60s vibes, dancing all day long and a laid back reception at my favourite London pub venue. Saira and Jim’s wedding was always going to be a lot of fun to shoot. Saira and Jim met at university but went their separate ways afterwards, only to be reunited by what was essentially a booty call! Scroll down to the bottom to read about their 60s inspired Peasant wedding in their own words.
Here’s what they had to say about their London wedding photography
We discovered Laura’s work on a few wedding websites and immediately fell in love. We didn’t even look at other photographers. So we were pinning our hopes on Laura wanting to work with us, which we told her when we met her! We decided that we would either spend money on a photographer and have an unplugged wedding or not have one at all. We soon realised that we did not have enough friends and family that were good at taking casual photos and that could remain present throughout the day so we decided that we would invest in a high quality, timeless photographer. And that is what we think of Laura’s work when we look at it. Working with Laura and Pete in the run up to the wedding was brilliant. If we had any questions or ideas we never felt that we were bothering them or asking silly questions. This was important among all of the suppliers that we used and we would say that it’s another piece of advice. You’re spending a lot of money on your wedding day, work with people that value you and want to work with you as much you want to work with them. On the day Laura and Pete were amazing. They slotted into the day perfectly and we gave ourselves over to Laura whenever she decided she wanted us to climb on things or get into alley ways! If we could work with her again we would in a heartbeat. Most of all, when Laura asked on our first meeting what look we wanted and how Saira wanted to be represented on the day, Laura did not bat an eyelid when Saira said “I want it to be like Diana Ross and the Supremes.” That’s when we knew that Babb Photo was for us!
Ahh thanks guys, we loved working with you!
Scroll to the end to read more and for the credits.
The Beginning
We first met 11 years ago when we were living in the same university halls flat. The moment I saw her I had butterflies in my stomach. Saira was not so smitten on first sight or rather sound apparently I was “so Essex it was hard to understand what I was saying!”.
But luckily once she could understand me we did hit it off pretty well. To meet the person who you will go on to spend the rest of your life with, on the first day of University, living in the same flat, is so lucky! I look back on those years as some of the best of my life and a large part of that is down to being with Saira during that time.
After Uni we broke up for a period, affectionately known to us as “The Lost Years”.
Then out of the blue one evening in 2013 as I was walking home I got a text from an unknown number. Saira got back in touch. We exchanged a few messages and then at the end of the evening I said good night and didn’t think much more of it. A couple of weeks later I got a text from her asking if I was out that night. I was out and remember talking it over with a friend at work, unsure if I should meet her or not, what did she want? As the evening went on I met Drew and dragged him into an old man’s pub to meet Saira as it was “on the way”. That was almost three years ago.
So that is the story of how Saira making a booty call rekindled our relationship!
We got engaged in May 2015. We had been out for lunch for Jim’s birthday. Once we had got home I was trying desperately to sort out the blinds and Jim kept calling me and I kept telling him I was busy with the blinds! When I finally turned around he was down on one knee with his great-grandmothers engagement ring. We were engaged for 17 months before we got married.
The Outfits
Jim loved the mohair fabric of his suit. It gave it quite a luxurious feel. The colour was lighter than most wedding suits and it looked really striking against the burgundy that we had chosen as he accent colour for the day. Jim and his best men went for slim fit suits to go with the 60s vibe that was a loose theme for the day. Jim had the lightest colour suit and then from the best men to the father of the bride and the father of the groom the suits got darker shades of grey. They all worse the same tie, shirts, cufflinks and socks.
As we had always planned an informal wedding I wanted to have an informal dress. I didn’t think a traditional long dress would have a) suited me and b)gone with our venue. I had an idea of the sort of dress I wanted and went to try a few on. Before we got engaged my dress-maker friend Alice, had said she would not make another wedding dress for a while. So it came as a shock when she offered to do mine! Alice said that after I had shown her pictures of the sort of dresses I liked she went away and decided that she wanted to make it. I love my dress because it is completely bespoke. The journey that we went on from choosing the fabric to having a belt made was really special. Alice’s knowledge is invaluable and I don’t think I want to buy anything from a shop ever again! It was a fun dress that was full of movement.
The Venues
We really wanted to have a London wedding. We were both born and brought up here so it was really important for us to celebrate our wedding in our home town. The two venues couldn’t have been more London if they tried. Islington Town Hall is simply stunning. It is round, so it also meant that every guest could enjoy the ceremony and feel included. From the moment we went to see the Peasant we really loved all the staff their vibe. Especially Nick, he plans so meticulously, we really had no worries about our day. The pub is delightfully Victorian and reminds us in layout of the Queen Vic (arguably the most famous East End pub!!!!!). Decor wise there is nothing that needed doing to the Peasant as it’s already beautiful. It’s a very relaxed venue and that, for us, really suited what we wanted to achieve. Which was a relaxed, fun day with a massive party on the other side! We really like that at the Peasant your guests can choose their own food on the day. We’re big foodies so that was a big draw for us and it has been a focal point for our guests who keep raving about it!
The Styling
We were really keen to have as much of our wedding sourced from London as possible and That Flower Shop was an obvious choice. The flowers produced by Hattie and her team are outstanding. We wanted dark, autumnal, almost moody flowers and when we met with Hattie and Alice they were on board with that from the start. The Peasant is already an amazing venue so massive centre pieces were not required and this was another reason that we chose That Flower Shop. The natural and undone look of the flowers meant that they fitted it perfectly with the eclectic look of the Peasant. My bouquet, the bridesmaids posies and the buttonholes were just the classiest flowers. When we got them on the day Jim whatsapped me to tell me their buttonholes were buff!
The Ceremony
Our ceremony was written for us by our lovely friend Samantha who was also our registrar. She asked people close to us what they thought of us and incorporated their answers into the ceremony. This was lovely and it meant that people got a shout out during the ceremony. Samantha also did a group vow where she asked our guests to commit their support to us during our journey into marriage and everyone has to shout “we do!” This was a beautiful touch. We wrote our own vows and removed anything negative because for us that’s just a given. Instead we promised to encourage one another to be the greatest and promised to be the best people we can be for the other.
The music before and during the ceremony was all Motown. neither of us could resist having a little dance. Saira walked down the aisle to “Get Ready” by the temptations. When we say walked we mean danced down the aisle!
We had two readings that Samantha found for us. One was called invisible kisses, by Lemn Sissay which Saira’s uncle read. Jim’s aunt read a quote from Bob Marley called “he’s not perfect.” Both readings had the right amount of sentiment but didn’t detract from the sense of fun we wanted to convey throughout our day.
We felt really lucky having our ceremony written for us. Lots of our guests said it was one of the highlights. They all enjoyed how personal but light-hearted it was.
The Dancing
Our first dance was Never too much by Luther Vandross. Why not?!?! It is a siiiiiiiiiick song and if you listen to those lyrics, Luther was the King of Romance!
We had a DJ in the evening. Nick at the Peasant recommended Lee, who DJs a lot there. He did not disappoint. We loved him from when we met him to discuss what sort of music that we wanted to have played. He got us immediately. He even comes out from behind his decks for a cheeky dance.
We had a photo booth in the evening. People love it! Ours came with a guestbook, so each time your guests visited the booth you got a copy of their print to go in the book. It’s a great alternative to the traditional guest book. We’ve had lots of fun post-wedding looking at everyone’s pictures.
The Words of Wisdom
Make sure you budget. We did and it really helped us focus our ideas. Decide where you want to spend your money, what is going to be most important for you? Ours were photographer, reception venue and music. Then everything else panned out from there.
Nobody knows the details of the wedding that you’ve planned. So if something doesn’t pull off don’t worry about it, No one else knows it was meant to happen! We told ourselves this a few weeks before and it meant we didn’t worry in the run to the wedding, thankfully everything went as planned but if it hadn’t it would have only been us that knew about it.
Everyone says it, but it is true, try and take some time with your partner after the ceremony to chill out together, because after that you don’t really have any time alone until your night’s over.
Enjoy it! Be a guest at your own wedding. Try not to host it as you would a party, your venue is there for that. Remember that all these people have come for you so enjoy it as much as they are. You’ve planned so much, relish in it.
The Credits
Saira’s dress was made by her friend Alice as her gift.
Saira wore a watch from Larsson & Jennings that Jimmy bought for her before the wedding https://www.larssonandjennings.com/
Jewellery – all rings, wedding and engagement from http://www.lewismalka.com/
Saira’s shoes – https://www.sophiawebster.com/
Jimmy’s shoes – http://www.loake.co.uk/
Florist – http://www.thatflowershop.co.uk/
Venue – Islington Town Hall http://sayidoislington.com/ceremony-venues/town-hall/
Venue – The Peasant http://www.thepeasant.co.uk/
Cake – Made by Saira’s life long family friend Sharon as her gift
Bridesmaid dresses – https://www.madewell.com/uk/index.jsp
Grooms suit –http://www.jaeger.co.uk/
Bestmen suits – http://eu.suitsupply.com/en_GB/home
Stationary – http://www.feelgoodinvites.com/
Entertainment – Photo booth from King of the Booth – http://www.kingofthebooth.co.uk/
Transport – http://www.eleganceweddingcars.co.uk/ and http://www.redroutemaster.com/
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Absolutely Wonderful!
Thank you, Angus!