After 17 Years Together, Michelle & Alan Celebrated With a Joyous & Retro London Wedding

I have a real soft spot for couples who approach their wedding with a sense of humour, a little irreverence and the confidence to do things differently, and Michelle and Alan’s London celebration has all three in abundance.

The couple married on 29th August 2026 at Chelsea Old Town Hall before heading to the Duke of London in Brentford for a brilliantly unconventional evening reception. This retro-inspired events space, complete with a classic and collectable car showroom, vintage interiors and its own disco mezzanine, was the absolute perfect choice for their 70s-inspired celebration.

Their wedding was photographed by Conor on behalf of Helaina Storey Photography, with Helaina also producing a Super 8mm wedding film, shared below.

Michelle wore the slinky, backless Penelope dress by SAU LEE , styled with a ruffle-edged veil, before changing into a sequinned Meshki dress for the evening. The styling was wonderfully bold and nostalgic, with a palette of red and pink, touches of pale blue, a vintage Thunderbird and an enormous illuminated red heart. Upstairs in Plonkers Bar, the celebrations continued with a proper disco, complete with live music and DJs spinning vinyl into the early hours.

But beyond all that fabulous retro styling, this is also a wedding about family and friendship. Michelle and Alan are originally from Australia, and their two daughters, Harlow and Ophelia, made up their entire wedding party. Their London celebration brought together the friends who have become such an important part of their lives here, many of whom have shared in the seventeen years of life, love and family that led to this super-fun occasion.

I’m delighted to share this wedding and Michelle’s account of it, which is full of humour, warmth and some excellent advice for couples planning their own celebrations.

Our celebration was at the Duke of London in Brentford, West London, just around the corner from where we live. As we’re also planning a celebration in Australia, our London wedding was originally meant to be something small and local, but it quickly grew!

The Duke of London is definitely not a traditional wedding venue, which was exactly what we wanted. It’s a classic and collectable car showroom combined with an events space, with the brilliantly named Plonkers Bar, a retro disco mezzanine, overlooking the showroom above. Alan and I both love cars of all kinds, although we definitely lean towards the vintage ones, and the fast ones! So it immediately felt very us.

We’d been to events at the Duke of London’s previous venue and always loved how unique it was. When I heard they were creating this new space in Brentford, I contacted them and ended up booking our wedding before it had even been built or opened, purely from the design concepts and a little faith in their vision.

Thankfully, that faith paid off. We had our ceremony, dinner and dancing downstairs surrounded by incredible cars, before the party continued upstairs in Plonkers. There was something quite surreal about sitting down to a beautiful wedding dinner and later dancing with classic cars all around us.

It gave the whole wedding so much character without us needing to transform the space or make it look like a conventional wedding venue. So many of our guests commented on how cool and unusual it was, which was exactly the reaction we’d hoped for. We wanted somewhere people would walk into and immediately think, this is different, and the Duke of London absolutely delivered.

For anyone wondering how the day ran, it began with our legal ceremony at 10am at Chelsea Old Town Hall on King’s Road, London, followed by post-ceremony drinks at 10:30am at The Trafalgar Pub, also on King’s Road, London. Our 2nd ceremony and reception ran from 5pm to 8pm at the Duke of London on the Brentford Riviera, and then our wedding disco carried on from 8pm to 1am in Plonkers Bar, Brentford Riviera, which is part of the Duke of London.

A couple of years earlier we’d actually planned to get married in Las Vegas, combining it with The Killers’ 20th anniversary shows, but the plans fell through. We never quite let go of the Vegas idea though, so elements of it found their way into this wedding instead.

The Duke of London already had a brilliant vintage feel, which naturally led us towards a 70s-inspired disco vibe. We both love music, particularly 70s music and disco, so it all came together quite organically, a little bit of Vegas elopement, a little bit of vintage cars and a really good disco.

The red and pink tones, with touches of blue, came from that inspiration too (The little chapel in Vegas), and our large red LED heart was our own take on a kitsch Vegas wedding chapel backdrop. We ended up describing the overall style as “A Disco Romance Elopement”.

The venue’s staff and manager were on hand to help on the day but myself, Alan and our friends pulled it all together. I designed every aspect of the day including the menu with the chef.

In the morning, we had a small legal ceremony at Chelsea Old Town Hall, a little nod to our London life and the place we’ve made our home. Alan and I arrived separately as I really wanted to keep that traditional first-look moment.

He hadn’t seen me in my dress, so walking down the aisle with our two daughters and seeing his reaction for the first time was incredibly special.

At the ceremony, my walk down the aisle was to “Thank You” by Led Zeppelin and signing the certificate was to “Everywhere” by Fleetwood Mac. Our reception entrance was to “I Was Made for Lovin’ You” by KISS, and we had our first dance to “You’re the First, the Last, My Everything” by Barry White.

Our legal ceremony at Chelsea Old Town Hall was conducted by the registrars there.

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We didn’t include any formal religious or cultural traditions in our celebrations. We’re both Australian and have built our life and family together in London, so the day naturally felt like a blend of both parts of our lives, but in a very informal and personal way.

We actually wrote our own vows, and then never said them! Our registrar at Chelsea seemed a little flustered on the morning and somehow the moment for our personal vows was missed, so we only exchanged the official vows required for the legal ceremony. At the time we just went with it, and to this day we still haven’t shared what we wrote with each other.

We’ve decided that perhaps they weren’t meant for that moment after all. We’re saving them either for our Australian celebration or to read to each other privately on our first wedding anniversary. So, for now, our vows remain a secret, even from each other!

We had two readings during our Chelsea ceremony. Our daughters, Harlow and Ophelia, read “Once in a Lifetime” (Anon) together. Having them involved in the ceremony was really important to us. They’ve been part of our story for most of our 17 years together, so hearing them read the words “Once in a lifetime you find someone who touches not only your heart, but also your soul” was a very special moment.

Our close friend Taryn Ponte also read ‘The Art of a Good Marriage’ by Wilferd Arlan Peterson. After so many years together, we loved its message that a good marriage isn’t about perfection or simply finding the right person, it’s something you continue to create together through friendship, patience, love and all the everyday parts of sharing a life.

We met in London towards the end of summer 2007, although it turns out our paths probably should have crossed years earlier in Australia.

I’d moved to the UK from Sydney about 18 months earlier, and Alan had arrived after travelling around Europe, picked up some building work in London and somehow never left. We met through my best friend’s flatmates and became part of the same group, going to gigs, nights out and watching football in pubs.

We discovered we were both Liverpool supporters, so Alan was forever inviting me to the pub to watch games with him. Over the next 12 months we became inseparable friends, although as far as I was concerned it was completely platonic. I genuinely had no idea he fancied me.

As we got closer, we discovered an almost ridiculous number of connections back home. We’d grown up in the same part of Sydney, knew lots of the same people, both our families worked in the building industry, and Alan’s grandparents had even owned the local video shop where my mum later worked for years. Somehow, we had to move 10,000 miles away to London to actually meet.

It wasn’t until Alan returned to Australia for family reasons that I realised how much I missed him, and that perhaps he was more than my best friend. He cut his trip short, came back to London and we officially got together on 1st February 2009. Within a month we were living together and we’ve been pretty much inseparable ever since. Two daughters, a house, businesses and a whole lot of life followed.

I’d always wanted to get married, but we kept putting other goals first. I’d teasingly introduce Alan as my “boyfriend” after well over a decade together, just to remind him he still hadn’t proposed. To make matters worse, I knew he’d had an engagement ring hidden away for more than two years! So every holiday, romantic dinner or special occasion I’d think, surely this is it? It became something of a running joke.

He finally proposed 17 years after we first met, on a family holiday in Zakynthos. He carried the ring around for almost the entire ten-day trip waiting for the right moment, and very nearly lost it after leaving his bag at a lookout while we went down to the beach for drinks. I had no idea the ring was actually with us, but his sudden panic about the missing bag makes a lot more sense now!

On the final evening, at sunset near the Keri Caves, with our two daughters and friends there, he finally got down on one knee. Alan is famously a man of few words, so after 17 years, and more than two years of me waiting for that ring to make an appearance, there was no grand speech, just: “Sorry this took so long. Will you marry me?”

It was very Alan, and absolutely perfect.

After waiting 17 years for the proposal, we moved rather faster with the wedding! We were engaged for exactly a year and planned a day that felt completely like us, intimate, fun, a little unconventional and centred around our girls, our closest friends and one very good party.

Later that evening, our close friend Joe Ponte acted as our unofficial celebrant for the ceremony at the Duke of London. We wanted our friends who hadn’t been at the legal ceremony to still feel part of that moment, but in a much more relaxed and personal way. Having someone who knows us so well lead it made it funny, warm and completely unique to us.

The Duke of London is both an events space and a classic car showroom, so it already has so much character that we deliberately kept the styling simple.

The venue supplied the tables, chairs, white tablecloths and napkins, and we didn’t hire any additional décor.

Our caterers were Bourne’s Riviera and they were incredible. Amazingly, we only confirmed them two weeks before the wedding as the venue didn’t yet have its own restaurant or catering operation set up due to recently opening! Thankfully they moved their residency into Duke of London at the right time.

Our lighting was venue supplied, although we forgot to change the large showroom ceiling lights to red.

Our main features were the LED heart Alan built, the table styling and a projector playing black-and-white photographs and old videos of the two of us and our daughters throughout the evening. It added something really personal to the space without taking away from the venue itself.

The heart backdrop was nspired by the heart at the Sure Thing Chapel in Las Vegas, a little nod to the Vegas wedding we had originally planned. Alan designed and built the heart himself through our building company, HOAM BUILD LTD, which made it even more personal. We wanted something bold, retro and playful rather than a traditional floral ceremony structure. It fitted perfectly with our theme and ended up becoming one of the defining features of the wedding and a brilliant backdrop for the photographs.

We worked closely with Joe McBride of Bourne’s Riviera to curate the menu. I gave him our budget, told him we wanted something fresh and full of flavour with a bit of an Australian-inspired surf-and-turf feel, and we built it together.

Joe has also spent time in Australia and I think that really came through in his style of cooking, fresh, vibrant and unfussy, but absolutely delicious. So full of flavour every bite.

On the menu was a Bloody Maria-inspired gazpacho, grilled prawns with chimichurri and king scallops with pea and mint velouté, then Australian zhoug ribeye steak with chips.

The wines were selected and supplied by our good friend Yann Bourigault, General Manager of Castelnau Wine Agencies, who paired the menu with Dr Loosen Mosel Riesling 2025, Mirabeau Pure Provence Rosé 2024 and Viticcio Chianti Classico Riserva 2017.

I designed all the stationery, menus and signs via Canva and had them printed at Kall Kwik in Ealing. Our friend Allison is an amazing baker, so I sent her a few inspiration images for our cake and she executed the idea perfectly.

We provided white love heart-shaped sunglasses as I wanted to get photos and do a little video trend of everyone wearing the love heart sunglasses.

We used The Wedding Shop gift registry. They were fantastic. We chose a lot of items online as we were keen to mostly have people put towards our honeymoon but also went to their townhouse for a glass of bubbly and personal shopping experience. They were fantastic and I highly recommend them.

Music was a huge part of our day and we loved that almost everyone who performed had a personal connection to us.

For our evening ceremony and dinner, we had Penny Lynch and Flynn Wilkins, an incredibly talented young duo aged just 13 and 15 who we knew through our daughters’ school. I’d heard Penny singing in a video her mum posted and thought her voice was incredible. We loved the idea of giving a young band an opportunity to be part of the day, and they absolutely smashed it.

From 8pm, as the rest of our guests arrived, our friends The Mighty Molly Collective took over upstairs in Plonkers Bar with two hours of live music.

Then from 10pm until 1am, two more friends, DJs Danny Ryan and Jonathan Ross, took us through to the end of the night. The venue only has vinyl decks, so the entire late-night set was played on vinyl, which felt absolutely perfect for our vintage disco theme.

Having friends and people connected to our family provide so much of the music made the whole night feel even more personal.

Our first dance was to “You’re the First, the Last, My Everything” by Barry White. Al didn’t have too much input into the day and went along with everything. However, one day I messaged him about our first dance and he didn’t take long to send me this one. I listened to the words, we love a bit of Barry White (we have sung it at karaoke before over the years) and so it was perfect. We went with it and loved it. I don’t think people were expecting that song.

There were so many little moments that it is hard to pick just one. My daughters walking me down the aisle was pretty special. But I would say for both of us our favourite part was actually the few minutes before we arrived at the evening celebration. Alan and I were alone in the back of the Thunderbird driving to the venue, a few tequilas in, having this little moment together reflecting on everything that had already happened that day and everything to come, and the fact that after 17 years, we were actually married!

In true us-fashion, the arrival didn’t go entirely to plan. We were so distracted we forgot to message our friend to cue the band or direct the driver to the correct entrance road, so we drove straight past everyone, turned around, waited a minute and tried again! We couldn’t stop laughing.

The second attempt was perfect. KISS was playing, our daughters were waiting to greet us and opened the car doors, and all our closest friends were there looking incredible. Everyone had completely understood the Funky Formal assignment, helped by the Instagram dress-code video I’d sent beforehand!

Sitting in that amazing car, seeing our girls and all our friends, knowing we were officially married and had a whole night of music, food and surprises ahead of us, it was exactly how I’d imagined it.

Another funny moment was when I went to change my dress with my best friend and we got locked out and were stuck in the car park accessible toilets with no way back in to the party or out of that area and no phones. Thankfully the manager checked on us 10 minutes later.

I’d probably say three things; Firstly, have fun with it and don’t try to make everything perfect. Embrace the mistakes and the things that don’t quite go to plan, they often become the funniest and most memorable parts of the day.

Secondly, involve your friends where you can. So much of our wedding came from the talents of people we love, the music, DJs, cake, flowers, wine, ceremony and styling. It made everything feel far more personal and was also a lovely way to celebrate the incredibly talented people around us.

And finally, everyone tells you to remember to check in with each other throughout the day. It’s great advice, but it’s actually much harder than it sounds! You’re constantly being pulled from one person to another, into photographs or onto the next thing in the schedule. So don’t put pressure on yourselves to have endless perfect little moments together, just try to check in when you can and otherwise go with the flow.

For us, one of those moments came right at the end. Walking barefoot back to our hotel together, finally just the two of us, we got to swap stories about the night, the funny things that had happened when we were apart, the moments we’d shared and everything we’d somehow missed. It was completely unplanned and one of those little moments I know we’ll always remember.

Ultimately, make the wedding feel like you. The imperfect, unexpected bits are often where the best memories are made.

I wish I remembered to ask to change the big showroom lights from white to be put on the red setting for the dinner and mock ceremony. Otherwise, nothing. It was exactly what we wanted and better.

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