Ella & Tom

I've been lucky enough to attend an event at Kensington Roof Gardens in the past and can attest to its gloriousness so it's easy to see why Ella and Tom picked it for their wedding day. Despite the amazing views, it's easy to forget that you're in a capital city once you set foot in this urban oasis. And yes there are ACTUAL flamingos. The pair decided to celebrate their nuptials by paying homage to the venue itself choosing an art deco twist for their decor and using little accents of pink to tie in with the resident flamingos. Cute!! All the action was captured by Fiona Kelly Photography.

The Bride's Fashion

Ella The Bride: I went for a classic, long lace, fishtail dress from Mirror Mirror. It was made by Cymbeline and had a long lace train that could be tied up in the evening. Because the dress was so lacy I had simple Tiffany pearl jewelry to accentuate it.

The Groom's Fashion

Tom bought a suit from Ozwald Boateng on Savile Row. He didn’t have any direction from me about what to buy, but his brother Sam was there to help which was good. With it, he wore some black leather shoes from Crockett & Jones and then went with a White Tie evening shirt, a White Tie bow tie and white pocket square all from Thomas Pink. It was a really nice look that made him stand out on the day. I was impressed with his choices!

The Venue


We both really wanted to get married in London and The Roof Gardens was the first venue we viewed. I fell in love with it and wanted to sign up then and there, but I think Tom was a bit spooked and wanted to view a few more places before making a decision. We looked at one or two more venues and Tom quickly realised how special The Roof Gardens really are and we signed up very quickly after that.

Colour Scheme

We wanted the décor to be really simple with an art deco twist. The colour scheme was mainly white with little accents of pink to tie in with the flamingos. This was reflected in details such as the wedding favours, which were really simple biscuits from Bee’s Bakery that were different shades of pink and were embossed with our names. The place names on the tables also included the flamingos and we used the same stationery company that we used for our invitations to draw them up. They had a 1930’s design on the back which went with style of The Roof Gardens. Our table plan was drafted by Veronica Dearly and was black and white. I have to say, she did an amazing job. As Tom and I love animals our table names were families of animals (such as a Flamboyance of Flamingos, a Galaxy of Starfish, a Drove of Asses etc.) and we wanted the table plan to incorporate drawings of them all. Other than the above we had a Polaroid camera, which was placed by the guest book. We asked people to take a photo of themselves, stick it in the book and write a message. The photos and messages got funnier and less coherent as the evening went on!

Flowers

These were white and large. I wanted white hydrangeas everywhere interspersed with gypsophila (babies breath) and eucalyptus. I carried a bouquet of white roses and gypsophila and the groom/bridesmaids/bridesmen/groomsmen all had gypsophila too.

The Wedding Party Fashion

The groomsmen wore navy blue suits, white waistcoats, white shirts, white ties and white pocket squares. They all looked very dapper and it tied in nicely with what Tom was wearing. I had one bridesmaid who wore a navy blue dress from Coast, and then two Bridesmen who wore the same outfits as the groomsmen.

Ceremony


 Our ceremony was quite short as the thought of a very long service made Tom and I nervous to say the least. I walked down the aisle to ‘Somewhere over the rainbow – The Victor Ohana band’ version. During the ceremony we had two readings. My bridesmaid Amy read a G.K.Chesterton piece ‘Two Stubborn Pieces of Iron’ which sums Tom and I up perfectly. Tom’s groomsman Steve read a poem he had written specifically for the day. There was one funny moment when the registrar asked ‘if anyone here knows why these two should not be married’… our friend Steve’s 2 year old daughter Isla shouted ‘ME’ at the top of her voice. The whole room erupted into laughter.

Entertainment

The speeches were amazing. Tom’s brother, Sam, was his Best Man and he did the most unbelievable job. I think it helps that he’s an actor, but he wrote a long poem which had everyone in both tears of laughter and emotion. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the place. Other than that we had a Jazz Duo during the champagne hour, which was after the ceremony and then a DJ in the evening. We picked about 10 songs that absolutely had to be played which included DJ Fresh – Gold-dust as it reminds us of drunken nights out with our friends. Other than that we wrote down the names of artists we liked from our childhood to present day and gave them to The Roof Garden’s DJ. He did a fantastic job – everyone was dancing until they were told they had to leave! Our first dance was a special moment as we danced to Happy by Pharrell Williams. We were on our own on the dance floor for all of 30 seconds before everyone jumped in to join us.

Cake

The cake was definitely not my choice. I wanted a really large, white, girly one but instead we had a three tier pork pie cake! Tom put his foot down! In the end though I loved it and every single piece was gone by the end of the night. We put our own touch on it by having some models of us, the flamingos and our cat made to go on top. We also organised a sweet bar which we filled with sweets that we loved from when we were kids, such as NERDS, love hearts, flying saucers etc.

Photographer

Finally, we can’t forget our photographer, Fiona. We couldn’t be happier with the photos we have, they’re absolutely beautiful and they capture the day perfectly.