Ever since I turned 30, I seem to have suddenly developed a total obsession with jazz and swing music. I think it may have had something to do with my own proposal [long story, which I've yet to tell on these pages!] but I love it and soak it up at any given chance! Of course, where better to experience swing or jazz than at a wedding? It gets everyone of all ages up on their feet, and it really does make for an evening glued to the dancefloor. Well, Sally and Cian clearly love their swing too and incorporated this into their wedding along with so many other gorgeous details for a wonderful day of celebrations at their wedding at the Tab Venue in Hackney. Have you ever seen a bride beam so big? A groom so dapper? And don’t get me started on those desserts… beautiful photography by the lovely and talented Anushé Low.

Rather than opt for the traditional big, princess style dress, Sally opted for a beautiful fitted gown from Amanda Wakeley’s evening collection. She accessoriesd with a bracelet which was an engagement gift and actually made the earrings herself! Instead of a veil, Sally’s sister’s friend designed with her and created a pretty bird-cage veil for her for that all important finishing touch. I absolutely love the bright and cheerful colours of the pink and yellow flowers together set off beautifully with the greens by Flower Power.

Sally and Cian held their wedding ceremony at the Town Hall Hotel in Bethnal Green [a regular cool London wedding venue featured here on London Bride!] and the ceremony was as elegant as the surroundings. I love the shots of the lifting of the veil and the kiss, so romantic and such a lovely intimate ceremony for all the guests to witness.

Such beautiful and natural portraits of Sally and Cian, who took some time out for a wonder nearby and have you seen such dapper ushers? I love the attention to small details such as their pocket squares and even a pocket watch! Very dapper indeed!

The delicious antipasti food was perfect for guests to snack on whilst the bubbles flowed and the guests spilled out onto the small outdoor terrace for some sunshine!

Sally and Cian wanted to have a relaxed, summer wedding with a vintage feel and who would know you are in the centre of a fairly busy/urban area of Shoreditch in this little spot, especially with the cute outdoor space adorned with bunting! I should point out that I do believe the Tab venue is currently undergoing some developments so anyone thinking of it for hire, do please get in touch with them first and visit.

A cheap and easy way to inject some colour is with the bright yellow napkins and simply tied with striped ribbon add a lovely touch of elegance and detail to the tables. The cute little seashells on the tables were the favours to the guests and had been collected by the couple over their many holidays spent together and each was assigned to the most suited guests. Such a sweet idea and so thoughtful! I love the explosion of bunting, fairy lights and paper pom poms – they really help to turn a blank space into one full of personality and charm.

In keeping with the informal space for the reception venue, guests tucked into one of the bride’s favourite meals – a curry. Yum! They also had a nake cake adorned with fruits and mini puddings for guests to tuck into. I cannot tell you how hungry these have made me, they look just mouthwatering and such beautiful images of them too!

Of course if one is going to be on the dancefloor all night, then one has to have their dancing shoes on… and a second dress for that matter! Sally slipped into a short, full skirted number which was inspired from Cian’s Hungarian culture where the tradition is that the bride changes into a red dress for the dance at the wedding and for the men to twirl her around! It certainly looks like there was a lot of twirling going on here for their first song, Buenos Sera by Louis Prima.

Thank you to Sally and Cian for letting me share your beautiful day on London Bride and of course thanks to the amazing talent that is Anushé Low for the stunning documentation of their day. You can also see more of this beautiful wedding featured over on the fabulous blog, Love Scarlett!

Photographer: Anushé Low / Bride’s Dress: Amanda Wakeley / Groom’s Suit: Newman Pearce Tailoring / Ceremony Venue: Town Hall Hotel / Reception Venue: The Tab Venue / Catering + Cake: Easy Gourmet Catering / Band: Jivin’ Miss Daisy / Flowers: Flower Power

The post Swinging summer East London Wedding at The Tab Venue appeared first on London Bride Blog | London Wedding Planning + Inspiration.

It was a fuss free stylish affair – the bride designed and made her own wedding dress – and looking through these images they capture the couple in a natural and beautiful way from the nerves, to the joy and the dancing. I do also love Nick’s coverage of the guests and seeing them immersed in the different celebrations throughout the day, always fascinating…

“We wanted to do something that was minimal and low key, but that still felt personal to us. We love the Town Hall Hotel. We stayed there after our engagement and loved it so much we decided to get married there a year and one day later.”

Tammy wore a beautiful fitted lace dress with sleeves and gorgeous button detail at the back, and not only did it look beautiful, but was designed and made by her with a very sentimental element as it was made with the lace trim from her mothers very own wedding dress. “It was nice to have part of her day in mine.”

In terms of the day, everything was fairly simple but well thought through. ”We wanted it to feel natural and uncontrived. We came up with idea of putting the floral center pieces and candles on mirrors to create a bit more reflected light in the room.”

Instead of an evening buffet, they chose a cheese cake, which having seen so far this year all my couples also choose one, is clearly a popular choice – who doesn’t love a bit of cheese! “Instead of a traditional cake we opted for a “cheese” cake, which went down well with our evening guests as we didn’t have an evening buffet”

“There was only one photographer we really liked and that was Nick Tucker. He is an amazing photographer who managed to make 2 slightly awkward and camera shy people look good. Couldn’t recommend him highly enough, and he is a thoroughly nice guy too”. I can certainly vouch for that too!

What music did you walk down the aisle to? Beach Boys!

Do you have any planning advice for other brides? I wish I had taken the week prior to the wedding off work.

What was the most special or memorable moment of the day? Walking down the aisle and seeing each other, and having all our family and friends together in one room as it rarely happens.

What was your first dance song? Sweet Thing, Van Morrison

What unique touches did you add to your wedding? We tried to make our favours as personal to us as we could, we made a little quiz booklet and had mini golf pencils embossed with the date and our names.

Congratulations to Tammy and Rob, and thanks to them and to photographer Nick for letting me share the beautiful day.

Photography: Nick Tucker / Venue: Town Hall Hotel / Bride’s Dress: Designed and Made by Tammy (the bride!) / Bride’s Shoes: Celine / Bridesmaids: All Saints / Groom and Usher’s Suits: Reiss / Flowers: Jam Jar Flowers / Hair + Make Up: Hiro at Radio Salon / Cheese Cake: The Cheese Shed

The post Stylish Town Hall Hotel Wedding – East London appeared first on London Bride Blog | London Wedding Planning + Inspiration.

Back in April I got to work with the fantastic Alphabet Bags again to style their photoshoots for the launch of their new wedding collection! I really do love working for this brand as not only do they have the most awesome products [of which I have many!] but they are a lovely husband and wife team who work really hard and are super creative. They also have two very beautiful kitty cats [go follow them on Instagram @AlphabetBags]. It’s such fun dreaming up inspiration for the shoots and overseeing everything from the make up, the dresses to the props! I also get to work alongside fab photographer Fanni Williams who is a friend and colleague from Dashing Magazine days.

Although it’s always a busy day, we had lots of fun [perhaps not so much when sweeping up the confetti!] so I just wanted to show you some of the shots but also a little shout out for their amazing new range of wedding bags and pouches as they are just so damn cute! The bags come in a range of colours from neutrals to pretty pastels and make the perfect gift for brides, bridemaids and even the Mother In Law! And if you aren’t looking for something for the wedding then who could resist the little glitter initial pouches?!

Photography: Fanni Williams for Alphabet Bags

If you are a company or brand within the wedding or lifestyle industries and are interested in hiring me as a stylist then I’d love to hear from you! Please get in touch for more information on how I may be able to assist!

The post Alphabet Bags – Wedding Collection appeared first on London Bride Blog | London Wedding Planning + Inspiration.

Bella and Rupert had a lovely late November wedding captured by Tyson and Elle at Yellow Bird Photography. A wedding of two born and bred Londoners [quite a rare thing let me tell you!] and utterly romantic as they chose their ceremony location which overlooked the exact spot where Rupert dropped to one knee and asked for Bella’s hand in marriage. It’s so nice to read the story of their planning as it all just simply fell into place with most of their elements and they ‘just knew’ what was right for them. Classic British touches with lots of fun elements all with a sprinkle of glamour…. A beautiful Winters Tale.

Bella wore a beautiful Jenny Packham ’Joy’ dress adorned with beading and oh-so-glam. As it was winter she teamed it with a feather wrap – keeping warm in style! In keeping with the vintage glam theme I knew Jenny Packham was the designer to go with. My dress was the second one I tried on during one lunch break from work and I ordered it on the spot. Like meeting your husband – you just know when you have found the one! I wanted my bridesmaids to be comfortable and not to look all the same so they chose their own black dresses and we added matching nude heels and vintage accessories. My accessories were also Jenny Packham and a clutch from Accessorize! I wanted my hair and make up to feel glam but not OTT and it was everything I hoped for.

Both Rupert and I were born and bred in London and Rupert proposed to me on Albert Bridge (my favourite Bridge in London) and we chose to be married in Chelsea Old Church which has views of the exact spot Rupert dropped to one knee!

I’ve been to a few weddings now where the couples have spent time and effort and put pen to paper to write a poem for one another. It’s really quite beautiful and so lovely knowing the sentiment behind it. This ceremony, along with the poems but also the music and choir sounds so beautiful. “We wanted our ceremony to feel really personal so I wrote Rupert a poem which was read by one of my dearest friends, another close friend performed during the signing of the register with a tweaked version of Florence and the Machine’s Shake It Out and Sonny and Cher’s I Got You Babe and the choir sang Walking in the Air form the Snowman, mixed in with more traditional elements! The ceremony was the most special part of the day”.

Continuing our vintage London theme we hired old London Routemasters to take the guests to the venue and served mini bottles of Laurent Perrier champagne on board [what a treat!] My wedding car was a classic black London cab. We held our reception at the The Amadeus in Maida Vale. My husband actually found it and again it was the first and only place we looked at, knowing straight away it was the perfect place as it is a former church with a huge beautiful organ and high ceiling and has a really lovely vintage feel. Plus we were able to decorate it exactly as we wanted as it could be hired on a dry hire basis so was essentially a blank canvas.

The venue was transformed with beautiful lighting including lots of candles and that pea-light canopy is just so pretty! It was a winter wedding so we also wanted to create a winter wonderland feel which we achieved by using LOADS of candles both in the church and venue and a touch of bling with gold and silver vintage accents and loads of white and taupe flowers.

I designed our cake again around the vintage London theme so it was a tower of white cupcakes of different sizes from Crumbs and Doilies and I asked them to add white roses and vintage toys of red London buses and London taxis within it.

As we wanted to create a glam vintage wintery feel, we chose loads of different sized vintage holders for the flowers and had candleabras and loads of candles for drama on long banquet style tables. We went for cream, white and taupe flowers with loads of foliage to make sure it didn’t feel too uniform. Our florist, Mary Jane Vaughan was amazing and created exactly the look we were hoping for. (please do ask our photographers for pics of the tables as they looked beautiful). Lighting was also a massively important part and we had a huge pea-light canopy in the chapel roof over the tables and fairy lights round all the columns, plus an amazing disco light set up for the dancing after dinner!

Our stationery drawn by my twin brother was a sketch of Albert Bridge where Rupert proposed, the church and the Amadeus which also featured on our favours (girls got vintage bottles of sweets, boys got Jaegermeister miniatures!). 

I love the sound of this menu! Minature British bites! We wanted the menu to feature traditional British classics as much as possible. So instead of starters we served loads of canapés at the reception which were mini British classics like roast beef and Yorkshire puddings, mini fish and chips, sausage and mash, mini ploughman’s sandwiches etc. The main course was lamb and pudding was a choice of my favourite chocolate desserts. We served Laurent Perrier champagne and Louis Latour red and white wine.

Our photographer was amazing – we chose Yellow Bird because of their informal and quirky style. We also had their amazing ‘Photo Emporium’ photobooth which was so much fun.  Our band were fantastic too. We heard the lead singer earlier in the year and he got a couple of people to do our wedding and played all our favourite songs. Thank you Ric Lean!

What music did you walk down the aisle to? Handel Zadok – The Priest 

What was your first dance to? Inxs – Never Tear Us Apart

Do you have any planning advice for other brides?  Yes, the table plan will take a lot longer than you think! Keep calm and think it through…

Such a lovely day and so many fun elements! Congratulations to Bella and Rupert on a wonderful day and thanks to photographers Tyson and Elle at Yellow Bird Photography! Thanks to this photo, I’m now singing softly Duffy’s ‘Warwick Avenue’ in my head…

Photography: Yellow Bird Photography  / Reception Venue: The Amadeus / Brides Dress: Jenny Packham / Groom’s Suit: Oliver Brown / Make Up: Mel Kinsman / Hair: Eric Perin / Flowers: Mary Jane Vaughan / Catering: Tasting Plates / Cake: Crumbs and Doilies

The post Bella + Rupert – Winter Vintage Glam at The Amadeus appeared first on London Bride Blog | London Wedding Planning + Inspiration.

A little Friday fun in the way of an easy DIY tutorial that can be adapted for a multiple of uses – oh how we like those! Brought to you by talented paper artist and illustrator Helen from Frances and Francis this cute little mini paper bunting tutorial let’s you spell out a message whether it is for gifts for your guests, favours, place cards or even as a cake topper you can get a bit crafty and adapt this DIY!

All you need is // Coloured paper, scissors, twine, glue gun/glue and a pencil and if you are having a go at paper cutting a scalpel (careful now!)

STEP 1 // Draw out a triangular shape onto card that you can then use as a template and trace around to create your bunting. Write your message by drawing each individual letter on to separate triangles.

STEP 2 //  You can stick to the drawn message if you like or you can scalpel out the message allowing for the wrapping paper to peep through.

STEP 3 //  Using a hot melt glue gun, stick one side of the triangles on to the twine in the right order of the message. If wrapping for a gift, you may want to stick the twine down with some tape to insure it stays in place and doesn’t twist.

STEP 4 // Wrap the twine with the message facing upright around the present and tie with a bow to keep it all nicely wrapped together.

Photos and Tutorial by Frances and Francis

Instead of wrapping the twine around the gift you could tie it to wooden skewers for a mini bunting display for a cake.

If you are interested in more paper crafting Helen runs workshops for brides in St Albans, just outside London to create these super cute paper flower favours! The next workshop is on Saturday 8th June so if you fancy joining see below for details!

To see more paper pretty such as paper flower bouquets take a look at more of Helen’s crafty work at Frances and Francis. I’m off to a few weddings (as a guest can you believe!) this year so will be making full use of this sweet wrapping for gifts!

The post Get Crafty – Mini Paper Bunting Tutorial appeared first on London Bride Blog | London Wedding Planning + Inspiration.

I use it in a number of ways; as a stylist – I create boards in collaboration with my couples where we both pin inspiration to and it’s a great way of seeing their thoughts and ideas as well as mine ensuring we are both on the same wave-length! It’s so much easier than to-ing and fro-ing with emails and I love that you can scroll back through your pins to see how your ideas have evolved and usually the inspiration and images start to come together nicely with some beautiful consistency.

Also, as a blogger Pinterest is a really important tool for me to use day-to-day when researching or just getting inspired but also it’s a place where I can pin key inspirational images from my blog or around the web for brilliant London wedding inspiration all in once place, as you can see below – from pubs to buses to parks to town halls I hope it’s a useful find for anyone planning a London wedding.

I also LOVE LOVE LOVE the new function of ‘Secret Boards’ where you can pin to your hearts delight for your eyes only (unless you’d like to invite someone else) and I have to admit, I personally use this function for some of my private couples and also for ME. Yes, I’m also a bride-to-be myself so I keep my own Pinterest wedding board with Mr London Bride despite no date yet! It’s definitely work in progress but my goodness does it make me happy when I look through it!

And because I know you are nosey, here is a one off sneak peek! What else did you expect other than pink, glitter and stripes…!?

So, if you aren’t following me already [how rude!] then head on over to Pinterest and get soaking up the inspiration. You’ve been warned, it is highly addictive but oh so much fun! You can also check out the next blogger, Charlotte as part of the Pin It Forward campaign with her pretty blog, The Tea Drinking English Rose.

Do share if you share a fellow pin-obsessed user or a bride-to-be who has been using it, I’d love to hear from you!

The post Very Pinteresting ! Pinterest + Pin It Forward UK appeared first on London Bride Blog | London Wedding Planning + Inspiration.