Woolwich Town Hall + One Friendly Place wedding

Liz and Jo couldn’t decide between a small intimate wedding and a big party, and kind of wanted both aspects in some way, so they compromised. They had an intimate ceremony at the iconic Wes-Anderson-worthy Woolwich Town Hall, and then lots more friends and family joined them afterwards for their reception (and party!) at One Friendly Place. It was a perfect bringing together of two souls and two different people and personalities into one, and the perfect love filled day.

They booked me with only a few months to go to help them bring their vision to life and manage the day in person. I could tell they very much had their feet on the ground with planning, and were very sensible and realistic about most things, given it was a dry hire wedding as well, but they realised further down the line they wanted to take a step back to be able to enjoy the day too.

As you can see from their lovely testimonial below, planning a relaxed and fun wedding isn’t always relaxed and fun in the process of planning! It takes a lot of finesse and strict organisation on the inside to make something look super fun and relaxed on the outside… But thankfully I was there to relieve some of that stress for them!

Liz and Jo arrived with their wedding party fresh from their ceremony first, and headed straight up to the roof of One Friendly Place to get some fun couple shots and family photos done to make the most of the September weather that day. This allowed the rest of their reception guests to arrive in good time and settle in with a drink while the ladies were having fun getting photos on the roof. They then arrived directly from the staircase to the roof into their own confetti entrance, which was made up of bubbles and wands. This was their grand entrance to their reception… And kicked off the party.

They had lots of different fun elements and had lots going on throughout the day and the building to keep their guests entertained. They had spent months personalising every aspect of their day and making it a real representation of them as a couple, as individuals, and as women. They had a collage of women who had inspired them over the years, famous and family and friends, and a San Junipero (from the infamous Black Mirror ep) themed photo booth, to name a few things. The day was made of many parts and One Friendly Place was the perfect venue for that. We structured it on the inside, but it wasn’t too structured for guests – allowing them to eat and drink in different parts of the building creating a fun house party vibe, like the couple wanted.

The wedding breakfast was a Caribbean feast where guests were called up by table to help themselves. This actually normally slows up dinner, but the caterers were amazing and had food being turned out constantly. They made sure everyone was fed in good time – and definitely made sure everyone was full.

After dinner, the party continued upstairs for speeches and cake, while downstairs was prepared for the house band, which was made up of friends and family members including Liz’s sister and dad. Which, to be honest, I was unsure of what to expect on the night, but they played a diverse playlist from Respect by Aretha Franklin, to Despacito by Luis Fonsi, and Dreams by Gabrielle and brought the house down! They were absolutely fantastic and the crowd went wild!

This wedding was featured this year in Rock n Roll Bride magazine and also as a real wedding on Gay Wedding Blog.

Wedding Coordination by Devine Bride.

“It turns out that organising a laid back, informal, fun wedding day is NOT any of those things! My wife and I breathed a huge sigh of relief when we found Laura at the UnWedding show and learnt what she could offer. We’ve said it a thousand times since, hiring Laura was the best money we spent.

Laura took time to get to know us and understand what we wanted from the wedding – going for a drink with us to talk through the details of the day. Her tonne of experience of coordinating dry hire weddings made sure that we didn’t miss any of the important things when it came to planning.

On the the day, Laura ensured we could just sit back and enjoy the day, whilst making sure we were looped in on timings and details where needed. Her calm demeanour and smile fit right in and it was like having another guest at the party!

Although she wasn’t able to help out with clear down the next day (we’d booked last minute and she already had plans), Laura used her network to find someone to help out. She’s clearly well-respected and established on the weddings scene, for good reason.

Don’t hesitate – hire Laura now!”

Photos kindly from Caroline Opacic.

CONTACTS AND SUPPLIERS

Wedding Coordinator: @devinebride 💁🏼‍♀️
Ceremony Venue: Woolwich Town Hall
Reception Venue: One Friendly Place
Furniture and Props: Classic Crockery
Catering: Palm Tree Caterers
Late Night Pizza: Van Dough
Lighting: Halo Lighting
Makeup: Asha Verma
Florist: Alright Petal Flowers
Photographer: Caroline Opacic
Band and DJ Equipment: Wedding Smashers
DJ: DJ Alex Brees
Takedown: The Wedding Spark