Dear Readers, I hope you’re having a lovely week wherever you are. I spent last night at the theatre seeing a fantastic musical, and living in London I feel incredibly lucky that there’s so much to see and do right on my doorstep.
I’m always excited to share London weddings with you, and this one is a beauty. The venue is my favourite contemporary art gallery to visit in the city, and it’s a spectacular building in its own right. Add to that the fact that this celebration just looks like so much fun!
Sophie, who works in sales administration, and Nick, a TV post producer, were married on the 1 September 2018 at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), close to The Mall and St. James’ Park.
Videography by Alice Underwood Films
Sophie looked cool and elegant in her minimalist, backless Made With Love dress (the ‘Georgie’), which she discovered at East London boutique Heart Aflutter Bridal Boutique.
“I found my dress in the amazing Heart Aflutter Bridal Boutique in Hackney–a fabulous shop that I highly recommend to all London based brides! I tried on over 40 dresses in my search for ‘The One’ and I was beginning to feel like I was never going to find it, however, as soon as I put on the ‘Georgie’ dress, I knew I’d found knew my dress. It had everything I wanted – fitted, understated and most importantly, completely backless.”
Images by Kirsty Mackenzie Photography
All of these lovely, light images by Kirsty Mackenzie are full of fun and laughter, and Sophie and Nick were thrilled with the results.
“Kirsty is such a talented and lovely lady! We realised throughout the wedding day how many personal links we have to each other (we went to the same university and have friends in common) and it made our connection to her even more special. The moments that she captured during the day were stunning, we adore every single photo.”
I just love Nick’s fantastic suit in the most incredible rich, aubergine colour from Beggars Run, which he wore with a colourful peacock green bow tie from Etsy, and a matching pocket square.
“Nick and I met at university in 2008 –he went to Kingston and I went to Roehampton but would hang out in the same group of friends. After 3 years of seeing each other here and there, it took me booking a ticket to Australia after my final exams for us to admit how much we meant to each other and that we were pretty much in a relationship!”
“Our venue was the wonderful Institute of Contemporary Arts in Central London. As soon as we saw those stunning columns and views from the balcony, we knew this was our venue.
“We decided on a London wedding as the city means so much to us –we met at uni in London, we live here amongst all of our friends and it’s already filled with amazing memories. We didn’t hire an event planner but we had the lovely Lea and Georgia from The ICA helping plan the day.”
Sophie was accompanied down the aisle by her dad, and chose the song September by Agnes Obel as her entrance music.
“When I first heard this song on the series Big Little Lies, I could totally picture myself walking down the aisle to it. It’s a beautiful piece of music and the fact that it’s called September made it even more significant.”
The couple said their vows to one another in the soaring, light space at the ICA, and also gave one another rings, with Sophie’s ring sourced from Whibleys The Jewellers.
There were readings, too – the first an extract from The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman – I Will Love You Forever.
“Nick had recently re-read the series of books by this author and this passage just sounds so lovely. I also made our confetti cones from pages of the book.”
The couple’s second reading was Bob Marley’s advice, He’s Not Perfect.
For her wedding veil, Sophie chose the exquisite ‘Poppy’ design, semi edged with lace by our fantastic Little Book members Britten Weddings. Sophie’s necklace was a very special gift from her bridesmaids, courtesy of Just Emily Jewellery.
“Two of my bridesmaids asked their cousin to make me a very delicate necklace with a tiny pearl and a long drop fastening that fell down my back. It’s something I’ll cherish forever.”
Amanda and Emma from Spence & Oliver created beautiful hair and make-up looks for Sophie and her bridesmaids, and they couldn’t have been happier with their approach.
“The dream team! I felt so happy with my hair and make-up on my wedding day, all thanks to Amanda and Emma understanding exactly the look I wanted. They listened to how each bridesmaid wanted a different look too; each one looked stunning and true to themselves.”
The bridesmaids wore stylish black dresses (a different design for each of them) from Shona Joy together with sandals from New Look.
“I always wanted them to choose a dress that suited their individual style and body shapes. The Australian brand Shona Joy make incredible bridesmaid dresses.”
The vibrant wedding flowers by Helen at The Flower Shop fitted the stylish and contemporary feel of the day perfectly, with a colourful array of roses, dahlias and lisianthus.
“I adored my wedding flowers! Helen at The Flower Shop created my vision so perfectly, what with having the bridesmaids and groomsmen in black, I knew I wanted the flowers to provide a pop of colour. The hot pinks, fuchsias and burgundies in the bouquets stand out fabulously against the black dresses.”
“My shoes were from Dune. I always knew I wanted my wedding shoes to be my something blue and couldn’t have found a more perfect shoe than these. There is a pearl detail on the heel and this is the stone that Nick proposed with –it’s also my birthstone.”
Nick proposed to Sophie in Bali in September 2016, although his original plan was somewhat thwarted by other travellers!
“He had a grand plan of walking out of the sea holding a shell with the ring that he would propose with, however when a couple decided to sit right next to our patch on the very empty beach, Nick had a change of plan and did it in the privacy of our gorgeous little villa instead.”
“We were both crying with happiness –it’s made Bali a very special place for us.We had a two year engagement. We always knew we wanted a September wedding as that month is very significant to us. It was the month that we met, eventually became an official couple, and then got engaged all those years later. Plus September by Earth Wind and Fire is ‘our song’.”
Etsy based Crum & Co. took care of the elegant stationery designs, and wedding favours also doubled as place settings made by Sophie.
“I bought 80 neutral coloured agate crystal slices from Etsy and a gold Posca pen and handwrote each of our guest’s names on the slices. I loved that each one was unique and so pretty when held up to the light.”
The bright, neoclassical architecture of the ICA proved to be a lovely backdrop for Sophie and Nick’s contemporary styling, with gorgeous bursts of colour in the floral arrangements and a hot pink neon sign from Bag and Bones, mounted onto the wall.
“My favourite piece of the wedding was the neon sign! This was the first thing I hired for the wedding and the inspiration behind my pink flowers. The ICA has a big, wonderful fireplace in the room that would be used for our wedding breakfast and dancing in the evening, and after seeing a Bag and Bones neon sign featured on a wedding blog previously, I knew this would be the perfect thing to hang above it. It looked amazing in the evening time against the disco lighting!”
“The floral centrepieces and mantelpiece display in the reception room looked perfect next to the pink neon sign.”
The in-house team at the ICA, Arnold & Henderson made an incredible wedding meal, and to finish there was cake (lots of cake!) made by bridesmaid and private chef Philippa, of Fern Foode.
“We knew we were in good hands! We had tiers of elderflower and lemon, raspberry and white chocolate and chocolate and salted caramel.”
After all that lovely food, speeches, and a stroll for Sophie and Nick around the surrounding streets of the ICA, it was time to dance, and there was music from London DJ’s. After dark is also when that fabulous neon sign truly came into its own!
“Our first dance was to Al Green, Let’s Stay Together, one of my all-time favourite songs. This merged into September by Earth, Wind and Fire, which our guests went crazy for –everyone knows this is ‘our song’ and the atmosphere was amazing! A moment I’ll never forget.”
Words of Wedded Wisdom
“Trust your instinct! Don’t let other people’s opinions sway you from what your vision is. If you have an idea of how you want the day to look or what you want to wear, go for it.”
“I knew for a long time that I wanted the bridesmaids in black dresses but almost changed my mind after several odd looks from relatives when I told them.I’m so glad I stuck to my guns! So many people commented on how amazing the girls looked on the day and how well the colour scheme suited a London wedding.”
Sophie and Nick, thank you so much for this joyful virtual trip to the ICA for your wonderful day. Many thanks to Alice Underwood for the super highlights film, and to Kirsty Mackenzie for her brilliant images. You can see more of her work on Love My Dress right here.
With love,
Laura
Credits & Thanks
- Photography - Kirsty Mackenzie Photography
- Videography - Alice Underwood Film
- Venue - Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
- Sophie's Gown - Made With Love via Heart Aflutter Bridal Boutique + Veil - Britten Weddings + Shoes - Dune + Necklace - Just Emily Jewellery
- Hair + Make-up - Spence & Oliver
- Flowers - The Flower Shop
- Nick's Suit - Beggars Run + Bow Tie - Etsy
- Bridesmaid's Dresses - Shona Joy + Shoes - New Look
- Sophie's Ring - Whibleys The Jewellers
- Stationery - Crum & Co.
- Food - Arnold & Henderson
- Neon Sign - Bag & Bones
- Cake - Fern Foode
- Entertainment - London DJ's
Laura Callan View all Laura's articles
Laura is a freelance writer and content creator who loves telling stories. She has keen eye for photography and art, and lives with her husband, cats, and huge amounts of books.
