Colourful & Unique Rainbow West Reservoir Centre Wedding

I don’t even know where to start with WWW readers Colby and Charlton’s epic West Reservoir Centre wedding in London. I mean there was a multicolour rainbow colour scheme, three venues, sensational city portraits and the most amazing flowers. Wow!

I adore the outfits especially, from Colby and Charlton’s dashing suits and flowers to the rainbow bridesmaid outfits. It’s also brilliant to see so many hats at a wedding! How heartwarming is it that there are non-stop smiles and laughter from beginning to end? So lovely.

From the colourful hanging lanterns to the fun cake toppers and confetti moment, I am sure you’ll be left grinning from ear to ear by the end of their story. Lauren Marchant Photography thanks ever so much for sharing with us these totally beautiful images.

Colby and Charlton on WWW

We reviewed the real weddings featured on WWW for creative inspiration whilst planning our wedding. We wanted to do our wedding in our own way. Reviewing real weddings on WWW helped us to consider how we wanted our wedding to look, feel and reflect our individual personalities.

West Reservoir Centre Wedding

The Proposal

My (Colby’s) birthday is in May, as is Charlton’s sister’s. Charlton suggested that we should invite a group of our friends to his family home in Dorset and host a combined birthday and Eurovision party. During the day, Charlton insisted that we should take our friends up Hambledon Hill, which is a protected Iron Age hillfort with breathtaking views across three counties.

Hambledon Hill is a very special place for Charlton and his family. Indeed, his grandparents and father are all buried facing on to it, and no Christmas visit is complete without the steep slopes of Hambledon Hill having been conquered.

I charged ahead up the ancient hill fort and waited at the very highest point for Charlton, his mother, his sister and our nearest and dearest friends to ascend. As I watched the group make their way up towards the top, occasionally pausing to marvel at the views, I noticed Charlton break away and come charging towards me.

All of a sudden, he lunged down on one knee and pulled a ring box from his pocket. The whole world stopped, and I don’t remember hearing what he said as I was too surprised and overwhelmed in the most wonderful way. I suddenly thought, “Oh gosh! I need to say something don’t I?” and managed to blurt out “Yes – I will happily marry you”.

The only person who knew he was going to propose was his sister and she brought several bottles of champagne up the climb to mark the moment.

He proposed with the most beautiful ring which also served as my wedding ring. Neither of us are big on jewellery and he proposed with a gorgeous gold ring which has his thumbprints and fingerprints all around the band. I love it because it’s personal, elegant and combines tradition with distinctiveness. The ring was from @wearearrow_jewellery in Columbia Road, London.

He really outdid himself with the proposal and it couldn’t have been more perfect. It was in a truly special place, with our nearest and dearest close by, and still felt like a personal moment between Charlton and me.

There’s a little post-script to this story. Unbeknownst to Charlton, I had also planned to propose to him and was going to do so at the Edinburgh Festival. However, seeing as he beat me to it, I took him to the restaurant where we had our first date (J. Sheekey’s, St. Martin’s Court, London) and proposed with another ring from @wearearrow_jewellery.

The ring I created with the incredible designers at wearearrow is a band made of white gold, with a hexagonal blue sapphire inset into the band (to reflect Charlton’s stunning blue eyes) and 3 small, brilliant sapphires either side making 7 sapphires in total; and reflecting the number of years we had been together. This too served as his wedding ring.

The Vision

The vision for our wedding evolved organically. We both thought about the elements that were most important to us and reflected our individual personalities. Mostly, we thought about how we wanted the wedding to feel and set about creating a joyful occasion, full of love, positive energy, fun, laughter and something that reflected who we are, both as individuals and as a couple.

Charlton was keen it was a wedding that was local to us. Like a lot of people, we reconnected with our local area during the pandemic and so Charlton was keen for us to get married in Stoke Newington, London, where we both live. Apart from everything else, this made it incredibly easy for most of our friends and relatives to attend, as the majority are London based. Charlton’s also a chef, so he was determined the food and wine would be 6-star quality.

I was more concerned about the aesthetics. I really wanted our wedding to be a bright, colourful, well-dressed affair. I always think hats elevate any occasion, so I strongly encouraged hats and headdresses. This was also a nod to where I was born (Luton, Bedfordshire) which has a long history of millinery and was why I ultimately chose a straw boater for myself.

Budget

£25K

The Venue

We were married in the Council Chamber at Stoke Newington Town Hall – a beautifully restored art deco building with a stunning viewing gallery for guests It was joyous and jubilant to have a room full of guests on the floor behind us, and 30 guests cheering down from above. From the very start, the ceremony felt joyful, uplifting and full of love.

We then had a drink to decompress at the Rose & Crown across the road. This is my local and I had watched many a wedding party depart from the town hall whilst sitting in this pub, so it was extra special to finally be one of those weddings.

After the pub pit-stop, the wedding party then took a merry walk through Clissold Park, where we’ve played tennis, walked our dogs and had many a picnic, over to our reception venue: the West Reservoir Centre. This place is a real “hidden treasure”. It’s where we swim regularly and where we can feel like we’ve escaped the city even though it’s right on our doorstep.

The West Reservoir has the most beautiful Victorian pump house. My partner’s a chef and had catered weddings at this stunning venue, so he knew it was tried and tested. It couldn’t have been more perfect for what we wanted.

The Ceremony & Music

The ceremony was a vibrant affair. Our celebrant, Mr A. Seaman, totally went with the energetic, irreverent feel of the day. As we waited outside, the 17 bridesmaids were generating a huge amount of noise from the off with all their excitement.

Once we managed to everyone down a little, we entered the ceremony to Kate Bush’s Cloudbusting (I’m a lifelong fan and the song has very special significance for us), and we left to The Archer’s Theme Music. As a chef, Charlton listens to The Archers on a daily basis, so it was wholly appropriate and who doesn’t love the theme tune’s jauntiness?

For our reception, a ceilidh and disco were provided by Cut-A-Shine.

Your Outfits

My suit was from Gresham Blake. I wanted to feel as proud as a peacock so went for peacock blue with a peacock lining.

My hat was a straw boater from Jaxon & James, and myself and one of the bridesmaids (I know there isn’t a bride, but Charlton insists they are bridesmaids!) decorated the hat with ostrich plumes and peacock feathers.

Due to a recent broken ankle (an awfully timed accident at Glastonbury), I wore hot pink Converse shoes as my left ankle was still rather swollen. In the end, I was rather happy with how they tied in with the pink plumes on my hat and the pink flowers in my buttonhole.

Charlton’s suit came from Paul Smith. He chose a pale blue/lavender suit which set off his sky-blue eyes gorgeously. His shoes were from Trickers in Northampton. His Mohican hair became a flo-hican with lots of fresh flowers pinned in to create a rather unique headdress.

Your Photographer

Photographer was Lauren Marchant Photography.

The Styling & Decor

Cake was created by Ruveni, one of the bridesmaids.

Flowers by AG Price, Well Street, E9. We asked for big, bold arrangements and they truly delivered. They used tall vases which kept the flowers out of guests’ eye-line when they were seated. I have to say, I spoke to several florists and I really felt AG Price really listened to the vision we were trying to create (whereas elsewhere, I felt were having the florist’s vision foisted onto us!)

The venue allowed us to hang paper lanterns to create a colourful display above guests’ heads: The Hanging Lantern Co.

The Honeymoon

We are going to go on honeymoon for our anniversary. We love travel and so we’re happy to wait until we can afford a truly epic honeymoon.

Memorable Moments

The actual moment we got married, with our guests riotously cheering behind us.

The best man’s speech. He nailed it! It was hilarious, caused me to squirm the right amount, and was full of love.

Our first dance. One of the bridesmaids, Sally Olsen-Muira, sang “Love will keep us together” by Captain and Tennille. It was choreographed by another bridesmaid, Julia Fitzpatrick-Barnett, and became a beautiful, full-crowd affair.