Christina & Matt

Crisp white blooms, lush greenery, and geometric copper details will always be a winning combination in my eyes, and Christina & Matt's stylish London wedding at Modern Hall proves it once again. With many of the suppliers chosen from our very own recommended supplier directory The List, including their fabulous photographer Beatrici, all of which help to bring Christina's vision to life. Although the wedding theme was based around their favourite romantic movies and couples, without a shadow of a doubt taking centre stage and being the leading lady of the day was bride Christina in her Martina Liana gown, Which she later dyed so she could wear it to the Cannes Film Festival.

Dress

Christina the Bride: Finding a perfect wedding dress was a daunting task due to a modest budget and being quite picky about clothes in general! I wanted to keep my dress simple and being petite I knew a grand dress wouldn’t suit my frame. After a few bad experiences in wedding shops I came across a local shop called Love Bridal and had my eye on Martina Liana dresses in particular, due to her general tailored approach. I fell in love with a figure skimming ivory gown made from bellagio crepe fabric, light vintage lace and buttons leading up the entire length of the dress. I kept accessories simple and knew I didn’t want a veil as our wedding was quite a relaxed affair. I’ve dreamed about owning a pair of Gianvito Rossi heels and so decided to throw caution to the wind and purchase a pair of high heeled plexi pumps in a pink nude, which doubt their appearance were incredibly comfortable. I also wore a simple rose gold cuff from H&M, a gold hair comb from ASOS, ear cuffs from a seller on Etsy and my wedding band and engagement ring were from Annina Vogel. I love doing makeup and considered doing it myself on the day, however after one appointment with Amalie Russell (a Bobbi Brown Pro Artist) I knew I needed her help on the day. She was a such a calming, positive presence when getting ready and really understood the look I was going for. My hair was done by the incredibly talented Victoria Ralph who created a relaxed and modern updo. I really wanted to stay away from the outdated traditional bridal hair looks and Vicki is a pro when coming creating a modern and fresh look.

Grooms Fashion & Accessories

Matt the Groom: I wanted to keep it simple with the my outfit and decided on a classic single-breasted navy suit from Gieves and Hawkes, white shirt and pocket square, with grey ties to match the bridesmaids dresses. My shoes were from Cos and were a grained leather oxford shoe to keep things classic and modern.

The Venue

We found the wedding venue search quite a stressful experience and believed it needn't cost the earth. We considered getting married in Italy as Christina is Italian, but decided to focus our search on London as it was central for all guests. We wanted somewhere that felt modern, classic and that we could make our own - but that wasn’t a huge project to on. Morden Hall in London was the perfect venue for us, with beautiful grounds, small or large spaces to suit your wedding party needs, a beautiful orangery and a modern almost barn-style wedding breakfast area. The staff, particularly Emma, were incredible in the run up to the day and everything ran smoothly - we couldn’t have asked for more.

Florist

Christina the Bride: Traditional wedding flowers really aren’t our thing and as Matt works as a landscape gardener we really wanted the focus to be around plants and foliage. We found RoCo through Instagram, one of the most beautiful Instagram feeds you’ll see, and immediately fell in love with their botanical styling and of course their wonderful book House of Plants. RoCo designed a palette of flowers and foliage to run throughout the entire wedding - including a mixture of Asparagus Fern, Eucalyptus, Olive Sprigs and white Anemones etc. They then set about creating beautiful, elegant and rustic bouquets, buttonholes, garlands, staircase and fireplace dressings throughout the venue. We didn’t want to have traditional centrepieces so opted to use the offcuts to fill glass jars on the tables with wild greenery, a leaf on each place setting and a geometric gold candlestick from Maison du Monde. We also bought olive trees from Ikea and had these at the top of the aisle and as a stand for a sign to direct people into the venue. The aisle was also decorated with white petals and bell jars from Ikea.

Colour Scheme/Decor

We wanted to keep the palette neutral and opted for natural greens, greys and whites with a metallic rose gold and geometic thread running throughout the decor. We also wanted to be as hands on as we could with the design and creation, spending numerous weekends collecting and making bits for our day. RoCo, my sister and her wife also helped to set up the styling on the morning of the wedding. We hired white drapes and pealights from Bow’s Hire who draped these over the wonderful beams of the Mulberry Room at Morden Hall. RoCo dressed white balloons with ivy garlands and positioned them throughout the venue along with rose gold himmeli. We also collected lanterns and ramekins for a good year in the lead up to the wedding so that we could create an intimate and romantic feel with candles filling each room. Our table plan was made from an Ikea plant stand decorated with our favourite house plants. We hung copper wire to the shelves and designed and printed the place names as well as draped copper fairylights over the frame. We also made a photo stand in a similar way using the same Ikea plant stand, copper letters and photos from our childhood. Our theme for the tables names were our favourite couples from films. I designed the table names myself using stills from films, printed on foamboard and propped up on white mini easels. We also made homemade limoncello (a traditional Italian liqueur) and had these as wedding favours on the tables, which provided a wonderful pop of yellow against the simple foliage and candles on the tables. Our wedding invitations, place names and menus also had a similar botanical theme and were ordered and customised via Papier.

The Wedding Party Fashion

We wanted to find bridesmaids dresses that were elegant, but had a modern twist and something that they would wear again. We decided to order a range of dresses from ASOS so that we could try them on in the comfort of my home and make a day of it. We opted for a light grey, crossed back maxi dress from Warehouse via ASOS. Mine and the bridesmaids pyjamas were also from ASOS. The Bridesmaids hair and makeup was also kept simple with fantastic blow dries and subtle wearable makeup looks both from Blow LTD. The Ushers wore their own navy suits and then we bought grey ties and white pocket squares to match the Bridesmaids dresses.

Ceremony

We held the ceremony at Morden Hall in their Willow Room, which opens out into the beautiful grounds. We walked down the aisle to The XX ‘Angels’ and as I work in the film industry we choose readings and adapted vows from some of our favourite films.

Entertainment

After searching endlessly for a non-cheesy wedding band we came across a local London band called The Hares. We went to see them play in Covent Garden and opted to book in their electric trio set up as well as DJ in between sets. We then created several Spotify playlists filled with our favourite songs to play during the canapes and wedding breakfast.

Food

With me being Italian, food was incredibly important to us and where we wanted to spend the majority of our budget. Catering was supplied through Galloping Gourmet at Morden Hall, with a range of catering options available. We began with canapes on the lawn, which all had an Italian twist, and were served with Sangria. For the main wedding breakfast we decided on a traditional sit down 3-course meal again picking dishes that had an italian twist. In the evening Galloping Gourmet supplied a wood burning pizza oven, which went down a treat with our slightly tipsy guests! They were also incredible at tweaking meals for all dietary requirements - the vegan brownie was incredible! A traditional wedding cake wasn’t important to us so we bought cupcakes and Krispy Kremes from our local supermarket. My awesome 90 year-old Nana also made some of her famous cherry and dark chocolate rock cakes, which meant the world to us.

Photographer

As a very camera shy couple we knew finding the perfect wedding photographer to put us at ease was key. We found Alline of Beatrici Photography on the Rock My Wedding List and fell in love with her natural, unobtrusive photography. We met in person for a coffee and knew then and there that we’d found someone truly special. We kept wedding group photos to a minimum and instead Alline perfectly captured the story of our wedding day. It felt like having a friend take our photos as we felt completely at ease and Alline was such a positive and inspirational person to have as part of our day.

Advice

Our advice would be don’t sweat the small stuff and just enjoy it. Also take a breath before you walk down that aisle!