Here's how to pull off the perfect non-traditional modern wedding ceremony

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What better way to kick off the new year than with a super fresh, modern wedding in London?!

Jennie & Mike are a fab modern couple – graphic designers, looking for a modern party space in the city, a geometric loving photographer, and a ceremony that follows no rules of tradition and speaks totally of who they are as a couple.

And with a bit of arduous planning, searching, and creating, the two totally pulled it off. Designing their own paper goods and finding all the vendors that fit their cool modern style, this London wedding is hip and happening. And their best friends made the ceremony too perfect for the two, cracking up the crowd and breaking out in song (we’re so envious of not getting a ticket!)

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Our Love Story

The day we met was our first class at university. Mike had bleach blond hair and diamante earrings (both ears). Jennie was wearing baggy dungarees, a vest top, neon trainers, had big curly hair and lots of black eyeliner, nails etc. It goes without saying that our styles were very different.

After graduating, we both moved to London and lived together with another friend. We gradually became closer and eventually, after an all-night house party in an east London warehouse, we shared a drunken kiss and never looked back!

After 5 years together, Mike asked Jennie to marry him on the top of a mountain, above Illilouette Falls in Yosemite National Park, California (Jennie’s favourite place). And the rest, as they say, is history!

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The Dress & Attire

Being fussy about aesthetics, Jennie visited many dress shops and tried on many different styles. Eventually she, settled on a Provonias Onesi gown from The Wedding Dress shop in Wimbledon. A friend recommended the shop and they were very welcoming and brilliant throughout the whole process. Jennie loved how well her dress fitted on the day and it was exactly what she imagined herself wearing from the moment she got engaged.

A suit for the most important day of his life meant Mike wanted something exquisite, timeless and sharp. He went across Manchester, before being recommended Hugo Boss. He had navy blue in mind and when he tried on the winner, knew this was the suit he would get married in.

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The Venue & Ceremony

We had so much trouble finding a venue. Being graphic designers, we are quite fussy and know what we like (and don’t like). Months of searching later, we eventually discovered that quite a few bars and restaurants in London can be hired for wedding receptions on weekends, as they’re normally closed or are super quiet. We finally chose The Drift as our reception venue as it was the perfect size, decorated to our taste and was in an awesome location for our guests.

Then, we had the task of finding somewhere to have our ceremony. After many stress-filled hours, we found The Andaz Hotel had a perfect space to get hitched. We found getting married in a hotel super convenient. You and all your guests can stay there and there’s no stress in getting from A to B.

Neither of us is religious and despite marriage being a serious commitment, we wanted to make sure that the rest of the ceremony was pretty laid back and informal. That’s why we chose two of our friends who we knew wouldn’t do a conventional reading. Jennie’s best friend Rachael wrote us a poem – complete with gags, jokes, puns, a few swears as well as kind words and advice. Mike’s friend Tommy decided to read out the lyrics to the whole Seal song – ‘Kiss From A Rose’. Beautiful words. The bizarre accent coupled with a deadpan straight face meant the delivery was a crowd pleaser – he had the audience in stitches.

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The Photography

Olly was recommended to us by another photographer who was already booked on our day. As soon as we saw his previous work we knew he was the one. His use of light and how he captures the geometry of an environment around the subject was exactly what we were looking for. We met up with him and it was clear that our views and tastes were very similar. We both have experience in art direction so finding the right photographer was very important to us.

On the day Olly was brilliant! Friendly, funny and part of our day without being over-bearing. Most of our guests assumed he was one of our friends – which shows how well he blended in. We had a couple of meetings with him before the big day to plan places we could get the kind of shot we were looking for.

Despite our wedding being on the 22nd July it was grey and drizzling almost all day with only sunny spells – but we got so many great shots regardless, thanks to our photographers pre-planning! Needless to say, when received our shots back, these two fussy customers were delighted with how well he captured the day. From the emotions and laughter to the design and details. Thanks so much Olly!

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The Details

We designed and created all our table plans, table names, name tags, invites and more ourselves. When you’re a designer there’s lots of pressure from your friends and colleagues to nail the wedding invitations. Not wanting to stress ourselves out over it all, we decided to just have fun and do something that reflected our personalities and interests. So, we went for a booze theme! The invite told our story in a poem scattered with alcohol-related puns. We had SO MUCH fun writing it, over several drinks, of course.

Our flowers and foliage created by Michelle Anne Floristry (one of Jennie’s good friends). We went to her with mood boards of the things we like and she took the rest from there. She was fantastic!

In Michelle’s words: “Jennie and Mike’s foliage based wedding including asparagus fern, eucalptus populous, parvifolia and cinerea and soft ruscus. The sweetest scent of white Norma Jeane roses, white veronica, white astilbe, white avalance roses, white waxflower and the whitest snowflake spray roses gave a beautiful white contrast. The addition of navy eryngium and gunmetal grey brunia gave a nod to the groomsmen’s navy attire. Succulents in navy and grey tones provided a different floral form. Light grey silk ribbions provided a soft feminine look against the strong almost masculine colour scheme and floral forms.” We loved it all and they worked with the venues perfectly.

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Favorite Moments

We both did speeches and although nerve-racking beforehand, we both really enjoyed doing them. Doing a brides speech felt empowering and let Jennie have her say and thank people personally. “I’m so glad I did it!”

Key highlights were the moment we first saw each other; being announced as the new Mr. & Mrs. Potts, delivering speeches and thanking all our friends and family…and being cheered and photographed into every room you walk in like a celebrity. Normal life will never be the same again!

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Advice For Other Couples

Our main advice is to enjoy every minute. We know it sounds cliché but it is the most important thing! Don’t let morning nerves get the better of you; don’t let yourself get stressed out – all the planning is done. This is the day you sit back and enjoy it all coming together.

With that, try your best to enjoy the whole process, planning ups and downs included. Embrace working together, making decisions and compromises – it’s something you’ll have to continue to do throughout life.

Keep your guests in mind but don’t over think every scenario. If people have food, drink and shelter they’ll look after themselves and create the atmosphere. All those hours agonising over small details seem so silly on the day. If things go wrong, most people don’t even notice. Breathe and smile!

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The Honeymoon

We left the next day for Morocco. We travelled around, staying in the Atlas Mountains, on the coast and then in Marrakesh. We had an amazing time and would hugely recommend travelling around if you ever visit Morocco. Marrakesh is a fascinating place but Morocco has so much more to offer.