Hannah & Sean

I love a city wedding, the style always seems to be on point, and Bride Hannah does not disappoint with a plethora of our favourite designers in the bridal fashion world. Firstly her Delphine Manivet 'Prospere' gown from Blackburn Bridal boutique is the mostly heavenly silhouette. Featuring 3/4 sleeves, a sophisticated deep V neckline and a fabulous floaty midi skirt, just the right length to show off her delicious Jimmy Choo sparkling Abel courts. Hannah's shoes weren't the only thing that twinkled, their venue The Amadeus was filled with an abundance of fairy lights as well as beautiful rose blooms, and a cheese tower wedding cake that looks spectacular.

Location

Hannah The Bride: Getting married in London was a no-brainer for me and Sean - we met in London in 2013 and got engaged here in 2015.  With our families travelling from Dublin and Liverpool, and friends invited from all over the world, we knew we could rely on London to host an amazing party!  Our aim was to have a city wedding, but with a casual, laid-back atmosphere, nothing stiff or formal. It was really important to us that all of our friends and family could just let their hair down and London most certainly delivered.

The Dress

Picking the wedding dress wasn’t the chore I had thought it would be. I knew straight away that a “traditional”, full length wedding dress wasn’t for me.  I had seen the Delphine Manivet 'Prospere' gown online, and was delighted to find a stockist in Blackheath: Blackburn Bridal.  I absolutely hate trying on clothes, especially in front of people, but the team at Blackburn Bridal made it very easy.  As soon as I tried on the dress, I knew it was “the one” (and big thanks go to my bridesmaid Lucy for corroborating!). The Blackburn Bridal team introduced me to Emmy London, a bespoke bridal accessories boutique in Islington, who made my beautiful bridal belt and hairpiece. I am so pleased I made my way to their store in Islington, because underneath Emmy London I found the wonderful Tallulah Lingerie boutique, which is full of the most beautiful bridal lingerie – so many thanks to them for my Stella McCartney, silk garter.

Ceremony

Picking the registry office was also easy as, despite there being lots of options in London, there are very few which seat 150 guests!  Luckily, the Council Chamber at Islington Town Hall is a beautiful, vibrant room and the registrars at Islington Town Hall totally bought into the relaxed feel we were looking for (even getting involved in our guests’ Mexican wedding wave).  From the Town Hall, our guests hopped onto red, London buses for their trip to Little Venice. 

Photographer

It was during this time we ducked off to the canal and the Mews Streets around Maida Vale where our photographer, Sarah Legge, worked wonders to produce great, relaxed photos (in the middle of the local school run and typical London traffic!). Being honest, the photographs were probably the only thing we were dreading about the day itself, but Sarah made it so easy, and hopefully you can see from the photos how much fun we had with her capturing what was an amazing day. She really did an brilliant job and blended in so well with us and our guests.

Venue

In Little Venice we had selected The Amadeus for our wedding reception. It is in a lovely location, surrounded by cobbled mews streets and houseboats on the canal (and importantly for people who like a party – it has a 2am licence!).  Inside, you can tell that it used to be a Chapel because of the imposing organ which hovers above the main reception room.  The staff at The Amadeus were brilliant –  but it was a whole team of people who made our reception at The Amadeus so special including Redcat Lighting, our amazing florist Vic at Scarlet & Violet and our fantastic caterers and all-round organisers, Sara and Martin Saxon at Tasting Plates.

Florist

As soon as we met Vic at her shop in Kensal Green, we knew we wanted Scarlet & Violet to be involved in our wedding day.  Vic immediately understood the relaxed theme we were hoping for, and having given her our colour choices, she said we could leave the detail to her.  We were so right to do that, the flowers absolutely blew us away – both rooms at The Amadeus were filled with jars and vases of beautiful, romantic blooms. Vic worked really well with RedCat Lighting to create a brilliant, relaxed but very special atmosphere for the evening.

Catering

The food at our reception was really important to us and we couldn’t have picked better caterers than Sara and Martin.  They give priority to top class ingredients and helped us to plan a menu that didn’t scream “wedding” (even incorporating Sean’s favourite:  mashed potato!).  Not only did they deliver wonderful food including antipasti starters, beef and red wine stew, and a trio of delectable desserts, Sara and Martin co-ordinated the whole day from behind the scenes at The Amadeus. They made sure everyone was where they needed to be (including us!) with minimum fuss. They really helped us with all our planning and executed the whole day in an incredibly professional manner.

Entertainment

So with dinner finished and speeches delivered all that was left was to drink and dance the London night away. We asked a band called The Super Luckies to play in the evening. We first heard them play in pubs around Notting Hill a couple of years earlier (the first time on our second date). They learned our wedding dance (Try A Little Tenderness) and even brought an entire horn section with them to make it sound great. They had the dancefloor full from start to finish with their own take on well-known classics and we loved every minute of it!  

Advice

Looking back, there’s nothing we would change about our wedding day.  We wanted to host a relaxed and lively party for all the people who mean so much to us to celebrate our wedding – and London most certainly delivered.