Elegantly Enchanting London Wedding In Milla Nova Gown

❤️ The TWC Effect – Our brides, their way ❤️

Join us, Nell and Andrew for a sneak peak into their fairytale wedding party of dreams! The gorgeous pair made sure that their big day was equal parts fantasy and fun, dancing the night away dressed up like Royalty!

How did you meet?

We met at our local rugby club – Andrew had recently moved to the town and we had some mutual friends that introduced us. The rest is history…

Was it love at first sight?

Absolutely – although I know how cliched that sounds! But the night we met, Andrew told me I was his dream woman and I went home and told my sister that I’d found my boyfriend.

She didn’t believe me, but I don’t like to be wrong!

Who proposed and how? Lovely details, please!

It was PERFECT – we were coming up to our five year anniversary and just about to move abroad to live in the Netherlands. As a bit of a final farewell trip, we went up to Scotland to visit the village that I grew up in with my family.

The moment we arrived, Andrew suggested a walk on the beach to stretch his legs. I was unsure and wanted to wait for my family to join us, but he insisted and eventually I agreed. We walked down to a little secluded spot where one of our favourite pictures together was taken.

As we chatted, Andrew asked me if I was looking forward to the move, and the start of another new adventure together. I said yes, we had a big hug and when I pulled away, he got down on one knee and asked if I’d like to start our adventure as his fiancé.

Even though I’d designed my own ring and nagged him to propose for years, it was still a huge shock and all I could manage to reply was ‘thank you’ before bursting into tears! It was at this moment that my entire immediate family arrived – even those who weren’t on the trip with us. It was a whirlwind, but so incredible and absolutely perfect. I wouldn’t change a thing!

Did you have a theme for your wedding? How did it come about?

​Not as such – we just knew we wanted it to be glamorous and fun. We come from fairly traditional families, so we wanted an untraditional traditional wedding – which is exactly what we got! We had a ‘black tie optional’ dress code and a vague pink and gold colour scheme.

Location and how you found it? 

We got married at Grand Junction at St Mary Magdalene in Little Venice, London. It is a working church that doubles up as an event space – so we got married AND had our reception there, which was gorgeous.

People kept saying that they’d never partied like that in a church before! We found it accidentally. It was the third venue that we’d dubbed ‘the one’, and after writing off the other two due to them being waaaayy over budget, we ended up scrolling through Google in a bit of a strop.

And, as if by magic, our venue had JUST been uploaded to Hitched. We fell in love and booked for our family to go and view it (we were in lockdown in the Netherlands) and as soon as they signed off on it, we got it nailed down. It was absolutely meant to be.

How did you find The Wedding Club? Tell us about that moment when you found and chose your dress – how did it make you feel when you put it on for the first time?

I knew I wanted to shop for my dress in London – it just made the most sense as my sister and Maid of Honour lives in London, it’s really easy for my mum to get to and it’s where I would come in when travelling from the Netherlands.

I did a bit of research as there were a few designers I knew I just had to try on, and The Wedding Club just ticked all the boxes – it ended up being the only place we booked to shop in because I was so sure I’d find my dress there. And then, I did!

People always told me I’d have something completely different to what I’d imagined but I’ve been dressing myself for 27 years – I know what looks good on me! I knew I was going to have a full skirt and really fancied an off the shoulder neckline – and that’s exactly what I ended up with.

I actually bought the first dress I tried on! I did try on lots in between, though, to make sure I was certain. When I put my dress on for the first time, it just felt so right – I kept saying I felt like a Queen and that’s exactly how a bride should feel on her wedding day. My mum and sister both cried and I just felt radiant. The lovely ladies in TWC dressed it up for me with a headpiece, veil and earrings and I was sold from then – and bought the lot!

Which designer did you wear?

I wore Milla Nova, a dress called Virginia from their Once in the Palace collection – fitting considering I always said I wanted to look like royalty on my wedding day!

Where is the suit from? Why was it the perfect fit?

Andrew’s suit was a bit of a mash up from all sorts of places – he had this beautiful ink blue velvet jacket tailor made, bought himself the shiniest shoes he could find and then a shirt and trousers from Moss Bross, which he also had tailored. He looked like royalty, too! So handsome.

Did you have speeches? Who performed them? 

I kicked off the speeches – there’s no way I wasn’t going to get up and say something on my big day!! After me, Andrew and my dad spoke and then Andrew’s brother and best man, Mark, rounded them off. They were so lovely and I cannot wait to relive them when we get our video back!

Did you have a first dance? What song did you choose and why? How was the performance?

​We danced our first dance to ‘Are You Ready For Love’ by Elton John. We are both huge Elton fans, and we wanted something upbeat and romantic to see us into the evening portion of our wedding. It was perfect – people kept asking if we’d practised the dance before the big day but we never actually got the chance to – I think it just worked in our favour that we were so into the song and that special moment.

How was the party?

Unbelievable – most of our guests have since come back to us and said they’ve never been to a wedding like it, and that it was the best wedding they’d ever been to! Compliments like that really make all the hard work that went into it worthwhile.

We actually had a performing MC who was fantastic – he made it so people started partying as the wedding breakfast started and all of our guests were dancing on their chairs, doing the conga, swinging their napkins, and serenading the top table between courses. Everyone went nuts for it and the day was a party from start to finish!

When Wayne (our MC) finished his set, we had our first dance and then our brilliant DJ and saxophonist carried the rest of the night. Andrew danced until he couldn’t feel his feet and by the time we got into bed that night, my adrenaline levels were so high that I just stayed up reminiscing for ages 

Wedding planning advice for brides to be?

Give yourself the week of the wedding off. I delegated every job that I could so that when the week of the wedding came, I could totally immerse myself in the experience and enjoy every second.

The lead up was so exciting and I was able to relax and enjoy all of the pre-wedding pampering. It gets to a point where it’s too late for anything to be done or changed, and even if things don’t go to plan on the day, you’ll still have the most glorious, magical day and feel totally loved.

One moment you’ll never forget:

​Walking into the church to make my way down the aisle – I was never expecting to enjoy this bit so much, I thought it was something I’d just ‘do’ in an effort to get to the ceremony and party sooner – but it was more special than I ever could’ve imagined.

>I was overwhelmed with how beautiful the room looked, for starters – I’d planned everything myself so had a kind of vision of how it should look, but seeing it come together was just insane. And then I got this incredible wave of love – everybody was looking at me and I was staring back at all of my favourite people in one place, with my future husband just moments away – it was such a beautiful moment and I couldn’t stop smiling. I’ll never forget that feeling.

❤️

Dress – Milla Nova available at The Wedding Club South Kensington & Birmingham
Headpiece & Jewellery – Victoria Percival
Shoes – Charlotte Mills
Hair & Makeup – Georgina Harkins & The Bride!
Venue – Grand Junction @ St Mary Magdalene 
Photography & Videography – Megan Guard Photography & Ben @ Mrs Mashup
Flowers – Lily Cora Flowers