But I can’t resist introducing this wedding in a different way: there is a wonderful sequence of images showing Kirsty-Anne’s pretty flower girl whose excitement is the most amazing thing to see!
This of course is a beautiful wedding from beginning to end: Kirsty-Anne and James make a stunning couple; the dress is divine; the venues magnificent. Documentary wedding photographer Martin Beddall captures the emotion of this London wedding and his images have put me in such a romantic mood this morning!
Kirsty-Anne was run over just six months before her wedding day and her recovery gives us real perspective on what’s important here: love, marriage and the celebration of two people committing to sharing a life together. With my thanks to Martin Beddall for the images and to Kirsty-Anne and James for sharing their story. This is beautiful. Enjoy.
The bride and groom: Dr. Kirsty-Anne Noble and Mr. James Jose Martin Walker
Wedding venue: St Etheldreda’s Church, Farringdon London followed by a reception at the ICA.
Wedding photographer: Martin Beddall www.mcbweddings.com
How would you describe your wedding style? Elegant, Simple
Kirsty-Anne and James’s wedding story
We wanted to keep the day simple and fuss-free for both ourselves and our guests. Most of our friends live in London but have been married abroad or in the country so we wanted to do something a bit fresh. Organising a wedding locally also meant less fuss for us! St Etheldreda’s is the most beautiful church and is tucked away down a quiet gated round in Farringdon. My cousin was married there and I was made godmother to my beautiful flower girl there. The acoustics and lighting in the church are known to be amazing and we definitely realised this on the day.
James stayed at ‘The Rookery’ in Farringdon the night before to ensure he was only a stone’s throw away from the church and I stayed at ‘The Goring’. I had my best friend and my cousin as my bridesmaids and they were both wearing navy silk dresses from Coast with black lace shoes from Zara. My flower girl was wearing an ivory dress from ‘Forever Yours’ and my pageboy was dressed from head–to–toe in Jacadi. James had 5 ushers who were all wearing navy with navy silk ties from Hugo Boss.
My dress was from Phillipa Lepley with a lace gown over the top (taken from the Pronovias ‘Iman’ dress). I mixed the designers up as the dress which matched the Pronovias lace gown was a bit boring. James wore a suit from Hugo Boss.
I walked into ‘Arioso’ Bach – accompanied by a cello. A gentle piece which suited the small church. We chose a Pinter poem called ‘It is here’ for our reading. James loves Pinter and this poem seemed to really fit. We also had a bible reading. One of our best friends sang ‘panis angelicus’ which was just amazing – we are very lucky to have such a talent amongst our circle of friends.
Invitations were done by ‘Emily and Jo’ stationers – again a bit different from a tradional wedding invite. They were very chic and got tonnes of compliments.
The reception was held at the ICA which overlooks The Mall and St James’ Park. The balconies provided a stunning view of London lit up at night. The furniture was hired from Velvet living and we just loved the mirrored bar! The ICA provided a wedding manager who stayed for the whole event to ensure everything ran smoothly. The catering supplied by the ICA was through ‘Peyton and Byrne’ and so was obviously delicious.
The flowers were done by Gail Smith Flowers who was the only florist I could find that had amazing huge mirrored fish bowl vases – that looked amazing when packed with white roses.
We kept the tables simple. Our theme was romantic films (as James works in film) so table names ranged from ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ to Casablanca and ‘Dr Zhivago’ (for my Doctor friends)! Each table had a laminated black and white photo (taken from the film) to indicate which table it was. Our wedding favours were little white ribbon tied boxes with home made macaroons inside.
My favourite part of the day was walking down the aisle to my very handsome husband. I was run over 6 months before my wedding day, fracturing my spine and smashing all my front teeth out. My spine is still held together by lots of rods and screws and I have had to undergo about £12k of dental work. Needless to say, I was very grateful to be able to walk unaided down the aisle and carry off a great smile. My second favourite part of the day was listening to my husband’s speech. It was hysterical, honest and sentimental and managed to make almost every guest laugh and cry all within ten minutes.
Staying at the Goring was just perfect and waking up to a glorious sunny day in London was very special. We took our honeymoon in Brazil which I would definitely recommend to anyone who wants to do a bit of exploring.