The Venue
Evie The Bride: We didn't want a traditional wedding, we wanted a party. We wanted a venue that effectively gave us a blank canvas allowing us to create a party that reflected our personalities. Food, drink and music (and plenty of all three) are the things most important to us at a party, as well as funky décor. A venue with a late licence was also critical;
The Loft Studios was therefore perfect.
It is a converted warehouse which functions as a photography studio by day and used as a party venue at night. The set up, lighting and props make it perfect for a big party and the sound system is incredible. The Studio also has a fantastic events manager who is creative and fun, who helped us a great deal in creating our day. We combined beautiful, summery and simple for the ceremony and dinner, a beach themed courtyard and an Australian outback themed party room complete with a crocodile and kangaroo and driftwood! We had a pool table, a vintage video games machine and a pin ball machine in the party /club room. We also had a separate cocktail bar from the normal bar as queuing for a beer when cocktails are being made is frustrating!
The Fashion
My dress was designed by Chenca Williams at
Ritva Westenius - I still love it. I wanted a slip like dress, with a low back. My dress, the Gatsby, was a 1920s style silk dress with handsewn beading at the front and draping down the back. I loved the detail and the elegant fit. I accessorized with a handmade beaded headband, which matched the 1920s style and a simple, long veil which clipped into my hair.
For shoes, I opted for strappy sparkly silver
Jimmy Choo stilettos - I wanted shoes I would wear again and strappy shoes better suited the dress.
Colour Scheme
We combined beautiful, summery and simple for the ceremony and dinner, a beach themed courtyard and an Australian outback themed party room complete with a crocodile and kangaroo and driftwood! We had a pool table, a vintage video games machine and a pin ball machine in the party /club room. We also had a separate cocktail bar from the normal bar as queuing for a beer when cocktails are being made is frustrating!
Blooms
I wanted colour for flowers - wild, summery and fun to reflect the day.
Rebel Rebel in Hackney were amazing. I am no flower expert, but they understood exactly what I wanted when I said, English summer wild flowers with lots of green! I trusted them to be as creative as they wanted.
The Loft Studios has wonderful beams in the ceiling so Rebel Rebel created beautiful wreaths which were tied to the beams - they looked incredible. My bouquet was similarly done, with big peonies and other summer flowers - I loved it.
For the tables, we wanted small and simple - we found big centre pieces distracting and limit chatter around the tables. So we had small jars of sweet peas, two or three to a table which were simple and colourful against the white table cloth and the hessian runner. The combination of the bare brick of the venue, the beams, the flowers and the table decoration (white table cloth, brown with white lace hessian) created a wonderfully rustic feel.
The Ceremony
The ceremony was in one of the photography studios which has a huge white wall, exposed brick and beams. It looked beautiful; it's a simple room and gets lots of natural light, so perfect for the ceremony. The ceremony itself was designed to be relaxed - we had some sitting and some standing. We had three of our friends perform a song as I walked down the aisle - they sang the original version of "Sunny". They also performed their own version of "I wanna hold your hand" toward the end of the ceremony. We kept it fairly short as we wanted to get on with the day!
Entertainment
We had a fantastic 40s style
jazz duo during the reception and dinner who are exceptional talents.
The Photographer & Other Genius Suppliers
The photography was excellent -
Ellie is an incredible talent. We booked Ellie because her photos were not of awkward posing and fun created purely for the camera. Her documentary style was far more suited to what we wanted. Plus, she's cool, and we wanted to be cool too!
Her style suited our day perfectly. She captured every element of the day and everyone that was there, all enjoying the moment. The photos are fun and beautiful.
Ellie is also the easiest person to work with - she is relaxed and flexible but also knows what makes a good picture - she was very good at whipping family members into shape to take a few group shots, which we wanted particularly given the number of Aussies that had come over.
Ellie provides a full service before, during and after the wedding - she was worth every penny. If I need a photographer again I will be going back to her.
I would also highly recommend
Irene Piera who made our wedding film.
The Studio also has a fantastic events manager who is creative and fun, who helped us a great deal in creating our day.