Rob & Nick

I love that these stylish grooms threw convention out of the window and had a chic industrial wedding day their way in a city they love. Opting to get ready together in stylish matching bespoke suits, shoes and complimenting ties, before taking to the London streets with Hannah Hall Photography to have their portraits taken amongst some of the city's fabulous landmarks, with the final destination at Islington Town Hall to say I do in front of their family and friends. After the nuptials guests where then ushered onto a Routemaster bus and whisked off to the fabulous 06 St Chads Place which was decorated to perfection. The naked cake alone was spectacular, not to mention all the kraft paper stationery, hanging pom poms and flower filled tin can centrepieces. There is so much love, joy and gorgeousness at this wedding, you literally won't be able to stop smiling.

The Proposal

Rob the Groom: We’ve been together for ten years and we met in our first year at the University in Sheffield. When Nick proposed it was totally out of the blue! We were in the process of selling our house in Nottingham and re-locating to London. Nick was away during the week working in London and it was quite a stressful time in our lives. But being apart made us realise how much we meant to each other. Nick popped the question in front of the Major Oak in Sherwood Forest. It was a really romantic setting and that day we also found out that our offer on our flat in London had been accepted. It was the perfect day!

The Wedding

Neither of us had been to a same sex wedding before, but we wanted to create a day that kept some traditions, but was also unique and personal to us. We wanted it to be fun, but also we wanted it to be informal and friendly, where all our friends and family could come together and enjoy our special day. We didn’t have a wedding planner as we wanted to stay close to the detail and also because Rob is a Project Manager!

The Venue

When we were looking at wedding ideas we found it difficult finding inspiration for same sex weddings. We decided to delay our wedding because of our relocation to London and this was the best decision as we had more time to carefully consider exactly what we wanted. We moved to London just after we were engaged and we wanted to celebrate our wedding in our new city. We fell in love with Islington Town Hall. After doing a lot of research we stumbled across 06 St Chad’s Place. It was like an “urban barn” and we feel in love with the high ceilings, the beams and the exposed brick work. It’s a real gem and is was the perfect location for our friends and family travelling from all over the country as it tucked by Kings Cross St Pancras station. We decided on a later in the day wedding so this gave us time in the morning to have a pre-shoot by the River Thames and to take some family shots so we could spend more time with our guests. Having been together so long we couldn’t imagine getting ready alone, so we booked a beautiful suite at the St Pancras Renaissance hotel which was perfect for stumbling home at the end of the party as husband and husband. It was also a perfect place to meet for a light lunch with our close family before heading to the ceremony.

Photographer

We were put in touch with our photographer Hannah Hall via a mutual friend and we clicked immediately – it was meant to be. We had a shared vision for an industrial and chic vibe and we bounced ideas off each other during our planning process with lots of ideas.

Wedding Party

Our niece was our flower girl, her dress was from Monsoon. Our nephew was our ring bearer and his outfit was from John Lewis. They mean a lot to us so we really wanted to involve them in our day and when they gave us the rings during the ceremony I don’t think there was a dry eye! We didn’t have a best man or groomsmen, but three of our close female friends gave readings during the ceremony which was really special.

Grooms Attire

We knew that in terms of our style we wanted to look like a couple, but with some subtle differences. Rob’s from Northamptonshire so we had our bespoke suits made by Dean Anderson at St Crispin in Northampton. Our shoes were from Loake, keeping with the local tradition. We wanted different styling, hence the matching tie and bow tie combination from Ted Baker. Once we had the colour of our ties sorted, it set the colour for the rest of the day and we went for pinks, purples with whites and a hint of yellow.

Food & Drink

Our food was provided by 06 St Chad’s and we had canapés and Pimms on arrival. We did our speeches before dinner so we had all of the formalisites out of the way and could relax. We did joint thank yous and individual speeches to one another. We had a local baker, Nicky Reader in Forest Hill London. She has since relocated to Faversham and under Creekside Cake Company bake our cake and we decided on a naked cake. We had a vanilla sponge with fresh berries decorated with fresh flowers. We wanted to keep it simple and rustic. All of our stationery was by Project Pretty, we loved the Kraft styling and the retro vibe.

Florist

We chose for Teacups and Roses village florist. Julliette is a family friend so it was perfect. We wanted off white button holes and she did our decorative flowers for 06 St Chads. We love the jam jars and tin cans, keeping in with the rustic meets industrial theme.

Decor

For the other decorations we suspended Paper Poms from the beams. We used an old apple crate for our cards and gifts. We also love the idea of a Polaroid guest book for candid shots from our special day. We always wanted a red Routemaster and it was perfect for London to take our guests to the reception.

Favours

We loved the idea of wedding favours, so we got Macarons from Mademoiselle Macaron so our guests had something to take away. For our entertainment we had Josh Kemp, another mutual friend, who played at our ceremony and a sets at the reception before and after dinner. We loved the live acoustic sound. Then in the evening we had a DJ.

Special Moments

- Our first dance choreographed by our friend Jade to Betty Who, “Somebody loves you” - Riding the tube to St Pauls in the morning and being congratulated by strangers, especially an American family with young children. - Strolling along the Millennium Bridge in the morning and some quiet moments before the all the madness