney shoes
- Florist - DIY using flowers from New Covent Garden Flower Market
- Cake - DIY
- Transport - Addison Lee
- Entertainment - Spotify
- Rings - Ovadia, Hatton Garden
- Hair Stylist - Francesca at Foster London Hair & Beauty
- Makeup Artist - DIY by the bride
Well I love a Needle and Thread dress and if I’d known about them before I married, I’d definitely have had a good look, I think that they are so pretty. High Street but still so very special. I also love this venue, its location, the plants, origami birds and rooftop seating. Congratulations Su, on the wonderful florals too! Impressive skills. Best wishes to you both for your future together xxx
What a gorgeous dress! I have a particular soft spot for that gorgeous handmade veil too, and I know from Emily C’s husband’s efforts that those origami cranes are a labour love so bravo to this pair! x x x
Lovely urban wedding scene 🙂