Urban Warehouse, Festival Wedding in Battersea

Colourful, Warehouse Party…

We’ve got a super cool, festival themed wedding for you today; shot by MMU supplier, Assassynation.

With a big love of festivals and gigs, Molly & David wanted to throw their own mini music festival, and bring the outside inside with an urban warehouse venue. They literally used their venue, Testbed1, as a blank canvas by taking chalk to the walls and creating a truly unique backdrop – love it!

Name of the couple: Molly & David

Venue: Testbed1, Battersea

Molly & David…

Tell us how you met…

D and are the proverbial high school sweethearts, we’ve been together since we were teenagers as weird as that is this day and age! We met at international school when we were living in Indonesia. He remembers meeting me at a friend’s house, but it took him agreeing to buy me a beer at a bar (when I had run out of money so ever-so-politely asked him – classy lady that I am) for me to remember him! After a short run of 15 years together, we decided it was finally the right time to get hitched! I’m so glad we waited, despite so many years of ‘will you guys every get married?’ from friends and family! I’m glad we waited for our perfect time because we had the confidence to make it perfectly, and completely ‘us’.

What were your main hopes for the day…

David and I love going to gigs and music festivals together, so what better way to celebrate our marriage than throwing our own music festival for all our loved ones. We definitely didn’t want to do the field-barn-vintage-festival thing that’s been done loads and loads (super cute, but that’s just not rock enough for us) so we wanted to find a more urban vibe, a warehouse close to home to rock out in. Ideally we wanted an outdoor feel, but indoor enough to not have to think twice about weather!

What was your favourite part of the day…

An easy answer…it was David’s dip when he kissed me, it was a total surprise! I also loved that his personal vows legitimately blew me away and somehow managed to include the mention of drinking beer together! The speeches were also super special, and another standout highlight was when my nieces, nephews and cousin’s children (all under 11 years old) took over the band! They were fantastic and the band were such good sports about it.

How was your day unique…

It’s not every day that a couple gets married after this long together, so I think that made it extra sappy! Being together so long meant that all our loved ones were BOTH of our loved ones so everyone in that room were literally our favourite people in our whole lives!

I like to think the way we incorporated the theme into the details made the wedding uniquely ours, but ultimately without overwhelming the fact it was a wedding. Our order of the day were lanyards, set up like a festival gig line-up that also had their table names on them, we had street food for dinner and gourmet ice lollies (with mojito, earl grey, and even a strawberry, white chocolate & black pepper flavour to name a few!). One of the best parts of our venue was the blank canvas it provided. Literally a canvas (!) because our talented friend Muddy was able to chalk on the walls…as were our guests when they got creative with the chalk! Our pooch even came for a hello and a special photo shoot too!

What was your biggest expense…

We put the budget into the venue. Once we found it we were in love. Those amazing lights, ping pong, foozball tables, chalkable walls, our urban feel but no rain threat, and BYO drink what’s not to love??

We splashed out on the band too – given our music festival theme it was really important we got the right band! We were struggling to find a band with the right fit.

How did you save money…

We saved a bunch by having our wedding on a Sunday. It was still a weekend so our guests didn’t have to take a day off work, or kids out of school, but they could opt to take Monday to sleep it off if needed!

I knew I wanted a pretty dress that made me feel beautiful and sexy, but simple enough to allow me to accessorise the hell out of it with statement jewelry! Simple approach paid off and I found a bargain on Coast website. All in, after some private alterations it was less than 300quid…a bargain considering I had budgeted double that and above all else I totally and completely loved it!!!

The generosity of our loved ones was nothing short of overwhelming and no doubt saved TONS from our precious budget. We also saved a ton of money by instead of having a formal meal, we had street food (festival-style!), and also by setting up a help yourself tea and coffee station (complete with our kettle from home!) and having a venue that allowed booze to be brought in. We also saved money by having festival snacks (aka crisps and sweets!) instead of formal late night food.

Any advice to couples about to get married…

Do exactly what you want, how you want it! A good place to start is by setting your priorities for what you want out of the day. For us, our priorities were to get married, and buy all our loved ones some food and drink…and ultimately show them a damn good time with a unique, non-cookie cutter wedding experience. We also decided early on that we didn’t want to meet anyone for the first time on our wedding day – seriously helped with guest list decisions and plus one choices!

Just say yes! Say yes, yes please, and thank you to all kind offers of time and help. I felt so bashful at first and overwhelmed by the generosity, then I realised everyone really does want to get involved! And truly… the personal touches of friends and family really do make the day!

LOVE LOVE LOVE it!! – Thanks for sharing guys.