Lexie and Cyril’s wedding is one of those occasions I absolutely adore preparing a feature for on Love My Dress.
The couple – Lexie is a Film & TV Producer and Cyril is a trainee Vicar – tied the knot on 22nd September 2023 in East London, with a ceremony at Church of St-John-at-Hackney, followed by a reception set within the glorious, light filled hall of St Leonard’s Church in Shoreditch.
The couple’s budget was fairly limited, not that you’d guess, so sensible decisions were made as they planned their wedding; Lexie discovered her gown in a sample sale at the excellent Heart a Flutter Bridal Studio in Hoxton, guests dined on pies and the groomsmen did a pizza run in the evening. Budget was ultimately reserved for the couple’s one absolutely non-negotiable, their photographer, the most excellent Ruth Atkinson, whose work I am continually delighted to be able to share.
This weddings is so much fun, and so incredibly stylish. I adore it and hope that it inspires you too. Enjoy!
Bridal Beauty & Accessories
If you’re London based and need a hair stylist – use Ashley Lambe – he’s a bloody legend. For makeup, I hired the lovely Jaz Crush.
I wore a blush veil which I found in a random bridal shop in Portsmouth. I didn’t want to pay London prices and I wanted to look for something with my mum, so we just went one afternoon when I was home and we found it together, which was special.
My big bow was from Heart Aflutter and my shoes were from Charles & Keith.
Controversial, but I don’t know if I actually love the scent I ended up wearing. I’d wanted to get a special one but ran out of budget for a Le Labo or Jo Malone classic, so panic bought one with my sisters from a perfumery. It was nice to wear something different form the norm I suppose, but honestly I was just pushed by all the insta vids I saw about cementing a memory in scent. Looking back, I wish I’d either prioritized it more and apportioned more of a budget, or just got like a sample of a smell I love, rather than end up in the halfway house I did. Cyril couldn’t even notice a difference.
All of the jewelry I wore were just my everyday pieces except for my earrings which I got from Anthropologie in the sale – they are no longer sold, but there is a very similar dupe pair available here.
Bridesmaids
My sisters were my bridesmaids. We’re all different heights and sizes and have very different tastes. Having worn identical dresses as a bridesmaid in the past, I just wanted them to wear whatever made them feel comfortable, the only rules were it had to be in the green/blue spectrum. I think we found them all online from places like ASOS and Warehouse etc. So nothing crazy, but so much less stress.
Again, when it came to shoes, I said they could wear whatever they wanted, so they got shoes from a few different high street stores. I actually run an account called @thehackneyhooker, so I made us all our bags which was a fun detail – especially when half the guests turned up with ones I’d made them in the past too, I should’ve turned it into a campaign.
Photography
Our photographer, Ruth Atkinson is beyond incredible, I genuinely had her as a need before anything else – she was one of the non-negotiables. Ruth has the most stunning eye, everything looks timeless and yet she captures the most incredible moments of personality.
As a photographer, she’s so incredibly unobtrusive; Cyril and I aren’t big photo people, and genuinely one of my biggest sources of anxiety on the day was feeling super watched – hard when you’re the bride – so the idea of posing for any photos was a bit of a no.
Thankfully, Ruth’s style is more documentary, although you have some couple shots, we didn’t feel at all uncomfortable or staged. She just sees moments and makes them magic.
Our trip between venues in the car was great – it looked sick, and honestly every stereotype about London being miserable is upended when you’re dressed for a wedding driving through the streets in some rattly vintage car.
Everyone waves and shouts, busses were honking, it just felt so surreal, like we’d been given our own little slice of special to enjoy in amongst the madness of the day.
Shout out to our friend Zac for lending us his lockdown project car.
How They Met
We met in Bristol about five years ago, just before I moved to London for work. We were dating long distance for a couple of years over the pandemic, before Cyril moved to join me in 2022. We got engaged that November and then married the following September.
When it came to suit shopping, we knew we weren’t going to do something uber formal because although we had a traditional ceremony, the rest of our day was pretty informal. So, we started looking for a workwear style suit – seeing as Cyril lives in a chore jacket most of the time anyway.
We ordered a navy suit from Uskees. He tried it, it fitted perfectly and that’s what we stuck with. Our outfits were surprisingly easy. For a shirt, we just got a collarless heavy white cotton one from COS, and then his shoes we just got from ASOS.
Evening & Dancing
We hired DJ Dan! Such a great guy, we had so much fun in the evening and he was a huge part of this.
We’re not huge dancers, so we started out with Leon Bridges Homecoming (we love) then got DJ Dan (it’s obligatory to call him that) to cut into Sister Sledge’s ‘We Are Family’, which my sisters and the groomsman ran into dragging people with them, would recommend.
Words of Wedded Wisdom
At the outset of planning, we made a list of three priorities we didn’t want to compromise on, so kept going back to that when we had to make a decision which affected budget or timescale. Ultimately, we wanted it to be a day that didn’t bankrupt us and we wanted it to be full of what we love, so we ignored a lot of the to do lists because quite honestly, no one remembers most of those things anyway.
I wish I’d taken more people up on their offers to help however and I wish I’d been better at not pulling our wedding conversations into date night!
