Lucy and Simon had a beautiful Stoke Newington Wedding in London back in September last year captured beautifully by Lisa Jane. Lisa truly has an eye for capturing the essence of love within a couple but in a beautiful, quiet and intimate way so I love these images, especially their portraits during the day. Lucy and Simon truly look so relaxed throughout the day, and with a perfect pub and some killer leopard heels I’d say that was a recipe for a great London wedding.

“The date, the venue and the photographer were our priority at the beginning of the process of planning our wedding. We found the lovely Lisa Jane after spending a lot of time searching online. Her style was exactly what we were looking for, she was the only person we met and we were sold immediately. Not only a talented photographer but a fellow lover of red hair and leopard print. Deal done!”

On the day I got ready with my Mum, sister and Best Woman above a pub directly opposite the town hall. My Dad joined us as all our guests had a drink or two downstairs. Simon got ready with his family and best man in our flat before heading to the venue. We didn’t decorate the town hall in anyway; it looked just perfect as it was. After the ceremony we had our couple portraits taken with Lisa as our guest enjoyed a few glasses of Pimms in the Londesborough.”

Lucy’s beautiful dress was made by Viveene Campbell a close friend with whom she made an agreement when they were just 15 that she would make her wedding dress! How lovely is that! It’s such a beautiful shape and is such an elegant fit and she certainly oozes old Hollywood glamour with especially with her fiery locks.  “After getting engaged I spent some time searching for the style I wanted at vintage shops and fairs and then about 4 months before the wedding Viveene began to make the dress we designed together. I wanted something classic that oozed a bit of 1930/40s Hollywood glamour which would be comfortable to wear all day and dance all night in! I was so pleased with the end result, it was exactly what I had pictured looking like on the day.” She teamed her dress with accessories borrowed from kind and trusted family and friends and the rather fabulous leopard print heels were from Office, “I wanted my dress and hair to do all the work! The icing on the cake was the most spectacular antique necklace which was my something borrowed and a pair of leopard print shoes because I love a bit of leopard print!”

“We always knew we wanted to get married close to where we live. Hackney seemed the perfect choice as I grew up there and Simon and I have lived there since we moved in together 4 years ago. Stoke Newington Town Hall is a beautiful art deco building on Church Street, it was our perfect ceremony location. I discovered that the Londesborough was a wedding reception venue whilst looking through a couple of wedding blogs. I remember calling Simon immediately to tell him, it is one of our favourite pubs. Fantastic food, lovely décor, perfect size and perfectly located for the town hall. We went down to see them, confirmed a date and booked there and then. It was about 6 weeks after we got engaged.

“I chose to have one ‘official’ bridesmaid, my younger sister Clare. We found her dress in John Lewis, a beautiful vintage looking gown by Ghost, which complemented the style of my own dress. You rarely see my sister out of her DM’s and jeans so it was lovely to see her look so gorgeous and elegant. My best friend was my Best Woman as I felt that was more equal (I don’t see why only Simon gets a best person) and I hate the name Maid of Honour, it suggests someone much older and less fabulous then Louise is! Louise chose her own dress but I helped her to make the final decision. It was a Reiss dress which she looked gorgeous in and it looked great with mine and Clare’s dresses too.”

You’ve got to love a well dressed man, especially on his wedding day. Just tonight on twitter I declared my slight aversion to tail’s and morning suits on men at weddings, but Simon is very far from this traditional look and is quite the stylish, dashing groom. His look wasn’t just thrown together though, this is a man who thinks about his outfit, and why the hell not! “Simon take his clothes VERY seriously! He wore a bespoke suit from John Lancaster on Savile Row which was blue merino wool”. He teamed the smart suit with a pair of tan brogues with real gold [how cool is that!?] by Justin Deakin, a shirt from Mr Start and Alexander McQueen ties for him and his best man.

“We kept décor to a minimum as the pub is well decorated with lots of original features and personality. We wanted lots of wild looking flowers, which were sourced by a local florist who is also a family friend and prepared by a gang of friends on the morning of the wedding. We had a table plan, hand made by Simon, based on the London Underground map. Simon loves London and its history and it is such an iconic map we loved the way it looked.”

“We also hired pinball tables through a contact of mine at work for our guests to play on for free, they were awesome!We made photo bunting using string and pegs with photos of us and our family and friends from over the years. It was one of my favourite things, having our history before and since we met beaming down on us in the form of lots of happy smiling faces. Almost all of whom were there with us in person as well.

We didn’t have favours but instead donated money to Breast Cancer Care and gave everyone a pink ribbon pin. These were in memory of my Aunt who sadly passed away three years ago who I was very close to. It was always really important to me that she was remembered during the day and this seemed to be the perfect way to do that.”

“Food plays a big part in mine and Simon’s life, we both love to cook and we both love eating! We chose a two-course sit down meal for the wedding breakfast. We knew the pub did great food, having eaten there several times, but I don’t think we ever imagined the food would be as good as it was on the day – we had lots of people tell us it was the best food they had had at a wedding. Rather then a dessert course we decided to have a cake table and asked a few guests to prepare cakes and puddings which everyone helped themselves to. Viveene made our wedding cake. She had made the same cake for her son’s christening and it was divine. A Jamaican rum cake, which is a type of spongy fruit cake. The fruit was soaked in rum for 6 months! We still haven’t eaten it all and I think the alcohol means it will be edible forever!”

“The size of the venue dictated our post dinner entertainment, live music wasn’t an option but we were both happy to go with a DJ. We had loads of fun putting the playlist together and the DJ on the night curated the tracks like an absolute dream”.

Writing this and looking through Lisa’s photos again has brought it all flooding back. It was an incredible day, as perfect as we had planned it. The best thing of all is being married to the person you love more then anything in the world and having this wonderful day as a perfect memory.”

What music did you walk down the aisle to? Van Morrison, Into the Mystic (a favourite song of mine and my Dad’s)

Do you have any planning advice for other brides? Accept the help of your friends and family but do it your way!Involve all the talented people you know, it makes it all extra special!

Photographer: Lisa Jane Photography / Ceremony Venue: Stoke Newington Town Hall / Reception Venue: Londesborough Pub, Stoke Newington / Brides Dress: Viveene Campbell / Bridesmaids: Ghost / Groom’s Suit: John Lancaster / Hair + Make-Up: Lydia Warhurst / Flowers: Friend – Robert French / DJ – Speedy Disco  / Videographer: Friend - Mat Cook