Hi Alex and Amie, you’re both science teachers, was this what inspired you to have your wedding at Royal College of Surgeons?
It wasn’t the sole reason, but it did help. We both wanted a venue in Central London, we say it’s the city we fell in love! When we stumbled across the venue, it ticked all the boxes! It seemed perfect in terms of location, grandeur and budget.
What else made the Royal College of Surgeons made it stand out from other London venues?
When we first walked into the venue, it had the WOW factor. Alex and I were enamored with the entrance hall with the statue of John Hunter, the marble floors, the oak paneling of the Council Room and Edward Lumley Hall and especially the Hunterian Museum! Our favorite features of the venue include the Library and the Museum. Maybe that’s the educationist in us!
It had the feeling of a stately home, but in Central London. As Alex has family from Cornwall, and his Uncle Noel and Aunt Carmel flew over from Sydney especially for the wedding, it was important to us that guests were able to find the venue easily, and be able to safely travel home after the reception without worrying about being stranded anywhere!
The service we received was incredible, from the first point of contact 18 months before, to the day after the wedding, the team bent over backwards to ensure we had a perfect day. I cannot thank them enough!
Tell us about the wedding menu!
One of my best friends (and Chief Bridesmaid) have a saying in their family, if we come home from a wedding completely stuffed it was a good ‘un! Alex and I are from very different backgrounds, and we wanted to reflect this in the food.
For our wedding breakfast we had a traditional Afternoon Tea with Cornish influences, such as scones and clotted cream, Cornish fudge, mead, finger sandwiches, little pastries and fresh cakes (We had victoria sponge cake, carrot cake, lemon drizzle loaf and chocolate fudge cake).
My mum is Indian and to honor the Indian heritage we had a buffet including different types of curry, samosas, bhajis, chicken and lamb tikka skewers and drinks also included Lassis. The food went down an absolute treat and we were so impressed with the catering provided by the venue. My only regret is that I didn’t eat more! We had very little as we were busy socializing and dancing. It’s a good job we stuffed ourselves at the menu tasking a few months before!
We heard you had a STUNNING cake…
Yes, I was almost upstaged! The cake was epic! We both have a love of chemistry and it was that which bought us together. Alex and I visited Choccywoccydoodah in London exactly a year before the wedding and discussed some ideas for our bespoke cake. We had a vague idea of what it might feature, but we didn’t see what it would turn out like until the day before the wedding. We were a little apprehensive about that at first as it cost a lot of money- but it was simply breathtaking when we opened the box! It was a three tiered sponge cake with the bottom layer being chocolate, the middle was ginger and the top layer was lemon. All around the cake we had white chocolate ‘glassware’, a green Bunsen Burner flame coming out of the top. The centre of the cake had a purple solid chocolate heart with the phrase “It’s all about the chemistry” Alex came up with that. I love it! We still have the heart in our fridge.
What was the dress like?
My dress was from Berketex, it took a long time to find ‘the dress’. Lots had features I liked, but none that had it all together so I was beginning to feel a bit disheartened. My mum and I saw an advert for a Bridal Supersale in London by a company called White Orchid Bridal Ltd. When we walked it, it was wall to wall taffeta, silk, everything, which was quite overwhelming! I tried on a few that just didn’t look right on me, and my mum picked out a dress that looked understated on the hanger, but as soon as I put it on, it felt a million dollars. I knew it was the one when my mum got emotional and had a little cry! It was ivory with lace straps and a lace up back. The top of the dress was embellished with beading, and the bottom of the dress and train were beautiful with scalloped lace edging and lace applique. The train was very sheer and light, I felt very elegant!
Do you have a favorite moment of the day?
Alex’s was seeing me walk up the aisle, seeing me in my dress for the first time. I think mine was those moments we were having our couple shots together and stealing him away for a few moments! We had a few moments to just stand back and go ‘woah….we are married now!’
Royal College of Surgeons must have some stunning backdrops for photography, what is your favorite photo?
The confetti shots! They were so much fun! It was like a riot of colour across the marble backdrop of the entrance hall, there was SO much confetti- down my dress, in Alex’s mouth! It makes us smile when we look at it, it was so much fun to do, and we almost didn’t do a confetti shot as it was a bit drizzly outside! So it was a last minute decision.
How long were you planning your wedding for? Did you enjoy the build up?
We were planning and saving for about 18 months, it was mostly enjoyable, but did get very stressful a few months before! Alex and I are very organized, so the things we had to do were sorted way ahead of time, it was more on the day where we were waiting for vendors that arrived late etc. I think the most stressful parts were when we had to rely on other companies; thankfully, it all came together in time!
We had such a lovely summer to look forward to with the wedding and honeymoon, term time at work seemed to really drag!
Other than choosing this stunning venue, did you have any other themes to reflect your personality as a couple?
There were quite a few bits and pieces we included to make the wedding very ‘us’! We wanted people to go away from the wedding thinking ‘yeah, that was so them!’. Our favours were test tubes filled with sweets, our tables were named after the elements, and our table plan was set out around the Periodic Table. Alex sorted the table decorations and prepared samples of the elements to display which was a really nice touch. In the evening, to get everyone in the party mood, we had glowsticks! They went down well! Alex and the groomsmen wore ‘school badges’ with Groom, Usher, Best Man on them!. Our reading also reflected our personalities and how we felt about each other. We chose ‘Love’ By Roy Croft, which was read beautifully by Alex’s sister, and we had ‘A Lovely Love Story’ by Edward Monkton read by one of my brothers.
If you could give one word of advice to a couple planning their wedding, what would it be?
It’s *your* wedding! People are there to celebrate you getting married, so make sure you have what you want, not what others say you should or shouldn’t have! Some of the decisions we made, people turned their noses up at, but when it came together and they saw the final result, there was nothing but praise! Trust your instincts!
Thanks again to Alex and Amie and to Julia West at Julia and You for sharing these lovely photos. A gorgeous day at the Royal College of Surgeons indeed!
