STRIKE IT LUCKY

STRIKE IT luckyAn epic party was had by all at Danielle and Will’s special day Images courtesy of Hiro Arts Photography

Danielle and Will met on Tinder in May, 2016. “We met quickly after matching and went bowling at Elephant & Castle bowling alley,” says Danielle. “Will fondly remembers the day of him scoring four strikes! We really hit it off and decided to keep seeing each other from that point onwards.”

A few years later Will had many plans for the proposal that kept being delayed due to lockdown, but the day finally came in February 2021. “We went for a lovely walk from Deptford to London Bridge and were at a quiet spot on the Thames,” Danielle recalls. “Will quickly blurted it out and presented me with a ring that he’d got at an auction, so the size was a little out – I persevered though and managed to get it on eventually!” she says. They then celebrated with a mini bottle of Champagne sat by the river before continuing their walk along the Thames to London Bridge. “It was a lovely blue sky and sunny day for February – one of the first that I remember of the year! We then came home and had a nice home-cooked meal and some more Champagne” she says.

The planning soon got underway and just over a year later their big day arrived. Here Danielle shares all the details…

Will’s a regular attendee at St Paul’s Church and volunteered there during lockdown. It’s beautiful inside and out so it seemed like the perfect place to celebrate. For our reception, as soon as we walked into One Friendly Place, we could just see it working there. The different floors and rooms that we could use for different parts of the wedding and roof terrace were perfect.

I wanted to have two looks to show the change in venues. For the ceremony I wore a gorgeous Whistles design and accessoried with Jimmy Choo shoes and a veil by Veil by Chelsea. For the evening, I wanted a dress that was more fun for me to dance the night away in and opted for an Asos sequin design with Novesta trainers

Our bridesmaids wore infinity dresses in champagne to compliment the greenery of the bouquet and our groomsmen wore suits of their choice. We were quite relaxed about their outfit choices.

Will wore an Officine Generale suit and accessoried with a tie from Drakes of London. He looked really smart.

The ceiling of the warehouse was decorated with hanging greenery and foliage. It looked great against the white backdrop. We had three long tables so everyone could sit together, and we sat in the middle of the central table surrounded by our closest friends. We had a great time!

For our flowers, I didn’t want anything too structured. Will loves his cooking so we asked for herbs to be included in them too which left a nice smell throughout the church and venue afterwards. To tie in with our theme, we tied foliage to the pue ends in church.

Rather than a traditional cake, we opted for a Cheese tower from Mons London. It looked and tasted amazing.

There was a big blackboard at the venue that we drew the table plan on for people to find their seats. We hand-wrote our placenames and added sprigs of rosemary from Will’s family garden. They were styled with napkins that Will’s mum made that had our initials sewn into them.

We hired a black cab to take me to the church and then Will and I to the reception. We hired a brass band for our entertainment. They did two sets of songs and learnt our first dance song, which was Hello Dolly (my favourite movie as a child).

The dancefloor was never empty whilst the band played. We also had a DJ that followed their performance. For our cards we had a wicker basket with handmade bunting and fairylights. It really suited the look of the venue.

Instead of a traditional guest book, we asked guests to take pictures throughout the day and write a message alongside their Poloroid – it created some fabulous memories.

Our food not only tasted amazing, it looked fabulous too.

Everyone had the best time. There was lots of laughter, lots of wine being drunk and lots of bad dancing. The wedding was also on the Jubilee weekend so there were many jokes that this was the biggest party in London that weekend.

DANIELLE AND WILL’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK

Venue, One Friendly Place, www.onefriendlyplace.com | Photographer, Hiro Arts, www.hiroartsphotography.com | Dresses, Whistles via John Lewis, www.johnlewis.com; ASOS, www.asos.com | Veil, Veils by Chelsea, www.etsy.com/shop/BloomandVeil | Hair and make-up, Kat Sykes Hair and Make-up, www.katsykeshairandmakeup.co.uk | Cake, Mons Cheesemongers, www.mons-cheese.co.uk Flowers, Harley’s Flowers, www.harleysflowers.co.uk | Transport, London Corporate Cabs, www.londoncorporatecabs.com Catering, Cocette Catering, www.cocottecatering.co.uk | Rings, Allure Jewellers, www.allurejewellers.co.uk