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A True London Wedding

Being a city bride myself there is nothing I love more than an urban wedding, more often than not the venues are quirky and the bride and groom are able to imprint their own personal styles as it is easier to break away from the "norm". So when Julie Kim sent me details of Gwen and Jim's uber-cool London wedding I couldnt have been more excited, it was, as they say, right up my street.

If you are a fan of London imagery, relaxed and informal weddings and amazing DIY chiconomic details then you will love this big day. I have put it in to two parts as it is too good to squeeze in to one, so much time and effort has gone in to the detailing it would be rude not to bring you the full wedding! Gwen has given a lovely account of her wedding so I have included this as well...enjoy!

“Vintage London” was the theme: the old black cab, the classic Routemaster bus, the red phone and letter boxes, the historic house, the English pub and roses, the London A to Z confetti and English bands table names –This was a real treat for my French family and friends as well as for all the english non-londoners.

Invitations:

We handmade our invitations using art-deco typography (
www.dafont.com). I bought a reproduction of a 1930s London A-to-Z (London Street Atlas - Historical Edition- www.a-zmaps.co.uk/?nid=383) and, with a heart shape cutter, cut out the location of our wedding venue and stuck it on the front of the invitations. It’s a great way to customise your wedding stationary, so if you get married in London, you are sure to find your wedding venue on it! I got most of my wedding stationary from ebay and got everything printed at my local printer.

 
 

The Dress: The Cadiz from Cymbeline

The very first thing I did when we got engaged was to go online and start looking for a wedding dress. I found the perfect dress from French designer Cymbeline (
www.cymbeline.com).  After enquiring about prices at various wedding shops I decided that I wasn’t ready to pay the full price. So I looked at second hand options (www.preloved.com) and was lucky enough to find the dress there. I contacted the seller which coincidently lives 20 minutes from me, went to her house, tried on the dress (which fitted like a glove and was in pristine condition), cried of joy and got the dress for a quarter of  the retail price.

So my wedding dress shopping experience lasted about 10 minutes in total. I believe that dress what waiting for me.

I then found a lovely and talented lady called Sandra in Crouch End to alter the length of the dress and customise the dress by changing the sash and bow.

 
 
Hair and Makeup:

Inga (
www.ingapivena.com) who I met at Butterfly Salon (www.butterfly-london.com) did my hair and makeup. Inga is amazing and totally got the look I wanted to go for (fresh and natural). The make up and hair lasted all day, I didn’t have to touch up once!! She worked fast and was very calm on the day, which is exactly what a bride needs.

The Flower Girl:

I followed French tradition so didn’t have any official bridesmaids (I had my sister and friends contribute in various ways instead). My niece was my flower girl. Her outfit was entirely from Monsoon (from the flower in her hair to the shoes).
 

The Flowers

The wedding and reception venues were already beautifully decorated so we decided not to buy flowers for the venues. We only got a bouquet for myself, a small bouquet for my flower girl and buttonholes for the ushers, best man, and our parents.

The flowers were from Angel Flowers in Islington (www.angel-flowers.co.uk). I chose a lovely compact dome of assorted pale, vintage roses. For my little bridesmaid I chose a small posy of Olecia spray rose, with hint of green. The bouquets were then placed on the top table for decoration.

 
 
The Best man & Ushers
The best man and ushers wore the suits of their choices.
 
 
 
The wedding venue: www.burghhouse.org.uk

The great thing about getting married in London is the choice of venues.

We chose to get married in Burgh House, a beautiful 18th Century, Grade I listed house in the heart of Hampstead. The panelled Music Room is licensed for civil marriages and provides a unique and elegant setting for weddings. Burgh House is perfect for cosy, small weddings (approx 50-60 guests).

After the ceremony we had a champagne reception in the Peggy Jay Gallery and enjoyed the use of the outdoor terrace too. Hampstead offers great opportunities for photos, it has a village feel to it which is lovely.

From Burgh House we walked to Hampstead High Street to catch a Classic Open Platform Routemaster bus to the reception venue
in Camden (
www.timebus.co.uk). 
 
 
 
Transport to the wedding venue

The other great thing about London is its iconic black cabs. Rather than hire a special wedding car to take me to the venue, I found a lovely Fairway (the old version) black cab owner who agreed to come and pick me up with my family and even let us use the cab for photos. I even got in the driving seat for one of the shots, it was so much fun!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
How much do you love the iconic London images? The red bus, the black cab and the relaxed city wedding vibe, I bet it was real treat for the French contingency! 

Please don't miss part deux (see what I did there?!) tomorrow if you are fan of handcrafted and personalised wedding products as we have so much more to show from this Frog et Les Rosbifs wedding reception, can't wait to share!

A demain!
xx 

Posted: 26/01/2011 11:27:05 by Vicky | with 4 comments
Filed under: Cymbeline, House, Julie, Kim, London, Wedding, Burgh


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Comments

Gwen
Thank you Vicky for featuring our wedding, it is very special to see our big day acknowledged this way!! And again, thank you Julie for your talent. x
27/01/2011 16:48:56
Julie
Thanks a million for posting up this lovely wedding. I had as much fun as Gwen and Jim on the day and very happy to have become friends with them. One of the most enjoyable weddings I've shot!
26/01/2011 23:43:30
vickychic
Just noticed that this wedding was the day after mine as well, what a fab weekend Gwen and Jim chose, gorgeous sunny weather!
x
26/01/2011 14:34:23
Sarah S
Love love love this wedding!!!
26/01/2011 14:14:47
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