Fun, Colourful Wedding at William Morris Gallery and London Pub the Coach + Horses
If you’re looking for a fun and colourful pub wedding inspiration look no further
I knew when I met Becky and Jack that their wedding was going to be absolutely marvellous and it was an absolute delight to be immersed in their world of love, laughter, and vibrant colours. When describing their wedding memories in three words? Wonderful, fun, joyful. Those words perfectly describe the day as I remember it.
“Kate is incredible - such a genius, capturing everyone so well and all the beautiful human moments that happen at a wedding with so much fun and colour and joy”
As a big art lover getting to photograph their wedding ceremony at William Morris Gallery in London was an absolute dream. Before I ran my wedding photography business I used to work at Whitworth Art Gallery, who have a huge William Morris collection (which I coveted every shift!) so getting to combine my two loves made me one very happy photographer. I also adore pub weddings and the Coach and Horses has a lovely authentic relaxed London pub feel, and the decor is gorgeous!
Becky and Jack met on Bumble, leading to a memorable first date at a bar near Chancery Lane. Their proposal story is wonderfully unique - there wasn't a formal proposal per se, but rather a series of heartfelt conversations that solidified their decision to spend their lives together (yes I got goosebumps writing that ‘aw’). And so wedding planning began.
They chose venues that were both local and beautiful and opted for William Morris Gallery for their intimate ceremony, and the lively Coach & Horses pub for the reception. Many of their vendors with very local to where they live - including the venues they chose, the florist and the food & drink.
As for outfits, we’ll start with Becky who in a gorgeous purple/blue dress absolutely embodied woodland fairy or as many commented and no doubt the first thing that came to mind to any Disney fans out there, Elsa (yes I’m talking about Frozen which has made my instagram caption easy ‘For the first time in forever - I blogged’).
After trying on tons of both non-traditional and more traditional wedding dresses Becky finally found one that was just her style, non-traditional from ASOS! She looked utterly amazing, and paired it with some lace blue shoes from Etsy, for jewellery she wore a ring of Jack's mum's, and her earrings and necklace were made by her parents' lovely friend, and honorary Aunty Denise. Her hair and makeup was done by Kate from Wedding Hair and Make Up. Becky knew she wanted curls and greenery in her hair and blue eyeshadow but the rest Kate guided her on (which is a sign of an amazing HMUA).
Jack, in his own words ‘I did my own hair, this surprisingly does take a long time’. He knew he wanted a simple but smart blue three piece suit that would go well with Becky's dress. For a little bit of colour, he added a purple tie and some bumblebee themed socks from Amnesty.
Flowers were central to the theme throughout the day, Edie Rose created the flowers used in both the gallery and pub venue, as well as the gorgeous colourful bouquets and button holes. Becky's bouquet was a collection of seasonal bright flowers that accidentally matched the bridesmaid's and groomsmen's outfits so well. It also contained thistles and poppy's - the thistle for her dad (Scottish) and the Poppy for her mum as her favourite flower. The bridesmaids all had autumnal hydrangeas which were amazing. The button holes were stood out amazingly with the yellow and blue from the thistle.
William Morris Gallery is set in Lloyds park and has substantial, and incredibly beautiful grounds. The wildflowers, thistles and echinacea all complemented the colours they couple had chosen and I had a lot of fun photographing the couple photos and group shots using the grounds and spectacular building of the gallery.
Becky up-cycled many, many pasta and other food jars into vases for the flowers created by Edie Rose - covering them in tartan ribbon (for her Scottish dad). The flowers were dotted around the ceremony room at William Morris Gallery and it brought so much colour and really complemented the venue.
For decor in the pyb there was lovely colourful bunting they purchased from Etsy, wooden stamped out name placements, tables for games and a photo book with instax for guests to fill in. They wanted the venue to be colourful and fun and the existing styling of the pub with its amazing light and brick walls complemented that.
The cake was made by one of the wonderful bridesmaids, Vicki, a delicious two tiered vegan naked cake, with a Harry Potter themed cake topper! The vegan food was all catered by the pub, and was some of the best vegan food I’ve ever eaten.
After food and some gorgeous speeches there was some time for relaxing and chatting before the party kicked off with Becky and Jacks first dance. They chose Time After Time sung by Cyndi Lauper, they couldn’t have danced to anything else after discovering how much they both loved it on a trip for their first anniversary. Becky also danced with her Dad’s best friend, her brothers, sister and mum to the song Dance with My Father by Luther Vandross - to make up for not being able to dance with her dad on the day. It was such a beautiful and emotional moment for everyone.
The party continued late into the night, and as I was leaving everyone was in the garden doing tequila shots - the best way to end any party indeed.
Here’s Becky and Jacks’s top tip for planning your pub wedding:
“Try and minimise stress where you can, it's meant to be the best day of your life with the best people you know - the planning should hopefully be joyful. where parts are stressful make sure it's worth it for the day you are hoping to have. Make sure whatever you choose to do is for your benefit and enjoyment - everyone who comes loves you and will be happy with whatever happens (if they're worth inviting). The most important thing is you can make sure you relax and enjoy the day”
Awesome wedding suppliers for this London wedding:
Venue(s) // William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow and Coach & Horses Pub - Leyton High Road London
Caterer // The kitchen at Coach and Horses pub
Cake Maker // Vicki (bridesmaid!)
HMUA // Wedding Hair and Make Up (WHAM)
Florist // Edie Rose
Outfits // Jack - Suit - Moss Bros. Tie lovely bright purple from Charles Tyrwitt, Pocket Square bright purple from Hawes and Curtis. Becky - Dress, ASOS. Shoes, Etsy. The wedding squad all chose their own outfits, and just had to match the burgundy theme (which worked beautifully!)
Entertainment // DJ James Belcher
See more from this William Morris Gallery Wedding Ceremony and Coach and Horses pub wedding here:
If you are looking for your pub wedding photographer I’d love to hear from you. I’m a colourful, fun and relaxed wedding photographer based in Birmingham, covering all of the UK including London. Get in touch here.