Ly and Jamie's Relaxed, Untraditional Islington Wedding Across 4 Venues by Christine Wehrmeier

Yay for Friday! I hope you have all had a great week and have enjoyed the summer sunshine? What have you got planned for the weekend? Any weddings? Today is a rather special day here as it’s Dexter’s graduation from nursery. I’m sure there will be a few tears shed! The rest of the day will be spent meeting up with friends. Tomorrow it is my local village carnival, I’m helping out on one of the stalls, it should be loads of fun. Then Sunday we are at last ordering a new sofa! Rock and Roll!! Today though I am taking you to Islington (where I was born) for the wedding of Ly and Jamie. They wanted a relaxed low-key none traditional wedding, that took in their home town of Islington. They did this by spanning the wedding across 4 different venues all on the same street. This gave the wedding a ‘village’ feel and it looks like so much fun. Thanks to Christine Wehrmeier for the lovely photos.

Relaxed. Untraditional. Vibrant. Joyful. Amazing weather!

Ly and Jamie were married on 1^st July 2017 at Ceremony: Islington Town Hall (council chamber)
Receptions: The Vineyard for drinks, Gallipoli Again for food, and Dolls House for party – all on Upper Street. ‘We wanted our wedding to be as fuss-free as possible and so having it all on the same street seemed like the perfect idea. We also love Islington – centrally located in London, easy for everyone to get to, but somehow retains a quaint village feel. We had About 50 guests for the ceremony and meal, and 100 for the party. It took about 5-6 months to plan but I secured a photographer about 9 months or so before.’

How they met
We met via an online dating website and had been together 5 years.

The proposal
Jamie proposed to me in a secluded spot atop a mountain in Yosemite National Park. We were taking a break from walking and just taking in the scenery. No one was around. I asked him to take a picture of me “wistfully looking into the distance”, and when I turned around, he had the ring out and asked me to marry him.

How did you allocate your budget?
We didn’t really. We knew that it would all come to a reasonable cost because we had taken off so many excess wedding traditions and we were going to strip it all down to the important things only.

Where did you splurge and where did you save?
We didn’t really “splurge” anywhere but in terms of what costed the most then it was food and drink at the restaurant. Also the photographer.

How did you choose your photographer?
I scoured Instagram and the web for London-based wedding photographers. This was the single most time-consuming part of the wedding planning process! I even made a comprehensive spreadsheet of my research! I had a difficult time because on the one hand I wanted fine art style photography – the sort shot on a film camera where everything looks pastel-coloured and dreamlike. But on the other hand I wanted a photographer whose work reflected our personalities too. I was drawn to Christine’s images which were so colourful and natural.

The dress
My dress was a gamble! My sister in law (also bridesmaid) saw a small poster for a dressmaker (Helen Rasmussen) at a local children’s play centre I think. She decided to get a skirt made for herself there, so I decided to get my wedding dress made there too, just like that! I had been frustrated with all the choice and how expensive wedding dresses were. I knew that I wanted a simple dress and so I told Helen what I wanted and she made it in less than 5 months! She was a lovely lady who had been dressmaking for 25 years. I wouldn’t recommend doing this as even I’m surprised at how brave I was to gamble it this way, but I was very pleased with the result! My shoes were from Topshop, and my necklace was from John Lewis.

The suit and bridesmaids
Jamie and the groomsmen’s suits were from Moss Bros. Bridesmaids dresses from Jarlo.

Theme or colour scheme
We didn;t really have one but our families matched quite well coincidentally! We were all in white, blue, or grey.

Flowers
I didn’t have a bouquet. The bridesmaids and I had floral, ivory-coloured hair garlands, and the men had matching buttonholes – all from Etsy.

Decoration
I got an assortment of helium balloons (delivered flat) and bunting from eBay and 2 helium gas tanks from Argos. I got the confetti canons from eBay too! For the drinks reception: Rose-gold “Just Married bunting” and white triangular bunting with tiny multi-coloured flowers all over. There was a pergola in the garden area of The Vineyard so it was perfect for hanging summery decoration! For the party: Huge gold balloons which spelled out “XOXO”. Confetti balloons with white and silver or gold confetti inside. Fairy lights were already supplied by the venue.

Food
Turkish food at Gallipoli Again. Everybody loved it and gushed about it afterwards, which I was so pleased about! There were also platters and bites at The Vineyard and Dolls House.

Wedding cake
We didn’t have a wedding cake. Dessert was served at Gallipoli Again, and everybody got to choose what they wanted from a generous menu. I was told by guests that they didn’t feel the wedding was in any way lacking because of the absence of a wedding cake.

Entertainment
A DJ who was a friend of a friend. She only came to Dolls House, the party venue.

Who supplied the stationery?
I made the invitations, itinerary cards, and dinner menus on Vistaprint in a matching design.

Personal touches
I did almost all of it myself, but there wasn’t too much to do! My friends helped put up decorations on the day.

Advice for other couples
It is you and your partner’s day! Don’t get too hung up on costly (whether emotional or financial!), unnecessary additions, and don’t stress yourself out trying to make sure everything is perfect on the day. It will be special, inevitably! The only thing you should try to make sure of is relaxing as much as you can, and have fun!

Biggest surprise
After the meal, the staff at Gallipoli Again surprised us all by putting on traditional Turkish music and dancing, and making everyone else dance too! Everyone was on their feet. We had not planned on having a “first dance”, so this kind of filled in for that! I was so touched by this spontaneous gesture, it really livened everybody up!