Daisy and Corey's Elegant Kew Garden Wedding by Camilla Joy Photography

Today I am sharing with you a destination wedding that took place in London. That sounds strange as London isn’t a destination wedding when you live here in the UK, but this couple both live in the US. Daisy and Corey were married on 31st August 2024 in the world famous Kew Gardens in London. Daisy is British but was brought up in the US, so wanted to bring her friends and family to London and give them a traditional English wedding, complete with red London bus and Pimm’s. They held an elegant wedding in the grounds of Kew Gardens and what a totally stunning location it was for a wedding. They kept things simple and put the main focus on the beautiful flowers for their reception decoration. A totally elegant and fun filled wedding I’m sure you will agree, all captured perfectly by Camilla Joy Photography.

Daisy being British (but being brought up in the US) was set on marrying the love of her life in the capital city that means so much to her. With subtle nods to both her English and American heritage, the day was full of love, colour and custom makes by Daisy herself.

How they met
Corey and I met whilst I was on a 4 week break from work back home in portland Maine. I was working in London as a nanny on the heat of covid and escaped the chaos to be home with family and corey was in the thick of running his own business. We were swiping on the apps as twenty something’s do when we connected for our first date at a pizza joint. Immediately the spark was undeniable, we walked back to our cars when we got stuck in a ridiculously long parking lot, I decided to playfully scale a 12 foot fence as a test to see if he could keep up with my adventurous spirit. To my surprise he followed over the fence without hesitation, we had a whirlwind 3 week romance filled with lobster rolls at the drive in movie theatre and hikes in our pretty home state. When it came time for me to return to London for the next 6 months to finish my job I had thought corey would be typical to my experience with men before and not really care to continue due to the struggles of long distance. But when I arrived back in London, there was 2 dozen white roses waiting for me that said “to my brown eyed girl -C”. I knew then it was a forever thing. When corey decided to put a ring on it we were about 2 years into living with each other and being dog parents to our adorable black lab Stanley. I had picked up extra shifts at work and went from one nanny job to the next overnight gig for a week straight. So when I turned up to our Saturday golfing session, he had bought me a whole new golf outfit ( I assumed as a present for working so hard all week), he was unusually quiet but I was just so happy to be in our place doing our thing together. I thought he was just really focused on his game , as he was playing extremely well! We rounded out to the 18th hole and I was pumped to hit my tee shot dead in the fairway in front of the clubhouse with all the members and golf pros watching. Corey attempted to shank his ball into the trees so he could retrieve the ring from his golf bag , but alas it hit a tree and landed 5 feet from my ball. We made it to the green, I was so chuffed I actually managed to have a single hole on par grinning as I just missed my put by inches. When he dropped down on one knee, our best friends with the iPhone videos appeared on the practice green, I threw my club and glove to ground as he said “will you make me the happiest man alive and do me the honor of being my wife, Daisy, will you marry me?” I was in complete and utter shock, not an ounce of makeup or preparation, crying tears of joy as I muttered a yes. We walked inside to see my family watching from the clubhouse and popped champagne to celebrate. The following weekend he organized a small engagement dinner with all our friends and family and we were over the moon with happiness.

Outfits
I went to a local store in my hometown of Portland, Maine called wedding angels. I had a fabulous stylist that put me in about 14 different dresses until I tried on a Martina Liana (mostly at my mother request I’ll admit), thinking it would be far to big and over the top and over budget I had already discounted it in my mind. When I saw it on my body I was instantly taken by it, the bow train on the back was perfect for the botanical garden venue and pockets , need I say more?! Our amazing stylist Lindsey had it made in another fabric that allowed it to be in budget and I added pearl/sparkly straps and a belt to uplift the gown even further . All that was needed was a pearl veil and my vision was complete. Corey absolutely lost it with tears as I walked down the aisle so I would call it mission accomplished!

Theme or colour scheme
Garden party formal. We wanted all the pastels & bows & colour! Our venue at Kew Gardens was exactly like a storybook fairy-tale, Corey and I grew up in America whilst the brides family is all from England. To most of our guests that had never been to London before we wanted to give them the full British experience, so we hired a red double decker for transport to the venue. Pimms on arrival of course and definitely very different to American weddings. The botanical backdrop was a perfect setting for two plant lovers, and the greenhouses we previously had spent hours drooling over became the most magical setting for our couple portraits.

Decoration
We wanted to be financially savvy but still beautiful on the decor and I actually made all fabric signs that either draped over the table cloths or were hung by ribbons. I used a cricut machine and premade all the signs from linen with green writing all rolled in a suitcase and brought from America. Our guests highlight was that for the seating chart we hand wrote each person a William morris botanical postcard with our thanks for attending and a few inside jokes with each guest. We had guests raving about it all night and even coming up to us in floods of tears. I also was able to source a life sized Polaroid off Facebook marketplace and rebrand it for our wedding day which was a social media hit!

Flowers
The venue provided a gorgeous setting and we weren’t allowed florals outdoors(apart from my bouquet) due to the cross contamination rules of the prestigious Kew Gardens. Indoors we had pinks, oranges and small daises everywhere with a massive pedestal arrangement being the focal point. Mary Jane Vaughn’s team provided an incredible floral design that was everything a girl named Daisy could have ever dreamed of.

Personal touches
Instead of a wedding cake we had a Crepe truck which was a total hit! Guests sauntered around the gardens with cigars and bubbly with a crepe in tow and they couldn’t have been more happy! It was the small touches that made our guests feel special and that was SO important to us after many of them had flown all the way from America to be there for our special day.

Special moments
I would have to say the ceremony, my grandfather officiated and it was wildly special. We had reading by my mother and grandmother who spoke of the parallels of golf and love, a sonnet from Shakespeare and a lovely poem about marriage. I walked down to sky full of stars violin version and had the whole place in tears, which I was reminded was not because of everyone staring at me… but because of everyone staring at corey tearfully staring at me. We exited to electric love and it was the perfect start to the best day of our lives.

Advice for other couples
It’s your day , do what makes sense for you two as a couple . It needs to feel authentic to the life you and your partner share so why fake formalities ??? Have fun! Also chose amazing vendors you vibe with personality wise, every person from our lovely charli smith MUA, to Marcus Howlett with the video and Mary Jane Vaughn Florals, Lodge Catering with the delicious food to the cherry on top , the insanely talented and beautiful photographer Camilla, our day was captured with such talent and skill and the photos will be plastered in our house and in our minds forever. Choose people you like because you’ll be spending a lot of the best day of your lives with them!