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Real Wedding: Lucy & Chris

Real Wedding: Lucy & Chris

London, traditions and style

A gorgeous wedding venue, historic Marylebone Town Hall, stylish family heirlooms and the enchanting atmosphere of London provided the perfect setting for Lucy and Chris's unique wedding. It is a real memory of the couple's love that reflects the elegance and romance of the British capital. Their attention to detail and the couple's wonderful taste turned their wedding into a fairytale event, intertwining tradition and modern elements. This celebration was full of joy, laughter and emotion. Together Lucy and Chris created a wedding that will be unforgettable not only for them, but for all the witnesses of this magnificent event.

Tell us a little about yourselves. How did you meet? What do you do for a living? What are your hobbies?

We (Chris & Lucy) met in London years ago through work. We both then worked in hospitality. Lucy in PR, Chris in marketing — and Chris was actually Lucy’s client back then! It’s been a long time since we worked together, but it’s still amazing that we understand each other’s worlds. Lucy also has a side business in baking — making wedding cakes and writing cookbooks! We live in Stoke Newington in North London, which is where we also had the reception of our wedding.

Did you have any pre-wedding events, like a rehearsal dinner or bridal shower?

Chris’s stag do was in Margate. It was actually quite like the classic hen do — gorgeous big house, pubs, games, beach walks. And Lucy’s sure plenty of other things she never wants to hear about!

Lucy’s hen do was a London affair, and the chicest of days. Her bridesmaids booked out her favourite restaurant, Rochelle Canteen, for a gorgeous long lunch, before they hit the town for karaoke, dancing and far too many margaritas.

Where was your wedding? Why did you choose this venue?

We always knew we wanted to get married in London. A modern, chic and informal city wedding always felt right for us. Gorgeous as a big white marquee wedding in the countryside is, we never felt like that was very us!

Chris had always loved the idea of getting married at Marylebone Town Hall, mainly because it’s where Paul McCartney got married (twice!). It’s the most beautiful building, and so entrenched in London history. We’d both passed by many times and seen city weddings happening at every time of year, and it felt like such a privilege to join that incredible canon and become a tiny part of the rich tapestry of the place.

For our reception, we knew we wanted to take everyone home with us to Stoke Newington, which is where we live. Sadly our flat definitely wasn’t up to hosting 120 guests, but we quickly settled on West Reservoir, a beautiful old Victorian water building. We've spent the last few years walking past it with morning coffee on Saturdays and it felt perfect for us. We moved everyone from Marylebone to Stoke Newington on two route master buses, where we plied everyone with champagne and cheese biscuits made by Lucy’s mum.

What was the concept behind your wedding and how did you find your inspiration?

We never had Pinterest boards or anything like that. The weddings we drew inspiration from were all quite low key. The original idea was for everyone to go to the pub after the ceremony and have sandwiches on the bar like a proper 50s East London wedding, but I think that would have been a bridge too far for our poor parents!

As a wedding cake maker, Lucy had been lucky enough to see the ‘behind the scenes’ of so many gorgeous weddings, and got a lot of inspiration from the city set ups she’d seen. We did our best to keep trappings to a minimum, and focused instead on all the pieces feeling coherent rather than the focus. We wore nice but simple outfits, reused bridesmaids bouquets as table settings and drew all the menus ourselves. Chris picked up the wine and beer in a van the day before the wedding with his dad and brother, it felt like some kind of low budget comedy sketch.

How long did it take to plan your wedding? Did you encounter any challenges during the planning process?

We got engaged in July 2022 and married in March 2023, so did it all in eight months. People tell us that’s quick, but it was definitely long enough — planning can make you go a bit nuts!

We were pretty lucky that almost all of our first choice of supplies were free (thank you for being an unpopular wedding month, March!). The biggest challenge was probably sticking to our guns on some of the traditional elements we scrapped. Luckily our families were pretty relaxed and trusted our vision for the day!

The timing restrictions also meant that we had to trust others to set up the reception. Looking back, we were pretty relaxed about this, but it was amazing to arrive and see it looking just as we’d planned, despite vague briefs and dreadful hand drawn floor plans on our part.

How many guests did you have? And what was the seating arrangement at the wedding like?

We were capped at 100 for the ceremony due to the size of Marylebone Town Hall, then went up to 130 for the reception. The seating in the ceremony went totally out the window and we had people all over the place, but we didn’t really mind — everyone in there was so important to us, so who needs the bride's side or the groom's side! We didn’t have a top table at the reception, instead going for three huge long tables which were all a glorious mix of family and friends from all parts of our lives.

Tell us about your outfits. How many different styles have you tried?

As someone who’s incredibly exacting about fashion, Lucy surprised everyone (including herself) by making a quick and relatively pain-free decision on the dress. She’s always been really influenced by 70s style and knew she wanted a silk dress, a balloon sleeve and an open back. She adored the shape and cut of Camille Charrière's ceremony dress last year, which definitely played a part in her decision to go ankle length and bias cut with a timeless high neck and nipped waist.

She tracked down something near perfect with Australian brand, Shona Joy. She wore their cut out, balloon sleeve La Lune dress in cream, which she had altered to have button cuffs put in and the hem taken up (she’s 5”3’ so even the midi cut was dragging on the floor!).

The deep cream hue of Lucy's dress ended up being a perfect match for her veil, which was antique — it’s actually 250 years old, and has been worn by brides in her family through the centuries. It’s such a special heirloom which spent 100 years or so in New Zealand before traveling back to London 65 years ago for her Granny’s wedding. Lucy wore a sapphire 1920s bracelet that her Granny left her when she died, along with a pair of her other granny’s yellow emerald earrings. It was gorgeous to feel like they were both there in a small way, even though neither could be. She finished the look with ruched and rugged Loeffler Randall heels, and swapped her veil for a cream silk bow for the reception. After dinner, she changed into a sequin mini dress for dancing, which she tracked down second hand on Vinted.

Chris wore an olive green linen suit from Percival. His decision to go green has influenced at least one future groom who came to our wedding, it’s such a great grooms look.

Lucy's bridesmaids wore their own dresses and all looked amazing. Our niece, Connie, was a flower girl and wore the same dress Lucy wore to do the honours for her auntie and uncle in 1996. It was handmade by Lucy's auntie’s mum, Kay, a really talented seamstress. It was gorgeous to see it get another outing.

What was your first dance song? Did you choreograph or improvise?

We both hated the idea of a first dance and tried hard to resist doing it, but in the end realised it was kind of a moment and we might regret not doing it. We chose ‘Everlasting Love’ by Love Affair, and did about ten seconds of awkward shuffling before our friends and family put us out of our misery!

Music is super important to us and was a big part of the day. The playlist that our guests arrived at the ceremony to was carefully curated over several car journeys. We wanted music that totally represented us — it featured Self Esteem, The Beatles, Elvis Costello, Jessie Ware, Joni Mitchell, Prince, Yusef Cat Stevens, and Mona Lisa and Mad Hatters by Elton John, from one of our favourite films, Almost Famous. Lucy could hear everyone arriving at Self Esteem while she waited with my bridesmaids and remember laughing at the surrealness of it all.

Did you have any special performances or entertainment?

Chris’s sister and her partner made everyone negronis after dinner — a performance of a different kind, and one that went down a treat.

What was the most memorable moment from your wedding day?

There were so many, but it has to be the speeches. We both spoke and we’re so glad we did. It was the most amazing opportunity to tell everyone how much we love them.

Are there any vendors that you would like to tell us a little more about?

Our florist, Lily of Lys London, is such a talent. She did all the flowers for Lucy’s book last year, and pulled it out of the bag again for our wedding. March isn’t the best time for flowers but she created total magic in bouquet form.

Our lighting by BPG Events was also amazing. We had a vision for festoon lighting, hanging from the vaulting, and they made a stark industrial space feel so warm and cosy.

What advice would you give to couples who are currently planning their wedding?

It’s cliche, but try and enjoy it and keep it all in perspective. At the end of the day, it’s one day — albeit a very special one — so try and not sweat the small stuff. The best advice we had was from friends who got married during covid. They told us that the main thing that dictates how much fun your guests have is if they see you having fun. And we definitely did!

Did you have any special or unique elements at your wedding?

The return of Lucy’s flower girl dress, bespoke negronis made by Chris's talented sister and her partner, and special wedding beer, brewed by Chris and his MC Lee, who surprised us by having bespoke labels made for them — he named the beer “A case of you”, a nod to one of Lucy’s favourite Joni Mitchell songs which Chris plays for her when he’s feeling romantic.

Oh, and Lucy made the wedding cake! She forgot all about decorating it, and ended up dressing it with flowers from her bridal bouquet half way through the ceremony. Our guests thought it was a planned ‘bit’, but it was just disorganisation!