Today we're off to London for Sophie and Sam's simple London wedding, which took place at Lambeth Town Hall in Brixton last September, shortly before weddings were restricted from 30 guests to 15. Following the intimate ceremony for 10, the couple celebrated with a sit down meal at Cinnamon Club in Westminster.
Despite the wedding being a lot smaller than planned, we're so pleased that Sophie still decided to wear her dress - it looked beautiful, chic and elegant, and resulted in some gorgeous portraits of Sophie and Sam walking through the streets of London.
Read on for more information about the day and planning process in Sophie's own words, with photography by Alba Turnball.
Jesus Peiro 161 wedding dress
I wore Jesus Peiro 161. I absolutely loved it, Jo did such an amazing job with the alterations - it fitted perfectly and I felt so confident wearing it.
The high neck was so perfect for me, as soon as I saw it on Miss Bush Instagram I knew I had to come and try it. I wear a lot of high neck blouses and dresses as I find these flatter my figure most, so it made sense that my wedding dress would be the same!
I also loved the back detail. During my first fitting we discussed with Jo and Emma about putting a panel on the back so I could hide a bra, however I'm so pleased we decided to take the risk and go braless and keep the beautiful back
My mum was with me when I found the dress. I think she was probably relieved! We'd been to quite a lot of bridal boutiques and never quite found a dress that I was 100% sure on. I was almost about to go for another dress when I saw the Jesus 161 on Miss Bush Instagram and knew I had to try it on! I was so happy it lived up to expectations
Dress Shopping
I found it quite overwhelming if I'm honest! I started the process not having any idea of what I wanted... so the first few appointments were all about working out the basics - did I want fitted vs lose, sleeves vs sleeveless, train vs no train etc.
I was also travelling a lot with work at the time so couldn't dedicate a lot of time. I started my search in August 2019 and it wasn't until 23 December 2019 that I finally found the dress - the perfect early Christmas present to myself 🙂
Obviously Covid was the main issue... but the team were so helpful and flexible at scheduling my measurements and fitting appointments. When I came for my measurements (I think June/July), there was still so much up in the air about whether our wedding would happen and in what capacity and therefore I wasn't sure if I was wearing my dress in 2020 at all. But the team talked me through the timings I'd need to work around if I did want to wear the dress for a September wedding.
Styling
Overall I kept it very simple - I wore Harriet Wilde's Arabella Block Blue shoes, beautiful, simple and so comfortable. I wore some pearl drop earrings from Lily & Roo. And under my dress my mum lent me her original garter from her wedding as a surprise on the wedding morning 🙂
The one thing I was missing was a cover-up or jacket! There was so much uncertainty and anxiety in the lead up to the wedding that I didn't have time to think about it. The temperature really dropped for the last weekend of September and I got especially cold when we were waiting for the registrars. Luckily my dad was happy to lend me his suit jacket, maybe not the stylish look I was going for but did the job! If we get to go ahead with our big celebration in 2021 then that's the first thing on my list to get.
An intimate Lambeth Town Hall wedding in Brixton
Our wedding was most definitely a "plan b" wedding, but we loved it and had an amazing day. The longer that passes since the day, we feel so immensely lucky to have been able to get married and have the most special memories.
The initial plan was a large wedding in the Cotswolds but as 2020 unfolded it became obvious this wouldn't happen. We chose to postpone the large celebration to 2021 quite early in the pandemic but were both determined to still get married if we could. We penciled in a ceremony at Lambeth registry office for our original date, served our notice again... and then just kept our fingers crossed!!
I originally wasn't going to wear my dress and was saving it for 2021. In the end Sam persuaded me to wear it - "why not?" was all he asked, and when I couldn't think of a good answer I decided to go for it. Absolutely best decision of the day!
Not many opportunities you get to walk down Brixton High street with you mum holding your train.
Our ceremony was just 10 of us - parents, siblings and bridesmaid/bestmen.
The best bits
As it was a "covid secure"/no frills ceremony we couldn't have separate bride/groom entrance and my Dad couldn't walk me down the aisle. So instead we decided to do a "first look" with our photographer, where my Dad and I walked in together to the town hall courtyard and Sam saw me & the dress for the first time. This was probably the most emotional point of the day and we were both just so happy to be there getting married. And there some really special pictures of me and my Dad which I am glad we captured.
We had a couple of hours between the ceremony and dinner where Sam and I checked in to our hotel. We were greeted with a glass of champagne at check-in and we sat in the lobby in our dress & suit, sipping champagne, and generally feeling on cloud 9 that we'd been able to get married.
Sophie's Advice
WEAR YOUR DRESS! No matter what size of ceremony you are able to have, or where it is, then this is my #1 piece of advice. I am so glad I wore my dress, there are no "rules" on whether your dress is "right" for your new ceremony/venue. You chose your dress because you love it - Go for it. If you get to wear it twice then that's a bonus (still keeping my fingers crossed for this for me.)
Hire a photographer even if it's a small ceremony. We hired our amazing photographer, Alba, to just cover 1.5 hours at the registry office and we're so pleased we have professional photos to capture the day. We found that a lot of photographers are being more flexible with their packages and micro weddings now.
Stay positive! But be realistic and plan for all eventualities. I chose to switch off from social media & general media in the lead up to our wedding. The constant speculation and rumors were causing me so much anxiety that I chose to filter out as much as I could. But having said that, it did really help me to talk through with Sam different scenarios that could happen - e.g, ceremony reduced in size, ceremony goes ahead but no reception etc etc, and what our new plan would be. That way I was prepared, and was still happy with most scenarios. (We ended up being the last weekend that could have 30 people reception for weddings, and the curfew came into effect the day before our wedding - all in all we were extremely lucky.)
Suppliers
Photographer: Alba Turnball
Venue: Lambeth Town Hall
Hair and Make up: Evie Smith
Flowers: Nicola Eve