When I first met Kate and Jacob it was obvious they were my kind of people. They didn’t take themselves too seriously, they have a wicked sense of humour and they were keen that I shoot whatever I want at their wedding. Result. And the wedding day was every bit as laid back and fun as they are. Here are a few words from them about their story:
How we met: My friend Liz is Canadian and her younger brother, Jake was over from Canada. Jake was visiting their older brother, Dustin who lives in Brighton. Dustin came to London for the day and called to see if I wanted to meet Jake. That day was 6th October 2013. The rest is history! Within 6 months, Jake moved from Ottawa, Canada to London, England. We decided to get married on the two year anniversary of when we met. Jake proposed after a delightful date night of fancy food and fine wine. We went for a walk on Embankment Bridge (the bridge we had walked across on our first date) and he proposed.
Venues Jake and I knew we wanted an informal, fun and laid back wedding. We considered having the wedding in Canada but decided on London as it is where we met and our first home. We wanted a vintage theme and we love Islington so decided to explore the area. We decided on Islington Town Hall and the Council Chamber; it is a beautiful green room, and was perfectly located. We ideally wanted a pub for the reception and decided on The Winchester, a delightful quirky pub that Jake and I had been previously on a date.
Outfits I intended on wearing a 1950’s style dress but once I tried the Mori Lee dress on I knew it was perfect. It had a fitted lace top half with a full skirt from the waist and it fitted my vintage theme. I had a simple mid length veil with binding trim and wore Rachel Simpson shoes in ivory. My hairdresser Jon styled my hair in a simple half up. The florist tailored a few single stem flowers onto hair grips, which I had in my hair. I wanted to look like myself so did my makeup how I normally wear it. Jake wore a three piece blue DKNY suit and tan shoes. He wore a lovely ivory tie that complimented my dress which his Mum picked out in a boutique shop in Victoria, Canada. Jake had his brother Dustin and brother-in-law Tony as his best men. My bridal party consisted of my bridesmen, Adam and Paul, along with my ladies, Rachel, Gemma, Liz, Annalisa and Amy. We did not have a colour scheme and we wanted everyone to look themselves, so we asked everyone to wear their own suits or dresses. Everyone looked stunning.
Flower choices and general decorative arrangements I decided early on that I wanted to decorate the pub myself with lots of flowers, predominately baby’s breath, lavender and vintage roses. My friend Rosie kindly lent me lots of little cute vases that she had used for her wedding, which were perfect for my theme. The day before the wedding, I went to the New Covent Garden Flower Market with my Mum, my now Mother-in-law, and friends Adam and Gemma to pick up lots of flowers. We then spent the morning flower arranging and setting up the decorations. There were vases full of flowers throughout the pub.
Our friend Rachel was a delight with the decorations. I knew I wanted lots and lots of bunting everywhere in the pub. We had lots of Liberty fabric which we (mostly Rachel) made into bunting. It was so pretty! I used some old typewriters to display “welcome” and “cake list” signs, a decorated vintage suitcase for the “cards” table, lots of old cute suitcases and some fancy scales to display all the cakes at “cake corner.” We displayed table plan in an open suitcase with luggage tags. For the table numbers, I used all my own photo frames lined with liberty paper, with the number cut out. All the signs, and numbers were designed by Rachel.
I wanted lots of delicious and pretty cupcakes and doughnuts. We had salted caramel chocolate, strawberry and vanilla swirl and oreo cookie cupcakes. We also had a Victoria sponge decorated with baby’s breath and a big vintage white rose. As I had no colour theme, the florist suggested I have the flowers that were in season in October. My only requests were that the bouquet was not too big and it was unstructured. It was a stunning bouquet. Jake’s buttonhole matched my bouquet and looks fantastic in the pictures. For the rest of the buttonholes we had simple baby’s breath which looked lovely.
Ceremony My Dad walked me down the aisle to a classical piece of music called “Experience” by one of our favourite composers, Ludovico Einaudi. I had a few moments alone with my Dad before we walked down the aisle which was lovely. One of my bridesmen, Paul, very kindly picked three beautiful readings for us. Paul read, “A Dedication to my Wife” by TS Eliot. Our friend Amy read “Sonnet 160” by William Shakespeare, and our favourite couple, Rosie and Rob, read a beautiful excerpt from “The Lord of the Rings” by JRR Tolkien. Whilst we signed the register, “Heart of gold” and “Only love can break your heart” by Neil Young, were played. We asked our parents to sign the register as we thought the signing of the register showed we were becoming one family. As we left the town hall, we had “Sunny side of the street” playing by The Pogues.
Photography We met Alice before the wedding to discuss the potential of her shooting the wedding. From the moment we met Alice, we liked her. She is such a warm, kind, personable woman. Alice gave us lots of helpful advice about group shots, individual shots, any possible weather issues on the day and even honeymoon tips for Vietnam! Leading up to the wedding, Alice was available if we had any questions. On the day of the wedding, I thought it might be strange getting ready with a photographer there but Alice made the girls and I feel completely at ease; it was like she was one of the girls and it was lovely having her there. After the ceremony, Jake and I walked from the town hall to the reception and Alice was fantastic. We had spoken ahead of the day about what types of shots we wanted of Jake and I, and Alice got them all. Additionally as we were walking, Alice had a great eye for noticing certain buildings and colours. Some of the best pictures we have are the spontaneous ones that Alice took. The best part of my day was my walk with Jake. We had one hour to ourselves just after we got married. Even though Alice was there taking photos, we felt like we were alone and it gave us a chance to have a chat. I truly think this quality makes Alice a remarkable photographer. We were so excited to see the pictures Alice took and words cannot describe how delighted we were with the photos. We wanted a fun, vintage London wedding, and Alice perfectly captured it. We could not recommend her more.
First dance We danced to “What a Wonderful World” by Sam Cooke. Jake and I have VERY different music tastes and this is one of the few songs we both like.
Entertainment Our friend Louise designed the entire playlist for the evening, which we will be forever grateful for. It was a brilliant playlist and everyone loved the music. Speeches: Father of the bride – Seamus, Best Man – Dustin, My other love – Rachel, and Jake and I said thank you to everyone. Jake’s Uncle Tony was pretty much the rest of the entertainment. Uncle Tony came over from Nelson, British Columbia, Canada and every single guest loved him. He also won the prize for Best Guest due to the distance he travelled.
Favourite moment Jake and I both agreed that we have two favourite moments. Firstly, our vows, despite being nervous and me getting the giggles (worst time ever to get the giggles) we both loved saying our vows. Secondly, our first hour of marriage which was spent walking down Upper Street in Islington having a chat about the fact we were married.
Advice We planned our wedding in under three months which shows you can accomplish a lot in a very short. Our ethos throughout was this; remember the wedding day is just one day. Focus on the days that follow! Also – have Alice as your wedding photographer! She is a dreamboat.
Suppliers
Photography: www.alicethecamera.co.uk
Wedding Dress: Mori Lee (designer) www.morilee.co.uk
Bridal shop: www.bridesbylosners.com
Cakes: Ellie at Bunston Bakes www.bunstonbakes.com
Florist (bouquet and buttonholes): www.urbanflowercompany.co.uk
Suit: www.dkny.com
Reception: The Winchester www.thewinchesterbar.com
Ceremony: Islington Town Hall www.islington.gov.uk
Bridal hair: Ma’jon Hairdressers, Museum Street, London
