Colourful & Intimate Riverside Garden Autumn Wedding

Sara and James are gracing us with their beautiful wedding complete with a riverside garden reception at The Bingham Riverhouse in London on the 11th September 2020

They had to move their date from June due to the pandemic and scaled their guest list down from 60 to 30 but nevertheless, they had their best day ever. It’s totally evident to see in these glorious images too, wide smiles and fun moments all round!

There is a lot to fall in love with from their wedding, the colourful blooms, the stylish attire and the boat trip to name just a few. I shall let you soak up every little detail below. Yes!

Sasha Weddings, thank you so much for sharing your beautiful images with us today.

Bingham Riverhouse Wedding

The Proposal

It was my birthday weekend and it was meant to be pretty low-key. The plans I knew about were James and I to meet my mum and sisters for lunch. James had a couple of things to do that morning, so I’d left him to it and met my family slightly earlier. It became apparent we weren’t heading home that evening as we had trapesed through most of Soho, Trafalgar Square, and Covent Garden in the pissing rain. It turns out he’d booked us a small studio apartment in the heart of Soho and had dropped off an overnight bag he packed for me! He’d forgotten my make-up, explaining why he needed time before lunch to buy some with my sister’s help – very sneaky. We had a relatively early night, it was a Sunday night, after all.

The next morning, my actual birthday, James gave me my present in bed, a phone case I’d asked for. With all his planning, theatre and dinner the night before, I hadn’t expected anything more. When he said he had something else for me, I didn’t know what to expect, but he handed me a box in which sat the most beautiful ring! Needless to say, I said yes!

James explained later on that he’d meant to find somewhere romantic to pop the question the night before, had it all mapped out, but as we got to these spots, the vibe wasn’t quite right. Fortunately, we’re very chilled and a proposal in bed really suits us!

The Vision

Having day-dreamt about my big day for almost my entire life and previously worked in the industry, I was familiar with our options and was in two minds about what kind of wedding I wanted. On one hand, I could see myself as an outdoor wedding bride with flowers in my hair and a country barn reception. On the other, being from a Christian family, I was also drawn to a traditional Christian wedding ceremony with a garden party reception. What we both knew from the start was that we wanted it to be intimate and to have only our favourite people there. James really helped with the decision making and in the end, we agreed on a church ceremony and to keep things fairly local. We romanticised about one day walking past the church and reception venue with our children and be able to say “mummy and daddy got married there”. So an original plan was set for a bright, colourful, early June affair.

Our June festivities weren’t meant to be. Our invitations were sent out before we knew Covid was going to impact our big day in a big way. The upheaval of our plans was particularly tough for me as there was pressure from family to move the wedding to 2021, so I could have my dream day. Our biggest challenge was knowing close family overseas may not be able to attend. Most importantly, my dad coming home to the UK from Singapore where he works (and where I’m from) and James’ brother (and best man!) who was working in locked-down Greece. Digging deep, James and I knew we just wanted to be married. Turmoil ensued when we had to cut our guest list down from 60 to 30, causing huge family tensions and constant guilt that we’re letting friends down. Uncertainty was a daily struggle and we didn’t know until a couple of weeks before the wedding whether we were allowed 30 or not. We stuck to our guns though, and everything fell into place. Even the sun shone on our unusually balmy September day. Whilst we regret that some of our most cherished people couldn’t be there to celebrate with us, we still had the best day of our lives!

Budget

Our wedding was gearing up to cost around £30,000 but came down to £17,000 because of Covid restrictions and some supplier cancellations. We had booked an exciting 4-piece folk-style band for the evening, a really cool state of the art photo booth, and a phenomenal harpist for the ceremony but had to cancel them due to reduced numbers and social distancing restrictions.

The Venue

We’d decided early on that we wanted our wedding to be close to where we live in the Richmond – Twickenham area. It definitely helped our focus as there are many beautiful venues out there.

The church was the first venue I started scouting for and fell in love with St Stephen’s Church in Twickenham almost immediately. I was won over by its impressive architecture and the stained glass murals behind the alter. We loved the strings of fairy lights in the small courtyard garden at the front. Inside, the building feels naturally bright, warm and welcoming and the congregation and pastoral staff were even more so! As soon as I stepped into the church, I knew it was a match made in heaven! It isn’t at all stuffy or old-fashioned, but instead easy-going and chilled – I felt very much at home. Even our non-religious guests commented that our pastor, Rachel, is one of the coolest reverends they’ve heard.

It really didn’t take long to decide on our reception venue. There were a couple of contenders, but we only went to see one, The Bingham Riverhouse. It’s a gorgeous boutique hotel we regularly pass whilst walking our dog. From the riverside, we often heard fun noises of parties and weddings coming from the other side of the wall. Sometimes we’ve tried to peak in – but it’s quite a tall wall! Now we know what it looks like from the inside. It’s an absolutely stunning modern twist on a period townhouse. It’s luxurious and elegant without being ostentatious or over the top. The garden rooms that open out into the river-view garden felt just right for our intimate numbers. On the terrace, the canopy glittered with strings of fairy lights makes the venue truly magical in the evening. We hoped that early June would bring us lovely Spring sunshine to enjoy the gardens into the night.

We had exclusive use of the garden rooms and garden for our reception. Along with a few of our family, we stayed overnight in bedrooms that are also gorgeously decorated – the Bridal room has a deep standalone copper bath with views out to the river!

The event team at the Bingham, Amy and Emma, were on hand to answer all our questions initially and later on were such tremendous support when we devastatingly had to move our wedding date due to Covid-induced restrictions. Amy worked incredibly hard, putting up with my emotional emails and responding quickly to find a new date that worked for us and our suppliers, finally landing us a rare Friday date in September. Amy navigated through the difficulties around the table settings with social-distancing rules and ever-changing restricted numbers with us right up to the last minute when we finally knew there could be 30 of us. We even managed to get a food tasting evening in before our wedding as the food needed to impress what with James previously being a head chef – the food was superb!

Whilst our plans and vision changed dramatically, these two venues remained the foundation for our big day and remain supremely precious to us now.

Your Outfits

James initially thought he might get a tweed suit specially made, but with Covid and lockdown, there were a few logistical challenges. In the end, James bought his blue three-piece suit from high-street brand Charles Tyrwhitt and it looked and felt great paired with his chestnut brown leather Loake shoes!

I started dress shopping soon after our engagement and knew the sort of silhouettes I wanted to try on. I was torn between something flowy, whimsical and boho or a fuller Cinderella. My mum also wanted to see me in a slinky mermaid gown. After visiting three different shops, I wasn’t blown away and nearly settled on an okay dress and booked to go back to try it on again. Resolutely, I looked online for one more shop to visit, determined to fall in love with ‘the’ dress.

Js Couture in Marylebone had amazing reviews, so I booked in a visit before committing to the other dress. This beautiful dress shop is light, airy and everybody who works there are so friendly, unpretentious and not at all patronising! Jade, my dedicated shop assistant, asked me what I was looking for and I showed her a few reference pictures. She pulled out a dress from the back of a rack, and a couple of others for me to try on. As soon as I put on the first dress, I knew it was the one.

My creative background influences my design choices and for me, it’s all about simplicity with subtle but deliberate details. This Ellis Bridal gown is just the perfect balance of architectural and feminine – off-shoulder, dainty bow on the waist leading into a structural box-pleated ball gown skirt with delicate buttons running all the way down the train. Jessie and the team were superb when it came to alterations even through the challenges of lockdown and having to reschedule my fittings. My sparkly Jimmy Choos hid under my hem most of the day, but I knew they were there! The perfect finish to my outfit was a very long, plain and simple veil which I also bought from them. It was really emotional picking up my dress and veil, it was like leaving family for university!

I must also mention our fantastic jewellery designer, Simon Wright. Together with James, Simon custom-created my exquisite engagement ring. We also designed my wedding band to fit snuggly around the central oval sapphire of my engagement ring. Simon’s workmanship and design process were faultless and the result is truly magnificent. I admire my rings every day!

My hair and face were professionally perfected by the wonderful Danielle from Elevate Bridal. She was super calm and lovely, despite being heavily pregnant by September. Danielle definitely set my day off to a great start and immaculately created the relaxed and natural look I desired which remarkably lasted all day and night!

My bridesmaid dresses were chosen by gorgeous bridesmaids themselves – I wanted them to feel great walking me down the church! Armed with a selection of colours based on our wedding stationery, the girls found elegant dresses from Ghost London that suited them beautifully in different shades of seafoam. Our flowers really popped against these dresses!

The Ceremony & Music

We had initially arranged to have an incredible harpist, Claire Jones, to play before and during the ceremony, but due to Covid and limited numbers, we had to limit the suppliers in attendance to accommodate more guests. Instead, we used our church’s PA system and created a Spotify playlist for all of our music.

Our flower girls and page boy lead the way down the nave to an instrumental version of Can’t Help Falling In Love. As we couldn’t sing indoors at the time, we played our favourite hymn, Amazing Grace, through the speakers. One of my bridesmaids gave a heartfelt reading from the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13, and Reverend Rachel gave a short but brilliant sermon. We exited to the joyful sounds of Higher & Higher by Jackie Wilson!

Your Photographer & Filmmaker

Photography and videography were at the top of my list of things never to scrimp on, no matter the cost or size of the wedding. Photos (and videos) are paramount to keeping the memory of the day alive forevermore so these were, besides the venues, the most important decisions we made in the planning process.

For photos, we knew that we wanted a casual reportage style which told the story of the day as it happened, rather than anything staged, posed or cheesy. James and I butt heads when it comes to photographic treatment! I’m all about soft-focus, ethereal, dreamy and romantic photos whilst James prefers clear, bright, contrasty and vibrant shots. In the end, I’d won this battle and we’re both in agreement that Sasha Weddings was the right choice for our day. Sasha was very inconspicuous throughout our day, it’s surprising how she managed to get so many beautiful shots. Us and all of our guests felt so comfortable around her, barely noticing as she captured intimate and special details we missed in all the hubbub and adrenaline, but now revisit and reminisce with.

Our video was shot and produced by Ben Tynegate. After watching umpteen wedding videos searching for a videographer, I was immediately enthralled with Ben’s cinematic style, architectural framing and the stories he told – they made me cry and I didn’t even know the couples! On the day, he was like a stealthy ninja, discreetly capturing all the scenes he needed to tell our story. Our family and friends really enjoyed watching the videos and sing so many praises about them. I’ve also watched them many times over, each time I’m touched and teary. It was the best investment we made as our memories will be kept alive and shared with our loved ones forevermore!

The Styling & Decor

Flowers

Flowers played a huge part of our day and it was this detail both James and I were extremely fastidious about. In fact, our flowers were based on our wedding invitations on which featured a colourful and beautifully illustrated bouquet of Eastern and Western flowers. My friend and designer extraordinaire, Freya, designed our beautiful invitations and stationery.

Our colours may seem loose and wild from afar, but we provided Catherine, our awesome florist, a carefully curated colour palette to work with. We wanted our flowers to represent us and ‘East meets West’, to include oriental flowers such as orchids, chrysanthemums and birds of paradise and Western classics such as peonies, double flowering tulips and forget me nots. For our new September date, seasonal swaps were made from peonies to dahlias and large chrysanthemums, and double tulips replaced with roses. I wanted my bouquet to be loose and sprawling with a few structural grasses and stems. Inside the church, we had large urn displays at the alter and lined the aisles with six giant balloons on silk ribbons. Catherine really understood what we were after, shared our vision and executed it with flourish! We especially loved the two archway pillars framing our church doors that were moved to the Bingham’s garden after the service along with the large urn displays.

Cake

Little Ray’s Cake Company made our delicious two-tiered cake. One tier was tropical flavoured; an utterly scrumptious coconut and lime sponge with passionfruit and mango buttercream and curd. The other was a delectable red velvet sponge with cream cheese buttercream. Lauren was a joy to work with on the design and creation of our scrummy and beautifully decorated semi-naked cake. She’d popped in and set the cake up on the stand before we arrived at the Bingham, it was brilliant!

The Honeymoon

We planned the trip of a lifetime to Sri Lanka, our favourite place. We’d been before and there was still so much more of the country to see, so it was really sad that we couldn’t go. Instead, we still had an amazing honeymoon in Greece. It was our first time visiting Greece and were totally enchanted by the food, people and beaches on the islands of Crete, Sifnos, Naxos and Santorini.

Memorable Moments

My dad and I in the extravagant opened vintage Rolls driving through Richmond Park and the wind blowing my hair everywhere is a great memory. As was seeing deer and waving to ramblers!

I managed to mess up my vows in our ceremony when I couldn’t get my words out, this made everybody laugh and was captured in our film, so lives on. It was funny to watch back!

The river crossing was definitely one of our favourite parts of the day! Master boatbuilder, Mark Edwards and a couple of his strong men oared us in three large boats 15 minutes down the river from Hammerton’s pontoon to the mooring just behind the Bingham. This was a wonderful opportunity for James and I to relax and spend a moment taking it all in. It was so great to see all our guests enjoying themselves, waving to passers-by and the glorious sight of the giant balloons we brought with us from the church floating along the waterway.

Advice For Other Couples

The day flies by and it’s over before you know it! Prioritise having a great videographer and photographer capture all the detail so that you can relive it again and again.

Befriend and appreciate your suppliers, you’ll never know when you may need them on your side and accommodating an unexpected change or request.

Accept that some things are out of your control and let it go. Instead of striving for perfection, focus your energy into enjoying spending time with your new husband or wife, friends and family.

A smaller wedding isn’t all that bad. Not only did we save lots of money, but we had a chance to spend priceless moments with each of our absolute favourite people. If you have to have a smaller day than anticipated, it may feel devastating at first, but don’t lose heart or hope that it’ll still be the best day you’ve ever had!

Sometimes the smallest things bring the greatest joy. The boats and giant balloons were the cheapest elements of our wedding, yet were what everybody remembers as their favourites.

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Oh wow. Just gorgeous.

Sara and James thank you so much for sharing your very special Bingham Riverhouse wedding with us, what an honour it’s been.

The post Colourful & Intimate Riverside Garden Autumn Wedding first appeared on Whimsical Wonderland Weddings.