Stephanie and Matthew's Laid Back London Wedding with Vintage Games and Street Food by Kristian Leven Photography

Today I am taking you to North East London for the super fun ‘Urban Chic’ wedding of Stephanie and Matthew. This fun loving couple wanted to stay close to home so chose Walthamstow Town Hall for their ceremony and then went urban chic for their reception at Hackney Brewery & High Hill Taproom. Wanting to keep the day chilled and full of fun they brought in street food and lots and lots of fun vintage games, which kept the guests entertained for hours. The whole day is filled with smiles, laughter and of course this adorable couple. Big thanks to Kristian Leven Photography for the gorgeous images.

Our most favourite ever day. A day filled with so much fun surrounded by the most wonderful people.

Stephanie and Matthew were married on 26th May 2023, the ceremony was at Walthamstow Town Hall with the reception at Hackney Brewery & High Hill Taproom. ‘We wanted to get married locally and have a day that reflected us. We live really close to the Town Hall and have always loved the building- It’s great to have a reminder every time we go past. We had 78 guests and it took 8 months to plan’

How did you allocate your budget?
We kept to a strict budget which meant doing as much as we could ourselves. A big priority was food and drink, we didn’t want anyone to wait a long time for food or go hungry.

Where did you splurge and where did you save?
We splurged in two places. Firstly some great hanging streamers from Streamadelica. We were up installing them on a scissor lift a couple of nights before the wedding (big thanks to Matt’s brother) but they made a huge impact and transformed the feel of the space. We also splurged on our photography – but it was so worth it! We love Kristian’s photos and they are a memory of the day that lasts a lifetime.

How did you choose your photographer?
Kristian was recommended by our friends. We loved Kristian’s work and the natural candid style of his photography, he managed to capture how we felt about the day perfectly.

The dress
Temperley Dress from Bridal Reloved in Wanstead. Chloe Shoes – An awesome present from my wedding party. A special mention must go to Powder Blue Artistry for my hair and makeup. Carina made me feel so confident on the day and I was over the moon with the finished look.

The suit
Boss Suit, Shoes – Barker Factory in Earls Barton (where Matt’s grandmother lived). Tie & pocket Square – Montague Jeffery

Theme or colour scheme
Green, orange, gold, yellow and pink.

Flowers
My sister Alex, attends a amazing garden project called The Gates for adults with learning difficulties. Mary, the leader of the project worked with Alex and a whole group to create the bouquets and buttonholes which meant so much.
Some friends at Rosehip London also created a floral installation for us in the Town Hall Council Chamber. We wanted to have a really natural installation; like we were out walking through some fields rather than too arranged. They nailed the brief perfectly!

Decoration
Our largest piece of décor was a stretch tent we hired for the brewery carpark from Ben at Under The Canvas. We used this area for the speeches and it really transformed the space from carpark to venue. We move the floral installation from the Town Hall to the Brewery and dressing the concrete ballast with florals really worked well.

Food
We wanted to have very causal food setup with no formal tables or seating plans at the reception. Max from Bolland & Crust made two amazing street food stations for us; one BBQ station and one Indian Curry stall. We couldn’t have been happier.
For the reception at the Town Hall Wood Street Bakery provided some of our favourite sweet and savoury treats. They are one of our favourite local spots so it was lovely to have them involved.

Wedding cake
Our cake was made by our friend Preena, she’s a sensational (part time) baker and went above and beyond for us.

Entertainment
We really wanted people to have fun and have a lot to do on the day. Pinball Geoff & Mark from Pinball Alley supplied some incredible games which included a vintage penny arcade, Skeeball, Table football, vintage pinballs and a huge Hook-A-Duck with personalised prizes.
An amazing accordion player Mike Guy played for us as we arrived at the brewery and friends very kindly DJ’d the evening party.

Who supplied the stationery?
I designed and printed the stationary and kept things very simple.

Personal touches
Working as an events designer put a lot of self-inflected pressure on me for the day. I arranged everything myself from suppliers, transport, graphics etc. however on the day I had a great few event friends who ran the day so I could completely switch off.

Special moments
I remember shaking coming into the ceremony, I was so nervous! We didn’t stop smiling it was really the best day ever surrounded by the most wonderful group of friends and family.

Advice for other couples
Make the day a reflection of you both, and try to do what you want to do as much as possible.