A night at the theatre with mutual friends evolved into a first date for Katie and Ed when the Londoners decided to extend the evening with dinner. “We chatted for hours and were at complete ease with each other,” Katie says.

Three years later, Ed proposed at that same theatre. After a very London courtship, it was only fitting that a very London wedding day should follow!

Photography by Sarah Gawler, sarahgawler.co.uk

“Ed’s brother created a beautiful, abstract drawing for the cover of our invites and also selected the font that we used inside,” explains Katie of their stationery. “We then bought books of watercolour cartridge paper and printed the invites ourselves.”

The couple tied the knot at St Boltoph’s Without Aldgate, an 18th century church in the City of London. “We had a Church of England ceremony and while you can’t personalise the service, our vicar decided we should omit the vow of obedience!” Katie remembers. “We did spend a lot of time choosing our readings, including Come Live With Me and Be My Love by Christopher Sousa and a biblical reading selected by Ed’s mum. We also had a string quartet that played REM’s Nightswimming while we were signing the register.”

“I had always wanted a Forties theme as I love the clothes and music of that era, and The Britannia pub in Victoria Park was the perfect canvas,” Katie says.

“The pub has a post-war street-party feel, with bunting and old photographs that fitted perfectly with our ideas,” the bride explains.

Nearly 200 guests joined the celebration, which the couple decorated with flower-filled teapots and a bold palette of red, white and blue. “Scent was very important to me,” says Katie, “so we used blue hyacinths, white sweet peas, white freesias, tuberose and white and red roses.”

Flowers by Boomerang Flowers, boomerangflowers.co.uk

Jugs of flowers in Union Jack colours with mini chalkboards from theweddingofmydreams.co.uk served as table numbers.

Katie’s bouquet from florist Denningtons contained peonies, sweet peas, spray roses, hyacinths, mint and camellia leaves and was tied with a black ribbon to match her Cymbeline gown.

“I knew I wanted a lace dress and tried on all manner of styles,” says Katie of finding her Cymbeline gown at London boutique Mirror Mirror. “When I visited the shop, I took my sister, who has the great virtue of saying exactly what she thinks. I loved the shape, lace design and black ribbon on this one, and my sister’s face sealed the deal!” She purchased her rhinestone hairband from Etsy seller Lucia Bella.

The couple’s daughter, Evie, did the honours as flowergirl in a mini version of her mum’s gown, sourced online.

Ed wore a black Paul Smith shawl collar suit and buttonhole made from white freesia and ivy leaves.

Katie’s sister and cousin served as bridesmaids in rich royal blue dresses from Coast. “I gave the girls a framed photograph each of the three of us together on my hen weekend, which they did the most superb job organising,” Katie says. “I also wrote them a little letter to say thank you.”

“It was hard to imagine how the pub would look for our party as it’s always pretty busy, but when we walked in, it felt wonderful,” says Katie. “It looked exactly as I had imagined and hoped for.”

“For the table plan, we borrowed a vintage suitcase from a friend, turned it on its side, then used little bulldog clips to attach a card for each table to strings,” Katie says. “We also had punched hearts from old nautical charts and sprinkled these over the tables – a nod to the naval history in both of our families and Ed’s career as a naval architect.”

“We didn’t have a traditional wedding cake but instead opted for cupcakes made by Kaelie at My Sweet Tooth Factory,” says Katie. “We met her at Spitalfields market one Sunday and loved the cakes. While she can make pretty much any flavour under the sun, we opted for green tea and oreo; honeycomb and caramel; banana walnut with mascarpone and caramel frosting; lavender; belgian chocolate and vanilla raspberry. I bought edible butterflies from Sugar Robot on Etsy."

“We also had a cheese wedding cake, which was supplied by Androuet in Spitalfields. It was so much fun choosing which cheeses to go for and the 'cake' looked spectacular on the day. We were going to cut it, but some of our guests had launched into it before we had a chance!”

A photo booth in the garden was a huge hit with guests, and the couple borrowed wigs and accessories from friends and family for the dressing up box. “It was a great way to get people talking and our photographers were fantastic at coaxing everyone to have their photo taken – though some needed no encouragement at all,” Katie remembers.

The bride and groom kicked off the evening party with a special first dance to Adele’s Make You Feel My Love, which turned out to be one of the bride’s favourite moments. “It was probably the longest amount of time I’d had with Ed all day, and I just got to look straight into his eyes and be held by him,” Katie says. Too sweet!