Winter Wonderland Castle Gibson Warehouse Wedding

Given the sweltering [and though I hate to complain] rather unbearable heat that we’ve had these last few days in London, this wedding was a welcome cooling moment! Clemency and Tom were married at the Chapel at Forest School followed by a wedding reception in December last year at the rather amazing and renowned Depositories at Castle Gibson in Stoke Newington, London. A ceremony at their former school and a warehouse party full of Christmas spirit, warmth and unique touches this is the perfect mix of urban and romance with the couple truly at the heart. This is a wedding that shows how supportive friends and family are and it’s so sweet that Clem and Tom are so grateful for everyone’s help. A true team effort! The party and all it’s laughter was fantastically captured by photographers Gemma and Phillippa of Cotton Candy Photography.

Clemency: “Our wedding was a really personal blend of tradition with a modern wintry warm twist. It was in an urban setting, with a focus on homemade or vintage features and an unconventional and interesting venue packed full of character and curios, warmth and romance. We focused on the atmosphere that we wanted to create and ended up with a wedding that reflected us perfectly.

My dress was truly a labour of love for our friend Val. She is such a talented dress maker and from my very amateur descriptions she managed to create a mirror image of the dress that I had designed in my head – even down to the pockets which she really wasn’t sure about! The dress was similar to the whole day in that it was traditional with a modern twist.

Tom’s three piece suit was bespoke from a local tailor called George who has been making wedding suits for his clients for over 40 years. It was a really lightweight tweed birdesye material in slate grey with subtle flecks of electric blue through it. 
 
The Ushers were in matching grey Marks and Spencer suits whilst the bridesmaids were in long black dresses of their own choice.

The flowers were really beautiful, our bouquets were wrapped in lace and I gave each bridesmaid a vintage brooch to pin on the front. Charlotte, our florist, also made some gorgeous heart shaped arrangements which we used in the church and at Castle Gibson. My 10 bridesmaids (!) all wore black full lenght dresses from a variety of sources.”

Clemency also chose to wear her Grandmother’s veil and headpiece that she herself wore on her wedding day, amazing!

“Being married at Forest School meant a great deal to both of us, and also our extended family, many of whom were also former pupils. The chapel was intimate, with a warmth borne from the nostalgia of our school days. After the beautiful service, conducted by my God Father, complete with some of our favorite hymns and readings, all the guests hopped on a red routemaster bus armed with a glass of champagne provided by our hard working ushers! Whilst we were whisked off in a London Black Taxi (in keeping with our London-centric theme) driven by one of our good friend’s dad, to head to Stoke Newington.

Castle Gibson is an amazing venue, full of character – bare brick walls and open fires, fascinating props and eclectic furniture. The space worked perfectly for us, we used The House Next Door to greet people. Standing in front of the roaring fire under the beautiful candelabra saying hello to everyone was a really wonderful time.

We love Christmas and Christmas decorations and I love to make things. So we ended up with tables crammed full of homemade snow globes, vintage candelabras and glittery reindeer. Whilst hanging from the ceiling were fairy lights, giant snowflakes and papier-mâché hot air balloons! We brought lots of curios from our house and things that we had collected in the run up to the wedding…. vintage bottles, vases, typewriters, globes, trinkets and old pictures of our family and ancestors.

The food was delicious; our caterer was happy to follow our specific brief. We wanted hearty sharing dishes that everyone served themselves. So we had big tureens of tomato soup, which you could customize with chilli, manzanilla sherry, cheese and croutons. Then we had beef casseroles with mash potato. I think the sharing element of the food helped to create a really buzzy and fun atmosphere during the meal.

The speeches were wonderful; there was barely a dry eye in the house! And the soft lighting and low ceiling helped to create a really intimate feel. 
 
Our first dance was to Junior Walker, How Sweet it is to be Loved by You; dancing under hundreds of balloons with their multi-coloured strings all around us, surrounded by all the people that we love is such a special memory.

The Depository is a former industrial warehouse, where we were able to spread across the top two floors. The second floor has a cosy, loft feel to it and is where we held the wedding breakfast. Whereas the first floor is more cool and industrial and this became the party floor!

The band, (The Fontanas who play a mix of funk and soul), kicked in and the party really started! A friend of ours then DJ’d in to the early hours. 
 


We were really lucky that all of the people that helped with the day, the caterers, the venue, the photographers, the florist and the band (I could go on) all totally understood our ideas and vision and got on board with the sometimes slightly unusual way that we wanted to do things! 


The whole day was a team effort (having 10 bridesmaids was a life saver!), I couldn’t be more grateful for all the help and support we got. One of our favorite memories of the wedding is the night before; we arrived at Castle Gibson with all of our ideas, decorations and an army of helpers, we put the ipod on, got some wine and beers in and all got down to the hard work! 5 hours and 20 helpers later….and we had transformed a warehouse into a winter wedding wonderland filled with sparkle.”

It was definitely full of sparkle! Thank you so much Clemency for reliving your day and congratulations to you and Tom. Huge thanks to Cotton Candy Weddings for also letting me share this wedding today, you captured a whole heap of fun!

Photography: Cotton Candy Photography/ Venue: The Depositories, Castle Gibson / Brides Dress: Val Goodworth [Family Friend] / Bridal Accessories: Shoes – Carvela at Kurt Geiger / Necklace & Earrings – Gifts / Veil: French Vintage / Headpiece & Veil: Grandmother’s own / Lingerie: Tallulah Lingerie / Ushers Suits: M&S / Hair: Barry Graham / Make Up: Bella Cruickshank / Florist: Raw Flowers / Food: Berwyn Events / Cake: Made by the Bride! / Band: The Fontanas