Love Makes A Family
Ahhh Iscoyd Park, how you make my heart sing.
This wedding, beautifully captured by London Wedding Photographer Kristian Leven, is full of warmth, laughter and happiness.
Katie and Craig’s day is a full on family affair, from the Groom’s Stepdad handcrafting a bespoke art-deco sign (I do love a bit of signage!) to the Bride’s Great-Uncle’s suitcase being used for cards and love notes, through to Katie wearing her late Grandmothers wedding ring to keep her close on the day…
There are certain moments in life when you realise how precious family and friends are and this couple have captured this so perfectly.
Shall we…?
Images by Kristian Leven Photography.
Gin and the Beatles
Iscoyd is a stunning venue, but we added our own small touches to make it personal to us…
Craig’s Stepdad David made us the most beautiful art-deco sign which directed people to the wedding, but also showed places we had lived in the run up to the wedding, and the destinations people had come from to attend the day (including the distance!). It was a real labour of love by David and we plan to have it in our garden when we buy a house!
We didn’t have a specific theme apart from “things that make us smile”.
The Beatles popped up quite frequently, and we tried to work with the “Englishness” of the venue by using seasonal garden flowers. The colours we used were bright pinks and purples, as I love them!
Oh, and gin.
A girl’s got to have a bit of gin!
Images by Kristian Leven Photography.
High St vs. Couture
This might be controversial, but my wedding dress wasn’t a particular priority of mine. I knew we’d have an amazing day whether I was wearing couture or high street and so I didn’t want to blow the budget, especially given it was highly likely to get trodden on or have something spilled on it knowing me!
I had tried on a few styles at wedding fairs and knew what I wanted (some form of sleeves, back detail and a small train), and when I saw the Elizabeth dress by Phase Eight, I knew it would fit the bill, so it was more of a head than heart purchase.
That said, as I gradually built my outfit with my accessories I grew more excited and knew I’d made the right choice, and I felt fabulous on the day!
For the day part of the wedding, I wore a veil (reasoning that it’s the only time you will, so I made the most of the opportunity!) by Linzi Jay and for the evening I wore a custom-made head band from Live Adorned on Etsy.
Being really tall, I wanted flat wedding shoes and managed to find some pretty ones by Paradox London but it was a rather stressful search!
Images by Kristian Leven Photography.
My parents very sweetly gave me a beautiful sapphire necklace as on the day as my surprise something blue and I wore my late Granny’s wedding ring on my right hand; my Grandparents were married for over 60 years so it was our lucky charm! She passed away a few months before the wedding, which was devastating, so it was nice to have a part of her with me there on the day. I also had a small charm made using a photo of her on Etsy, which was tied discretely into my bouquet.
My girls wore matching purple dresses from Debenhams. I had a personalised pearl bracelet made for each of them by Faybee Jewellery as a thank you gift. They wore their own shoes.
Nicky from Paint Me Beautiful came to the venue to do our makeup, and she made sure it lasted all day! Our hairdresser Emily (who has done my Mum’s, mine and my sister’s hair for ages), came out to Iscoyd on the day so we had a great time getting ready at the venue and peeking out of the window as we watched people arrive which really helped to build the anticipation! It was a breezy day so thankfully my up-do stopped me from looking too windswept!
a touch of tradition
Craig wanted to feel properly suited and booted for the day, and so the ushers and my Dad wore matching grey morning suits and cravats hired from Neal & Palmer in Piccadilly.
Craig wore his late Grandad’s cufflinks to finish his outfit.
Images by Kristian Leven Photography.
Floral Fancies
The lovely Jo at Nettle Flowers did the bouquets, buttonholes, centrepieces and ceremony room. The flowers were one of my favourite parts of the process (apart from marrying Craig, of course!) – Jo totally got what I had in mind and was such a joy to work with. She was enthusiastic, really clever about ensuring we made the most of our budget and, as she likes to work with herbs as well as flowers, made the bouquets smell amazing.
One of the most exciting moments in few days before was popping into the shop and seeing all of our flowers lined up and ready to go! All other flowers touches in the venue were provided by Selina Godsal, who is based at Iscoyd Park.
We used simple heart decorations to the chair backs in the ceremony, and Iscoyd Park had thoughtfully added candles to the room for us, it was magical…
Images by Kristian Leven Photography.
our story
Our Photographer was Kristian Leven, and to say we were pleased would be an understatement!
I received a link via email when I was at work to a short video Kristian had put together online… It’s no exaggeration to say I watched it eight times (whilst still hard at work of course, ahem!) and then another five or six times that evening with Craig.
We loved them and laughed and shed a tear every time…
Kristian managed to capture all of the fun, the joy, the anticipation and the emotion from the day, and crafted it into the most wonderful story for us. I also love the humour he gets across in his photos – he wasn’t scared to photograph moments such as my Dad attempting to rescue me from my veil which was trying to strangle me in the wind – which actually make for really touching spontaneous photos that I don’t think everyone would be brave enough to capture…
Images by Kristian Leven Photography.
We booked a guitar and vocal duo, called Acoustic Connection, who sang during our drinks reception and made for a lovely atmosphere. Iscoyd also provided croquet to play on the lawn.
For the evening we had Dave Dee DJ’s who kept everyone on the dance floor all night!
In the marquee we made a feature of the table plan (our tables were named after different gins) by using gin bottles arranged on the table in a bar style and we also used a suitcase which belonged to my great-uncle for cards and messages.
Craig’s mum also made us some heart decorations which hung on the back of chairs in the marquee and added a pop of colour…
Images by Kristian Leven Photography.
Our friends Chris and Hannah set up a photo booth which provided some brilliant photos! The best man, Adam, very kindly set up a projector of black and white films of videos he had taken of Craig on various nights out over the years which were suitably embarrassing!
We had a cheese wedding cake which became part of the evening food, and then our friend Anna of All Things Nice Cake made us an amazing three tier cake of lemon sponge, carrot and chocolate with salted caramel ganache. We finished it with a Beatles lyric cake topper we bought from Etsy.
Both cakes went down a storm but thankfully we managed to rescue a couple of slices to enjoy on our honeymoon…
Images by Kristian Leven Photography.
Click here to view all of the images from this Iscoyd Park Wedding…
Venue Iscoyd Park | Photography Kristian Leven Photography | Brides Dress Phase Eight | Groom Neal & Palmer | Bridesmaids Debenhams | Florist Nettle Flowers and Selina Godsal at Iscoyd Park | Makeup Paint Me Beautiful | Entertainment Acoustic Connection & Dave Dee DJs | Cake All Things Nice Cakes | Catering Rupert Frazer Worden
How happy does everyone look…?
Very, and it’s all just so perfect.
I love Katie’s relaxed approach to her Bridal fashion – don’t you think she looked effortlessly beautiful…?
You can view more of the stunning Iscoyd Park over on the Coco Wedding Venues directory for your own Classic Elegance day…
Lots of love…