Angela & David

A bride with an actual cape. Oh my days! It is IMMENSE. You just need to take a minute or two to stop and look at this gorgeous affair with beautiful maids in sequins and a super sartorially hot couple. Angela and David now live in Oz but they couldn't resist returning home to London to wed and to celebrate in the city that still remains so close to their hearts. They chose The Rosendale which by coincidence was a local to some of their friends and Angela's brother and said 'I DO' surrounded by twinkly lights and their nearest and dearest. I just love the chic sophistication of this big day...and their flower girls are very sweet too!

The Bride

Angela The Bride: I wanted my dress to be really simple and I actually found my dress on my first appointment at David Jones in Sydney. My bridesmaids who were with me said ‘oh my god, it looks like water when you walk’ - I actually knew more from their reaction that it was the one I should go with and I loved that it was by an Australian designer. I knew I would feel good in it on the day - but I had no idea just how amazing it would actually feel - I loved wearing it – now I just need an excuse to wear it again! The ‘cape’ was a late addition, I saw something similar on a bridal blog and fell in love! Having decided I wanted to go simple the cape just added a little bit of something different to the whole look – I never wanted to be a traditional bride anyway!

The Groom

David’s main criteria was to feel smart and sharp in his suit so he got it made when he was at work in Vietnam from Cao Vinh Tailors. He wore his ‘cornish pasty’ cufflinks that his parents had given him as a gift and his tie pin was borrowed from his Dad who wore it on his wedding day in 1977.

The Venue

We loved the idea of doing the ceremony, dinner and reception all in one place and we especially loved the idea of being able to get married in a pub! We both live in Sydney but London is close to our hearts and The Rosendale was local to a few friends and my brother which was a coincidence but a massive plus. British pubs are something that we really miss living in Australia, especially London in winter! Sue at The Rosendale was amazing, I don’t think we heard her say no once to any of our requests or ideas. She was incredibly accommodating and her communication with us, from the other side of the world, was second to none. She made sure we were happy and we were confident that we were in good hands - even without seeing the venue ourselves until four days before the actual day.

The Colour Scheme

I had the idea of bringing a little bit of Australia to London so I started to gather little palm trees from Typo to dot around the venue. From there I just started to pick up bits and bobs and a trend emerged! I had also been loving the pineapple trend and when I saw gold sprayed pineapples on a fashion blog I thought it would be a great way to save money and create something really fun and different on the dining tables and around the venue. My Auntie Mo was amazing and was basically my 2IC in all the planning. She did a trial run of spraying a pineapple and seeing how it would turn out and how long it would last. She sprayed it in her shed in Liverpool and then sent me daily pics of how it was lasting! 2 days before the wedding we went to the supermarket and bought 20 pineapples – the lady at the checkout must have thought we were crazy! David painted them in the cold on the back deck of my Bridemaid’s flat! Other than that we had minimal decoration – we didn’t need it because the venue is so beautiful. Our florist provided eucalyptus and greenery for around the venue and down the middle of the dining tables. David’s parents brought up and old typewriter from Cornwall for us to use as our guestbook – it was a bit of a novelty for the guests and we got some great messages from them.

The Flowers

I was originally planning on going to the flower market and doing all the flowers myself but my bridesmaid talked me out of it about four weeks before the wedding and I think it was the best decision I made. My Auntie and David breathed a huge sigh of relief too because they thought I was taking on too much myself. My bridesmaid Claire introduced me to a friend of hers, Gee at Bloom and Burn, and I knew he was on my wavelength immediately. He sent me some incredible ideas based on my initial idea of going with mainly greenery and a few white flowers. I was very clear that I wanted the flower girls in flower crowns but other than that I just wanted to include some eucalyptus to continue the Australian vibe. Gee was fantastic, I couldn’t recommend him enough!

The Ceremony

We couldn’t legally get married in the UK due to time constraints so our good friend Mike, who is a good public speaker and has done a bit of acting, agreed to do the ceremony for us. We rehearsed a few times in Australia with him and we couldn’t have been more thrilled – he did such an amazing job. It was fun being up at the front with my fiancé and our good friend – Mike even had a little tear at one point! We asked my brother and one of David’s sisters to choose readings for us. It was a highlight of the day for me, I really loved sitting down during the ceremony and having a moment just hearing the readings they’d chosen for us and taking it all in. I was so nervous standing up there and so I really enjoyed not having all eyes on us for a moment so I could take a breath and compose myself. I just wanted to get up and give them both massive hugs for doing that for us.

The Entertainment

We had been to one of my bridesmaid’s wedding a few years earlier and the band had been amazing, a real festival vibe, we were influenced by that and we so we decided that wanted to dance to the music that we love and bounce around and just get a bit silly. We are both into quite indie pop music and we spent an evening in our flat with a bottle of wine listening to all sorts of bands online. The Festival Sons stood out a mile and once we’d heard them we couldn’t move past them – we were a bit worried that some of our family members wouldn’t appreciate the music but I actually think they were a hit with everyone! My Auntie wants to book them for her 60th in a few years!!!

The Food

The food options at the Rosendale was another winning selling point for us. We wanted to create a relaxed dinner vibe, like we’d all gone out for dinner together and were sharing everything. So we chose hog roast and pizzas and salads as the main food with a few other sharing plate options thrown in. We just wanted to make it feel relaxed and social.

The Photographer

Amy had been the photographer at my friend’s wedding when I’d been bridesmaid, I remember her being lovely and easy on the day and the end result was amazing - so bright and happy and that’s what we wanted. We spent very little time browsing other o ptions and once we found out Amy was free we didn’t even talk to any other photographers.

Unique Aspects

David and I are both Brits living in Australia at the moment and due to the legality of getting married in the UK we were disappointed to find out that unless we came back for over a month prior to the wedding date we wouldn’t legally be able to be married. Unfortunately, with our jobs and annual leave available this wasn’t an option for us. We decided that we still wanted to do it in the UK and since neither of us are religious we would have the ceremony and the wedding and just do the legal documents in Australia. I had my moments of doubt in the lead up and turned to friends and family for advice and reassurance. They were amazingly supportive and it turned out to be the best decision we made. At no point on the day did it feel like it wasn’t our wedding day and our friend Mike did an amazing job of doing the ceremony for us. We said our vows and exchanged rings and it was such a special and exciting feeling doing it in front of all our family and friends. We didn’t want to put them out and ask them all travel to Australia and although we knew many of them would if we asked them to we knew not inevitably not everyone would make it and the day wouldn’t have been the same without them. I’m so glad we decided to find a way to still have the day we wanted. We got to do it in a way that was so very ‘us’ and we loved every minute of it! Our families and our Bridesmaids and Groomsmen were incredible throughout the planning and on the day itself – each and every one of them helped make the wedding what it was from offering words of advice and support, giving us a place to stay in London, suggesting décor ideas, visiting the venue for us or offering to pick up decorations for us. Living so far away came with its challenges but you wouldn’t have known it on the day because of all of the hard work that our family and friends put in to help! It really was a group effort! I recommend taking people up on their offers to help – you won’t regret it!