Fund Manager Jo married Theatre Producer Justin on 8th April 2023 at Trinity Buoy Wharf in East London.
The couple hired wedding planner and stylist Rebecca Brennan-Brown, from Get Wed, to help them plan and style they day, which included lots of subtle nods to the 70’s by way of the stationery and deco.
The bride wore a beautiful Sassi Holford gown and pearl wedding cape veil by Jesus Peiro – both items discovered at Ellie Sanderson, and everything was beautifully captured by photographer Lee Allison.
Film by Julia Semashko.
Bridal Beauty & Accessories
I wore a custom made headpiece by Hermione Harbutt. I knew I wanted a hairpiece from Hermione Harbutt – I used to live next door to their boutique in Bristol and had always wanted an occasion to buy one!
I think I tried on everything in the shop but settled on a retro design which they very kindly made for me in silver to match my jewellery and the pearls on the cape.
My perfume was 1872 Feminine from Clive Christian and Justin wore the matching ‘Masculine’. Both were a gift from a very kind friend of my parents.
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I wore my grandma’s engagement ring, my earrings were silver celestial hoops from Astley Clarke (a wedding gift from Justin) and a bracelet from my brother which had two hoops with mine and Justin’s names engraved.
My hair and makeup artist was Nicola Beddoes – again would absolutely recommend her.
My shoes were the ‘Jill Pearl’ design, from Charlotte Mills.
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The Dress
Sassi Holford
My dress was by Sassi Holford and pearl cape veil was by Jesus Peiro – both were form Ellie Sanderson in Beaconsfield.
The shop is near where I grew up so had always admired the beautiful dresses in the window. The team there were wonderful and had an amazing selection. They narrowed down exactly what I was looking for and helped me try out a few different designs.
Would definitely recommend to other brides, they had a beautiful and varied selection. I ended up mixing and matching two designers with my dress and cape to get the look I wanted.
As soon as I tried on a few dresses, I knew that I wanted a classic dress but with some accessories. I loved the pearl cape as soon as I saw it and it really pulled everything together for me. I loved wearing it and with the expertise of Lee (our photographer) get some amazing shots with it!
The Ceremony
Trinity Buoy Wharf
My dad accompanied me down the aisle, to the sound of ‘Lover’, by Taylor Swift, played on the piano.
My sister wore a bright pink tulle dress from & Other Stories (now available on John Lewis rental). My two friends wore dresses from Ghost in contrasting teal and navy.
We had three readings, the first was ‘First Date‘, by Brian Bilston – we chose this as there’s a running joke that we moved in together after our first date (which isn’t far from the truth!). We also love Brian Bilston and my brother changed some of the words to personalise the poem to things Justin and I like.
Our second reading was ‘Love is Awful’, from Fleabag by Phoebe Waller-Bridge – we’re big Fleabag fans and wanted something theatrical, to reflect Justin’s background in theatre. We were lucky enough to have one of Justin’s groomspeople Erika read the poem. She is a professional actor so was perfect for the job!
And finally, we had an extract from Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey – Justin and his brother both love this book and he even finished the reading with a classic McConaughey “alright, alright, alright”.
My engagement ring was from the Antique Jewellery Company – it’s an unusual two diamond ring from the early 1900s which Justin chose.
For my wedding band, Justin’s grandma very kindly gave us some diamonds which we had set into a band by the team at Madison on Hatton Garden. They made the band to fit the engagement ring and did a wonderful job.
Justin chose a plain gold wedding band from Madison too.
Photography
Our photographer was Lee Allison. He came very highly recommended by our wedding planner and we loved his pictures from other weddings – especially one he’d taken at our wedding venue with the O2 in the background. It was important to us that our photos were natural, fun and relaxed. We had an initial call with Lee and he immediately put us at ease!
Lee was able to capture so much of the day, we still don’t know how he seemed to be in so many places at once! We have so many beautiful pictures of the ceremony, our guests and the two of us. It never felt like we were spending time away from our guests on a photo shoot but we still have some gorgeous pictures of just us, including some of our favourites at the top of the lighthouse.
Our videographer was Julia Semashka and we’re completely blown away by her beautiful video.
How They Met
We met for our first date in mid March 2020, the day before most covid restrictions came into place. After a few weeks of zoom calls and socially distanced walks in the park, we decided to try lockdown together in early April. Everyone jokes that our wedding was just the end of the longest ever second date!
Whilst it was a really difficult and scary time, with job changes and not being able to visit family or friends, the lockdown also gave us plenty of time to get to know each other and we spent the time perfecting cocktail recipes, buying records, walking in Greenwich park and meeting friends on zoom.
After the lockdown, we continued to live together and got engaged in October 2021, before finally being able to travel back to the US and visit Justin’s family for Christmas 2021.
We wanted time to plan our wedding and make sure as many friends and family from the US could join us so were engaged for 18 months before our wedding day.
Justin wore a three-piece suit from Walker Slater.
Reception
The most important thing for us going into the wedding was definitely the music – we knew we wanted a great band that could get everyone dancing and had a few playlists put together which really drove a lot of our design.
Talking to Rebecca of Get Wed, we talked about how we could incorporate this into the day and even shared pictures of how we decorate our house – lots of colour, big signs, slightly retro and fun.
She got the design straight away, suggesting a seating chart using our own record collection, disco balls on the tables, fun stationery design and a colour scheme of greens, blues and a bright yellow.
A favourite moment from the day was my speech. I wanted to do something special for Justin so had arranged different friends to read out different reasons why I love him (an idea borrowed from his favourite play – Every Brilliant Thing – which we’d watched together in early lockdown). The look on his face when he realised what was happening was amazing!
Evening & Dancing
We had a first dance with our parents (Justin with his Mom and me with my Dad) to The Way You Look Tonight and then a first dance to Real Love Baby by Father John Misty. Our band played both which was really special for us.
Streamadelica – we had two long streamers to decorate the dancefloor which looked stunning and really gave us the party atmosphere we wanted. For us it was like a US school prom and really designated the party area!
We also had a custom banner made with our new married name (the Fiskersons) which was hung behind where everyone gave speeches. It looked amazing and lots of our guests ended up taking photos in front of it.
Another favourite moment from the day was being on the dance floor as the band started up after our first dance with all our friends and family around us!
Words of Wedded Wisdom
We definitely upped the budget throughout the process – we kept to budget on most of the major items but spent extra to get the band, decor and boat. Overall, it was still within where we wanted to spend.
Within a few days of choosing our dry-hire venue, it became clear to us that we would need a planner to help us bring everything together. I’ve become a broken record on this because I can’t say it enough – there is no way we could’ve done any of this without Rebecca, Ella and the Get Wed team.
They definitely saved us more than their fee and allowed us to actually enjoy the whole process. Every single supplier they recommended has been wonderful and we’ve had so many compliments from our guests on how much they enjoyed the day.
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The below suppliers and venues featured in this article are part of the Love My Dress Wedding Directory.
Get Wed by Rebecca Brennan-Brown
Sassi Holford
Hermione Harbutt
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Annabel View all Annabel's articles
Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Editor. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and star gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she's not working on Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip in the running of the family's sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers. In 2013, she became a published author.
