A Houghton NYC Gown and Red Rock Studs for a Cool, Modern, Riverside Wedding in London

Happy Sunday lovely readers.  I have the most fabulous, cool, modern London wedding, full of colour and personal touches, as well as the most incredible floral arrangements to share with you today.

Allow me to introduce our bride and groom; Andrea, a voiceover and radio presenter and Rich, who works in Financial Regulation, married on Saturday 12th August 2017 at London’s Trinity Buoy Wharf.  The couple met at a New Year’s party and got engaged on a trip to Argentina over New Year 2015, when Rich surprised her with a Annina Vogel vintage ring in the middle of a maze.  Spectacular proposal or what?

“I love bright colours and our venue felt so modern, with a beautiful view of the city we love so much, so that lead a lot of our decisions.  We decided that we live in London and we met in London so we should marry here.  Food and hosting are important to us so we decided on a venue where we had choice over caterers and could party until the early hours.  Once we viewed Trinity Buoy Wharf and heard we could take guests on a boat trip down the Thames, Rich was sold.”

Images courtesy of ByGarazi

Andrea looked spectacular in her Duncan by Houghton NYC gown – a modern silhouette with a fit and flare effect around the hem. We also appreciate Andrea’s honesty about her dress buying process. We understand it can be a daunting and confusing time for brides trying to find ‘the one’, but we’re also pleased to see that despite early feelings about the whole process, Andrea was able to find something she felt absolutely amazing in, thanks to the great service and support provided via The Lovers Bride boutique.

“I didn’t find the dress buying process enjoyable – spending so much money on something you only wear once was hard for me and I ended up feel anxious about my body in ways I wasn’t expecting.  Having said that, it totally fit our modern venue, I felt amazing in it, and loved swooshing the skirt on the dancefloor.  The ladies at The Lovers Bride were amazing. I loved the beautiful silk material, the fact I didn’t feel ‘bridal’ in it, and the fact you would be able to see my red Valentino Rockstud shoes in it (the part of the outfit I was most excited about).”

“I kept looking for veils to go with my dress but it made my outfit feel traditional in a way I didn’t really think suited me.  With a month or two to go I emailed the lovely Natasha Pitkanen of Crowns & Wreaths and ordered a rose quartz and rose gold crown.  She’s based in Sydney but managed to get them to my bridesmaid who lives there before she flew back over for our wedding.  I love it,  I just need to find more occasions to rock a crown.”

For hair and make up, Andrea used our Little Book for Brides members, Portrait’s Bridal, choosing an fabulous fishtail braid, which (as she said herself) looked wonderfully Game of Thrones when combined with the rose quartz and rose gold crown.  For make up she chose a bright red lip, to pick up the colour of her shoes and her nails (red heart tip nails from Wah Nails in Soho).

For jewellery Andrea chose a sapphire ring which belonged to her late Grandmother, as well as a personalised rose gold necklace and matching bracelet from Posh Totty Designs.

Finally, she added a pair of Monica Vinader Riva earrings.

The bridesmaids looked fabulous in bright coral dresses from Ghost at John Lewis, worn with matching peach crowns by Crowns & Wreaths.

Rich and Andrea used planner Sarah McAnulty of Emerald and Mae to coordinate their day.

“Trinity Buoy Wharf is a dry hire venue which has loads of great points, but also lots of setup issues we hadn’t really thought of.  We met a couple at a friends wedding who recommended Sarah.  We hired her with about a year to go before our wedding and we can’t recommend her enough.”

To accessorize, Rich chose a tie from Hermes and a vintage Omega watch that belonged to his late Uncle Ron. For that final special touch, Rich’s Dad treated him to a proper barber’s trip to Trumpers.

“Rich looked into tailored suits but didn’t feel like he could justify the price.  Then, one of his best mates got carried away at a charity auction and won a voucher for a made-to-measure suit from Gieves and Hawkes.”

“Sadly Rich also lost his grandparents while we were engaged, but out of this sadness came a lovely aligning of the stars – they left him a little bit of money and his Grandad used to get his suits made at Gieves and Hawkes.  It was a sign and he bought the voucher off his mate and got a suit made from scratch.”

For music, Andrea chose ‘Berlin’ by Ry-X, as this was the first artists she and Rich went to see together.

“Meeting Rich at the top of the aisle was amazing, I was just beaming and so happy to see him.”

“My brother Michael read from ‘Milk and Honey’ by Rupi Kaur and our friend Pete read ‘I Wanna Be Yours’ by John Cooper Clarke.  We wanted a serious sentiment, and a fun one.”

“Whilst we signed the register we had some very talented friends sing.  My bridesmaid Hannah and her husband Simon sang a French song ‘Si Tu N’etais Pas La’ (from my favourite film Amelie), and our friend Dominic sang ‘God Only Knows’ by the Beach Boys.  Both were very emotional and had people reaching for the tissues.  Dom even got everyone singing along!”

Finding a wedding ring to match Andrea’s vintage ring was difficult, but the staff at Annina Vogel were incredibly helpful and suggested a reshaped Toi et Moi ring, creating Andrea another unique piece.  Rich purchased his platinum band from David M Robinson.

“My bridesmaid Hannah went to uni with Garazi Gardner and I was lucky enough to be Hannah’s bridesmaid and got to see Garazi working up close.  She’s so professional and smiley and such a great energy and obviously, her photos are amazing!  She also did a pre-wedding shoot with us, which was great as Rich wasn’t keen on having his photo taken.”

“While our fab wedding planner turned around the room from ceremony to dinner (with Rustic Hire furniture) we took a boat down the Thames with Thames Leisure as a surprise to all our guests.”

To decorate the reception space, Andrea and Rich purchased lots of candlelit lanterns and helium balloons from The Giant Balloon Company, but primarily focused on the floral arrangements (by Hiding In the City), which are just stunning!  For place settings, Andrea’s brother made fab little origami boats, while the rest of the wedding stationery was the work of friend and designer Ed Davies.

Catering was the work of award-winning caterers Boulevard and Rich and Andrea chose family-style sharing boards served on long tables.  The beautiful grey and gold marbled cake was kindly made by a talented school-friend of Andrea.

“For favours, me and my mum picked sloes and made sloe gin for everyone.  I really loved having this time with her.”

“For entertainment we chose Excite at Alive Network who were unbelievable.  We highly recommend them and everyone said how amazing the party was.  The DJ was a friend from radio – Jonno – via Fickle Events.  He played a blinder and kept the dancefloor packed full.”

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“It’s easy to say (and hard to do) but don’t get pushed into things because someone on the internet or in person is telling you that you should (I appreciate the irony that you’re reading this advice online!). Basically it’s your day, so focus on what you want for yourselves, your family and your friends.  That’s all that matters.  You do you.”

“I really wish we had booked a videographer.  My very sweet mum filmed most of the speeches on her phone and I treasure those so much.”

What a fabulous day!  if you have some extra time, you might now like to take a look here at some other weddings we’ve featured at Trinity Buoy Wharf, and perhaps here at another beautiful wedding photographed by Garazi Gardner.

Much love,

Shona x