An Intimate Micro Wedding with Alice Temperley Bride: Triona and Manus

Our wedding was held at St Augustine’s Church in Hammersmith – we chose Hammersmith because that is where we lived when we first moved to London from Ireland. We knew Fr. Gianni at St. Augustine’s and knew he was the perfect person to bless our special day. Although we are now back home in Ireland, Hammersmith with its beautiful bridge and Thames walk will always have a special place in our hearts.

Words by Triona. Images by Hannah Larkin Photography.

I didn’t want a traditional white dress. Our wedding was a small intimate occasion and on a Monday of all days! I chose my dress for its beautiful detail and spring colours that reminded me of tree blossom (I’m obsessed with tree blossoms). The open back was both elegant and sensuous; the front detail and long sleeves were perfect for the time of year – sunshine but not yet warm enough for anything more revealing.

My husband and I walked down the aisle together to Pachelbel’s Canon.

Hannah our wedding photographer, helped to make us feel at ease every step of our journey and helped us to consider so many things we had not thought about. With just 4 guests, Hannah was able to capture the intimacy of our day, sometimes without us even realising her presence. As luck would have it, Hammersmith Bridge closed to traffic a week before and seizing the opportunity on the day Hannah took some show-stopping photographs on the bridge.

Our “photo walk” down the river from Hammersmith Bridge ended in The William Morris Foundation with a letterpress printing lesson, where we hand-printed a memento of our day. Less than 2 days into our honeymoon in Sicily, we received the most beautiful surprise from Hannah of a slide show of our day, backed with the tune of our wedding song “Somewhere only we know”.

We could not recommend Hannah highly enough!

The words spoken by Fr. Gianni during the homily of our ceremony was one of the most memorable moments of the day. He touched our hearts and made the occasion so much more special. Also, our walk from the church, down along the Thames path… and of course… standing right in the middle of Hammersmith Bridge for a once in a lifetime photo opportunity. The week before our wedding, the bridge was closed to traffic for major repairs! Just our luck as we had the entire bridge to ourselves!

If we could impart any words of wisdom to other couples getting married we would say. Do it together, with love, care and meaning. Don’t lose sight of what getting married really means for you. It’s personal, but I didn’t get caught up in endless researching – that would have been too stressful, and knowing me, I would only compare my choices to other anonymous brides. I guess we had the benefit of doing a small, simple event. But big events can be made simple and stress-free if you choose to.