“Dancing, Sparkles, Booze!” That’s how this lovely couple described their wedding and we’re huge fans. There really isn’t much not to love about their day, what with glorious photography by Sasha Weddings, stunning London venue Hoxton Hall as the location and incredible greenery florals throughout.
WWW readers Alice and Adam chose to wed on the 2nd September 2017 with a botanical and gold sequin theme. The foliage really provided the perfect clean backdrop for the sparkles, especially the gold sequin bridesmaids and greenery bouquets combo. How lush! The style didn’t end there though with Alice wearing a dreamy tulle gown by Maggie Sottero and Adam donning a timeless Reiss suit. Wow.
The theatre venue really set the tone for the day and I adore the copper frame backdrop to the ceremony. The food choices must have gone down a storm with guests, I mean pizza, bagels, donuts and a a DIY free bar? Amazing. There are so many cool wedding ideas here today that I think will really inspire you.
THE PROPOSAL | Alice: It was my birthday in August 2016 and after a bit of a wind up with very unimpressive presents (by which I mean a facemask sample for example.) Adam unveiled a beautiful Tiffany&Co necklace. This meant that I felt totally spoilt and so I would not guess that there would be anything else happening that day! After a birthday breakfast and a stroll around the local Horniman Museum & Gardens, we had a sit down on a secluded park bench. This is when Adam casually presented the ring, and I immediately burst into tears for a good 20 minutes. To an onlooker it would have definitely looked like I was being dumped!
THE VISION | No theme as such, just a mix of botanical and gold sparkles in a beautiful Victorian music hall.
We wanted the day to be relaxed, fun and full of dancing and drinking! For us, the day needed to make sense for us as a couple – a formal hotel set-up just wouldn’t have been that.
We fleetingly looked at getting married outside of London, but in the end it just made so much sense to get married where we live. A lot of friends and family are local, which also meant that we weren’t making everyone pay lots of money to travel halfway across the country. That said, we were fortunate enough to have friends that were able to travel from Australia and NYC to spend the day with us!
The running joke up to the wedding was that the only reason we were getting married was so Adam could put on a 5 hour disco. The carefully crafted playlist was probably the element that had the most amount of time and effort spent on it! On the day, he did not leave the dancefloor at all!
We wanted fun and real food, and being in the middle of the city meant that culinary delights were easily accessible! We ordered lots of food in boxes in; Voodoo Rays’ 22” pizzas for the wedding breakfast, Brick Lane bagels for evening snacks, and Krispy Kremes for sweet treats.
THE PLANNING PROCESS | We were both agreed that we didn’t want wedding planning to take over our lives and with demanding day jobs and a strict budget we endeavoured to make it as simple as possible!
Hoxton Hall was the first and only venue we visited, as it ticked the location, style and price boxes. After that, we took one decision at a time so we were never really overwhelmed by it!
THE VENUE | Hoxton Hall, N1 London
THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES |
Dress: “Gina” dress, by Rebecca Ingram (Maggie Sottero Designs)
Earrings: Stephanie Browne
Shoes: Phase Eight
FINDING THE DRESS | Alice: I found this the most stressful bit. I really did not want to spend a lot of money on a dress and I also preferred a “matte” look (very difficult in a bridal boutique where there is diamonte everywhere…).
As is the cliché, I chose a dress which was very different to the simple modern style that I had thought I’d go for; a whimsical lace number with a beautiful detailed back.
Rebecca Ingram presents themselves as for the “budget conscience bride” – so not a surprise that I found a dress in this collection that felt very special (but also one that I could enjoy wearing because it hadn’t cost an absolute fortune).
Purchased in Grace and Lace in Chelmsford, Essex.
GROOM’S ATTIRE | Adam: I wanted a classy, textured suit, miles away from the shiny wedding suit. Always been a fan of a Reiss suit, really nice cut, and a timeless quality. Plus comfy and not too formal.
THE READINGS & MUSIC | No readings, as everything felt very twee and not at all for us, so decided to not have any!
Bride walked in to “Then He Kissed her” (The Crystals).
For the signing of the register, a trio of Beatles tracks (Adam’s love of The Beatles).
BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | Alice: I absolutely love sequins, and I wanted them all to feel super special and glam! So full length sequin gowns were a clear choice! Walking down to Old Street at 1am after the wedding, the bridesmaids successfully stopped traffic, so I think they did the job.
My sister, Amy (Jenny Packham for Debenhams).
Friends and Groom’s sister (Goddiva).
THE FLOWERS | Grace and Thorn.
This super cool florist, local to the venue, had a ‘Ready to Wear’ collection of wedding flowers, which has the “no fuss couple in mind”. I knew I just wanted a messy eclectic bouquet of white and green flowers, so I just ordered online and they arrived on the day! This meant we didn’t have to step inside a florist at any point, perfect for saving time and minimising decision-making.
THE CAKE | Alice’s sister made our three tier wedding cake for us. Adam absolutely loves fruit cake and so we decided to go with this classic option.
YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Sasha Weddings– who was an absolute dream on the day, capturing some lovely photos of a camera-awkward bride and groom and lovely portraits of many of our guests. Some of my favourite photos were of the bridesmaids travelling on the London Overground in their sequin dresses – just so cool!
THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | Adam and the groomsmen decorated the entire venue with fairy lights, foliage, and strings of photographs. We transformed our copper wedding arch into a photo frame, hanging rose gold balloons which spelt out our hashtag for the wedding, #HAX (Adam’s surname is Haxell).
Adam’s sister designed our “stationery” which was just beautiful.
THE HONEYMOON | Just booked, we’ll be heading to Hong Kong/Vietnam/Singapore in March for a few weeks (spreads out the fun/treats!).
After the wedding, we just headed down to the south coast for a 2 night gourmet stay at The Gallivant for some R&R.
MEMORABLE MOMENTS | We put on a DIY game of “musical bingo” after speeches where one of Adam’s ushers hosted, and prizes were along the theme of “Something New” (a bag of new potatoes) “Something Old” (an age-defying facemask) etc. It started to get a bit rowdy at this point!
ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Don’t think about it too much, you really don’t have to traipse around all of the venues and florists.
Agree your priorities: we both wanted to do a DIY free bar, more friends than family, and a late night proper disco! These were more important than big fancy floral arrangements and a formal three course meal.
Most important: do what you want to do. So many people try and tell you what you should do, or make you question your decisions, but in the end, it should be about what makes you feel the most comfortable and what speaks to who you both are. As long as you are happy with it, the people who matter will be too. Simple as that.
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |
Photography | Sasha Weddings
Beautiful make-up | Sophie May
Copper wedding arch | Fiery Productions
Engagement ring | Lila’s
Pizza | Voodoo Ray’s Pizza
Venue | Hoxton Hall
Flowers | Grace and Thorn
Now I am totally in the Friday mood. What an incredible celebration.
Thanks so much to Alice and Adam and their photographer Sasha for sharing their amazing wedding with us xo Lou