Wedding | Clarissa & Teddy

Tell us a little about yourselves!

Hello! We’re Teddy and Clarissa. We first met on an advertising course in Brixton when we were 19, and a year later I decided Teddy was my soulmate. (At the time, he didn’t believe in soulmates, but I think I’ve changed his mind since).

Teddy is North London born and bred, and I’m from Hertfordshire. We’ve been living in New York for the past three years, currently in Brooklyn- where I lie to Americans and say I’m from North London too. 

We’ve been together for 11 wonderful years and officially married three of them. We first tied the knot in a small, intimate ceremony at Marylebone Town Hall in 2022 with just our immediate family. It was so incredibly special: a day we’ll always remember.

We’re just so happy we finally got around to have the wedding of our dreams, surrounded by all the people we love in sunny sunny Margate.

Why did you decide to get married where you did?

Margate is a really special place for both of us, and luckily, we were instantly aligned on it being the place for our wedding.

During Covid, we left our little flat in London Fields and stayed with Teddy’s parents in Herne Bay. We’d cycle to Margate every weekend for small lockdown joys: oysters from Dory’s, mussel pasties in paper bags, takeaway beers on the beach- and like so many Londoners, we fell for its arty grit, nostalgic and fairground charm.

Teddy’s a lifelong Libertines fan, so their hotel, The Albion Rooms, already had his heart. But beyond that, we knew we didn’t want a one-room wedding. We wanted layers (if that makes sense), a venue with plenty of hidden corners, creaky staircases, unexpected bars and courtyards. Somewhere our guests could roam around, discover, and feel like the day kept unfolding in front of them. The Albion delivered on this with it’s quirky and gothic hotel space that felt like a location out of a David Lynch movie.

Our ceremony began across the road at the Cliftonville Bandstand: a fancy old-school amphitheatre like something from a vintage seaside postcard. It somehow felt both intimate and grand at the same time which was so cool. It was the perfect place to hear our vows, hilariously written by our best friend Drew. And after that, we had an epic Brass band play old school bangers  like Cher’s Believe on their trumpets and saxophones. The whole thing was very romantic, fun and silly! 

There was a champagne bar, beautiful canapés from Sete Margate served in pearly scallop shells on silver trays, and a snack table piled with tomatoes and strawberries from a local Kent farm. We were so lucky with the sunshine, but felt even luckier still to celebrate with all our wonderful favourite people in the world.

How many guests did you have?

We had 140 guests! 36 of whom all so kindly flew in from New York. We were so honoured they travelled all that way to celebrate with us.

Tell us about your outfits.

Teddy wore a custom Beggars Run suit. They first caught his eye when they designed Kneecap’s suits for the Baftas.

He chose a navy windowpane flannel suit with a pastel green tie to match his best man Matt, offset by more green floral buttonholes made by Juliet Caswel our florist. Teddy also made it his mission to wear braces to honor the Libertines. It looked so good. 

I think I tried on well over 50 dresses. I paid for loads of appointments and found the whole thing very overwhelming. There is this ridiculous pressure to find the perfect dress, when actually there are lots of options that could work so perfectly. I fell in love with Weiderhoeft. Those pieces are a work of art and what Jackson Weiderhoeft can do to a waistline is seriously impressive.

But in the end I couldn’t commit to any options in New York because I had always envisioned saying yes to the dress with my Mumma and best friend in London. I flew home and our first stop was Annie’s on Carnaby Street where Sienna and I, glass of wine in hand, played dress up like we did when we were younger. 

Then I found it: Annie’s Aphrodite corset and silk ivory Florence dress. I fell in love with its romantic slightly sparkly floral embroidery, and that satisfying waistline cinch that only a corset can deliver. I paired it with ivory patent Prada sling backs, a Simone Rocha pearly beaded clip and a lace Shushu/Tong veil. It originally came on a headband but I altered it to be on a cute clip instead.

For the evening, I changed into a dress I wore from our first wedding three years ago: a ruffled, oversized Simone Rocha babydoll number -  Very airy and excellent for dancing.

What was the most important aspect for you, in terms of planning your wedding?

For us, the aesthetic was important. I (Clarissa) spent months obsessing over visual references in a google slides deck. It was probably quite unhinged the level of detail I went into but I really enjoyed it. 

We wanted it to feel very British in every way. Partly because I wanted our American friends to feel the charm and magic of the seaside the way we do: fish and chips, bacon butties, scallop shells for ash trays, mushy peas, really late sunsets, seagulls and pints. We wanted it to look like Martin Parr’s nostalgic Britannia photo series. 

The Incredible Camille Roman helped us achieve this dream. We dressed the venue with scalloped fabrics, oversized bows, silver tassels, red velvet curtains, and lots of old silver to lean into The Albion Rooms' tongue-in-cheek British, edgy, kinda jokey decadence. Alongside that Juliette totally understood the floral assignment: A bit Gothic, chaotic, twisty tangled big green and dark purple floral arrangements to go all over the hotel in big, old, rusty silver urns. 

It was really important to us that the day felt fun, untraditional, and not overly produced. Someone told us that if the bride and groom are having a great time, everyone else will too! That’s what is so awesome about The Albion Rooms, it’s so informal. We even spilled into a section of the car park for extra seating, but none of our guests knew it was a car park because Camille did such a beautiful job of decorating it!

We are quite fidgety people and don’t love formality or long sit down dinners, so instead of that, we chose food trucks to keep things casual and sociable. There were lobster rolls, fish and chips from E8 Fish in Billingsgate, late night bacon butties with crispy hash browns and eggs from Le Swine and finally an old Margate ice cream van. Inside the courtyard we had a tiny tuck shop with Teddy’s favorite sweets, pork scratchings, crisps, custom matches, cigs, and disposable cameras for our guests — the photos we got back were just magic. 

We wanted to have the cake moment so went for the loudest, brightest all red monochromic frosted cake full of raspberries to keep in theme with the red elements of our day. 

We also really love cocktails - so another must for us was an open and always flowing bar filled with delicious and pretty drinks. We had everything from Negronis, lychee martinis, margaritas to espresso martinis and Guinness. In my most obsessive phase I asked my bridesmaids to hand tie bows on every single cocktail glass. After the 500th glass they never wanted to see a bow again. But to me, it was something extra special. Same goes for all the sparkly salty juicy fruity garnishes we had for each drink.

Were there any elements that were important for you to incorporate?

We also care a lot about music so we spent a long time deciding on our playlist. It really can guide the feel of the whole day. We found all of our favourite songs and split them up, the chiller more joyous ones for the day time (Fleetwood Mac, The Cure, Libertines, Metronomy, that kinda vibe)  Then we had an awesome DJ from The Good DJ Company in the evening to play lots of ibiza 90’s club hits that we knew would keep everyone on the dancefloor for hours under the disco ball.  It was too much fun. Our first dance was KC & The Sunshine band ‘Give it up’.

Any tips for couples getting married?

Only do things for you. We guess that sounds obvious but you can get caught up in imagining what your guests might want and it’s not about that and they’re there because they love you and want to celebrate you, so be authentic to yourselves and your relationship! We made sure every element of our wedding was exactly what we wanted and we adored every second of it.

Are there any vendors that you would like to tell us a little more about?

I (Clarissa) felt extremely proud and grateful of our insanely talented all women team who brought this special day to life. If you want a job done, get a woman to do it! 

Harper Pictures: our photographer. She is a dream! We wanted our photos to be candid but spontaneous- nothing too posed or awkward. That’s what we got: because Harper’s approach is observant and respectful. She chills into the background, allowing the true moments to unfold naturally without pulling you into different corners of the space. She immediately just felt like a friend to us. 

We love how she blends 35mm and super8 film with digital so when you get your photos back you have a range of photos that feel textured, so vibrant and rich. We haven’t got our final gallery back yet but we are SO excited to finally see them.

Juliette Caswell is an amazing florist. She totally understood what we wanted with our florals and took over the space with her wild stems and massive arrangements. We wish we could have them forever. She is opening a shop in East London and we’re so excited to see what she does! 

Imogen Mew is the manager of The Albion Rooms. She literally went above and beyond for us. We were the Albion Rooms first big wedding so there was a lot of organisation that went into rearranging the space to open it up for that many people. Every detail from drinks, music, decor, hungover breakfast the morning after - she smashed it. 

Camille Roman is the best wedding planner and event designer and everyone should use her if they choose to get married! She is meticulous and so incredibly hard working while somehow being able to be the most chilled out optimistic professional around. We had such a specific vision with a million details, many wonderful food vendors, DJ’s or musicians: Camille handled every single element with care, creativity, and joy.  The night before our wedding there was a terrible storm and Camille had arranged all of the outdoor decorations, and she stayed up late and braved the stormy night and went out and pinned it all down so it survived the evening.  If that isn’t dedication to a wedding we don’t know what is.

Photographer: Harper Pictures @harperpix | Planning & Styling: Camille Roman @_camilleroman  | Flora: Juliet Caswell @ju_.cy | Ceremony Location: The Albion Rooms Margate @thealbionroomsmargate | Reception Location: The Oval Bandstand @theovalct9 | Celebrant: Friend, Drew Davis | Hire: Canterbury Hire Company | Hair: Brides by Rose @bridesbyrose | Catering & Beverages: Sete Margate @sete.margate, E8 FISH @e8fish, Le Swine @le.swine & London Ice Cream Van Hire | Cake: Lily Vanilli @lily_vanilli_cake | Entertainment: The Good DJ @thegooddj & Big Smoke Brass Band | Dress: Annies Ibiza @anniesibiza | Second Look: Simone Rocha | Suit: Beggars Run @beggarsrun | Veil: Shushu/Tong @shushu__tong  | Wedding Rings: (Bride) Alice Waese @alicewaese & (Groom) Seb Brown @sebbrown | Shoes: Prada @prada