We’re sliding back to one of the hottest days in October, to a beautiful London garden of silver birch in dappled shade where a clear marquee was erected for guests to celebrate the Jewish Garden Wedding of Georgia and Micah.
But let’s give this the attention it deserves and start at the beginning….
How did you two meet?
We met during Freshers week at Manchester university (at a really awful bar called Baa Bar).
After dating briefly, we became really good friends for about 5 or 6 years before we became a couple.
We stayed in touch and were very close after uni. I guess it was a case of never having been single at the same time before. When that finally happened it was one of those ‘why aren’t we together’?! Sort of realisations.
Any funny stories from way back then?
I have a real gift for saying exactly the wrong thing when making small talk with new people and really putting my foot in it. This happened a lot when Micah was first introducing me to his friends.
Almost every time I would recount a story;
‘Oh Micah told me this really funny story about one of you guys- the crazy one, who does all this crazy stuff…’
… ‘Umm, I think that’s me’
Queue the Awkward silence. Embarrassed laughter. Repeat the next time I meet one of Micah’s friends for the first time.
Tell us your proposal story!
Micah and I had been having conversations about getting married so I knew it was imminent, and had been keeping my eye on engagement rings (as you do), sending links and pictures to my best friends and my mum; just in case Micah ever went to them for ring advice..
I had actually fallen in love with a yellow Sapphire and diamond engagement ring by Katherine James.
It had gotten to the point where I was checking on the ring on social media, and one day I saw it had been sold.
We were heading to Scotland where we go regularly to visit Micah’s family.
Micah found a really lovely remote cottage in the Trossachs national park and we went on a long hike with our dog Bruce.
It was Autumn and we were surrounded by all the gorgeous yellows and oranges.
We found a beautiful waterfall. Micah got down on one knee, said some beautiful things and pulled out a yellow ring box.
When I opened the box I was so stunned I couldn’t speak!
Micah was the one who had bought my yellow sapphire ring!
It was such an amazing surprise.
Our engagement being in Autumn then went on to inform our wedding season too (Micah loves the trees in autumn).
Where did you hold your ceremony and reception?
We held our at home wedding reception at my grandmothers house which was incredibly special as it’s the house I grew up in after my mum and dad split, so it really feels like home, and I’m very close to my grandmother.
She has a very beautiful garden which I have always wanted to get married in.
Immediately across the road is Kenwood House which backs on to Hampstead Health.
Sadly Kenwood House was being renovated this year so it was very uncertain whether we would be able to host our wedding ceremony there. Eventually after many talks with Kenwood House they suggested the Kenwood Kitchen Garden; which is a working kitchen garden to service the house.
We were so pleased, until we heard the cost! We looked around again hoping to find somewhere close and within budget. But with travel arrangements for guests it was all getting complicated and we kept coming back to Kenwood House.
So we decided to go for it and made some cuts in other places. And I’m so glad that we did.
The kitchen garden is even closer to my Grandma’s house, a 2 minute walk immediately across the road connected by a Zebra crossing.
This turned out to be such a highlight of the wedding day, our brilliant band picked up their instruments and we became a marching band procession over the Zebra crossing, making for some perfect Beatles photoshoot moments.
Why did you choose Arabian Tents for your Jewish Garden Marquee Wedding?
We met with a lot of Tipi companies as I had my heart set on a rustic wedding style, but none of them were able to overcome the challenges of the space (uneven ground, hard standing) and kept telling us we couldn’t do this and we couldn’t do that -the ground was too rough, or the garden was a difficult shape so we’d have to have a smaller tent and therefore cut our guest list.
After going round in circles and feeling disappointed, we found Arabian Tents.
Katherine was just amazing, I went to her explaining that ‘I didn’t want a marquee’ and she showed me so many different designs and materials and edgings and details, my whole preconception of a ‘twee English country wedding marquee’ disappeared.
She gave me a new understanding of what a marquee wedding could be.
I never once heard her say no to anything, nothing was too much trouble, everything was possible. The whole team were so helpful and so creative it was such a relief.
Wedding Coordination
A little while later (Later than it should have been really, I should have asked for help sooner!) it was clear that I needed a bit more support as all the supplier co-ordination was becoming difficult to stay on top of. The list of technical requirements was getting longer and longer (heating, lighting, generators, sound techs, toilets etc. etc!) and that’s when House of Hud stepped up and Leonie stepped in as supplier and wedding co-ordinator.
I honestly could not have done it without her, we had a full brief and then I handed it all over to her 4 weeks before the day, and I never heard from another supplier again! Incredible.
It also meant that in the weeks leading up to the wedding (and on the day itself) I actually had time to do the things I wanted to do and have some time for myself as well, rather than having to deal with deliveries and checks and signatures and calls etc.
It was pivotal. I wouldn’t have had time for family and friends travelling into London or to enjoy some beauty treatments in the preceding week if I hadn’t have decided to get wedding co-ordination support.
On the day itself everything ran so smoothly, it was like having an invisible force making everything perfect, I was up at 6am in hair and makeup and blissfully unaware of suppliers arriving or leaving or set up happening.
I wasn’t even aware of Leonie’s presence, I know that anything that needed asking was asked to the bridesmaids or my mum, there was nothing for me to think about or do or worry about at all, she was always there, perfectly invisible, making sure everything was just right.
Tell us about that gorgeous dress with pockets!
I bought the first wedding dress I tried on!
I found a picture of the dress online and said ‘if this dress looks good on me, it’s my dress’. It was from a designer called Nicole Colet which I found at a boutique on Chiltern street called Bridal Rogue (who were wonderful)
The dress originally had a huge skirt with a lot of petti coating and I had most of it removed.
The tailoring service from them was excellent and also enabled me to lower the back of the dress in the process. I was really happy with the results and it felt more bespoke as a result.
I tried a few different bridal shops after that just to make sure I’d done my due diligence and seen what was out there, but nothing else lived up to that first dress. Also, I also decided to do all of the first fittings on my own to avoid external influence or opinions until a later stage. Personally, I found this took a lot of pressure out of the experience.
The Shoes
I’m not a very dressy person and my engagement ring is rather large so I knew I would already feel very dressed up.
I was planning on wearing white doc martens and stomping around with my hands in my pockets, but everyone persuaded me out of it.
Instead I found a really comfortable pair of Jimmy Choo mules on Farfetch which I could easily slip off…
I didn’t wear a necklace but I spent the whole year before the wedding slowly getting more ear piercings as I wanted a really stacked ear look. My mum gifted me a beautiful diamond stud which she had sadly lost the pair for years ago. Wearing it half-way up one ear and gave an a-symmetrical look.
The Outfit Change
I knew I wanted a disco after party in the evening and that would require an outfit change. Comfort is key and I wanted to dance so that meant a jumpsuit, and I found the most perfect sparkly jumpsuit at Nadine Merabi who do really gorgeous great quality jumpsuits and dresses.
I actually loved it so much I would have liked to wear it for longer.. Looking back at the photos I definitely could have worn it all day!
Oh and I also let my hair down in the evening, taking those clips out felt so good.
And those gorgeous silver bridesmaids!
How about your bridal party, what outfits did you/ they go for and how did you decide? How was this part of planning?
The bridesmaids were in silver. It started off as metallics but we quickly realised that wasn’t right. When we chose silver I was really pleased to note how on trend we were when Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour started and silver was everywhere.
I didn’t want my bridesmaids to look like little girls. We are all women and I wanted them to feel confident so I asked them to choose anything silver which they felt good in, and they looked amazing.
One was in a suit from Coast, two were in dresses (one from Nookie, one from ASOS) and one in a co-ord set from Revolve. They all also had colourful shoes to match our ‘Wonderland’ dress code.
I made sure the makeup artist worked with their natural beauty rather than covering up freckles or straightening curly hair.
They looked stunning.
An additional touch were the small clutch bags i had made for them from the excess petticoating and train that was removed from my wedding dress. I hope these will be lifelong keepsakes.
Your guests looked so cool! Did you have a dress code?
Yes our wedding dress code was:
Wonderland; camp and exaggerated, elevated. Colourful and bright or sparkly.
For some that was colourful braces or a colourful shoe, others really leaned into it and came in such brilliant outlandish outfits.
It was so much fun.
We also had face and body paint artists on hand on the day to jazz people up a little more whilst they were there.
Wedding as community
One of the best weddings we’ve ever attended was a few years ago (shout out Ben and Krisztina).
The entire wedding was a pulled together by friends and family in a beautiful community effort, all of the guests had contributed in some way to the day.
One guest owned and erected the marquee, another made the wedding cake, did the bouquets and table arrangements, others cooked a huge cauldron of goulash, a friend tailored the bride’s wedding dress and we all did shifts behind the bar!… Because of this everyone who was there felt a part of it. It was really special.
Micah and I took a lot of inspiration from that day and really wanted to do as much as possible ourselves.
Micah’s sister Lil who was also a bridesmaid did all of our stationery, the place settings, the table names, seating plan; everything written was made by her, as well as the most incredible wedding favours – hand painted tapered dinner candles for guests to take home.
All the table decorations and flowers were done by my mum and I, as well as the dessert station. We woke up at 3am to go to New Covent Garden flower market (twice!) to buy all the flowers and greenery.
We asked close friends to be our celebrant and MC so everything had a personal touch.
What did you eat?
Food is very important to my family!
I was worried about delivering excellent food within our budget, and also not wanting any of it to be at all fancy. Neither of us wanted a 3 course sit-down meal.
During our reception we used Oyster Boy (of Columbia Road Flower Market success) who provided an oyster cart with bloody marys.
We found a relatively small catering company called Capital Banquets and everything they made was absolutely delicious. Also beautifully presented in family-style sharing buffets in the centre of each table. We asked for abundant, colourful plates of food to share – think Ottolenghi with an Asian twist.
At 9pm, Taco Truck showed up and served up a selection of Mexican tacos together with a huge bowl of tequila punch to keep our guests fueled! I wish I had tried them but I heard they were excellent – my cousin broke a record by eating 10!
Talk us through your festival wedding style entertainment
Planning a festival style wedding with a disco twist we had a lot of fun with the entertainment. Our band were with us all day, first acoustically as a walkabout act and later on for a full amplified set with a saxophonist which kept the crowd dancing all night.
We also had a caricature artist drawing funny pictures of guests in the day, a face and body paint artist to jazz up guests’ looks and a DJ later on in the evening.
Any advice for couples currently wedding planning?
Get in as many moments together as a couple as you can on the day. Couple shots are a really good opportunity to have some time together away from the crowd and take it all in.
So is an outfit change! It gives you a few moments to take stock and be yourselves before going back out revived, and in a new outfit which gives you a real second wind.
Don’t take it too seriously! The couple set the tone for the day, and if you’re stressed then your guests won’t be able to relax.
What an absolutely stunning modern marquee wedding this was, we so enjoyed being part of it.
If you have any questions about holding your wedding ceremony outdoors or about wedding receptions at home in a marquee- do feel free to get in touch, we’d love to hear you plans.
Lots of love,
The team at Arabian Tents
x
The suppliers who created this garden wedding were…
Ceremony Stretch Tent: The Arabian Tent Company
Clear Reception Marquee: The Arabian Tent Company
Photography: Carine Bea
Outdoor Wedding Venue: Kenwood Kitchen Garden
Band: The Super Tenants
Wedding Dress: Bridal Rogue Gallery
Bridal Jumpsuit: Nadine Merabi
Silver Bridesmaid Dresses: Nooki, Coast, Revolve
Groom’s Suit: Thom Sweeney
Bridal Hair & Makeup: Maya Lewis
Catering: Capital Banquets
Bar: Mix & Muddle
Oysters: Oyster Boy Events
Food Truck: Taco Truck
Festival Face & Body Painter: Poppy and Perle
Caricature Artist: London Caricatures
