The Outfits
Alice the Bride: My dress was from
Hugo Boss and Sinead's jumpsuit was from
Diane Von Furstenberg. My gold shoes were from
Russell and Bromley and Sinead's were from
Monsoon.
Sinead wore a necklace from
Oliver Bonas. I wore earrings borrowed from my Mum.
The Venue
Islington Town Hall for the ceremony - the Major's Parlour. Perfect for a small ceremony.
Ottolenghi in Spitalfields for lunch. One of our favourite restaurants. Delicious cocktails and food.
The Londesborough for the party. They are experts in wedding planning and made the whole process run smoothly. The pub is the perfect size for a wedding party with circa 100 guests.
Colour Scheme/Decor
We didn't have a particular colour scheme but stuck to simple white table cloths and lanterns to go with bright seasonal flowers.
Ceremony
We had a simple ceremony with readings from Sinead's Mum (scaffolding by Seamus Heaney), my sister (I carry your heart by EE Cummings) and (unusually) an extract from an article by Alain de Botton called "why you will marry the wrong person" chosen by Sinead and read by her oldest friend Helen. Our very cute nephew Fionn performed a dance to China Girl by David Bowie before we came in.
We had speeches from my mum, Sinead's dad and from both of us.
Food
We had the most delicious lunch at Ottolenghi in Spitalfields.
At the Londesborough we had canapés and finger food - we wanted to keep the evening party informal so went for finger food rather than a sit down meal (which also meant we got to skip the dreaded seating plan). The Londesborough did a great job with the food - we had mini burgers, chicken skewers, risotto balls and mini tarts - they catered for our gluten free and vegan friends very well too. On arrival we had prosecco and half pints of guiness.
We also had a
cheese tower (who doesn't love cheese?) and Doughnuts from
London Borough of Jam. We really love the doughnuts from London Borough of Jam - ours were rhubarb and cardamom, raspberry and verbena and custard. We got beautiful gluten free and vegan cakes from
Victoria Yum.
Photographer
We are so happy that we chose
Helen to photograph our wedding. Helen captured the day perfectly in all of its formality and informality. We felt very comfortable having Helen around and she put us both at ease in front of the camera. We love the images Helen produced and many of our friends have commented on how beautiful they are. We would have absolutely no hesitation in recommending Helen to anyone looking for a wedding photographer.
Advice
Choosing local suppliers was important to us. We love where we live and wanted to support local businesses. They all did a brilliant job