Your London Wedding - Nov/Dec 2019 (Issue 68)

REAL WEDDINGS 43  W hen Greg walked into his local pub, it’s safe to say he wasn’t expecting to meet his future wife but there Caroline was, behind the bar. And if that sounds like the plotline for a particularly romantic, feel-good film, rest assured it wasn’t that smooth. “It took him six months to ask me out,” laughs Caroline. “Eventually, his friend (and one of our future ushers) sorted out getting my number for him.” However, a slight delay in Greg’s proposal was entirely down to Caroline. “He’d planned to pop the question the day we moved into our new house but my friends and I got last-minute Harry Potter tickets,” she explains. “So Greg bailed on the proposal. He took the next day off work to unpack the kitchen and, when I got back from work, there was champagne waiting – his parents had sent it, expecting us to be engaged! Despite being a little hungover from the night before, I decided we should open it and Greg pointed me to the cupboard where the glasses were all lined up and there, inside one, was the ring box!” Once they’d spread the news and recovered from the move, the couple started planning their big day. “We chose to stay traditional and get married in a church,” reveals Caroline. “The Grosvenor Chapel is local to where we met and lived together for the first time and, by chance, the church from Love Actually (which I watched with my bridesmaids the night before the wedding),” says Caroline. For the reception, the couple viewed 10 venues across London before deciding on One Events’ One Belgravia. “We wanted something we could make our own and not be restricted by a supplier list,” says Greg. “One Belgravia was the only space we both loved and, as a bonus, was a stone’s throw from the church.” A FESTIVE FEAST Having chosen a dry-hire venue, the couple sensibly bought a wedding coordinator on board to help bring their vision to life. “I couldn’t recommend a wedding coordinator more,” Caroline advises. “The day was all we’d wanted and Devine Bride gave us pointers and helped bring it all together like a dream.” Having chosen a December date, Caroline and Greg wanted a festive feel to their nuptials, “Being a winter wedding, it was all about candles, candles, candles,” says Caroline. Not to mention, of course, an abundance of foliage. “Friend of Faux dressed the fireplace and stairs – no one would have known the blooms were fake; they looked spectacular,” Caroline reveals. The tables Planner Laura Devine bought all the festive feels to Caroline and Greg’s big day Images courtesy of Remain in Light