Inside: A Rustic Wedding In East London

The Story

Sam and I met six years ago on holiday at a mutual friend’s house in Spain and got engaged four and a half years later. We both knew quickly that we were perfect together and the wedding really came as an excuse to have a party and celebrate that with everyone we love. Sam proposed during a dog walk on the night before Christmas eve, when we were fresh out of covid quarantine and staying in a country pub in Sussex. Sam designed the ring (with a few helpful hints), which has a salt and pepper diamond centre stone and a yellow gold knife edge band. This was the start of our rustic wedding in East London…

Venue

We got married at Wilton’s Music Hall, in East London, and had both the ceremony and reception there. Wilton’s is rustically beautiful, with spiral pillars and ornate but slightly worn murals. We fell in love with it when we went to see a show there on one of our early dates and when we were looking for wedding venues nothing else felt quite right. It was great to have everything all in one place, and the indoor venue meant we didn’t have to worry about British weather. Once the reception ended, we headed to the Hoxton Hotel, where Sam and I were staying, for late night drinks.

Fashion

I don’t love being the centre of attention so I found the more traditional aspects of being a bride a little daunting, including wedding dress shops, and found my dress by looking online at white dresses from my favourite brands. When I came across this one from Cult Gaia I knew it was perfect. It felt fun and special but not too formal. It was only available in America at the time, so a friend brought it back to England for me – there was no returning it even if I wanted! I saw (and fell in love) with the shoes at a Louboutin event soon after we got engaged, but waited until I found my dress before purchasing. To my horror they were then sold out, but I luckily managed to find a pair on Vestiaire Collective. They have a chunky heel and platform which meant I could comfortably dancing the night away.

Jewellery

Both my necklace, which hung down my back, and earrings were from Alighieri, whose gorgeous hand-crafted jewellery is all made from recycled metals. Our rings are from Rachel Boston Jewellery, who also designed my engagement ring, and the wedding band is cleverly designed so the engagement ring slots into it to make one piece.

Bridal Party

We wanted to general feel of the wedding to be fairly fun and relaxed, so we let the ushers and bridesmaids wear what they wanted, within a vague colour scheme. We also wanted them to be able to wear clothes they already owned or could borrow as much as possible.

Transportation

Me and the bridal party got ready at home and given that we don’t live far away a London black cab seemed like the most fitting option! Our cabbie also very kindly let us add white ribbons to the car.

Tablescape

We tried to do as much of the decoration and tableware as possible ourselves. The venue is so beautiful that it really didn’t need much more then a few fairly lights and flowers. We sourced the flowers from a wonderful local grower (Sitopia Farm) and arranged them ourselves. For wedding favours we enlisted the help of ChatGPT to write personalised limericks for each of our guests, which also served as name places and fun conversation starters.

Food & Drink

Our caterers were The Gatherers, who work at Wilton’s often and know exactly what they’re doing. They helped ensure the whole evening ran smoothly and the food was exceptional. Espresso martinis post dinner were a real crowd pleaser, as were late night pizzas. We really couldn’t have found better as they went above and beyond in helping to run the whole day which allowed us to concentrate on having fun.

Entertainment

I walked in to This Feeling by Alabama Shakes. I love singing hymns at weddings but given that Wilton’s isn’t a religious venue, hymns were off the cards, so instead we sang It Must be Love by Madness with my bridesmaid Jenny leading us on the piano. For the reception we had an incredible 8 piece band – Havana, which we found on hireaband – interspersed with some friends DJing. The band really brought the whole party together as we screamed along to classics, a few more modern songs we hadn’t seen other bands offering, and a couple of personal requests as well.

Beauty Regime & Wellness

Some of my friends gifted me a facial at Dr Boo in Dulwich, which was incredible. I also had a keratin treatment done to my hair which left it in the best condition of its life. On the day I hired Georgia Chabrel, who did a brilliant job of my hair and makeup. She also was an absolute angel at keeping me calm and relaxed!

Favourite Wedding Gifts

A number of people contributed towards getting some of our wedding flowers pressed and framed by JamJar flowers, which we’re really excited about.

Honeymoon

Neither of us are very good at just sitting on a beach so we wanted somewhere we could relax but also have things to do, so we went to the Azores for a couple of weeks straight after the wedding.

Advice

Give yourselves a limited number of admin jobs to do each week, otherwise it can feel overwhelming and never-ending.
Write lists, final lists and more lists!
Get married at Wilton’s, ask the Gatherers to cater and let Havana turn it into a party!