A Hackney Town Hall Wedding with a Routemaster Bus, Lots of Greenery and a Pimm’s Reception
Leanne and George lived in Tottenham at the time and were keen to keep things in East London. They’d picked the iconic Hackney Town Hall for their ceremony and had viewed a few reception venues before settling on Mile End Ecology Pavilion. Mile End Ecology Pavilion is a dry hire space, and they knew it would allow them to build their dream wedding from scratch and run their own bar, as well as being a gorgeous little oasis of green backing on to Regent’s Canal on the cusp of South Hackney (and all within zone 2 of London). It was a handy distance from Hackney Town Hall, and, being council owned and run, it was also a great combination of price, ease, and accessibility. Their hire package allowed us set up time on the Friday evening, the full day access on the Saturday, and then also Sunday morning for take down and pickups.
Leanne came to me once she’d booked her venues, knowing the sort of vibe she was going for but needing a hand to put together her dry hire reception venue. We started with some initial ideas, and in the end my proposal was a full décor concept and set up quote, and later on Leanne also asked if I could stay on to help coordinate the day – which I was more than happy to do to see the whole day come to fruition for them!
The couple were pretty on it with sourcing some fun and creative bits and pieces, like their Pimm’s bike, their greenery screens, their greenery chandelier, and their ‘from this day forward’ backdrop, and I helped them source or create the rest. We built upwards from the furniture on the décor concept, and then each stage was gradually built on top of each other to layer the desired look and vision the couple wanted for their day. From the furniture, to the stationery, the table centrepieces, the fairy light wall, the greenery cascades on the trunk like columns, and the ceiling décor, to the sprigs of eucalyptus on each place setting. Flower wise, Leanne’s florist came it to create the top table garland and the floral and greenery halos for the centre of each table, and my on the day assistant and I set about doing the rest with a mixture of real and artificial foliage. But don’t get me wrong, all the deliveries and set up on the Friday and take down on the Sunday was an amazing and mammoth team effort from both sides of the couple’s family – no one could have pulled this off without their amazing family army right through the whole weekend. Lifting, unpacking, setting up, popping tables, stacking chairs; they absolutely nailed it.
It was one of the hottest days of the year, and after a short routemaster bus through Hackney after the ceremony, Pimm’s on arrival was just the thing to kick off their summer reception! (Although we were dishing out about double the amount of water jugs vs Pimm’s jugs, but the Pimm’s and the cute Pimm’s trike went down a storm!) It was the perfect summer wedding venue, as there was private outside space, but plenty of shade inside while still enjoying the sunshine – through the amazing floor to ceiling windows in a crescent all along the inside curve of the venue, backing directly on to the ponds of the canal. Plus the amount of fresh eucalyptus styled by me and my team on the day made the whole venue smell amazing!
The reception was kicked off with some cheery Irish folk music, while guests mingled and downed the water and Pimm’s! The couple took some time for some family photos, before guests were seated for the speeches. I have been so happy to see the majority of my brides for the past few years doing a speech at their wedding, and absolutely adored Leanne’s! I believe her words with something along the lines of; “Well since I’m paying for half of it, I thought I would have my say….!” I couldn’t agree more!!
Dinner was traditional English grub of the couple’s favourites; a ploughman’s platter, shepherd’s pie, and then Eton mess to finish. We had a short break after dinner when the bar opened properly for the evening, while the couple took some time to relax for a bit and got some glorious golden hour photos together at sunset. We kicked of the evening party with the cutting of the cake and then went straight into the first dance. From there on in, a saxophonist accompanied the DJ to some awesome party tracks, and the dancefloor was packed from then onwards! I tied up all the loose ends with the caterers as the sun set behind the dancefloor, bringing the twinkling fairy light wall opposite the landscape windows to life. The guests partied the night away, with a free bar all day with compliments from the couple.
Wedding decor concept and set up, by Devine Bride.
“This is going to be a long one, so up front I’ll say that Laura is a dream. Dry hire weddings can be stressful so I’m so glad we made the decision to get her on board with our wedding. Having someone so experienced, organised, and just amazingly good at their job, made our day (and the months leading up) so much easier.
When we booked our dry hire venue (Mile End Ecology Pavilion) I knew I was going to need some help. I had visions of running around on the morning of my wedding like a headless chicken, and I was also worried that I had lots of ideas for decoration but needed someone to make sure that it didn’t look like mish mash of Pinterest ideas.
I had a couple of calls with other planners but they didn’t seem to understand what I wanted (one spoke to me about coloured linen for at least 15 minutes). Then I came across Laura and her pick and mix service. It was so flexible and bespoke that I was able to tell her exactly what I thought I needed a hand with. She was warm, friendly and massively helpful from the get go, so I knew I could trust her with my day.
We worked on my wedding on and off for quite a while and I can’t explain how reassuring it was to have her by my side, giving me guidance and steering me in the right direction. I’m a control freak typically, and have organised work events in the past, so I thought I’d struggle with taking advice from someone else, but I trusted her completely from start to finish. I knew I’d made the right choice when she told me what time sunset would be on our day – she is just so organised!
Then when it came to the set up and on the wedding day… well, words just can’t even describe how much for a star she was. She had an impressive box of tricks, she was an oasis of calm, and she got the job done. When I walked into the venue after my ceremony, I was absolutely over the moon with the finished product. People were amazed by the set up and we had so many compliments on how pretty our decor was, and it was all down to her advice and hard work. Then later in the day, Laura even stepped in to help my catering team as they were short staffed, alongside her other official ‘jobs’ such as coordinating suppliers.
I loved having Laura with us on our day. She was such a big part of our wedding and if I had to do it all again (I hopefully won’t 😂!!) she would be the first person I’d call.”
Photos kindly from Emma Case Photography.
CONTACTS AND SUPPLIERS
Wedding Planner: @devinebride 💁🏼♀️
Decor Assistant: The Wedding Spark
Ceremony Venue: Hackney Town Hall
Reception Venue: Mile End Ecology Pavillion
Stationery (Perspex): Mother Wild
Florist: Sewells Florist
Catering: Amaze In Taste
Furniture: Deluxe Banqueting Hire Ltd
Furniture: Yahire
Pimms Bike: The Prop Boutique
Cake: Willo The Whisk
Photo Booth: Snap Booth
Routemaster: Rent A Routemaster
DJ: Ross Mac
Videographer: Emma Pierce
Photography: Emma Case Photography
Want a beautiful wedding like Leanne and George? I specialise in dry hire weddings! I am a wedding planner based in Walthamstow, East London, and offer fun, flexible and affordable wedding planning, planning help, and coordination services. I offer pick and mix services; clients can pick and choose what elements they need help with and we’ll take it from there. I’m personable, relaxed, yet highly organised. I help people have the party of their lives, and have fun, while taking away all the planning time and stress in between. I am also an On The Day Coordination and Wedding Day Management pro, too – and I’m just buzzing with ideas from all my beautiful past weddings like this one here!
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Please email any hellos or enquiries to laura@devinebride.co.uk
