Georgie and Michael are both extremely artistic people and their creativity poured into every aspect of their big day. Michael designed for all the stationery including the beautiful invitation and the paper goods at the reception… And that is just for starters.
This was a real global gathering with family flying into London from Australia & Ireland; and they all chipped in with the decoration… It was a totally DIY Affair.
Georgie The Bride
Although we both meet and grew up in Sydney, we’ve spent most of our relationship in London. What better way to celebrate than bring all of the people we love to celebrate our marriage in a place that we love? After searching far and wide, we found the perfect venues from the window of our local 425 bus.
The ceremony was to be in Bromley Public Hall, a beautiful grade two listed building amongst the grit of Bow Road, made even better by the Bow Bells pub right next door, perfect for the pre and post vow tipple.
Jumping on the 425 (guests with oyster cards in hand) for a few minutes and all off at the Mile End ecology Pavilion, a little oasis on the Regents Canal. From the outside nothing more than a hill with a door, that opens into a large crescent room with floor to ceiling windows looking onto a lake and nature reserve. A quirky and wonderful venue to host our whimsical wedding.
Being on rather a tight budget we needed to think outside the box about how to economise yet still look as gorgeous as possible. Fortunately my Aunt Steph who is an ex-makeup artist volunteered her mad skills as part of a wedding gift. She made us all look fab and it was such fun having another friendly family face around in the morning whilst getting ready.
I visited The Body Shop for a makeup trial and to work out what products to use. In the end I went for a fairly natural look with slightly smoky eyes with peachy cheeks and bright lips. My top tip for mascara is to go for a waterproof one as there will be tears. I used Clinique High Impact Mascara in Black.
Michael not needing much improving (according to him) just went for a hair and beard trim the day before at Rocket barber shop on Hackney Road… add a little moisturizer and cologne and voila… you have a groom.
Always on the look out for a sweet bargain (and not wanting to spend thousands on a dress), my sister and I found ourselves at Harvey Nichols during sale time where I found the (1st) prefect dress. A long, strapless, fitted lacey number with lovely panels of tulle fabric in the skirt – this dress was ready to party. I felt elegant and special and free to move.
Although I thought that was job done I then found the 2nd perfect dress in a charity shop in Parsons Green. I wasn’t looking for another dress but the dress found me so who was I to deny it. And what an amazing find it was. A glamorous vintage looking Jenny Packham wedding gown worn once in a photoshoot and then donated to the charity shop.
Needless to say I had a dilemma – which dress to wear? The answer of course was both. The JP dress was my ceremony show stopper, I then changed in to the HN dress just before the first dance.
Luckily one of Michael’s clients, bespoke suit makers Dress2Kill, offered a wedding present of a totally bespoke suit. Michael ummed and aahed over all manner of styles and colours (typical designer) but eventually went for the classic Black tux, perfectly fitted by the skilled tailors based in Southwark. A nice suggestion by them was the inclusion of an embroided message “Property of Georgie” along with date on the lining of the jacket.
I love shoes (who doesn’t) and years earlier had bought a pair of stunning shoes from Tatty Divine that were just waiting for the perfect occasion to be worn. What better occasion than my wedding. The soles are entirely gold – oh la laa – so glam. I just love these shoes and felt so special wearing them.
For the bridesmaids I went for something unconventional – Vivienne Westwood ‘Melissa’ gold owl flats, which matched the little owl necklaces each of the girls wore. It was a fun and cute look, which really suited the slightly mad style of our day, and the girls were able to dance all night long.
The theme we went for was whimsical high tea… Hoping our guests would feel like they had fallen down the rabbit hole. A colour scheme of reds/pinks, blues/ turquoise and purples ran throughout. Framed by giant balloons, hand made paper pom poms, colourful lights, hundreds of meters of bunting about 35 vintage lampshades adorned the ceiling while flamingoes and flowers sat side by side on our tables. A slight vintage crockery obsession came into good use with the table settings, with each guest having have there own individual plates, tea cup & saucer for some (tipsy) tea cocktails, each decorated with a personalized “Alice in Wonderland” style “eat me” & “drink me” tags. The piste de ressitance was a hand made “eat, drink and be married” sign made by my lovely cousin that was a fitting backdrop for the bridal party.
With only 3 hours on the morning, with help from friends and family, Michael turned the empty venue into our very own wonderland.
In an effort to use local suppliers we hit Colombia road flower market, where we picked up colourful paper flowers and pots of pansies. Rebel Rebel on Broadway Market, supplied beautifully elegant bouquet of antique looking and wonderfully scented roses. The bridesmaids each held a single stem of the same rose finished with a ribbon bow, to create a simple yet stunning look.
As a last minute decision we decided to learn a ballroom routine for our first dance. In only 3 lessons we undertook the challenge to replicate a scene from my fav Aussie film, “Strictly Ballroom”: the scene where the 2 main characters dance the rumba (the dance of love) on a rooftop with the that iconic coke sign glittering behind them to “Time After Time” by Cyndi Lauper.
Our caterer Gordon from Hubbub (located in the Isle of Dogs) rose to every challenge we threw at him (although he did laugh when we requested love hearts on the pies) and was a delight to work with.
To complement our quirky theme/style and as a centerpiece on the day we really wanted a statement cake. After looking at many designs we decided to go for something bright, colourful and a little mad on the inside and out.
2 tiers of cake were adorned by stripes, polka dots and love hearts the third tier with a vintage teacup holding a cupcake with ‘G&M’ inscribed on an edible heart. On the inside a rainbow of different shades pink added another element of surprise and whimsy. Guests were able to choose to eat a piece of cake or one of the many cupcakes on offer.
Our completely mad cake was created by Octavia from the completely mad Cakey Muto (again we were keen to ensure we used local suppliers).
They were the perfect bakery for us and created a whimsical masterpiece to adorn our sweets table.
Both being in the creative industry the stationery and decorations etc were all very important to us because they represented us as individuals and a couple and were an opportunity to really inject our personalities into the day.
For us pretty much everything was DIY. From the moment we became engaged we started to think about the style, theme, of the day. The invitations were the hardest thing to do as we were so fussy and particular about getting these right, and from this establishing a vibe/look & feel. We felt that the invitations should set the tone for/get people excited about the big day.
“We are all a little mad& when we find someone whose madness is compatible with ours we join up with them and fall in mutual madness and call it love.”
With the invitation complete we followed the same style for all of the other elements on the day including:
- the name tags which were personalised individual ‘Eat Me’ and Drink Me’ name tags and the table plan which was a giant ‘Find Me’ tag hanging from the roof.
- the programs were inspired by the white rabbit’s pocket clock from ‘Alice in Wonderland’. We created paper clocks with moving hands and everything (that was no mean feat). The clock detailed the action plan for the day from the “I do’s” to the post ceremony tipple, all the way through the speeches/formalities etc to through to “The Party” & on to ‘The After Party’ where guests where advised that they had just “rocked around the clock”. We printed 2 versions purple and red.
We also made a Thank You newspaper after the wedding, which was a photographic journey of the day (using the amazing photos taken by Marie). We felt this would be a lovely memento for everyone who attended and an insight in the day for those who couldn’t make it.
We used the website Newspaper Club to create our wedding thank you’s.
Marie Absolom and trusty sidekick Julie were the superstars who were able to truly capture the wonder, love, energy and fun of our day. We’ve had so many people tell us how awesome our photos are and they are totally right.
We met with Marie a number of times before the wedding to
- discuss the style of photography we were looking for initially
- to then go to the venue and talk through the essential photos of the day (e.g. family shots and an entire wedding party shot) and where the photos would take place including the set up of the photobooth with dress ups and props. This was a great suggestion by Marie and an absolute highlight for the guests throughout the evening. The results are fabulous and put a smile on everyone’s faces.
We thought of her as a little ninja capturing special moments without interrupting them.
Photography by your wedding story
Catering Hub Catering | Cake Bye Bye Cakey Muto | Thank you’s Newspaper Club | Tux Dress2Kill | Dress Jenny Packham | Flowers Rebel Rebel.