{"id":152244,"date":"2015-10-21T08:00:47","date_gmt":"2015-10-21T07:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/whimsicalwonderlandweddings.com\/?p=152244"},"modified":"2024-07-19T09:23:59","modified_gmt":"2024-07-19T08:23:59","slug":"unique-decadent-masked-ball-wedding-with-a-red-dress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/unique-decadent-masked-ball-wedding-with-a-red-dress\/","title":{"rendered":"Unique & Decadent Masked Ball Wedding with a Red Dress"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Unique<\/p>\n

We’re getting sexy, decadent and glamorous today with this incredible Halloween wedding.<\/p>\n

Gemma and Matt were married on the 31st October 2014 at Asylum in London. They envisioned a day which was unique to them with a fabulous masked ball to finish. Instead of flowers they opted for candles which transformed the atmosphere of the venue perfectly.<\/p>\n

Gemma wanted an Oscar worthy gown and wow what a show stopper it was. Let’s not forget Matt’s sharp blue suit which looked very dapper indeed and the bridesmaids in elegant black gowns. Sensational.<\/p>\n

Thanks so much to the brilliant Assassynation<\/a> for sharing these images with us today.<\/p>\n

\"Unique \"Unique<\/p>\n

THE PROPOSAL<\/p>\n

At dawn overlooking three ancient volcanic lakes in Flores, Indonesia. Matt and Gemma got up early to see the sunrise over the lakes and Matt took Gemma completely by surprise (so much so it took her a while to answer and unromantically said, \u2018okay\u2019 swiftly followed by \u2018I\u2019d love to\u2019).<\/p>\n

\"Unique \"Unique \"Unique<\/p>\n

THE VISION<\/p>\n

To have something that was completely unique to us, whilst respecting some old traditions and making up new ones. We wanted a wedding that reflected our relationship, that wasn\u2019t sketched out by the church or the state, but one that would both be true to us and put our amazing friends and family at the centre of the ceremony.<\/p>\n

After that part we wanted a decadent, boozy and sexy party.<\/p>\n

\"Asylum\"Unique<\/p>\n

THE PLANNING PROCESS<\/p>\n

We started planning in February 2014 and we were fairly relaxed about everything until the last manic month before the wedding.<\/p>\n

We were fortunate that whilst talking about the sort of day we would like we tended to agree on most things and once we agreed on the venue everything else seemed to fall into place.<\/p>\n

We decided to hold the ceremony and the reception at the venue and then decamp to a pub for the after party which meant switching the room around a few times so we planned drinks canap\u00e9s and oysters on the portico whilst setting up the tables for lunch, and then after speeches sent everyone outside again where we had a coffee van and macaroons whilst setting up for the masked ball. We hired a lighting crew to make the ball look completely different to the daytime venue.<\/p>\n

\"Unique \"Unique\"Unique<\/p>\n

THE READINGS & MUSIC<\/p>\n

We had a reading from The Prophet by Khalli Gibran, and Us Two by A.A Milne.<\/p>\n

We sang Fever by Peggy Lee and Get By With a Little Help From My Friends by the Beatles. Our friend Nick accompanied the singing on the guitar and Gemma\u2019s friends Cleo and Yaz led the singing.<\/p>\n

\"Unique \"Unique \"Unique \"Unique \"Unique \"Unique<\/p>\n

BUDGET<\/p>\n

Initially we spoke about a \u00a315k budget but realistically it was more like \u00a320k.<\/p>\n

\"Unique \"Unique \"Unique<\/p>\n

GROOM’S ATTIRE<\/p>\n

Matt wore a cobalt blue classic slim cut two button Paul Smith suit, with a few modern twists.<\/p>\n

\"Unique\"Black<\/p>\n

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS<\/p>\n

I had five (originally six but one gave birth on the day of the wedding). They wore black dresses of their own choosing and red shoes and I got them matching red glitter masks for the ball.<\/p>\n

\"Unique\"Candelabras<\/p>\n

THE VENUE<\/p>\n

The venue completely made the day, so much so we barely needed to decorate. We decided against flowers and just had large gold candelabras for the tables, and hired props from the national theatre to create a corner with a few chaise longues and a standing lamp.<\/p>\n

\"Unique \"Pashmina \"Unique \"Silk \"Unique<\/p>\n

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES<\/p>\n

The dress was red with a lace bodice, three quarter length sleeves and a large silk skirt. The back was open to show off my butterfly tattoos!<\/p>\n

Because the dress was so grand I decided against accessories. Matt\u2019s mum made me a pearl and black and cream silk flower bouquet.<\/p>\n

My shoes I already owned (I have many pairs of red shoes!).<\/p>\n

I wanted a red dress \u2013 more like an Oscar gown than a wedding dress \u2013 and after realising that was quite a difficult ask I decided to find a designer. A friend had got married in a black dress earlier in the year and so I went to see if she could make me a red one. Catherine at Blades Bridal was brilliant and completely got my vision. I took her two pictures, one of a Marchesa red dress with a huge skirt and a lace bodice, and the other of an Oscar de la Renta black dress with an open back and asked Catherine to merge the two. Which she did, amazingly!<\/p>\n

\"Red\"Unique \"Unique \"Unique \"Unique \"Unique \"Unique \"Unique \"Unique \"Unique \"Unique<\/p>\n

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER<\/p>\n

The amazing Sassy! I normally hate having my photograph taken but it was so much fun with Sassy. One of my favourite parts of the day was walking around the Old Kent Road with Sassy looking for interesting places to have photos in front of!<\/p>\n

\"Unique \"Unique \"Unique \"Unique \"Unique<\/p>\n

THE HONEYMOON<\/p>\n

We flew to Glasgow, got legally married, and then drove to Islay in the Hebrides where we rented an eco-lodge for a week and completely chilled out.<\/p>\n

\"Unique \"Unique \"Unique \"Unique \"Unique<\/p>\n

MEMORABLE MOMENTS<\/p>\n

Every minute \u2013 it will be imprinted on our memories for a long time to come.<\/p>\n

\"Unique \"Unique<\/p>\n

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES<\/p>\n

Design the wedding you want not the wedding you think other people expect or that you should have. We had a brilliant Humanist celebrant, we had speeches from the bride, groom, father of the bride, best man and bridesmaid, and we had a tequila toasts instead of champagne. When else do you get to dictate the order of a day?!<\/p>\n

\"Unique<\/p>\n

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |<\/p>\n

Humanist | Sally Feldman<\/a><\/p>\n

Band | Congo Faith Healers<\/a><\/p>\n

Venue | Asylum<\/a>, Caroline Gardens Chapel<\/p>\n

Photographer | Assassynation<\/a><\/p>\n

Oystermeister | James Bowles<\/a><\/p>\n

Dress | Catherine, Blades Bridal<\/a><\/p>\n

Coffee Van | Santiago Coffee<\/p>\n

Amazing. I love love love this wedding.<\/p>\n

Thanks so very much to Gemma and Matt for telling us their story today xo Lou<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’re getting sexy, decadent and glamorous today with this incredible Halloween wedding. Gemma and Matt were married on the 31st October 2014 at Asylum in London. They envisioned a day which was unique to them with a fabulous masked ball to finish. Instead of flowers they opted for candles which transformed the atmosphere of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":152278,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[70,4],"tags":[6787,2474,50,3468,472,223,2416,33],"class_list":["post-152244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alternative-wedding","category-real-weddings","tag-11000-20000","tag-asylum-london","tag-city-wedding","tag-halloween-wedding","tag-humanist-wedding","tag-london-wedding","tag-red-wedding-dress","tag-red-wedding-ideas"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"mv":{"thumbnail_id":152278,"thumbnail_uri":"https:\/\/whimsical-cdn.wedissimo.com\/2015\/10\/GemmaMattAssassynation-10482-300x450.jpg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wedissimo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}