Kate & Fraser
Photography by Taylor Hughes Photography
Our Story
Kate the Bride: Fraser and I met back in our home town when we were working our summer jobs at a glamorous Veterinary Supplies Factory, our eyes met over vet lube and worming pills. It was a beautiful summer. We’ve been together for over a decade and so I just thought we’d be one of those couples, together forever but never get married and I was super surprised when he proposed, so much so that I swore at him and asked about eight times if he was joking or not before I said yes.
Our Wedding
We didn’t have many pre-conceived ideas for the wedding other than we just wanted it to be laid-back and a big night out for everyone. Wherever we did it there would be people that would have to travel but as we’ve lived together in London for most of our relationship, we thought that would be the easiest and most fitting place.
The Bride
I visited some lovely bridal boutiques with beautiful dresses but there was always something I wanted to change about them and for the price tag, I couldn’t accept the compromise (in short, I was absolutely exhausting for my bridesmaids and every shop assistant that we encountered). Then one of my bridesmaids, Robyn, sent me the link of a wedding dress designer in London – Katrine Mikkelsen. My Mum had designed her own wedding dress and I’d always liked the idea of doing the same, plus it meant I could take all the bits I loved about the ones I’d tried and put them into an uber-dress. I can’t recommend this process enough, it was so personal, from shopping for the fabric together, handpicking the beading, seeing each and every sketch, Katrine was just amazing and, in my eyes, she helped me create the most beautiful dress I’ve ever seen and worn. The plan was always to convert it into a two-piece after so I could wear it again but I haven’t been able to do that yet, because it’s just so beautiful, I don’t want to change it! Jessica Hawkins looked after my hair and make-up and what she did with my face was just incredible, I can’t recommend her enough and she’ll travel near or far. I’d had my make-up done as part of other weddings and wasn’t sold on it but Jess got the brief perfectly and although I had loads of make-up on, I still felt like me, it was wonderful. Plus, she and Nina who were helping with the bridesmaids were such cool customers, they made a cramped and stressful space, serene. I wish I could have her around every day of the year!
The Groom
Fraser the Groom: I knew that I wanted a 3 piece tailored suit but had no idea on the style or colour and it was just a lot of google searching until I found something that I liked. Unfortunately, it was a picture of David Gandy wearing a blue tweed suit which caught my eye, so I was shooting for a high bar. I managed to get a bespoke suit which was pretty close after a few tweaks and from there I chose the groomsmen outfits. We all had the same tartan tie as well which worked out as a good memento of the day.
The Venue
We live in East London and wanted to have the wedding East – I’d always loved the architecture of Hackney Town Hall so we did the legal bit there the day before. For the ‘big day’ we had London Fields Brewery – we went round a lot of venues but found LFB to be the goldilocks fit with different spaces for different parts of the day, it’s a blank canvas so we could do what we wanted with it in terms of decor, their caterers were the caterers from our local pub and to top it off, we could trundle down to The Dolphin for the ‘after party’ which has hosted us many a night out in the past, so seemed the perfect fit.
The Colour Scheme & Décor
We didn’t have a colour scheme as such, it was just ‘Christmas sparkle’, which ended up being lots of golds, silvers and shades of purple and grey. Our lovely friend Laura designed our invites and favours – which were enamel pins with ‘The Whughes’ across them - our surnames together.
The Flowers
Money was running low by the time we got to flowers so, in the end, we bought wholesale flowers from RJB & Sons Plants & Flowers at New Spitalfields Market in Leyton. We went down a week or so before to pick out what we wanted, my Mum made a prototype bouquet so we had an idea of quantity and then we ordered the amounts to collect (very early) the morning before the wedding. Massive thank you to my wonderful, wonderful Mum who stayed up into the wee hours to make the bouquets and corsages. The groomsmen dressed the rest of the venue with the leftovers – and very well they did too! I bought the buttonholes through Etsy from a company in Scotland that created them out of feathers and dried thistles – the flowers were mainly thistles, white roses and eucalyptus to tie in our Scottish, English and Australian roots.
The Wedding Party
I asked my bridesmaids to choose their own dresses as they all have such different styles I didn’t think they’d look like themselves all in the same dress – they had the ‘Christmas Sparkle’ brief, a budget and free reign but they ended up getting them all from ASOS which made things easy for me!
The Ceremony
Once I’d arrived and just before walking down the aisle, we turned up the music and played ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ by Mariah Carey to get everyone in the Christmas party mood and let Fraser know it was about to kick off. Then I walked down the aisle to ‘You’re So Cool’ by Hans Zimmer. As we’d done the legal bit the day before we could ask a friend to marry us for the ‘big day’ so I asked my old friend Gav. I had asked him to be a bridesmaid originally but he wasn’t up for wearing a dress so, instead, he cautiously accepted the role and it was one of my favourite parts of the day. So lovely to have such a close friend standing up there with us at such a life-changing and amazing moment. He opened with a funny intro which broke the ice and set the tone, followed by vows from Fraser and I, we wrote our own which I was nervous about as Fraser is such a talented writer but they were sweet and silly and hopefully not too cheesy. We both asked a close friend to do a reading and asked them to choose their own. My friend and Maid of Honour, Emma read Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres and Fraser’s friend Sam read ‘Marry Your Best Friend’ by N'tima. We ended with drinking from a quaich, which is a Scottish tradition and then walked out to Loaded by Primal Scream.
The Entertainment
We didn’t have a DJ and instead made Spotify playlists, which apart from my dress, was probably the part of planning that I spent the most time on, breaking them up with daytime, early evening and late-night playlists but it worked really well (even if I do say so myself!). As we both grew up and met in Scotland where Ceilidhs were part of many a celebration (and SO MUCH FUN) we booked Climax Ceilidh Band and they were great – very patient in explaining all the steps to a very merry crowd! Our first dance was ‘Then I Met You’ by The Proclaimers.
The Food
Really luckily the caterers from our local pub were an option on the venue’s supplier list so that was an easy decision, We Serve Humans serve delicious grub and were really accommodating to extra requests we had (like getting some haggis into the canapes). Our friends run a Haggis Toastie business, Deeney’s and we asked them to do the late-night offering which went down a treat – I think my Dad had three! For pudding, I asked friends and family if they would kindly make us some traybakes and my Mum and Dad made our wedding cakes (which we forgot to cut...I’m sorry Mum!)
The Photography
We knew the style we were looking for with the photography but couldn’t find quite the right fit and then one of my friends recommended me to a friend of hers in Taylor-Hughes Photography. We loved their portfolio and so got in touch and the rest is history! Jack and Jade were amazing, meeting before to go through our ideas and any special requests and then on the day they were an absolute joy. Both such calming influences and allowing Fraser and I to take time out together, making the moments caught between us all the more special.
The Videography
Having a videographer was a bit of a last-minute decision, my memory is terrible and I’d started worrying I wouldn’t remember the day unless we recorded it but this was 2 weeks before the big day and our budget was well and truly blown. However, my friend and very helpful wedding planner Sarah Faulds of The Wedding A-List stepped in last minute and linked us up with IWillVideo. Jess and Will were super accommodating of our tight turnaround and although we only managed one briefing phonecall with them before the day, they did a fantastic job and got all the special bits in we wanted. If you’re on the fence on a videographer I would say do it, it can be pricey but a one-time cost and when memories fade, being able to watch the day over, again and again, is priceless.
Advice
People cover a lot of the same and sound advice I think, take time out with each other, don’t sweat the small stuff, etc. but my main one would be – if there is something you want to do on the day, like have a dance with your Dad, cut the cake, get a group photo – make a list and give it to your most organised (least boozey) bridesmaid or close friend etc. so they can keep quietly reminding you throughout the day. It really does go by in such a flash and I definitely forgot to do a few things (all of the above) that in hindsight, I could have just asked someone to remind me to do.
