SKANDA AND PAUL’S HACKNEY ROUND CHAPEL COLORFUL WEDDING

Round Chapel is a gorgeous venue in Clapton, Hackney, and location of Skanda and Paul’s incredibly colourful wedding. It was shared with us by their wedding planner Revelry Events.

HOW DID YOU MEET?

We knew of each other through work. We first got to know each other properly when our paths crossed in a bar. I thought it was all going really only for him to invite his then flatmate over to join us so I naturally assumed that it was going nowhere but (after some chasing) it ended up getting to, well, this… 

WHAT WAS THE THEME AND INSPIRATION FOR THE BIG DAY?

There was not solid theme as such. It was more a series of disparate concepts that we brought together (with the help of our wedding planner). The general concepts included East-meets-West which was inspired by Skanda’s Sri Lankan heritage and my less exotic background. There were various degrees of eastern dress of display together with an awesome Sri Lanka/European fusion menu. There was also a general tropical theme (which came out in the palmy, tropical foliage around the venue and a 6 foot neon flamingo).

WHAT WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT AND MOST FUN PART FOR YOU?

I did not think the ceremony was going to be as emotional as it was. I expected my attitude to be “let’s get the admin over and get on with the party”. But the ceremony was really a really special moment.. One of my best friends played piano and sang in the ceremony, the readings meant a lot to us and we wrote our own vows which made it all feel really personal. As for most fun, there were so many small moments shared with people, I am not sure it’s possible to pick one. One of the best things about the day is having so many of people around you are being able to share moments with them.

FLOWERS

We worked with the wonderful Charley from London Flower House who brought our vision to life.

TELL US ABOUT THE CEREMONY AND RECEPTION LOCATIONS. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THE VENUE?

Our venue was the Round Chapel in Hackney. The building itself is really stunning. It is a dry hire and we were really looking for somewhere where we could adapt the space to suit what we were looking for. It was also great to get hitched at the same venue as the party was being held. 

YOUR OUTFITS 

We each had a wedding party of eight people. They were a mixed bag of siblings, the spouses of siblings, colleagues and friends from school and university. We each side had a colour, mine was forest green and Skanda’s was a burnt orange. The two wedding parties each got in instructed to dress in the relevant team colour. The guys in the wedding party had ties or bow ties in a matching orange or green print, depending on whose wedding party they we in. For the girls, they got to choose whatever they wanted, with a brief of either green or orange with gold and/or sequins strongly encouraged.

We both had our suits tailored by Beggars Run, in Shoreditch, London. I went for a dark green suit, a gold leopard print tie and a white shirt with a gold collar bar. Skanda had a navy Nehru suit tailored. Although the suits were different styles, we went a bit matchy with the waistcoats. I used the fabric from Skanda’s suit for my waist coat and he used the material from my suit for his. I think we scrubbed up well.  

ENTERTAINMENT

We booked La Voix who is an amazing performer. We had seen her perform before and were big fans. She really knew how to work the crowd, got everyone up on their feet, which really kick-started the party. She was even prepared to perform our first dance, ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ (in September) for which we donned Santa and tossed fake snow, which was one of my favourite moments of the day. For the DJ later we had Rob from DJ For Me on decks who did a sterling job spinning camp 80s club hits.

YOUR WEDDING PLANNER

Our wedding planner was Susie at Revelry Events. When we approached Susie we had a lot a vague ideas about what we wanted but very limited knowledge about how to implement it. We definitely didn’t have a clear ‘theme’ which meant it took a lot of hard work and patience from her to turn our ideas into something that worked.. Susie basically had to create something based on vague concepts and screen grabs from Jennifer Lopez videos. But she did it! Susie never made us feel like what we wanted could not be achieved in some form. We wanted a neon flamingo, we got it. We wanted dinosaur shaped LEDs, for better or worse, we got them. We really got the sense Susie wanted to create something special and for the day to go off without a glitch which we think she did. We couldn’t have done it without her.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER

Our photographer was Neale James who was fantastic, both on the day and in terms of the photos he produced. We wanted to go for a documentary wedding photographer to capture the day in an unorchestrated way rather than posing for photographs for a long portion of the day. Neale really captured the day perfectly for us.

 

WOULD YOU HAVE ANY PIECE OF ADVICE FOR COUPLES PLANNING THEIR WEDDING?

I think one of the things I was really unsure about but thought ended up being great was writing our own vows. Giving thought to the ceremony will make a huge difference as it sets the tone for the whole day. I would also say lighting is important and you can really change the look and feel of a space with it. That was important for us as we had the reception in the same space as the ceremony and the lighting really helped us switch the ambiance from serious to fun (plus lasers are awesome). 

SUPPLIERS

Venue: Hackney Round Chapel 
Wedding planner: Revelry Events 
Photography: Neale James 
Suits: Beggars Run 
Flowers: London Flower House 
Stationery: The Golden Letter 
Music: DJ For Me
La Voix 
Calligraphy: Ananya Cards
Lighting: DJ For Me
Catering: Clement Worrall
Neon signs: http://www.kemplondon.com/
Furniture: Rustic Hire 

 

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