HIP LONDON ELOPEMENT

Did you know we started life way back in 2011 as an intimate wedding blog? Now and again we like to head back to our roots and prove that small, intimate weddings don’t have to sacrifice on style. In fact we think they’re pretty cool. For Lyndsey & Ryan their day was more about the marriage than the wedding. They may have saved on thier guest numbers but they still made sure their day was super special by splashing out on bespoke outfits and booking awesome photographer Laura Babb to make sure all the little details from their day were captured. From Lyndsey’s chic Whistle’s dress to the city hall exchange of vows, taxi rides and gritty urban backdrop, this is everything a hip London elopement wedding should be!

We’ve been together for over 8 years, having met in Toronto, Canada through mutual friends just after we both graduated from university. The night we met our friends had decided to try and set us up. They sent us off to buy a round of drinks so that they could re-organize the seating to ensure we would be seated next to each other. We never did return with the drinks. We stood at the bar and talked until last call and have been together ever since.

We just wanted to be married and for us the ‘wedding day’ was not a focus. We also have friends and family all over the world and couldn’t find a solution that suited everyone, including us. We decided to have it in London, as it’s where we call ‘home’ and it felt most true to who we are. We didn’t want a big fuss and finally decided to just keep it a secret, only telling our nearest family – parents, siblings – and closest friends (although Ryan actually never did get around to telling his!). The style we wanted was classic but by no means a conventional wedding. Lindsey’s greatest consideration when choosing her dress was whether she could lunge – thinking ahead to the highly competitive table tennis tournament that took place at the end of the night.

We wrote all of the ceremony ourselves; to make sure it really reflected us as a couple and what we felt was important. The readings we chose spoke to our friends and who we are as a family of 3 (unfortunately, our dog Arthur couldn’t attend). We also wrote our own vows. That was very emotional as Ryan got a bit teary, which set everybody else off. We had a wonderful day with every single moment being special and memorable. We really enjoyed the cab ride from Shoreditch (where we had coffee and took photos) to Pollen Street. It was just the two of us as we drove through ‘our city’ happily married for just a couple of hours. Despite only having parents and four witnesses, we really felt that we had the support and love of all of our family and friends. When we posted a snapshot from our phone onto Facebook partway through the day as our ‘announcement’ we were overwhelmed by our friends’ and families’ excitement and support. We knew we had a brilliant photographer who would capture the small details of the day so that we could share our happiness with everyone after.

The best advice we could give is to plan a day for you. Whatever it is that will make you happy in the planning and on the day. If something starts to stress you out, don’t include it or change the plan to better suit what you need or want.

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