Vintage Travel Wedding at Kings Cross St Pancras Station: Lishan & Ang

Adorable newlyweds Lishan and Ang spent most of their courtship in separate countries and would often rush through Kings Cross St Pancras in a bid to see each other, but alas, never together. So it seemed like serendipity when they stumbled across a wedding pic of a happy couple saying their vows at KCSP, that they too should plan to wed there.

How romantic?!

With a subtle vintage travel inspired theme Lishan looks beautiful in her french lace and silk tulle Kate Halfpenny gown. Their gorgeous city wedding ended with a traditional Chinese tea ceremony and a bridal change to a ruby red Chinese dress.

Vintage Travel Wedding at Kings Cross St Pancras Station: Lishan & Ang

Words by Lishan. Images by McKinley Rogers.

We chose Searcy’s Champagne Bar at Kings Cross St Pancras Station in London as our wedding venue because we did long distance for 3 years to Paris and spent so much time rushing through that station but not together! It is also one of the most beautiful stations.

This venue choice was purely accidental as we found a picture of a couple taken at the station at Camden’s registry offices – and it just clicked for us!

The ceremony was followed by our reception at St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, Hansom Hall. The same blue arches as the station carry through to this room, which we loved.

Vintage Travel Wedding at Kings Cross St Pancras Station: Lishan & Ang

We had a slight vintage travel theme for our wedding – we sent train ticket invites that looked like vintage versions of the Eurostar tickets. Each wedding table was named after a destination we had been together – and each name tag was a luggage tag.

I chose my wedding dress as it had a vintage feel but was newly made, not too white, comfortable /not restrictive, simple and with an elegant high quality French lace overlay.

My second wedding dress was a Chinese qipao – red is lucky in Chinese culture. Ang’s family bought it as a surprise on holiday (before we got engaged!) and I wanted to wear something traditional for them, as he was born in China and I was born in Malaysia (Chinese grandparents).

I hired Traditional Vintage Flower Company to supply our wedding flowers – my bridal bouquet was a mixture of antique roses, gyp, astilbe, dill – I was going for the soft blush colour to complement my dress – vintage feel, not too pink, blue hydrangeas to match the arches of the station.

We wanted pussy willow, hydrangea and gyp in our antique Chinese vases at the ceremony (gift from an aunt), as this was my late grandmothers favourite and she always had them in the living room.

My dad Terry walked me down the aisle whilst my friend Joshua Berry played the harp – Marcel Tournier – étude de concert: au matin.

For wedding favours we had Malaysian / Chinese blue and white bowls with Los Angeles salted caramels by friend Justin Chao’s company LE BON GARCON (he featured on Oprah’s favourite things).

At the tables we had lazy susans for the sharing style of food, so needed vases that fit in the holes in the centre. We chose simple gyp and pussy willow again as the venue / architecture / blue arches were the main feature.

Mum made our wedding cake! Chocolate beetroot cake and cupcakes. It is so moist and homemade, doesn’t taste of beetroot, just rich! We had it on three metal tiers with Chinese figurines on top from China.

Our wedding photographers were Pen & Cam Mckinley Rodgers – the best wedding photographers ever! So much fun, so natural and genuine people, felt like having friends at our wedding.

They work really well off each other and make you feel comfortable on the day. Love their people shots and not too formal or posed.

If you could impart any words of wisdom to a future bride planning her wedding day, what would they be?

Don’t spend too long planning it – just hire a venue and get a dress 6 months ahead, and the rest can be done in 3 weeks like we did! Makes you make decisions faster.

Also, enjoy the day and definitely organise group photos beforehand (not too many) so you can have more time to party!

Don’t forget to eat – I had a fish finger sandwich when I was getting ready from room service – it saved me later on in the night because you hardly eat during dinner.

What was your most memorable moment of the day?

Our registration in the station, when we hugged after being announced man and wife – because it was a bizarre mix of extreme happiness whilst reminding me of saying bye at the station!

I adore this wedding and that it was so personal to Ang & Lishan. Utterly romantic idea to marry in a place that has so much meaning to their courtship. I also love the subtle vintage travel theme and the Chinese / Malay traditions and elements they incorporated that represent their heritage and culture.