Beccy & Anthony

Don't you just LOVE a fabulous confetti shot. Everyone is smiling, especially the bride and groom and you can't help but feel all the emotion bursting out of the image. Lucy Davenport's capture of Beccy & Anthony stepping out of The Town Hall Hotel for the first time as Mr & Mrs and being showered with confetti in particular is a stunner, and has to be up there with one of my all time favourites. Also making me smile is Beccy's bespoke Emma Beaumont bridal gown. If you're not familiar with Emma's work, then you're seriously missing out. Emma has produced gowns for some of our hottest brides (Grazzie & Holly) and does not disappoint with Beccy's beaded bodice gown and fitted skirt. Once again, those sleeves! Tying this wonderful city wedding together is the subtle green and white decor, foliage and flowers, and a fabulous party full of energy and laughter. Just how a wedding should be.

Bride

Beccy the Bride: I booked an appointment with Emma Beaumont soon after getting engaged as I started following them on Instagram and saw a post saying they were down in London. The appointment was a couple of months later so by the time it came around I had tried lots of different dresses on. That was perfect because Emma creates bespoke dresses and it was important to know what I did and didn’t like. I really enjoyed the collaborative process of creating my dream dress with Emma and her lovely mum, I had 6 appointments in total to get it perfect. I had the best of both by creating a dress and top combo, so I wore long embellished sleeves for the ceremony and removed it after the drinks reception. My veil was my something borrowed from my friend Jo.

Grooms Attire

We immediately knew that Anthony’s suits had to be from Dressed 2 Kill. Anthony had a suit made there a couple of years ago and he looks great in it. We both excitedly went to the suit appointment and decided on all of the little touches (I didn’t realise how many decisions there are to make!) Sam there makes the whole appointment a true experience and gave Anthony some great advice. I have to say I thought it looked incredible on our wedding day and we can’t speak highly enough of Sam and the team.

The Venue

We decided to have a London wedding as we love living here and that’s where we met. Neither of us had been to a London wedding before but we loved the idea that we could invite all of our favourite people and it would be super easy for most of our guests. We only found out about The Town Hall Hotel which is in Bethnal Green the year before, we had a date night and went to The Typing Room which is in the same building and were blown away by the food, the impeccable service and the gorgeous venue which has been styled beautifully. The whole day was in the same location which we loved as again it was easy for everyone. The hotel rooms and suites in the hotel are amazing and lots of guests (even some who live in London) chose to stay the night there. The other benefit of the venue being a hotel is so much is included, no additional costs for hiring furniture or organising separate catering. And not an over-priced pastel chair cover in sight (hurray!) The best thing about the venue was Tia and the team who made it all happen. Nothing was too much to ask and in fact they would do things before we had to ask. We really can’t wait to have an excuse to go back and stay.

Ceremony

Once we found the venue we looked to get a registrar but there were none available on our chosen date and the venue didn’t have more availability until the autumn months. So we got ‘legally married’ in Islington town hall on the day before our wedding, and had a Humanist ceremony in front of our guests. We had heard great things about humanist weddings and we are so pleased we found Graham Downes who led the most perfect ceremony. It was very informal and relaxed, but Graham brought an air of authority and wonderful sense of humour. Neither of us are religious so it felt very appropriate to have a non-religious and personalised ceremony. We had so many guests tell us it was the best wedding ceremony they had ever been to and ‘where did you find that guy?’

Entertainment

We started the day with 3 of our friends playing on guitars and a ukulele as I walked down the aisle and after the ceremony too. During the drinks reception we had pianist Jon Nickoll playing for everyone on the hotel’s grand piano. Jon was one of the first people we told we were engaged as he was playing in the Savoy where we went for cocktails after Anthony proposed. We were delighted he agreed to play for us on our special day. For the evening we wanted a party atmosphere so the focus was finding a band which would have everyone dancing. That’s exactly what The Soul Brothers did. We watched a show reel of theirs online and instantly knew we had to have them! They have energetic choreography to every song which is mesmerising and infectious. They also had our first dance song (Thinking of You, Sister Sledge) on their repertoire. We kept them a secret from everyone, even our parents and the wedding party who of course loved them as much as us on the night. The whole place was dancing to the twinkle of the disco ball and we were at our absolute happiest.

Photographer

Booking Lucy was very early on in the planning process. We love her style of capturing special moments and real emotion and were blown away by her photography of our day. The experience was of working with Lucy couldn’t have been better, she’s absolutely lovely and it was a pleasure to have her involved with our wedding.

Advice

We genuinely enjoyed the whole planning process. Consider this a part of the wedding and don’t let yourself get stressed or you’ll feel like that on the day too. It is so nice to be planning something so personal to you, and so special. Treasure every minute of that too.