Today we head to the capital to enjoy the nuptials of  Tom and Cerian who were married back in the Spring. Tom and Cerian wanted a local wedding and so chose to marry at Stoke Newington Town Hall followed by a reception at The Londesborough, London.

They wanted a wedding day which had great food seeing as Tom is a chef and a big party to celebrate. Family and friends contributed to hand make some lovely details, including the fun stationery, bunting and decorated tin cans for the flowers.

Cerian found a beautiful vintage 1940s pink prom dress in Fur Coat No Knickers which she wore with a sweet pair of Rachel Simpson shoes. Tom found his dashing grey suit in Austin Reed. They looked gorgeous.

Thanks so much to the brilliant Emma Lucy for sharing her photographs with us today.

 

  

The Proposal… There was no big proposal really! We’d already been together for six years and had been discussing a wedding. Tom then let me choose my engagement ring and once it had arrived (all the way from New York!) he asked me officially to marry him!

The Vision for the Day… We didn’t have a theme for the day but we had a few ideas as to what we wanted – it had to be local to where we live in Hackney, London, and it had to be a town hall ceremony with a pub reception. The food in the pub had to be good as Tom’s a chef and otherwise we just wanted a really great party for us and out families!

The Planning Process… There was about 16 months between the engagement and the big day, and the planning was practically stress free (until you get to those final few weeks of course). I’m a very organised person by nature so I had everything sorted in good time!

The Venue… We got married at Stoke Newington Town Hall, with a reception following that at The Londesborough pub. We looked at a few different venues in the Hackney area, and Stokie just stood out as it had a lovely feel about it. It’s art deco style and the council chamber is a lovely bright room which seemed the perfect size for the numbers we had in mind.

The Londesborough is a fantastic gastro pub just a ten minute walk from the town hall. They had the capacity to do a sit down three course meal and the food was fantastic! They do a lot of weddings and were so helpful during the planning process as well as with putting up all the decorations on the day. For the disco, rather than hiring a DJ, they suggested we just hire the lights and sound system and hook up our own ipod – this was ideal as I was so scared of having a cheesy DJ that played all the usual cheesy wedding songs!

The Dress + Accessories… I’d decided months before we got engaged that I wanted a dress from Fur Coat No Knickers in Carnaby Street. I don’t really like the look of traditional white dresses, and I liked the idea of having a vintage dress that someone had worn for their special day before. On my first visit to FCNK I found my gorgeous pink lace 40’s prom dress. The girls at FCNK described how they could re line it in an ivory fabric (as I wasn’t sure about having a completely pink dress at first!) so that it looked like an ivory dress with a pink lace overlay. I went for a birdcage veil as I’m not keen on big traditional veils and felt it just completed the whole look. The shoes were Rachel Simpson’s Eva’s which seem to be a popular choice with vintage dresses but they are absolutely gorgeous and so comfy – I’ve already worn them again on nights out!

Groom’s Attire… This ended up being a panic buy at the last minute! Tom wore a dark greys suit from Austin Reed with a light pink shirt to match my dress. The best man and usher wore their own suits. We had a rule that we didn’t want the men wearing tails!

The Readings + Music… We had two readings – a poem by Henley which was read by Tom’s step dad, and an anonymous poem called “Marriage is Madness” which was read by my step sister. For music, we wanted something that had meaning to us rather than traditional or classical music, so we had a Green Day song for walking in to, and Paramore to walk out.

Beautiful Bridesmaids… I had four bridesmaids, my sister, my best friend from school and my two cousins who are a bit younger. The older bridesmaids wore navy blue satin, knee length dresses from Coast, with vintage style hair accessories. The younger girls wore ivory coloured dresses from John Lewis.

The Flowers… I’m absolutely useless with flowers so we were lucky to find a fantastic local flower shop in Stoke Newington who just completely understood the kind of thing I wanted, even though I don’t have a clue what most flowers are called. My bouquet was cream coloured with roses and fresias (I think!), the bridesmaids bouquets were pink and cream and they complemented our dresses so well. The men had button holes with rosemary in them (for the chef!), and the table flowers in the Londesborough were meadow, spring sort of flowers – lots of cream and purples. They just looked amazing considering the confusing instructions we gave to the florist!

The Cake… Tom made the cake! A three tiered Madeira sponge with icing. The decorations on the cake were in the form of goldfish, to match the invites that were painted and designed by Tom’s mum.

Your Photographer… We chose Emma Lucy because we loved her reportage style photography and the fact that she had a fantastic and extensive portfolio on her website. We had an engagement shoot with her before the wedding, and as soon as we met her we felt at ease and knew she would be perfect to have around on the big day. I didn’t even notice she was there snapping away a lot of the time! She’s so lovely and we’re absolutely thrilled with the results!

The Details + Decor… My step mum and gran spent months making the bunting that we used to decorate the pub, my dad spent hours decorating tin cans to put the table flowers in, and making tea light holders for the tables. My friend and colleague helped me with designing and making the tube-themed table plan and place settings (which doubled up as little favours for the guests – with a little message and photo inside each one). The pub looked absolutely fantastic and everyone put so much hard work in. It was so special to have the family contribute to the day in that way.

The Honeymoon… We went on a mini-moon to Somerset for a few days straight after the wedding. We’re doing two bigger honeymoons – a week in Madeira in July, and a week in Italy in September.

Memorable Moments… There are so many! I loved the whole process of getting ready in the morning with all the girls – going to Rockalily to get my hair done with one of my bridesmaids, and getting my make up done by Ana. Although I was absolutely terrified of walking up the aisle and the whole ceremony, it was actually the best bit of the day and it’s true what they say – the nerves really do just melt away as soon as you walk into the room. We just loved having all our family and friends together and dancing the night away afterwards!

Advice for Other Couples… Enjoy the planning process because the day itself goes so quickly so you need to enjoy the excitement and build up as much as possible. Don’t let people tell you what you should and shouldn’t be doing – if you have non-traditional ideas just stick to your guns! Everyone will eventually see that your ideas are fantastic!

Credit Where Credit is Due…

Stoke Newington Town Hall – http://www.hackney.gov.uk/snth.htm

The Londesborough – http://www.thelondesborough.com/

Emma Lucy Photography – http://www.emmalucyphotography.com/

Fur Coat No Knickers – http://www.furcoatnoknickers.co.uk/

Ana Ospina Make Up – http://anaospinamakeup.co.uk/

Coast – http://www.coast-stores.com

Austin Reed – http://www.austinreed.co.uk/

Rachel Simpson – http://rachelsimpsonshoes.co.uk/

N16 Flowers

Rockalily Cuts – http://www.rockalily.com/

 

Oh such a sweet day. Thanks so  much to Tom and Cerian for sharing their beautiful wedding with us today XOXO Lou