Cool Stylish & Modern Greenery-Filled Bethnal Green Wedding

WWW readers Max and Becca’s Bethnal Green wedding was a complete corker! They decided to get wed in East London where they live, with a church ceremony followed by a reception at Clapton Country Club in Hackney. It was lovely how they were able to have breakfast together before getting ready and then both walking separately to their ceremony and at the end of the day they caught a cab home. Perfect relaxed vibes.

They decided to create a laid back wedding and to forgo anything that didn’t fit, they didn’t have favours, a guest book or any unnecessary signs. I love this ethos, it cuts down on wedding planning stress and focuses on what’s really important. Saying that, they decorated their reception beautifully with greenery and their outfits were ever so stylish too.

So great to see the beautiful bridesmaid dresses were by WWW fave Rewritten Bridesmaids too. A big thank you to the brilliant Andrew Brannan Photography for sharing these joy-filled images with us.

I loved reading about real weddings on WWW. It was great not just for finding ideas and vendor recommendations, but also getting a feel for how to structure our day and what we should prioritise.

Bethnal Green Wedding

The Proposal

Max knew he wanted to propose during our September 2019 trip to Japan, as it’s our favourite place and was the first big country we visited together. He’d been waiting for the perfect moment throughout our 2 week trip and kept changing his mind when things weren’t right (the visit to a hot spring that smelled too much of sulphur, the mountain climb that was too rainy etc).

It was down to the last 3 days and we visited Goryokaku Park in Hakodate at golden hour. We’d climbed a hill and were looking out over the trees when I remarked how beautiful it was and he knew that was the moment.

We’ve been together since university and our wedding date ended up falling almost 10 years after we met.

The Vision

We wanted something laid back and fun that combined a traditional and modern city wedding. We decided on East London early on as we loved the idea of getting ready at home and featuring all our favourite places and vendors nearby.

It also had to be a party we’d want to attend – great food, free drinks, lots of dancing, a cool space and accessible by public transport!

As we wanted the August bank holiday 2021, we booked our date in January 2020 before everything went nuts, so we were very lucky that by the time it came around we didn’t have to change or downsize anything.

Budget

£26k

The Venue

Our ceremony venue was St Peter’s Church in Bethnal Green. It’s round the corner from our flat, so I got ready at home and Max at the nearby Town Hall Hotel and we both walked there.

Our reception was at Clapton Country Club in Hackney. It’s a former tram shed and has amazing original industrial features, plus loads of unique furniture, plants and greenery. It’s tucked away behind Clapton overground and we both immediately felt it would be an awesome party space. It also has an outdoor area (rare in London) and an attached apartment we could rent as a breakaway space for babies and my wheelchair-using grandpa.

We tried their Sunday Roast and the food was great, particularly the vegetarian food.

We hired a vintage double-decker to transport guests between the ceremony and the reception. We loved travelling through East London and getting lots of cheers from passers-by!

The Ceremony & Music

My family is religious and Max’s isn’t, so although we liked the significance of a church service we knew it had to represent us both. Our vicar, Heather, was wonderful to work with and made sure the ceremony suited both our beliefs. Musical accompaniment was provided by organist Petra Hajduchova, I walked in to Pachelbel’s Canon in D and we walked out to Vivaldi’s Gloria.

In the evening we hired a ceilidh band. Ceilidhs are always crowd pleasers at weddings as everyone joins in and no-one worries about looking stupid! Ceili Max were awesome and played a 2 hour set and took charge of our Spotify playlist afterwards. They asked if we wanted a ‘traditional’ or ‘energetic’ ceilidh – we went for ‘energetic’ and they made sure everyone left the dance floor sweating like crazy!

Your Outfits

I knew I wanted something classic and minimalist and Andrea Hawkes figured out my style right away. I really loved her bias cut silk dress ‘Fleur’ as the fabric moved beautifully and it felt so classically glamorous, but something was missing. Then Andrea suggested adding a belt and suddenly it was perfect.

All of her dresses are made in her London studio with alterations done by the same seamstress, so it allowed me to support a local creator and not have the unnecessary worry of a dress being shipped from miles away. My shoes were Para Gold from Esska as I wanted a pop of gold and loved how comfortable they were, but other than that I kept my look very minimal with no veil and simple jewellery.

I’m lucky enough to have an amazing makeup artist friend I could hire and she ensured my makeup was low key and I still felt like me. Plus, it meant the getting ready vibe was super relaxed as I was just hanging out with my sisters and friend at my flat on the morning of the wedding.

Max wanted something classic yet special so decided on a green tuxedo jacket, as we both suit green! He searched everywhere but couldn’t find one that was summer appropriate (i.e. not velvet). He eventually found that Suit Supply does custom jackets and ordered one in his chosen fabric.

I only had two bridesmaids, my sisters, and wanted them to wear something that suited them and wasn’t too matchy-matchy. I discovered Rewritten bridesmaids online and was thrilled to discover their showroom was near us in Hackney Wick. My sisters, mum and I booked a session there and chose the Vienna dress in Marine and Bluebell colours, to complement Max’s jacket.

Max’s best men all wore black tuxes, which they luckily all already owned.

The Styling & Decor

We love plants and greenery and as Clapton Country Club was already filled with them we kept the styling greenery focused. I knew how easy it would be to get carried away with extras so we decided early on to only include things we cared about, so simple decor, no favours, no guest book and no unnecessary signs.

Our flowers were by Grace and Thorn. They’re a local florist we visit regularly, so when I found out they did an affordable ‘ready to wear’ wedding flowers collection I was sold (so many other London florists have insane minimum spends). We chose the greenery focused ‘white noise’ collection, and ordered bride and bridesmaid flowers, buttonholes and table decorations. We chose not to decorate the church as we loved how it looked already.

The invites, place cards and seating plan were by Wonder Weddings, who do the most gorgeous minimalist stationery.

Our cake was by another local vendor, Luminary Bakery in Stoke Newington. They’re a great social enterprise and make gorgeous cakes. We ordered a whole box of tasters but ended up liking the simple Victoria sponge the best, so went for 3 tiers with green foliage decor to complement the venue.

For dinner, we served Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food as it suited the time of year. Starters were flatbreads with hummus, baba ganoush and grilled vegetables with tahini and chickpeas. For mains we served the most amazing Israeli chicken, alongside stuffed aubergines, couscous and fattoush salad. Everything was so delicious and so many people remarked on how they’d never had wedding food like it.

We hired one of our fave local ice cream companies, Nonna’s Gelato, to provide dessert. This was one of the best decisions we made as it meant everyone got to mingle outside after dinner. We also had late night sourdough cheese and bacon toasties to keep people fuelled after the ceilidh!

Your Photographer

Our photographer was Andrew Brannan. He’d shot at Clapton Country Club several times before and we fell in love with the documentary style of his images and how he really captured the natural joy of a couple’s day. That was exactly the vibe we wanted for our wedding and we were so pleased with the results – we can really feel our personalities and the fun of the day shining through the images.

The Honeymoon

After booking and cancelling 4 different honeymoons due to constant changing travel restrictions (Japan, USA, Italy and finally Mexico) we were left with nothing planned the week before the wedding. We ended up booking a last-minute Eurostar and spending 5 days in Paris. It was the perfect relaxing and romantic post-wedding trip.

Memorable Moments

Having breakfast together the morning of the wedding before Max went off to get ready – I’m so glad we didn’t decide to follow any ‘can’t see the bride on the day’ as it meant we both started the day really relaxed and supporting each other.

Walking to the ceremony from our flat with my sisters and my dad. It felt so normal and yet so special at the same time!

Having to stand on chairs and kiss whenever everyone banged their plates at dinner (I have Danish family and this is a Danish wedding tradition!).

Eating ice cream outside after an amazing dinner and speeches and catching up with all our guests.

Catching a black cab home at the end of the night and even though we were both wearing wedding clothes and carrying half a wedding cake the driver was oblivious, then when he dropped us off he said “you two going to a party or something?”.

Advice For Other Couples

You should enjoy planning the wedding and you should enjoy the day itself! If things start stressing you out then take a look at whether you actually need or want them.

Do an engagement shoot! It’s a great opportunity to meet your photographer and get lots of tips from them. Andrew told us to double our confetti volumes and we’re so glad we did!