artists to greet guests as we took our first steps as newlyweds through a large floral arch and celebrated with just under 100 of our family and friends.” Wedding guests were whisked away on a fun journey aboard classic opentop buses with performers and music, to a lavish surprise reception at Banqueting House in Whitehall. This special venue is part of the Historical Royal Palaces as it’s the last remaining portion of the Palace of Whitehall, and guests had no idea this was coming. “The dizzying high ceilings painted by Rubens and the opulent décor was echoed in the tablescapes with many intricate details splashed in gold and white. The reception was framed by more musicians and performers that continued to surprise and delight with many different displays throughout the night.” For favours, the couple opted for two offerings, “I had beautiful wooden Welsh Spoons handcrafted in the town of my Taid (grandfather) and dad. These came in sweet little envelopes with the Welsh flag and a small paper booklet inside describing the history and significance. In addition, for a twist on traditional favours, guests were each treated to a custom 8x10 live hand-painted portrait of themselves. These were later framed in white and displayed at the reception for pick up.” At the reception, Kate wanted the seating plan to be unlike anything she’d seen before so they sat in a large X-shape table in the centre of the room to represent a kiss. “It elegantly criss-crossed the room with raised florals of white roses and clouds of gypsophila to give you a feeling of heavenly skies with the royal Rubens painting above them. A gypsophila tree adorned the centre of the table layout ‒ it was pretty cool! The tables themselves were mirrored just like our dancefloor and they were trailing with gorgeous candles, vases, timeless roses and creamy largeheaded peonies. Justin and I sat across from this, facing all our friends and family, at our own beautiful, mirrored sweetheart table overflowing with white florals,” adds Kate. Taking styling inspiration from her mother, who had her very own British wedding many moons ago, Kate chose creamy white roses to be wrapped in gypsophila for her big day as a little nod to her. “I integrated her ever-so sleek and simple designs throughout the entire day, and really highlighted it in massive ‘clouds’ for the unveiling of the reception room. Something special to point out would be my bridal bouquet. My grandmother had planted a white rose bush in West London when she was just a little girl. She not only made her own wedding bouquet out of these beautiful flowers, but she did the same for my mother’s big day and carried on the tradition by doing the same for me,” adds Kate – who had her bouquet preserved in resin for this special reason! There are countless options to consider when it comes to choosing the design of one’s wedding cake, but Kate knew a design concept that will remain forever timeless is florals! “Our cake was a five-tiered white and gold beauty that was spilt down the middle dripping with intricate handcrafted sugar flowers down the centre. These were predominately peach to match the color palette with touches of blush and cream. The sugar flowers were then mixed with matching real roses to continue the design onto the floor and blended with lots more dreamy baby’s breath. The cascade of the flowers against the sleek mirrored table top definitely made a statement. There were four accompanying smaller wedding cakes on the dessert table designed with our theme in mind. The rest of the dessert table was covered in cake pops (my favourite type of dessert), cupcakes, and oh you can’t forget the dog cake!” Finer details of the wedding styling also included hand-drawn calligraphy by a very talented Scottish stationer, Laura Elizabeth Patrick, a couple’s portrait which the pair had painted eight months prior and displayed on a giant golden easel with two bespoke Union Jack throne chairs. “This was a surprise reveal even for myself as we did not get to see the finished painting in person until the night of our reception with all of our family and friends,” shares Kate, “It was a big hit with the guests!” For transport, a fleet of vintage and modern Rolls Royce cars chauffeured the bridal party to and from the ceremony, while guest were treated to quintessential British double-deck buses. “We had wonderfully bespoke menus, which were designed by me and executed by Laura. She created these in her beautiful lettering to match the other designs she’d done for us, and then these were pressed into the paper in gold-leaf!” adds Kate. “We had lots of elegant choices of champagnes being served alongside steaks and halibut with gold caviar, 34
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