Rachael & Matt

Devonshire Terrace is one of our favourite London venues - the glass-roofed terrace is the perfect setting for a botanical-inspired ceremony and the fact that it's highly popular bar and restaurant means that you know you'll be getting well fed and watered too. We've feature quite a few weddings from this venue, and each one looks super fun. Images come from the lovely Anna at Pear & Bear Photography, whose soft, romantic and natural style never fails to put a smile on our faces.

Our Story

Rachel the Bride: Matt and I met on my first day of University. Matt was a second year student and a ‘fresher helper’. We’d been together for 10 years, when Matt proposed. He took me to the Hand and Flowers (Tom Kerridge’s restaurant) and proposed in the car whilst we were leaving. I was suffering a pretty bad hangover so Matt knew exactly what he was getting himself into! We both agreed from the start that we didn’t want a wedding but one massive party.

The Bride

From the moment we started planning the wedding, I knew exactly the style of dress I wanted. Classic, white, lace and fitted. I also had to be able to sit down and eat without it getting uncomfortable and it also needed to be easy to dance in. I’m not a fan of veils, I don’t like the idea of covering your face and I don’t wear much jewellery so the only main accessory I wanted was a big bouquet to contrast the white of the dress. My mum lent me her pearl choker she wore on her wedding day which was special.

The Groom

Matt wears a suit and tie every day at work so wanted to look different. He went for a blush pink bow tie with the dark blue suit from Moss Bros which worked really well against the white shirt.

The Venue

We both agreed we wanted the wedding to feel like one big party. We originally looked at a barn but as soon as we walked in we knew this wasn’t us and we wanted something different. Matt used to work in the City and knew Devonshire Terrace but it was only until I found it online that we realised it was a licensed venue. The glass roof adds such a WOW factor when you walk in. We weren’t bothered with having a summer wedding so the fact we could get married outside in March and be covered from the elements was perfect. In the evening the atrium is lit up and looks incredible. I cannot speak highly enough of the staff at Devonshire Terrace, from start to finish they made the process easy, stress free and fun!

The Decor

We wanted simple. White, green and copper. The venue had a big make over just before the wedding and we didn’t have chance to see any of the mood boards. When I walked in the day before the wedding, this was the first time I saw the new look. I was amazed, it was like they had taken my scheme and decorated the venue around it. I couldn’t have asked for better. I decorated the tabled with candles and some gypsophila. I wanted the guests to be able to talk to each other without a huge vase of flowers in the middle obstructing them.

The Flowers

I did a lot of research into florists and found Bloomantic not too long before the wedding. Zuzanna really understood what I was after (greens, whites and plenty of foliage). When the flowers were delivered they were beyond my expectations, I couldn’t believe just through email correspondence she could get them better than what I was expecting. Zuzanna is so lovely, I was gutted I didn’t get chance to meet her on the big day!

The Wedding Party

My sister is tall and Matt’s sister is petite so I wanted dresses that were similar but a different length. I liked the idea of rose gold and it was a colour that suited both but it was hard finding this in 2 different style dresses. ASOS saved the day and my friend Suz, who is a Garment Technician, worked her magic on one of the dresses that didn’t fit right. The groomsmen all wore the same suit as Matt from Moss Bros and Noah the Best Man’s 2 year old son looked incredibly cute in his John Lewis suit and bow tie which matched the others.

The Ceremony

As Matt and I have been together for so long, we feel we’re already married. We didn’t want the focus of the day on the ceremony so we opted for a quick ‘We do’ service. I walked down to ‘My Guy’ by Mary Wells. During the signing of the registrar after we had said our vows we had ‘Bros’ by Wolf Alice, we both love this song and now it’s even more special knowing we had it playing at our wedding. Walking back down the aisle as Husband and Wife we had ‘My Girl’ by the Temptations. A lot of our guests commented on how much impact the music had in the ceremony.

The Entertainment

We spent a lot of time researching bands and I’m so glad we spent time doing this. We both love music but have such different tastes so we wanted to find a band that could cater for us and our guests. Shine On were amazing! They played our first dance ‘Coming Home’ by Leon Bridges. They had everyone dancing all night, I ended up crowd surfing across the party and when they started playing R Kelly’s Bump and Grind, one of the guest stripped completely naked and the crowd went wild.

The Food

Food was the biggest thing we wanted to get right. We tried 18 different dishes from 3 menus and I’m so glad we did. A lot of our guested commented on how amazing the food tasted. My mum made our wedding cake and it was everything I wanted and more. I sent her a picture of a marble affect 2 tied cake and she pulled it out the bag. A traditional Victoria sponge tier with a chocolate sponge tier. It was a delicious piece of art!

The Photography

This was another element we spent a lot of time researching. We both felt it was important to have the right person capture our big day but in a way we were comfortable with. I have no confidence in front of a camera so it was important we found someone we were comfortable with. I found Anna of Pear & Bear Photography on Instagram and fell in love with the relaxed feel she manages to capture in her images. We spoke via Skype and organised a pre wedding shoot in Lincoln where Matt and I met at university. It was really difficult getting comfortable but eventually I started to feel at ease. I’m so pleased with how the pictures came out of the wedding. I was so comfortable on the day and barely noticed Anna shooting away but she was really good at suggesting certain shots I might want to consider and she got an incredible shot of the entire wedding party which we’re both really pleased with!

Advice

We agreed a list of priorities to sort out first. Venue, food, band and photography were top of the list. We have an incredible group of family and friends and both agreed, mix them with the 4 items above and we’ve got a great party. I would suggest to anyone planning a wedding, be confident in your choices. Choose based on what you like, your guests are there because of you. 
The biggest advice we can give anyone is chill, which is easy for me and Matt to say as we are both ridiculously laid back. Everything falls into its place. There’s no point stressing over something, just work with it. If any problems arise, especially near the big day, don’t see this as the worst thing to happen, find an alternative solution and let other people help!