Nadine and Liam’s elegant July London pub wedding, beautifully documented by Love My Dress recommended vendor Heleina Storey, showcases the charm and beauty of modern editorial wedding photography.
This effortlessly stylish modern couple exchanged vows at the iconic Islington Town Hall, followed by a black-tie reception at Singer Tavern, a gastropub brimming with character and city charm. Nadine’s contemporary Prea James bridal look added a chic and modern edge to their monochrome inspired, black tie styling.
Photographer Helaina’s exceptional eye for detail captured every meaningful moment and we’re privileged to be able to share these images with you today. Enjoy!
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£746 (was £995)Bridal Beauty & Accessories
The extremely talented Natalie Jayne did my bridal make-up. Natalie is reliable, highly skilled and able to achieve such a flawless look. She was simply a dream to work with during my sister’s wedding, my trial, and on the morning of.
I had second-day hair (having worn my afro-hair naturally) on my wedding day. I also wore a bespoke silk bridal scarf, hand-made by One Blushing Bride. I wore a pair of Zara block-heeled slingbacks during the day; changing into a (comfier) pair of sage green heeled sandals in the evening.
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I wore J’adore Dior – it’s been my favourite perfume for years, worn on special occasions. I thought about wearing a new perfume, but it felt right to wear this on our day. It’s a floral and romantic day-to-night scent. Together, we chose Amber by the White Company as our wedding day scent. We bought a candle and a diffuser, and set these up in the bridal suite and at Singer Tavern.
I wanted simple, gold statement pieces to complete my clean and modern wedding look. I chose a tennis bracelet from Astrid & Miyu (a gift from my parents-in-law), the Rainn sculpt earrings from Lines & Current, and a couple of pre-owned and borrowed gold rings for my right hand. I also swapped the scarf for a mini freshwater pearl necklace from Atolea after the ceremony.
The Dress
Prea James
I wore the Prea James Penelope Corset + Sadie Skirt for my bridal look.
I bought the Penelope corset from a beautiful bridal store called The Fall Bride. The team at The Fall was extremely helpful and attentive – which meant that I was able to try on multiple looks before finally saying yes to the dress.
I bought the Sadie skirt separately in a sample sale at Prea James Australia. All conversations with the store were handled online and their team was efficient and responsive (despite the time-zone difference) – sending me multiple photos beforehand and helping me navigate the process of buying a wedding garment from overseas.
A hack for fellow brides who go down this route – open a global bank account which makes it free to convert your funds into a different currency.
I knew from the beginning that I wanted a sleek, simple and modern wedding look for our city wedding – strapless; with no embellishments.
While I tried on various styles from minis to sleeved dresses, I came full circle and landed on Penelope and Sadie – which ticked all the original boxes.
I love the beautiful structure of the Penelope corset against the elegance of the silk Sadie maxi skirt and train. It added an edge to my bridal look, which is exactly what I was looking for.
I added two very special accessories to my bridal bouquet. The first is a little horseshoe that my grandfather gave my grandmother on their wedding day. The second is a small blue heart, which was a gift from my maid of honours on my wedding morning – my ‘Something Blue’.
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The Ceremony
We held our ceremony at Islington Town Hall (we met in Islington!) and our reception at Singer Tavern, both in London.
Our page boy and my bridesmaids walked down the aisle; followed by my dad, Peter, who accompanied me, to the sound of ‘River’ by Leon Bridges.
Our vows were short and sweet – written to each other as ‘13 promises’. 13 is our lucky number (and the date of our wedding). We both agreed to include some silly, non-serious promises in there as well as the more heartfelt, meaningful ones.
We asked two of our close friends (one of whom was my bridesmaid) to each surprise us with a reading. My bridesmaid decided to write her own gorgeous poem, and our other close friend read the lyrics to In My Life by The Beatles.
Our wedding rings are very special as they were handcrafted using the same melted-down precious metals. One of the metals came from the rivers of Lancashire in North West England. The other was originally the wedding ring of Liam’s late grandmother, who married his grandfather in 1948.
This is why we chose Jacqueline and Edward – they’re a small and ethical business who were able to repurpose a treasured heirloom into a set of matching gold wedding bands. My engagement ring is a marquise diamond, bought from 77 Diamonds.
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Photography
Our wedding photographer was Heleina Storey – we knew that we wanted editorial photography for our modern and monochrome city wedding. I first came across Helaina on social media, where she’d posted only her first shoot, having recently made the move from wedding planning to wedding photography.
Looking at Helaina’s photos, I immediately knew that she would bring something very special. Liam, being the classic hesitant groom, wanted to sleep on it rather than rush into a decision – and we booked Helaina (our first supplier!) the very next day.
We highly recommend Helaina – she is hugely talented and her eye for detail is incredible. She was full of ideas and energy on our wedding day; and went the extra mile to capture such chic, elegant, playful and beautiful shots.
We adore all our couple shots, and we especially appreciate the portrait shots of individual guests during the speeches. Liam and I are both a little camera shy, but Helaina made it so fun and easy. To us, our photos are perfect!
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Our guests filmed our wedding video on the day! We rented three handheld 4K cameras from Edit Your Wedding and their team used the footage to produce a full 1.5-hour film, a reel, and a highlights video.
Not only was this option budget-friendly, but it meant that our guests could more organically intermingle when filming content – via mini guest interviews and by passing around the cameras – which was something very important to us. Our guests had so much fun with this on the day and we’re now able to watch our wedding from their perspectives.
How They Met
We met at my house-share in De Beauvoir, Islington, via a mutual friend’s birthday in late 2015; although we didn’t stay in touch. A year or so later, we reconnected and had our first date at a Kentish Town pub called The Oxford. We made it official at Sun Fall festival not long after!
In March 2023, we took a special first trip to the Caribbean where – five days into our Antiguan adventure – a very nervous Liam popped the question. We decided to get married the following year in London, and 16 months later tied the knot at Islington Town Hall.
Liam wore a custom three-piece classic tuxedo from Suit Supply. The collar is embroidered with our initials and the inside pocket is embroidered with our wedding date.
We also hired a classic routemaster wedding bus via Brian Jones’ Coaches for the day.
The Reception
Singer Tavern was one of the first venues that we viewed, having come across their wedding fair online only hours earlier. We immediately fell in love with the space – from the tiled interior to the rustic brickwork, the blossom tree, and the huge lit up bar which is a central feature of the main room.
The space is flooded with natural light and decorated in greenery – it was the perfect backdrop for our day. The Black Tie attire is also a perfect contrast to the ‘new-meets-old’ relaxed pub setting. The external building is very elegant and looks great in our black and white photos!
With us being ‘the Gayle-Greens’, we played with a lot of greens on the day to break up the black and white – incorporating this into many details such as our flowers, confetti and some special-guest outfits. Our reception venue also features a lot of gorgeous green foliage as well as forest-green tiled walls.
Our flowers (including bouquets, buttonholes and a tablescape) were created by @hyperfloral. Genna was wonderful to work with – she was communicative, knowledgeable and nailed the brief. We agreed that less is more and chose a clean, elegant and striking white calla lily bridal bouquet, calla lily buttonholes, and white sweetpeas for the bridal bouquets with some greenery for extra movement. For our tablescape, we had a variety of long-stemmed whites with some very dark red (almost black!) flowers, all in bud vases, to complement our black candles.
All food and drinks at our reception was provided in-house by the wonderful Singer Tavern team. Our talented friend, Chow Davis (@hy_chow), baked our gorgeous three-tier wedding cake for us. She worked closely with Liam to choose the flavours – carrot, Victoria sponge, and chocolate and Guinness – all of which were a delightful surprise for me.
My mother-in-law kindly prepared little Lindt chocolate boxes for our guests. Guests were also able to take home their personal illustrations, sketched by our wonderful illustrator, @Merlinporterart. Merlin is such a gent and was a huge hit with our guests!
Our gorgeous monochrome stationery – from our food and drink menus to our welcome signage, OOTD and cocktail hour signs – was hand-drawn by my extremely talented bridesmaid, @cardsforhumanityco. It was printed by a small business called Blissetts for a great price.
We hired our lighting equipment from Powerhouse Production Services.
I loved our Cocktail Hour. It took place in the early evening, after the speeches and wedding breakfast, when everyone could relax, dance and let their hair down. The hidden 5CC cocktail bar in the basement of Singer Tavern is the ideal space for a surprise change of scene. The ‘speak-easy’ style of the room set the tone for our guests to kick off the party, and the rum punches and espresso martinis that were laid out on the bar were a hit!
Words of Wedded Wisdom
On your big day: let go of the details (if you’re a detail-oriented, over-thinking bride like me, brief your wedding party on their tasks a week or so in advance – it will give you peace of mind!). Stick by each other’s side. Remember why you’re there. Soak up every moment. Hold hands. Breathe.
Also, we would have eaten our desserts! (I think about my uneaten chocolate tort at least once a day…).
Also, hire a planner!
Love My Dress Recommended Vendors & Venues
The below suppliers and venues featured in this article are part of the Love My Dress Wedding Directory.
Additional Credits
The below suppliers and venues are featured in this article, but are not part of the Love My Dress Wedding Directory.