Grace & Owen

There is a lovely vintage feel to this city wedding. I'm not sure if it's bride Grace's classic but oh so elegant Delphine Manivet 'Prospere' gown or the moody and timeless pictures captured by Ruth Atkinson Photography, but one things for sure I can't get enough of it. The deep, dark and sumptuous Reiss bridesmaid dresses and blooms add to the beauty, and there's something so romantic about the portraits of Grace & Owen walking around urban London under the umbrella. Culminating in some fabulous speeches, a gifted tandem, all at the oh so stylish and contemporary St JOHN restaurant and bar.

The Wedding

Grace the Bride: We really wanted a fun, relaxed and family friendly wedding that would showcase the city which we now live in and have come to call home. We have family in both Lincolnshire and Cornwall, so it made sense to have our ceremony at St Luke's West Holloway, London, the Church that we regularly attend.

Dress

I was pretty decisive when it came to picking my wedding dress – I wanted something simple, with a classic look, that I would feel comfortable in all day. I chose the 'Prospere' dress by French designer Delphine Manivet from The Mews Bridal Boutique in Notting Hill – I also wore Jimmy Choos and a Luna Bea Bridal hair piece from the same Boutique. The Bridesmaids had a relatively simple dress – from Reiss. Our niece, Brooke, was our flower girl – and also wore a dress from The Mews Bridal.

Grooms attire

When it came to wedding attire – it was the men that gave us the headache! After months of looking, Owen eventually plumped for a midnight blue velvet suit jacket from Charles Twyritt, and paired it with some trousers from Moss Bros. He also made his own bow ties for himself and his Groomsmen especially for the occasion (and finished them by hand in the early hours the morning before the wedding with help from Gran!)

Ceremony

The ceremony was really important to us. We both come from families where faith has played an important role in our upbringing; and so we felt it was important for both families to share equally in the Wedding ceremony. Our sisters both signed the register, and Grace's mum Sheridan read an excerpt from 'Three Men in a Boat', Owen's favourite book. We walked out to Earth Wind and Fire's “September” - although had to promptly walk back in again for photos when we realised it was raining!

Photographer

We don't know what we would have done without our amazing photographer Ruth Atkinson; Ruth is such a gifted photographer, who was able to capture the day beautifully in a totally unobtrusive and professional manner. It was a real treat receiving her pictures of the day and we will love looking back on them for years to come.

Flowers

The floral arrangements for the bridal party, Church and reception were arranged to absolute perfection by Yolanda Chiramello, a super talented floral designer who hit the nail on the head when it came to our hope for a 'creeping autumn' feel for the flowers. She has a really natural, organic style – and is probably the element of the day that we received the most comments about. We didn't go in massively for decorations otherwise, but hung some beautiful bunting from Pea Green Boat in the Sanctuary of the Church.

Venue

We did spend a little bit of time exploring what venue we wanted for the wedding reception. After looking at Tipis (ruled out due to cost and logistics) we eventually came across the St JOHN restaurant in Farringdon, which is well known for it's 'nose to tail' culinary style. It's décor is minimal and tasteful, which was really great as we always wanted the meal to be the focal point of the reception. We'd never really even thought of having the wedding reception at a restaurant, but it's a really good option for couples getting married in the city. The staff at the St JOHN were fantastic. Izzy, their events co-ordinator, and Graham who looked after us on the day were brilliant. When we told our friends that all we had arranged for the reception was the DJ, we meant it!

Food

We kicked the reception off with some champagne and canapes, and then had Whole Crab and Pigs Cheek with Dandelion Salad for starter. For the main course guests had Pigs head pie, and braised beef – and we finished the proceedings off with a real humdinger and St JOHN classic – Eccles Cakes with Lancashire cheese!

Entertainment

The speeches were a real highlight of the day for us – my parents gifted us a tandem 'made for two' and Owen, who is not known for his extroversion, received a standing ovation for his grooms speech; which landed him a stand up gig at a local talents evening! After spending time with guests, our DJ Andy Black helped us dance the night away with some soul and r'n'b classics. To finish the night off we had a sneaky midnight snack – doughnuts and welsh rarebit on toast, before we headed to our hotel in our Model T car, which was driven by one of Grace's family friends.

Honeymoon

The following day we travelled to Isle of Skye for the honeymoon. Seclusion and relaxation was the order of the week as we unwound from hectic wedding prep. We stayed in the Black Shed and then came home to live in marital bliss.