Yesterday on the blog, we shared some ideas for making your ceremony special for you and your guests.
And today's real bride and groom are the perfect example of why doing just that, is so important.
Amy & Farris got married in the stunning Kew Gardens in London with a beautiful Baha’i wedding ceremony (something we've never featured before!).
And we're so excited to have, not just their pretty pictures by Ronnie & Rose Photography, but their film by Dan of the Captured Picture Company too.
With the botanical gardens and its beautiful buildings as their backdrop, Amy & Farris needed very little embellishment for their day.
Pretty posies and sweet favours made up their table decor, with flashes from the past as their table numbers, and plenty of great tunes to fill the dancefloor.
Amy looked so beautiful in her customised gown and baby's breath in her hair, while Farris was entirely dapper in his Gucci suit (we just love that snap of him watching an online bow tie tutorial!)
But really, it's the ceremony that truly stands out with this special wedding, and how this wonderful couple and their friends and family from around the world came together, in words and song, to create something truly meaningful.
Wedding Day Snapshot
Our Wedding
What we wanted from the very beginning before booking a venue and even writing a guest list was to be amongst nature.
Living in London makes this a difficult task – especially with unreliable summer weather.
Nevertheless we visited Kew Gardens and couldn’t think of a better location – a beautiful, serene garden in the heart of London.
Because we lucky enough to be amongst such beautiful surroundings we were able to keep the wedding theme and colour palette very simple. Any decoration was kept to a minimum with several simple white bouquets.
The Dresses
I wore a lovely dress from Rembo Styling but I had it tailored a lot to be the way wanted.
My number one priority was to be comfortable and not have to think about my dress throughout the day so I opted for something slim-lined and light-weight with very delicate lace detailing and sheer lace across my back.
I changed dresses before the dancing began to a short, sparkly dress!
I had asked a few close friends and family members to choose any dress in a pink/peach/coral shade so on the day there was a variety of colour that matched well together – I didn’t want the girls to have to stress about getting measured up for a dress or having to wear a dress that might not be their style, so they had the freedom to wear what they wanted.
Advice for Other Couples
Lizzy and her great blog! (Bridal Musings!)
Bridal Rogue Gallery – Marlybone
You can cut costs everywhere – just depends how much effort and time you have. Food was our biggest expense, so if you want to cut this cost out its worth asking friends and family to cook meals.
Just relax and have fun – it will be a wonderful day no matter what because everyone you love is in one place and beaming with happiness.
The Ceremony
The ceremony was by far the most important part for us and we spent most time preparing this part. I would say we got a lot of help and support with the whole wedding, but this was the one part we did just the two of us.
We had a Baha’i wedding ceremony and we wanted to share some beautiful writings that inspire us with our family and friends.
We also asked some of our most loved ones to read during the ceremony. Parents, cousins, old friends and best friends who had travelled across the world to be there. It was amazing seeing people so special to us read such beautiful words at our wedding.
We are also lucky to have some friends with great voices so we had three Baha’i readings put to music and sung. We both also have Middle Eastern heritage so we had a prayer recited in the form of Arabic chanting.
Most of our readings spoke about the purpose of marriage being to create unity and happiness within one’s life and with an extended family and community. We wanted to be reminded of the beauty and sacred-ness of marriage as well as the responsibility that comes with marriage on that day.
Our understanding of marriage and the marriage we aspire to have were definitely reflected in the readings we chose.
All in all it was a beautiful ceremony, with a combination of music, heart-warming writings and a gentle summer breeze flowing through the conservatory.
The ceremony was culminated with us reciting our vows, which in the Baha’i Faith is a very simple phrase, and we signed our marriage certificates!
An example of one of our readings below…
‘The Lord, peerless is He, hath made woman and man to abide with each other in the closest companionship, and to be even as a single soul. They are two helpmates, two intimate friends, who should be concerned about the welfare of each other.
If they live thus, they will pass through this world with perfect contentment, bliss, and peace of heart, and become the object of divine grace and favor in the Kingdom of heaven.’
The Photography
Ronnie and Rosemary are good friends and had done such a good job of our engagement party so we really wanted to use them again.
Our videographer had done a friend of mine’s wedding, and he delivered such an amazing video.
The Flowers
Because of the beauty of the gardens and surrounding nature (and my unwillingness to carry a bouquet all day) we did not have any bouquets or buttonholes!
We did however, have short bouquets of white flowers as the table centrepieces.
The Music
For our ceremony we had classical piano/violin music as people entered and mingled, and whilst we walked down the aisle.
We entered The Orangery (breakfast lunch venue) to a crazy fun Persian wedding song by Sandy. Here we had all of our Middle Eastern family and friends dance in ahead of us and we followed!
For our first dance after dinner we had ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’ by Bobby McFerrin and had a very casual non rehearsed and playful first dance! (We decided on a song the night before the wedding!)
For the rest of the night we had everyone up on their feet with a mix of current hits, Arabic and Persian music.
The Refreshments
We had a formal sit down meal with meat and vegetarian options but dessert and tea and coffees were buffet style. We had a beautiful red velvet cake accompanied by red velvet cupcakes.
The Decor & Details
For our ceremony venue, we were in a glass conservatory so we had beautiful views of the garden. To keep things simple, we just had two bouquets of white flowers at the top of the room and small baby breath bouquets on every third row of chairs, aligning the aisle.
For our table names, instead of numbers we did years, and for each table there was a photo of me and Farris taken on the year of that table, starting from 1990, all the way 2013 when we met. People could wander round the room and see glimpses of us at various stages in our lives.
We had beautiful hand made mint flower lollies to take home for each guest, each with a lovely personalised name label.
For our exit, we had sparklers handed out so we had twinkling corridor of our family and friends waving us goodbye.
Favourite Moments
Definitely quite a few moments! The wedding was elegant but it also had a very casual, relaxed feel to it because it was outdoors and we loved this combination.
Our speeches were extremely relaxed, Farris’s brother spoke and Farris and I gave a speech, mainly just to thank everyone for travelling so far to make it our wedding, we both have family and friends all over the world, from Japan to Australia, America, South Africa, Switzerland, Kuwait, so to see everyone in room, all full of love and smiles made it such a happy and unforgettable day.
We also danced a lot and loved the music which made it so much fun.
One part that was really unforgettable was taking a moment to congratulate my grandparents on their 60th wedding anniversary.
My brother-in-law asked all of the married couples in the room to stand, and people had to be seated according to the length of time they had been married.
He called out decades in increasing numbers and once he reached ’60 years’ my grandparents were the only couple left standing in room. Farris and I then congratulated them with a beautiful bouquet of flowers.
Watch Amy & Farris' Romantic Wedding Film
Isn't it sweet? What a lovely wedding, it looks like so much fun too. And how gorgeous is Amy's sparkly dancing dress too?
Thanks so much to Ronnie & Rose Photography, Dan of the Captured Picture Company, and the awesome newlyweds, Amy & Farris, for sharing their London wedding with us.
Be inspired by more unique real weddings.
