Mr + Mrs O’Neill

Wedding Date: 24 July 2021 | Brickhouse Vineyard | Guests: 35

Instagram: @jadeelizaoneill @paperbelles | Photos: Emma Barrow Photography

Mr + Mrs Garrett-Levy

19th June 2021 | Iscoyd Park

Instagram: @frangarrettlevy @willgarrettlevy | Guests: 50 | Photos: @ailsareevephotography

This modern city elopement shoot has 2021 vibes written all over it, from the chic outfit choices to the dried bouquet - and we're obsessed! The stripped back bridal look is very contemporary with simple hair and makeup and accents of gold. Married couple Jordan & Kezia were the models and shoot organisers and were inspired by the notion that love always wins, with the photo story of the shoot focussing on their love.

Aneeqa and Daniel

Sunday 27th June 2021 | The Georgian House, Edinburgh

Instagram: @danwmullen91 @itsaneeqa | Guests: 17 | Photos: Sage Photography

Katie and Callum had their engagement shoot in Wood Dalling, on their family farm. They are in the process of planning their rustic pastels wedding, and their wedding reception will be held on the family farm too, so it was a great opportunity to find their favourite photo locations and backdrops. The couple were engaged back in 2018, and it was a super romantic Christmas proposal with the whole family there to witness the moment; how special!

Pia and Jorge began planning their dream Spanish wedding since that's where they first met, however with the pandemic travel restrictions tightening they decided to push it back one year until August 2022. They decided they could wait for the wedding, but not to be married, and so they planned an intimate registry office ceremony in June. The bride wore a gorgeous pink suit from Zara and a chic shoulder length veil! If part 1 is this beautiful, we certainly can't wait to see part 2, their big Spanish affair, next year!

Tell us all about your wedding theme and colour scheme...

We should have been getting married with 110 friends and family in the North of Spain (where Jorge is from) this August. Due to travel restrictions we postponed quite early in the year (around February) but in May this year we decided we still wanted to get married. We realised it was just not being able to have a wedding stopping us from getting married. So we had a pandemic style, intimate ceremony, followed by a casual lunch in a Spanish tapas restaurant with our three guests. Colour scheme wise, we both love pink and I wanted to be a bit different and save white for my wedding dress next year. I urmed and ahhed over my outfit for weeks, but eventually found a pink coord suit from Zara that was perfect. Jorge wore a pink shirt like he always does, and my flowers had touches of blush in - similar to what we’d planned for our Spanish wedding. We wanted to keep things low key and casual, but also special. 

What kind of ceremony did you have?

We got married in Woolwich Town Hall, as we live locally in Greenwich. The ceremony itself was short - no readings, but we read our own vows. 

What was your favourite part of the day? 

I have a few - my oldest friend Laura coordinating the zoom session with our families, she speaks both English and Spanish and did an incredible job at keeping everyone in the loop and following the ceremony. I also loved looking at each other in the eyes and reading our vows after almost 14 years together. And lastly when our puppy Flo (@Little_Flo_Cavapoo) came down to Woolwich to join us after the ceremony. 

What was the most emotional moment of the day? 

The ceremony - I cried my eyes out as soon as it started and couldn’t stop crying the whole time! Even Jorge cried. 

Advice for future brides… 

Having a pandemic style wedding made me realise what it was all about - just the two of us, sealing our love. Love always wins, people will be happy for you whatever you decide to do. Don’t forget why you’re marrying your person and to be true to yourselves when you plan your special day.

Did you have have anything unusual at your wedding?  

Well apart from my pink outfit… We just did what we wanted to do rather than what we thought we had to do. We had cake and champagne before the ceremony, we just got in an Uber to the town hall. 

What was your favourite wedding purchase? 

My Zara suit & my pink Gigi and Olive veil - after weeks of trying to find the right outfit, as soon as I tried it I knew it was perfect for the vibe I wanted. Plus the veil was so cool and I knew no one else I knew would have a pink veil on their wedding day!

Tell us all about the dress and dress shopping… 

I loved wedding dress shopping for the big wedding, but found shopping for this occasion harder. There’s very few affordable civil ceremony dresses out there, and a lot of them are white, which I had decided I didnt want. It took me a few weeks, 1000s of £ worth of ASOS and Zara orders (and returns) later to find the one. Even then people had opinions about the suit - it was too short/too trendy/not timeless, but I ended up sticking with my gut in an outfit I felt awesome in. And now I can keep wearing it again after the wedding. I felt incredible in it during the day and have had so many people ask me where its from - I actually feel bad as it went in the sale a few weeks ago and sold out!

Tell us all about your wedding cake...

We had a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting and home made jam. The cake was designed and made by a friend of a friend, who we recently discovered this year. She’s incredible and lives locally and takes time to talk through what you’re after texture, flavour and style wise. The cake was beautifully elegant, light and simple - perfect for our day.

What food did you have at your wedding?  

We ate cake and drank Moet at our home before the ceremony with our guests. After the ceremony we went to Ember Yard in Soho for a late lunch at 5pm, which is a little Spanish tapas place. Because after all we should have been marrying in Spain! The croquettes were to die for. Later that evening (9:30 pm - Spanish style) the two of us went to Galvin La Chapelle, a French Michelin starred restaurant in London, where we ate a 7 course tasting menu with paired wines. Safe to say I was a bit tipsy afterwards!

Who was your favourite supplier?

Lewis (our photographer) was hands down our best supplier and the best decision we made. Despite not meeting him in person before our ceremony, it felt like we’d known him for ages. He was so lovely and personable and followed me on Instagram before the wedding and got to know us, even before we'd committed to him. J and I can be super awkward at pictures but the pictures look effortless. What I love the most is how much he captured the emotion of our day, you can really feel it through the pictures. 

Best wedding splurge: Champagne - because really it’s not a wedding without some. We drank champagne for about a week and still have lots of bottles left!

Is there anything you wish you'd done differently?

We live near the Blackwall Tunnel which is notorious for traffic. Whilst we endeavoured to leave enough time (or so we thought!) we were 5 mins late to the ceremony. Luckily they still had us, despite telling our photographer we needed to have been there 20 minutes earlier. But that was a stressful car journey, so I definitely wish we had left more time. 

Were there any surprises on the day?

Alun Wyn Jones - captain of the British and Irish Lions rugby team sent me a good luck video (I lead the Vodafone x Lions partnership on social for work, and my lovely team sorted that out for me and sent it the night before. They’d only found out that day I was getting married the next day - safe to say I burst into tears. Jorge hadn’t a clue who he was… eye rolll!

What was the funniest moment of the day?

We wrote our own vows which you have to submit a few weeks before the ceremony, so the registrar can check them, we never heard anything back. On the day the registrar told us we were going to have to read the standardised vows because they hadn’t received my vows and Jorge’s were deemed “inappropriate”.  I really wanted to read our own vows, in our original wedding plans we were to legally marry in a Spanish civil ceremony on the Friday, with my brother conducting a “blessing” ceremony on the big wedding itself - so it was really important to us to keep this personalised element of the civil ceremony. Eventually they found my vows and they were considered too long, Jorge’s were redacted to remove the inappropriate line about my “beautiful bum” and how he promised to love me until I inevitably divorced him for his snoring. The funny thing was his first vow to me was “I promise to continue to make you laugh at inappropriate moments” well he had started as he meant to go on, that’s for sure!

Funniest wedding photograph: The photos where I’m cracking up laughing at Jorge during his vows. 

Worst wedding planning moment: 

Postponing our big wedding - even though it was 100% the right decision, it was still really sad and then knowing pretty much all of our family and friends couldn’t come to our legal day. It’s so hard making that decision. 

Tell us about your Honeymoon...

We haven’t been able to go on a honeymoon yet, but we checked into the Treehouse London in soho for the night and that was pretty cool. We got one of the Lookout King rooms, so had amazing views to sip champagne that evening and eat breakfast the next day.

What was your wedding budget – and did you stick to it? 

We didn’t want to spend more than £2000 on the day, because we are still planning our big wedding next year. We kept just around this number in the end.

Top money saving tip: Don’t get sucked into all the wedding stuff you think you need - ultimately its about marrying your best friend, your partner, you won’t remember the stuff!