Wedding | Sundari & Mikey

Tell us a little about yourselves!

I’m a wedding photographer myself and Mikey is a Senior Head Chef at Harrods. We both have quite busy work lives and make a huge effort to spend time together and be truly present in the life we share. Some of our favourite things to do together is make our home more homely, coffee in bed, going out to new restaurants and he loves coming travelling with me when I’m off photographing in different countries. It sounds cliché, but we really are best mates and each others biggest supporters. We have helped each other grow in so many ways.

Why did you decide to get married where you did?

Originally, we planned to elope abroad however after my Dad discovered his health was deteriorating, we quickly amended our plans to create a celebration close to home and easy for him to attend. It became obvious to us both that we wanted him there for our celebration so it also meant us bringing it forward quickly. We didn’t want to risk waiting until Spring/Summer the following year.

We pulled the plans together in around 5 months, opting for mid-week October in the hopes weather might still be okay and my Dad would be well enough to attend.

When we knew it’d be in London, it had to be Charterhouse. Our story began there when we both attended a work event in the Norfolk Gardens and our friend and colleague of the time was the first to encourage us to consider going on a date.

When we visited Charterhouse, we fell back in love and began crunching the numbers. With expanding the plans we knew our budget would have to increase and the venue has a minimum charge for 30 guests so we set that as our maximum guest number too.

Charterhouse offers different options with all their spaces so we settled on a ceremony in the Norfolk Cloister followed by drinks in the Norfolk Gardens.

We kept praying the weather would hold out for us and luckily it did. No rain, some sunshine, albeit a bit chilly, the gardens looked so beautiful and there’s only the hint of Autumn with the golden leaves on the ground.

How many guests did you have?

We ended up having 28 guests in the day-time including us for ceremony and the meal and we went up to around 40 in the evening for dancing/drinks.

What was your budget?

£10,000. It was really tight. We had a lot of help, plus slightly discounted prices holding our day on a Tuesday in October.

Tell us about your outfits.

I’d seen on The Anti-Bride another gorgeous bride wear an Office Seven dress and I became obsessed, with a tight budget it felt like the right choice as well as supporting Ukrainian designers. I ended up having it slightly adjusted by a local seamstress recommended by Rozie Bridal in Amersham.

For my shoes, I kept dreaming of buying Dior shoes but couldn’t justify the price, plus I have wide feet, the idea of having painful feet was something I wanted to avoid. I ended up opting for some wide heels from Asos and something sparkly in the eve from NKD Fashion.

My evening hair bow was made by my mother-in-law who is a seamstress and I made my own veil and had a final helping from a close friend to finish the sewing of it.

Mikey wanted a slightly more elevated look and nothing too dark. So, he searched for a reasonable cream/ivory suit which he felt good in. On a tight budget we found Moss Bros had the best choice. He’d spent a lot of time looking at Groom fashion this year when he worked at weddings with me as my assistant and became quite particular on what he wanted his look to be! He searched for shoes for a long time, trying to find a nice balance between smart and comfortable.

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

The most important thing to us was that everything felt personal and intentional – that it has a purpose. We wanted our friends and family to feel looked after and included with every step. My Dad knew he’d have the chance to have a rest during the day with our hotel being in-between all the venues, so that was a major factor but also we wanted everyone to feel like they were at home with us. Our ceremony we created to reflect us and the people around us, our cultural backgrounds but also giving room for our friend Mark to speak from his heart.

For our speech after dinner we individually addressed every single person with us, our favours were artisan candles made by the Dalit Community in India, we had Polish vodka shots served as we toasted and had everyone in the evening run from our party to the local AutoFoto Photobooth in Spitalfields Market to take guest photos.

Ultimately, it was about intimacy and fun. We didn’t want a big production at all, but thoughtful elements that felt like us. We had Andri Benson, who is a long time friend of mine make sure everything ran smoothly throughout the day because there were quite a few venues and lots of personal details.

Food was super important to Mikey and the aesthetics and flow were important to me. Cloth hit every ticket, the food is incredible, the team outstanding and the design of the interiors felt like our own home with lots of antique paintings and cutlery etc. Cloth were also so lovely to work with, particularly their GM, Ella. She made the planning process, selection of menus, wines and table plan etc just feel so enjoyable. Going from an elopement to hosting a small group was quite the change for us and at times overwhelming but it was lovely to work with our venues to make it seamless.

The flowers were something really important to me as they set the tone of the day, I enquired with a few London based florists but I was by far so blown away by Elle at Flora Collective, from her ideas and how personable she was. My bouquet made me cry seeing it. Issy and Elle somehow weaved both myself and Mikey throughout the design, with herbs, tomatoes to represent him and the dahlias and frilly fleurs for me. The flowers were easily my favourite part of the day and really brought the whole romantic vision to life.

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

Mikey is Polish, and his closest family flew in for our celebrations so it felt right to include little Polish traditions into our ceremony and include them. We had bread made by his niece and did the vodka and water shot given to us by his Mum. That was a particularly important part. We had translations of our entirely ceremony for them too. I also spoke part of my vows in Polish to surprise Mikey - it was a very emotional moment.

Any tips for couples getting married?

Many tips but ultimately, just focus on you two. The wedding is just part of your story, as long as it feels right to you, do it.. or don’t. I also recommend carving out some time after the ceremony or after drinks before dinner to be alone together. Between our ceremony and meal, Mikey and I popped back to the hotel we were staying at as I was originally going to change my hair and ended up not. We got to walk through London town together, freshly married and got to gossip all about the ceremony. It also gave our guests time to make their own way to Cloth, so it all worked out really easily.

I was also a very nervous person right before the ceremony, even though I didn’t have ‘bridesmaids’ I had my best friend walk with me from my hotel and stay with me right until the last moment. This was so important to me, she’s literally my rock and it kept me present.

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

There were so many from the teams at Cloth, Market Coffee House, Andri Benson our co-ordinator, our Super 8 Artist Charlotte Dormoy  but our photographer, Sarah Joy Landon was just incredible on the day – she made our lives so easy and we just bopped along having the best time. The pictures do our memories justice and that’s the most amazing feeling to be able to look back at them and be transported.

Photographer: Sarah Joy Landon @sarahjoylandon | Wedding Co-ordinator: Andri Benson @always

andriweddings | Flora: Flora Collective @floracollective__ | Videographer: Charlotte Dormoy

@charlottedormoyphoto | Ceremony Location: Charterhouse London @thecharterhouse_events | Reception Location: Cloth Restaurant London @clothrestaurant & Market Coffee House, London

@market_coffee_house | Celebrant: Our friend, Mark | Ceremony Space: The Norfolk Cloister

@charterhouselondon | HMUA: Sarah Morten @sarahmortenmakeupartist | Cake: by the couples friend | Stationery: Etsy @etsy (Name places) By Anna Victoria (Invitations) Scarlet Grace Prints & (Envelope liner) Clover Paperie | Entertainment: DJ Jas @jas.playz | Dress: Office Seven @office.seven | Suit: Moss Bros @mossbros | Veil: Made by Sundari | Heirloom Earrings: Riley Haus @rileyhaus_ | Engagement & Wedding Rings: AR Ullmann @a.r.ullmann_jewellery | Shoes: Asos @asos | Evening Earrings: Emilia

rae @emiliaraejewellery | Hair Bow: Made by Sundari's MIL | Vow Books: Elmo Paper Stories

@elmopaperstories | Favours: Dalit Goods Co @dalitgoodsco | Photobooth: Spitalifields Auto Foto @autofoto.london | Hotel: The Rookery, London @therookeryhotel