Last spring on the banks of the River Thames in London’s docklands, I had the pleasure of marrying Kate and Terry. They tied the knot on the Jubilee bank holiday weekend surrounded by a big contingent of friends and family at the wonderful London wedding venue, Trinity Buoy Wharf.

They had a funny start to their relationship, meeting at a Craig David gig (….Kate’s the superfan, who had been to several Craig shows on his recent comeback tour. Terry – not so much. He’s a metal fan, who was just there because his mate from work had some freebie tickets and had invited him for a laugh).

Mr Craig David played a central theme in their wedding…he was basically the absent guest of honour. There were multiple references in the ceremony and speeches, and the life-sized Craig cut-out that had accompanied the hens all the way to Spain made another appearance in the ladies’ loos on the big day itself.

During the ceremony, I had to break the sad news to Kate’s friends that unfortunately, Craig wasn’t making a cameo at the wedding – although not for lack of trying! They looked into booking him, but he was unfortunately a little out of budget. They booked a garage MC to get the party started later in the evening though.

After the ceremony, they jumped on a boat outside and drank champagne on the Thames before heading back for the party that followed.

A year on, I caught up with Kate about their big day – including their thoughts on having a celebrant ceremony.

How did you find out about celebrant ceremonies and what made you decide to have one?

We always knew we wanted to do something a little more personal and a little less traditional, but we weren’t totally sure how to go about it or where to start. We really wanted to make our guests smile and laugh (and maybe cry a little!) whilst they reminisced with us on our special day. Our venue event manager really understood us and our wedding style, so when she recommended Roxy we had high hopes - we immediately watched a few Instagram videos and immediately loved her voice and whole vibe. 

How was the process of creating your wedding ceremony?

SO much fun! We found a lot of the wedding planning with suppliers full-on and a bit cringey, but this felt really personal and enjoyable. We completed our respective sections on the ceremony planning questionnaire separately and then shared it with each other before we sent it back - it was so lovely reading what we’d written about each other for the first time.

We both really enjoyed the ceremony planning call too – it was so nice to laugh down memory lane with Roxy. Roxy turned everything around so quickly and then we just got on with making decisions on what to include/not include and our vows. It was a super slick process.

Looking back at the day, how did the ceremony feel?

Relaxed, fun and full of love! It was such a calm and happy moment during the day - we will cherish the memories forever. The ceremony photos are amongst some of our favourites from the day - we’ll be reminded of all the smiling, laughing and crying moments forever. We picked our closest mutual friend (the person we actually met through!) to do one reading and let them pick it themselves so it was amazing hearing them read it for the first time, him cracking a joke before he started is something people are still laughing about!

What was the most special part of your ceremony and why?

We loved how personal the whole thing felt and it truly represented us - some of our guests assumed Roxy was one of our friends that we’d known for years!

Tell me about your vows

We kept our vows really simple and low key - the personal stories surrounding the vows were much more important to us.

What would you say to couples considering a celebrant ceremony?

Go for it - you won’t regret it. There are so many traditional moments with weddings, so don’t be afraid to do something a bit different and more personal when there’s the opportunity to do so. Plus, you get to have two wedding ceremonies so that’s double the anniversary celebrations in the future!

How did your celebrant wedding ceremony tie in with the rest of your wedding day?

It perfectly set the tone for the whole day - fun, relaxed and full of love. The Craig David mentions during the ceremony followed through the rest of the day - from the life size cardboard cut-out in the toilet and song table names to the garage MC in the early hours whilst the bride & grooms sister in law was dancing on stage with Craig’s head (we have no idea what happened to his body!)

How did your ceremony go down with your guests?

They absolutely loved it! We did the legal bit at our local registry office the day before with two of our best friends as witnesses. Some of our guests didn’t know this and we didn’t want anyone to feel like they weren’t really witnessing our wedding ceremony - so everyone thought it was our only and legal wedding ceremony. They didn’t notice we didn’t sign anything, they were too busy enjoying it!

If you could do it all again, is there anything you’d change?

We would LOVE to do it all again - we are so happy we did things the way we did! We would definitely recommend a longer planning period than six-months, so you can properly enjoy every task as we rushed a few things that we wish we’d spent more time on, so that we got to truly appreciate everything in the moment.

Venue - Trinity Buoy Wharf

Florist - Gloria Studio 

Photography - The Curries

Videography - Seven Photography & Films

Stationery: printing FE Burman, paper G.F Smith, illustrations Phoebe Rutherford

Catering - London Basque Kitchen 

Hair & Make-up: make-up by Sophie Higginson and hair by Natalie Harrison 

Brides outfit - Halfpenny London

Grooms & groomsmen outfits - Suit Supply

Bridesmaid outfits - Ghost London

Reading:

He Never Leaves The Seat Up – Pam Ayres

He never leaves the seat up
Or wet towels upon the floor
The toothpaste has the lid on
And he always shuts the door!

She’s very clean and tidy
Though she may sometimes delude
Leave your things out at your peril
In a second they’ll have moved!

He romances her and dines her
Home cooked dinners and the like
He even knows her favourite food
And spoils her day and night!

She’s thoughtful when he looks at her
A smile upon his face
Will he look that good in 50 years
When his dentures aren’t in place?!

He says he loves her figure
And her mental prowess too
But when gravity takes her over
Will she charm with her IQ?

She says she loves his kindness
And his patience is a must
And of course she thinks he’s handsome
Which in her eyes is a plus!

They’re both not wholly perfect
But who are we to judge
He can be pig headed
Where as she won’t even budge!

All that said and done
They love the time they spent together
And I hope as I’m sure you do
That this fine day will last forever.

He’ll be more than just her husband
He’ll also be her friend
And she’ll be more than just his wife
She’s be his soul mate ‘till the end.

If you’re looking for more London wedding inspo, check out this wedding at a cool London wine shop. You can also check out my top picks of London wedding venues.