Kate and Tim’s Story

The Proposal

Tim proposed to me on Krabi beach in Thailand on 2nd July 2007 – the first night of our holiday. It was a complete surprise, but he’d spoken to my Dad to get his permission before we left and he already had the ring, which he’d designed himself and had made at Abrahams Ballard in Hatton Garden.

The Outfits

The Bride – My dress was a strapless lace dress in ivory with a champagne coloured satin sash and diamante brooch, from the White Rose collection. It had quite a vintage feel to it.

The Bridesmaids – I had 3 bridesmaids who wore dresses by Mori Lee in a toffee colour with cream lace across the top, and they complimented my dress as they were satin with a little bit of lace, and mine was lace with a satin sash.

The Groom and Groomsmen – We didn’t have any ushers as such, but Tim, the best man, my Dad, Tim’s Dad and my brother all wore navy morning suits and cream silk waistcoats with a faint pattern on from Hugh Harris, and Hugh Harris also made ties, cravats and pocket squares for us using extra material I had ordered to match the bridesmaids dresses.

The Wedding and Reception Venue

We chose the Institute of Directors, 116 Pall Mall after finding it through the internet while looking for wedding venues in London. We decided on London mainly for ease and we wanted somewhere we could have everything under one roof – the ceremony, reception, wedding breakfast and evening reception, and there were also additional rooms for the bride and groom to get ready in if they wanted to. It’s a beautiful building and all the rooms are stunning with gorgeous chandeliers, and there’s a huge sweeping staircase (which is also licensed for civil ceremonies). If you get married there on a Saturday you have the run of pretty much the whole building.

The Decorative Touches

Room Decorations – The flowers were from Mary Jane Vaughan in Fulham (recommended by the IOD) and we kept it quite simple as the venue was so grand and we didn’t want to take away from that – we basically had a 3 foot display on the registrars table in the room we had the ceremony in, which was then transferred to our top table. I also had tea lights along the 3 mantelpieces in the room we had the wedding breakfast in as it got dark around 6 o’clock.

Table Centrepieces – Our table centrepieces were stunning, and were moved downstairs for the evening reception and then there was just my bouquet, 3 bridesmaids bouquets and 5 button holes.

Favours – We bought lotto tickets for that night’s draw and put them in ivory & gold lotto holders we bought from Confetti with “Lucky In Love” written on the front.

The Cake

Our cake was about 6 layers with a mixture of traditional fruit, a black forest gateau type sponge, raspberry and chocolate sponge and a raspberry and white chocolate sponge, covered in white chocolate and white roses. It was made by Eric Lanlard at Savoir Design – who also made Madonna’s wedding cake!

Advice to other couples

To check and double check everything! Make lists of everything that’s important to you and what you want to happen on the day. Better to repeat yourself and say you want something 10 times then to only say it once or twice and then it gets over looked. Obviously some things are flexible and if it doesn’t come together, no big deal, but if something means a lot to you make sure you stress it – after all, it’s your day and you’ll hopefully only be doing this once in your life. But having said that, if you get most of the organising done early enough, just sit back and enjoy the build up to the big day as it really does fly by, and as much as I moaned about how stressful it all was, I’ve really been mourning it since it’s been over! So sit back and enjoy, but just make sure you confirm everything a week or two beforehand. Another thing that neither of us thought about until somebody else suggested it was getting a toastmaster. The guy we had was worth his weight in gold, and it was so nice to feel that somebody was there who was overseeing everything, and who had your best interests at heart rather than the venues or anybody else. He made everything run really smoothly and when I first met him the one thing he said to me that really sold him to me is that there will always be hitches on the day, but the difference is we wouldn’t know about them.

The best bit of the day

It’s difficult to say as it was all so wonderful. I think the best part was the ceremony because it meant so much, but then it was also lovely once that was over and we could relax a bit more and mingle with our guests. It was great to have all my friends and family in the same place for one day, and to see people we hadn’t seen for ages – although that was also a downside as you never get a chance to speak to everybody properly for longer than 5 minutes. Also, even though it was a civil ceremony we had a friend of Tim’s who is a vicar and he gave us a blessing after the ceremony so it made it even more special.

The Suppliers

Wedding Reception Venue: 116 Pall Mall

Venue found through: Country House Wedding Venues

Bride’s Dress – Laura Louise Bridal, Upminster

Groom’s Suit – Hugh Harris, Woking

Bride’s Accessories – The veil and tiara were also from Laura Louise Bridal, the shoes were from Gina

Bridesmaids Dresses – These were also from: Laura Louise Bridal, Upminster

Wedding Rings – Abraham’s Ballard, Hatton Garden

Wedding Cake: Savoir Design

Flowers – By Mary Jane Vaughan of Fast Flowers, Fulham

Invitations – Kubiak Creative

Wedding List – We had our gift list at Trailfinders and used it towards our honeymoon in Dubai

Disco/DJ – Platinum DJ’s, supplied through the Institute of Directors

Wedding Favours – Lucky in Love tickets from Confetti and tickets for the draw that evening.

Photographers – The Graham Fenton Experience

Toastmaster – Ray Sievey