We’re totally obsessed with today’s fantastic (and first time featured on STG) London venue. Two Temple Place. It’s positively bursting at the seams with Edwardian opulence, from the epic wood paneling to the lovely gold fixtures to the massive stained glass skylight!
Lucinda, who works in marketing, and Max, a lawyer (#teamopptiedtheknot)could not have picked a cooler spot for their winter glam Jewish wedding, and we love how they played it up with awesome candelabra centerpieces, a beautiful gold chuppah, and the perfect wintry florals in deep berries and greens.
We’re totally not surprised to hear the bride’s report that the kosher catering from STG Recommended Vendor Food Story was stellar (and that the catering manager was a huge help in coordinating the day, even beyond food), and we’re totally craving some of those luscious canapà©s in the photos. The cocktails look pretty swanky themselves, for that matter…
But this wedding is more than it’s luxe style. The emotion captured in Barney Walters’ wonderful photos is just something else — his captures of the couple under the chuppah are truly unmissable. We love that, since Lucinda’s father had passed away, Max’s dad stepped in and gave a beautiful speech — the fact that Lucinda was so bowled over with emotion after listening to his speech, plus Max’s, the MC’s and best man’s, that she couldn’t deliver her own bride’s speech she’d prepared for herself really says it all!
Now we’ll hand you over to Lucinda herself, who looked so elegant in her simple, chic Pronovias dress…
How we met
Lucinda, the bride: We met through mutual friends in a London nightclub… and the rest, as they say, is history!
An Edwardian Venue
Before Max and I embarked on our wedding journey, if our friends were to ask us how we might have envisaged our wedding, we would probably have said somewhere tropical, with the sun shining down on us overlooking the ocean…. however, in reality, with the majority of our family and friends being on UK soil — we soon realized that we wanted to make our wedding as easy as possible for everyone to attend.
So, we decided on London, given that is the city where we live and met… we stumbled upon the most incredible venue called Two Temple Place. We hadn’t heard of it previously, and we were blown away by the magnitude and opulence of the venue — it’s a unique old Edwardian house by the river, and was quite different to anywhere we had been before. It had unique charm and character that we wanted to embrace for our wedding day.
Winter Golds
With our venue being so ornate, we decided to let that guide our theme — the venue is full of beautiful golds and wooden panels and tones. With our wedding being a winter wedding we felt this was something we wanted to incorporate into our overall day, especially with the use of gold.
We didn’t use a wedding planner in the end; however, the venue manager and our catering manager from Food Story were both so great and a huge help with lots of different elements of our wedding planning!
Art Deco Invitations
We had an ‘art deco’ style for our invites, which fit into the gold theme of our venue.
We also did everything online as opposed to paper — not quite traditional, but far easier to manage in terms of invites and responses, which worked well for us.
Hair + Makeup
I had a moment of madness before the wedding where I decided that I was going to do my own makeup/hair — and I am SO glad I didn’t go with that decision!
A friend of mine recommended the most amazing makeup artist from Charlotte Tilbury called Fabio — he was the absolute dream and a true artist! He had great energy to have around on the morning of the wedding and also did the most perfect makeup that lasted for the entirety of the day, even through the many tears!
A Pronovias Dress
I wanted to keep it simple… given that our venue was so ornate, I wanted my dress to be the opposite, and also quite reflective of my personality — (hopefully!) relaxed.
I ended up going with the atelier range at Pronovias — I knew the dress was the one as it was definitely something that I envisaged myself wearing before I even saw it! The cut and flow of the material was so flattering and really comfortable. It felt amazing on — and I felt very “me” in it.
Meaningful Accessories
Again, I wanted to keep things simple but of significance — I wore my late mother’s gold and diamond bracelet and a simple gold headpiece. The veil was a shorter one with trimmed edges, also from Pronovias, which complemented the simplicity of my dress nicely.
Aquazzura Shoes
Comfort for me was key! I did not want to have painful feet on my wedding day from wearing sky scraper heels, so I chose some beautiful leather and suede grey Aquazzura heels, which were gorgeous and elegant, and unbelievably comfortable.
The handsome groom
Max wore a bespoke tux from Cad & The Dandy, and Church‘s patent brogue shoes — and looked so handsome. He always makes me swoon!
Bridesmaids in Bardot
I had 4 beautiful bridesmaids who wore bardot off-the-shoulder style, fitted full-length dresses that suited their body shapes and were very flattering.
A Gold Chuppah
In keeping with the venue, we chose a gold frame and wintery flowers to match our bouquets.
A Gold-leafed Ketubah
Our ketubah was extremely special and designed by a close family friend in Israel, with stunning gold-leafed inscription.
Modern and Classic Music
We went for a mix of old and new — with, of course, the Jewish traditional songs. However, we also had some more modern songs that fitted in with our personalities!
Gold Candelabras
The fabulous Sayeh & Galton Flowers in Hampstead created our beautiful bouquets and button holes. For our table centers we went for gold candelabras instead of flowers.
Photography
We used the lovely Barney Walters, who had also captured a few of our good friends’ weddings and came highly recommended. He did not disappoint!
Amazing Catering
Food Story were our kosher caterers and were absolutely amazing!!!
A Band and a String Quartet
We had the excellent Soul Grooves band and ALR string quartet — both of whom we had seen before at other weddings. Soul Grooves really got the crowd going with their dancing and singing — just what we wanted. We loved them!
Emotional Speeches
As we are both from rather small families, we really did include everyone as much as possible… Max’s father made a speech, as my father has passed, which I feel was particularly special. I had planned on making a bride’s speech; however I was far too emotional when the time came to actually talk (!), as Max’s speech, as well as the MC’s and best men’s, had me crying and laughing in equal measures.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
My advice would be not to worry… Easier said than done, but the day really is so so special, so full of love and an atmosphere that is so unique to the two of you, that months deciding over what tablecloth or flower combination to choose, in the end, really does not matter — so enjoy every moment. As everyone says, it really does fly by!
Lucinda & Max’s little white book
Photography – Barney Walters
Catering – Food Story
Venue – Two Temple Place
Bride’s dress and veil – Pronovias
Bride’s shoes – Aquazzura
Groom’s attire – Cad & The Dandy and Church
Makeup – Charlotte Tilbury
Flowers – Sayeh & Galton Flowers
Band – Soul Grooves
String quartet – ALR Strings
