Colourful, Flower and Neon Filled London Wedding at Loft Studios

Colourful, Flower and Neon Filled Wedding at Loft Studios

Siobhán and Toby’s cool London wedding definitely nailed their original brief…colourful, casual, non-traditional, authentic and modern!

The bridal party all wore trousers, they had neon signs decorating every corner (cue Mr & Mrs Unique favs Vowed and Amazed), the food was off-the-hook delicious and they choreographed a Riverdance routine with their bridesmaids and groomsmen as a surprise for their first dance… this is one to see!!

Over to the couple to tell us a bit more about their amazing day…

Siobhán & Toby

How did you meet and get engaged?

We met at university and ended up proposing to each other! We’d been together for 10 years and had been discussing it for a couple of years. We wanted to do it in a way that felt ‘equal’ rather than one of us going off and planning it all then just “surprising” the other. So we came up with the idea to go away for the weekend and both prepare words for each other as part of a joint proposal. It was surprisingly emotional and special despite us both knowing in advance.

Was there an overall theme to your day? If so, what was it?

Colourful and comfy! We wanted the atmosphere to be relaxed and fun with lots of colour and neon signs dotted around the place. We also tried to break from the ‘traditional wedding’ vibe as much as we could.

How long were you planning it for, and what was the best bit?

We started properly planning it about 15 months beforehand. The best bit about the planning was definitely the menu tasting!! We took Toby’s parents with us, as Toby’s mum is a chef herself. The caterer laid on two different (full sized!) dishes for the main, 8 different canapés (each!) and three different desserts (each!). We could hardly move by the end of it and all four of us took a doggy bag of the deliciousness home with us!

We also loved getting to know our other incredible suppliers who put their heart and soul in to what they do.

How was your day unique to you?

We organised the whole wedding ourselves and turned a lot of traditions on their head such as having our entire wedding party walk down the aisle rather than just the bridesmaids and bride and we chose to do a joint speech which was a poem we both wrote together.

Often weddings are overwhelmed with male speakers, and we wanted to have as much gender equality as possible so we had a bridesmaid speak on behalf of the bridesmaids in addition to the best men, and also had Siobhán’s mother make a speech, and Toby’s mother took part in the hand fasting during the ceremony, along with Siobhán’s stepmother.

Siobhán defied tradition by wearing a bespoke jumpsuit alongside her bridesmaids in orange pant suits. In fact, every single female member of Siobhán’s immediate family wore trousers or a jumpsuit! Toby got bespoke “jazzy” printed bow ties made for him and his groomsmen.

We choreographed and taught an Irish dance routine to all of the bridesmaids and groomsmen so we could perform Riverdance with them all as our first dance, which was a surprise to all our guests and went down a storm!

If you could relive one part of the day all over again, which part would it be?

Probably the ceremony – having so many of our family members involved, writing our own vows and having the incredible Sarah as our celebrant meant it it was such a special moment full of laughter, tears, singing and dancing and really helped set the tone for the day!

What are your favourite details of the day?

So much to choose from…the neon signs, bright stationary, bridesmaids bright orange pant suits and the groomsmen’s bespoke jazzy bow ties, the amazing flower stripe/arch that we had in the ceremony (and then reused behind the top table), our colourful paint splashed cake with decorative flowers and Siobhán’s multicoloured shoes!

How did you find your suppliers, and why did you decide on them?

As we wanted to stay clear of a cookie cutter wedding, we were careful to avoid traditional wedding blogs and fairs, and instead sought out local alternative options like the Unwedding Show, Chosen Wedding Fair and Most Curious Wedding Fair, which is where we found a lot of our suppliers, along with recommendations from friends. There was also a lot of instagram searching that took place!

We knew this would be one of the most expensive events of our life, and so wanted to make sure we used the opportunity to support independent women-owned businesses as much as possible, and particularly those who were open to doing things a bit differently and had a chilled vibe. All our suppliers were super local too – apart from our photographer, Ayesha, who is Manchester based – but that was an easy sell as Siobhan was very keen on getting a fellow Manc on the ticket!!

Tell us about your wedding outfits, and why you picked them

Siobhán knew she always wanted to wear trousers, so initially went looking for trouser/top combos, suits and jumpsuits. After a few try-on sessions, she started to get a feel for what sort of style she was after and decided to design her own jumpsuit. She took her drawing to Andrea Hawkes Bridal, which she had walked passed a few times near her work. Andrea showed an enthusiasm to create something a bit different and used her creative mind to bring Siobhán’s vision to life. The whole team were exceptionally professional and supportive throughout the process.

Toby wanted something casual, comfortable and relaxed with a bit of jazziness thrown in, so he opted for chinos, shirt and relaxed blazers from the high street, and found Francis + Louise who worked with him on a design for bespoke bow ties for him and his groomsmen.

Do you have any advice for couples currently planning their wedding, for either the planning or the lead-up?

Be authentically you, trust your gut, try and enjoy the wedmin together and make it fun, don’t sweat the small stuff – you won’t care on the day, enjoy every moment – it goes so fast.

Thank you to Siobhán and Toby for sharing your incredible day with us :)

If you would like to see more of Ayesha Photography visit HERE