Today’s London wedding really resonates with me, as I used to live just moments away from where today’s gorgeous couple tied the knot.
They also met via internet dating website, Guardian Soulmates, and my husband is called Chris too!! In fact, in the image above is the very phone box I used to telephone my Chris after losing my mobile phone… We’d only been together a matter of weeks. Nawww the memories ;)
Thea & Chris had a super emotional, laid back and lovely London wedding at Lauderdale House in Highgate. Their wedding was full of whimsical pretty detailing and a vintage style wedding dress from the Fur Coat No Knicker girls
Beautiful wedding images and definitely a wedding you’ll be inspired by.
Enjoy!
A Whimsical & Lovely, Laid Back London Wedding: Chris & Thea
Words by Thea. Images by Knot Just Pics.
One of the owners of FCNK, Laura is a friend of mine. Her and Emma are incredibly talented making their own collection of vintage style dresses. They were so helpful and accommodating especially as we had just moved from London to Sydney.
I tried on a few of their dresses when back in London and knew immediately that sidecar was the one for me. It already fitted like a glove. I felt like the best version of me. They take the time and effort to make you feel a million dollars and did all alterations in a week!
I can’t think of anywhere else that would give you the same personal, tailored experience and supply the champers to boot!
My hair was a very last minute booking but they did an amazing up do with a French plait with spray roses and wild wax flowers.
Chris wore a 3-piece midnight blue tailored suit with white shirt and bow tie by P Johnson, a Sydney based Tailor. He also wore a peacock feather boutonnieres from etsy and initialed cuff links.
The best man and groomsmen wore their own suits in grey with the peacock feather boutonniere too.
Our wedding venue was Lauderdale House in Highgate, London.
Our friends and family were just incredible at helping make the wedding happen, we’re forever grateful. Plus it was so much fun.
Mary and Julia wore high waisted floral skirts from Oasis & pastel tops as a contrast. They also wore smaller versions of my diamond necklace as a thank you gift for being my best friends and bestest bridesmaids a girl could hope for.
Having organised our wedding from abroad I met our original florist for the first time a week before the wedding in London but decided their style wasn’t right after-all.
My savior and fabulous friend Georgie Rechner put me in touch with her friend and florist Rebecca Clarkson who was miraculously available and saved the day. I don’t know what we’d have done without her.
Her gorgeous pastel colour palette, flower choices and vases were just perfect. I love this girl! My bouquet was a mixture of pastel David Austin Roses, coral spray roses, lavender, wild flowers and green foliage.
The wedding party walked from a flat in a converted church across the road that we rented over the weekend to stay and get ready in.
My amazing Dad, Bob Hatfield gave me away. We walked down the aisle to my all-time favourite song: Wonderwall by Oasis covered by Ryan Adams.
Our vows hit me harder than I expected, I couldn’t get my words out and Chris’ vows were so beautiful.
Chris and I met at work in London but actually saw each other on Guardian Soulmates. Some ridiculous emails and work flirting ensued and the rest is history.
The incredible Andy and Szerdi from Knot Just Pics based in South Africa were our wedding photographers.
We are very lucky to have such amazing friends who would travel from so far. Chris and Andy are childhood friends.
We went to Szerdi and Andy’s wedding in Mozambique, which was incredible – so we were very honoured they could be guests and our photographers too.
They captured the day perfectly. We love them forever.
We borrowed some handmade bunting and table cloths from my gorgeous sister in-law. Monique’s wedding was stunning so we were lucky! I also ordered some giant balloons and pom poms from Pom Pom Studio. (Incidentally someone stole our largest helium balloon in the park from the railing. I hope that person is ashamed!)
We also hired some stage letters – a ‘T&C’ that lit up behind the piano which we loved. They were from Vowed and Amazed.
My fabulous friend Katie McAllister made some pastel coloured cranes that we hung over the cake brought all the way to London from Sydney. We had a table dressed with washing lines which we pegged pics of us, family and friends onto. We also had the obligatory polaroid camera, moustaches/glasses on sticks as props and penny sweets for guests.
And my gorgeous bridesmaid has the most stunning hand-writing. She wrote ALL of our invites and the signs around the wedding on blackboards. Thank you Mary!
We chose a beautiful song called Bones by Michael Kiwanuka as our first dance song.
My brother Luke, his gorgeous fiancé (and singer/actress) Joanna Woodward and friend Phil played a few songs from our band days which (apart from the marriage bit) made our day. We absolutely love them for doing that for us.
Then we had a 3x piece swing band to kick off the dancing. Luke is a swing teacher at Swing Patrol in Dalston where an amazing band often play: made up of Louise on double bass and singing, Dakota Jim on accordion, and magic Mike Henry on cornet.
We hired them to play some swing music at our wedding followed by some superbly crafted spotify playlists by our gorgeous friend Georgie Rechner.
If you could impart any words of wisdom to future brides planning their wedding day, what would they be?
Try not to plan a wedding from abroad, fly across the world and only give yourself 6x days in the country prior to the wedding… you might get sick and lose your voice! BUT enjoy every minute, have so much fun and take some time-out as newly-weds on the day to take it all in.
If you plan your own wedding, you need to be able to rely on others on the your big day so give your bridesmaids and groomsmen lot of responsibilities!
What was your most memorable moment of the day?
As well as our vows, the other standout memory is all of our friends and family coming together to help us celebrate from all corners of the world. Amazing.
What a totally fab wedding! Massive congrats to Thea and Chris and thank you so much to Knot Just Pics for sharing this wedding pretty with the WTW blog.
wedding credits / photographer: knot just pics / wedding venue: lauderdale house / brides dress: fur coat no knickers / grooms suit: pjt / brides shoes: rachel simpson / grooms shoes: russell and bromley / grooms and groomsmen boutonnairre: etsy / bridesmaid dresses: oasis / bridesmaid shoes: their own / hair & makeup: heads and tails / florist: battersea flower station / wedding cake: primrose bakery / catering: egg & spoon / giant letters: vowed and amazed
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