Kia and Daniel’s July wedding took place at Dalston Roof Park in London, a quirky and cool events space in Hackney, overlooking the city’s skyscrapers. The day didn’t really have a theme other than having fun!
“Since we had both been married previously with all the traditional trappings, we went for something unique which reflected our personalities and interests”, explained the bride. “We wanted to be surrounded by the people we love, enjoying themselves with great food, a stunning view and dancing the night away.”
“We took a little bit of inspiration from some fantastic parties we had been to. We aimed to throw the best party and not think of it as just ‘our day’. Our friends and family are so important to us that they were the main focus for our day. We wanted to have all our friends mingling and break up the traditional ‘mine’ and ‘yours’ feeling that you get with a lot of weddings. This relaxed approach meant that we had friends old and new talking, eating and dancing together. The photo booth and free-flowing cocktails seemed to help that along nicely too!”
The couple’s interests include comics and Lego, so both of these were reflected in the decor. “The favours were make-your-own Lego figures”, she said. “We bought a huge amount of heads, bodies, legs, hats and accessories so people could make whatever they wanted to take home. Our invites were drawn by our friend, Des Taylor, a very talented artist who has drawn covers for DC and many more. He drew a fantastic piece for our invite which I then designed the information for.”
“The guest book was a Jenga set that people can write on each block. We also had a fully stocked pick n mix candy bar full of classic sweets. Our metal cake topper was from from Etsy and it was a silhouette of us from one of our engagement photos.”
The hardest part of planning for this pair was finding the right venue, but the one they picked ended up being perfect. “Hunting for a reception venue was really hard. We had found somewhere but sadly they were forced to close due to the entire building being knocked down. But luckily, we found the Roof Park and it ended up being the better choice. We went a few times in the lead up to the big day and seeing the amazing staff make small improvements each time just made us fall in love with the place even more.”
“As the reception was on a rooftop with little cover. we were worried about rain, despite it being the middle of July. Luckily, it turned out to be scorching hot and ironically, many were relieved when we had a smidgen of rain in the early evening. It really bought the temperature down and I think it was appreciated by all. It certainly didn’t ruin it for us.”
“The only thing we’d change is to build in more free time into the schedule of the day”, the bride concluded. “It was a hectic rush. We were at the reception venue early to start clearing up from the night before so we could set it for our day. We then had to get back to our hotel so I could start getting ready for the ceremony and Dan had to go off for his shave and haircut! Our advice for other couples is to be honest with each other through the planning. It is your special day, so if you aren’t happy with something, talk about it with each other.”
