Tara, a doctor in South West London met Edward who works in finance on the dating app, Hinge. They had their first date in Clapham at W.C. and were engaged a year later. Tara and Ed actually got married just 6 weeks after they got engaged as they were both between jobs and saw it as the perfect opportunity to have a 2-month honeymoon! They travelled around Indonesia and Australia and then finally moved to New York where they currently live. The Wedding take a look inside their Stylish City Wedding in Chelsea.
The best part of our day was….
Our siblings surprised us by flying in from Australia and the first time I saw them was when I was walking down the aisle. Luckily, we got married pre-covid as they wouldn’t be able to make it now!
We choose to get married at…
Chelsea Town Hall. We didn’t want a big traditional wedding. We had 40 of our closest friends and family for the ceremony, followed by champagne in a local pub and then lunch in a private dining room at Manicomio in Chelsea. As we got married quickly we didn’t have time for an engagement party so we actually tagged it on after the wedding! We had around 100 people and hired out the whole restaurant for the evening. Then everyone came back to ours for dancing on the roof terrace until late.
I knew I found ‘The One’ when….
I really struggled to find anything I loved. I didn’t have a huge amount of time and as we got married in October, there weren’t many white dresses still around. I ended up drawing what I wanted and having a seamstress make it for me. She was fantastic at finding the most gorgeous fabric and I knew I had made the correct decision even when I tried on the tuile pattern version (dark green and just for fitting and design purposes!). She even sewed our initials and date onto the dress.
The most enjoyable moments of planning were…
Picking our music, food and wine.
The hardest part of planning was…
Getting married at short notice meant that most venues were booked. One venue even dropped us 3 weeks before! Luckily we’d seen a gorgeous private dining room in a conservatory at Manicomio on a date night and just decided to drop them an email on the off chance they might let us use it. Although they had never done a wedding before, they exceeded our expectations completely. They spoiled us from the start with tasting sessions, wine pairings and even did flower arrangements and candles for the tables. Andre, the events coordinator was amazing!
The best accounts to follow on Instagram for big-day inspo are…
The Wedding Edition – of course!
The best person to follow on Pinterest for bridal inspo is…
I’m not sure I followed a person in particular, but all my pins seem to be from the instragram accounts above or also from features in Vogue weddings.
My top three tips for any couple would be…
Don’t feel under pressure to make a wedding “fun” – ours was far from the traditional but it suited us perfectly and as a result everyone was relaxed and had the best time.
Make sure you get to spend time with each other and savour the moment! The day honestly goes by in a flash.
If you can, have a planner or wedding coordinator on the day so you don’t have to worry about anything!
If I was able to do it all over again, the one thing I would change is…
I would have booked our brilliant photographer (Owen Billcliffe) to stay until the very end. Some of my best memories are from the late night dancing so I wish I had more photos of that time.
Please list suppliers:
| Venue | Chelsea Town Hall/The Builder’s Arm’s/Manicomio |
| Caterer | Manicomio |
| Dress | my own design created by Melanie Baker |
| Bridesmaids | wore their own |
| Groom outfit | Hackett and Thomas pink |
| Florist | my gorgeous best friend, Lisa, who has done a few weddings for our group of friends |
| Photographer | Owen Billcliffe Wedding Photography |
| Wedding rings | Lizzie Mandler |
| Makeup | Myself |
| Hair | Blush & Blow |
| Wedding Planner | TWE |
