Emily & Owen - The Love Story

It was at school, when they were just 11 years old, that sweethearts Emily and Owen first met. “We had a six-week spell together when we were 14, but we started dating seriously at a friend’s 18th birthday party,” Emily explains.

Photography by Marianne Taylor at mariannetaylorphotography.co.uk

Emily & Owen - Popping the Question

Eight years later, over lunch at a Hackney restaurant, Owen handed Emily a brown paper envelope with a diamond-shaped toy ring inside. “As I opened it, he blurted out ‘will you marry me?’,” she recalls. “My first reaction was to ask if he was joking! And then, eventually, I said yes.”

Emily & Owen - All About the Dress

For her real engagement ring, Emily chose a Fifties sparkler from Grays antique market – the first vintage touch to the couple’s city wedding. Next came the Fifties dress: a cream, rose-patterned jacquard number with statement bodice-bow. “I wanted to look like me, not wear a dress that’s not my style,” she says. “Originally it was long and the bow was horizontal along the bust, but I had it altered.”

Emily & Owen - Maid to Perfection

“My ‘best ladies’ wore their own vintage dresses and my little nieces wore dresses from La Redoute with shoes from Next and wrist corsages by our florist Lisa from Honor Oak,” says Emily.

Emily & Owen - Sealing the Deal

Emily carried cream and pink roses down the aisle at the Marylebone Town Hall ceremony, where the couple said a personalised version of the traditional vows and Owen’s dad read from Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet.

Everyone then took classic black cabs to the reception at Georgian townhouse 6 Fitzroy Square. “We’d been there before, but had forgotten about it until a friend reminded us,” says Emily. “It’s really beautiful; it didn’t need much decoration.”

Emily & Owen - Flower Power

The couple collected 40 vases from markets and car boot sales, and florist Lisa filled them with white flowers and green foliage. Emily also sewed bunting, meant for the venue’s garden, but it had to be brought indoors after the heavens opened.

Emily & Owen - The Gift of Love

“During the run-up to the day, I hoped desperately that my wedding wouldn’t be ruined by wet weather,” Emily admits. “At the same time, the news was full of people whose lives had been ruined by rain, so 
we decided to donate money to the DEC Pakistan Floods Appeal instead of having favours.” Owen added a note explaining this decision to the table names, which he designed along with all of the stationery. “One of my favourite touches was ‘Eat, drink and be married’ on the menus,” says Emily.

Emily & Owen - Sitting Down to Dinner

Guests tucked into a feast of ham hock terrine, mushroom ravioli, and roast chicken and butternut squash strudel, finished off with chocolate and hazelnut tarts or crème brûlée served by caterers and event designers Palette Events.

Emily & Owen - Dance the Night Away

Once the forks were down and speeches made (including the four best men’s – in rhyming couplets!), the couple had their first dance. “We only decided on Two Doves by The Dirty Projectors the night before, in a text conversation!” says Emily. “Then we had Beyoncé, Crazy in Love, to get everyone dancing.”

Photography by Marianne Taylor at mariannetaylorphotography.co.uk