Siobhan & Andrew

I've been looking forward to sharing this wedding with you all for a while now. It's possibly one of my favourite ever to grace these pages, and I know I say that quite frequently, but this one really is special. (And we do share some incredible weddings here on RMW, so having multiple favourites is allowed...) For starters, Siobhan's write me made me laugh out loud, she's truly a girl after our own hearts. Anyone who encourages the use of smoke machines and lasers and endorses wearing an ear cuff for your wedding day is a proper gem. I adore her Delphine Manivet gown too - the perfect piece for swirling around MC Motors in. Then there's the images from Matt and the team at Wedding_M, who now have two weddings in my top ten of all time - as this gorgeous Jersey wedding also struck a note with me. Enjoy this one lovelies and look out for the epic confetti cake by List member Emma Page and the gorgeous hair and make up from Laura Anne, another of our recommended suppliers!

The Fashion

Siobhan the Bride: This sounds nuts, but it was worth going to the Delphine Manivet store in Paris for this as they had/have a 30% off Winter sale. And, you know, you’re in Paris shopping with your mum and bessies so that feels special ;) My Bridesmaids wore Needle & Thread. I wore a Ryan Storer ear cuff - the coolest thing I’ve ever seen! I didn’t wear any other jewellery apart from this.” For the boys - go to the Ted Baker store in Covent Garden and try out their tailoring service. The staff there are lovely and the suits were a little bit fun and different but not break the bank pricey.

The Venues

St Leonard's Church, Streatham. We wanted to get married in the area we live in and our house is about 20 secs from St Leonards. We were the only people to get married in this church this year. I guess Streatham High Road isn’t the most glamorous of locations, but it’s such a beautiful building inside and out and there’s been a church there since 675 AD. Yah, long time. We’ve lived in London together for over 10 years so we wanted a “London” wedding. You really can’t get more LDN and cool than this place. We loved MC Motors, loved all of it. The staff are great and your wedding photos will 100% look incredible with this place as a backdrop. Ain’t cheap though. After Party at Ruby's Bar and Lounge. This is directly below MC Motors, though not actually part of it. You can’t book it out completely but we reserved an area for about 30 people from 23:00 onwards. I think it closes at 02:00.”

The Entertainment

Wedding Smashers. I know everyone has these guys, but I can see why as they’re just so easy and good. I never thought I’d say this, but it’s worth splashing out the cash for lasers and a smoke machine. Honestly, people go nuts for that stuff.

The Decor

Sounds twee but we made our own confetti. We asked both or our mums to dry the rose petals from their gardens the summer before and then added some from our garden too. Pretty easy to dry and store and kind of romantic too. We made our own bunting out of brown kraft paper and string. It was a factory like operation and took about 5 hours for the amount we needed but it really helped to soften the industrial-type space and went perfectly with the greenery we had hanging from the ceiling. Sadly, we had lots of people close to us who couldn’t be there. So, we collected the wedding photographs from both sides of our families and put them on display. A great conversation starter and a subtle reminder of generations passed. Dalston Calligraphy did our stationery. These people are just wonderful. I can’t tell you how many compliments I got for the handwritten place names and invitation/thank you notes. Really lovely packing too.

The Food & Drink

We had food from Jimmy's Pop Up and a cake from Emma Page, but wedding breakfasts can seem loooooong if you have three courses. So, we bought a load of little cakes and pastries from M&S and Waitrose and set them up as a little “afternoon tea” type thing after dinner. It was cool as it made people leave their seats so we could re-set for the dancing and it was fun and good value. We tried a LOT of sparkling as the venue was a dry hire so we had to bring all the booze ourselves. We did a blind tasting thing with our family and by far people loved the Aldi Cava the most. Pretty sure it was under £5 a bottle. Absolute bargain.

The Transport

Our church was about 45 minutes drive from our reception venue. This was probably the only thing we were generally really nervous about in the lead up to the day. It all worked out OK though as the weather was good and the route was over the Thames so people had something cool to look at. We also gave out mini bottles of champagne to everyone on the coach. Top tip: do not put paper straws into mini-bottles of champagne. The wine will explode. Now you know.

Advice

Have a friend be an MC throughout the day. We found that people really liked to be told what to do and it made sure points like the first dance and cake cutting weren’t missed. Invite people that are in your life at that moment. Rope as many people as you can into helping you clear up everything the next morning. Packing up all the debris from the night before can be bad times. Don't get so drunk that you forget your suitcase and lose your phone and have to sleep in your wedding clothes and brush your hair the next day with a kitchen fork :(