Photography by Ginger Beard Weddings

I love to see brides going down the less traditional route when it comes to their choice of wedding dress, so you can imagine the joy I felt at seeing Natalie’s mid-length gold number from Susie Cave’s fashion label, The Vampire’s Wife! Who says brides have to wear white?! The Falconetti dress looked perfect for Natalie and George’s Islington Town Hall wedding. Despite choosing an unconventional wedding dress, Natalie teamed it with a full-length veil by Halfpenny that she picked up on eBay, to give it a classic bridal twist.

Natalie and George met at a fancy dress party at university when Natalie was dressed as a sailor and George was dressed as a McDonald’s worker.

‘For over six months we had a bit of a ‘will they, won’t they’ situation until we eventually sorted ourselves out!’

The couple had been dating for nine years before they drunkenly agreed to get married in celebration of their tenth anniversary, a deal that was almost forgotten the following morning!

In order to make this happen, the engagement had to be brief, just under a year and remarkably chilled out bride Natalie claims the wedding planning only took around 4-6 weeks once they booked their venue at North London Pizzeria, Radici.

Natalie’s wedding morning prep took place at home with the bustle of her 5 bridesmaids who all wore white dresses with baby’s breath flower crowns. Makeup was provided by Kate Hughes from The Secret Spa.

The couple’s main priorities were to feed their guests well and be able to offer a free bar all night. They were able to do this with a handsome budget of £30,000. They also wanted to make the day easy for everyone logistically so they booked their venue as it was within walking distance of the ceremony at Islington Town Hall.

Flowers were also pretty high on their list of priorities and the couple were delighted with their florals by Worm.

The modern couple held on to a few traditions that meant something to them personally. Natalie’s dad walked her down the aisle and the couple had a first dance as well as a father/daughter dance.

In true un-wedding style, they scrapped a few traditions too! Natalie chose not to wear white; there was no wedding cake and the couple did a speech together in favour of the traditional groom’s speech.

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When I asked the couple about any ups and downs along the way they told me:

‘Neither of us had been to many weddings before having our own, so there was a lot of second-guessing ourselves about the structure of the day and what we should be doing. Ultimately, we had to follow our gut and do what we felt was right for us.’

This so refreshing and exactly how it should be!

When I asked the couple what the highlight of their day was I think I already knew the answer (having seen the pictures) …

‘The disco – everyone was on top form!’

And no wedding reception disco would be complete without the iconic ‘Til Death Do Us Party’ neon sign from our Book Of Love directory OG’s, Vowed & Aamazed!

Newly weds Natalie and George both have some golden advice for newly engaged couples embarking on their wedding planning journey:

‘Make sure you delegate responsibilities to helpful (and trustworthy!) friends and family because A) it takes some stress away from you and B) they’ll love to be involved.

We'd recommend choosing a brand-new perfume/aftershave for the wedding day. It's something we did and the scent brings us back to our wedding day whenever we wear one.

On the day before the wedding, we recommend having a strict cut-off point where you stop organising and let the wedding take its course. You’ll only be agonising over the minor details that no one will notice anyway.’

See more of Natalie and George’s amazing wedding pictures by our Book Of Love directory photographer, Ginger Beard Weddings in the gallery below.

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