This wedding happened with the help of some lovely suppliers.
Finances: Transferwise was very helpful for reducing the cost of international transfers.
Venue: We decided on the Tattershall Castle after a lot of deliberation. We really like that it is something different, that it is a boat (!), and we like the cosiness of the Stateroom. We decided without trying the food (Ying’s parents did) and were pleased to discover for ourselves that the food is actually pretty solid! Emanuela is a warm and cheerful event manager to work with, and it was great that we got to use the Bridge as a games room as well as a wind and rain shelter location!
(Venue shortlist: During our search, we also looked at and liked the South Bank Centre (London), Peckforton Castle (Cheshire), Hillbark Hotel (Wirral), Hope Street Hotel (Liverpool) and the Chester Town Hall (Chester).)
Chinese Lunch: we chose Royal China Queensway for their outstanding Hong Kong-style dim sum and Chinese food. Ms Bit Wong, the manager, was responsive and very proactive at helping us finalize a menu that would suit all of our guests.
Accommodation and Pre-Wedding Dinner: Royal Horseguards Hotel had been very accommodating and patient with all the requests that we have thrown at them. From Ying’s parents demanding to be shown every single suite they have, to storing items at the concierge before our check-in and after our check-out, they really made preparing and winding down from our big day something special.
Rings: we forged our own platinum wedding rings with Cindia and Toby at the Berlin branch of Oliver Kargus Hobbygoldschmiede.
Dress: Zo & Willow in Berlin Mitte was where Ying found her dress in the end with the incredibly patient Zoë.
Kilt: Stephen at Kilts4All at King’s Cross, London impressed Graeme (and Ying) with his knowledge on kilts and expert sizing.
Pre-Wedding Photography: We had a photography session in Berlin with Natasha Linde, who really engaged with our many requests and we enjoyed our photoshoot/walk together in locations ranging from Mauerpark to Friedrichshain.
Wedding Day Photography: We were excited to work with Chris Giles, who is very responsive, has a great sense of humour, really excited for us and full of ideas. He was also amazing at handling all the different personalities at our wedding; it was a joy to watch him work. We look forward to seeing the photos!
Planning, coordination and styling: We realized that after booking the venue and some of our key suppliers, we still have a lot of overall styling decisions to be made. Ava Korwin of Bisous d’Amour came to our rescue as our “wedding PA”, showing great sensitivity to our needs, attention to detail, and suggested many great ideas that really help us to shape our day into a unique and smooth experience for us and our guests. She also dealt with many contingencies before the wedding and on the day of the wedding, in particular, the road closures and access issues caused by the Prudential Ride in London happening on the same weekend.
Flowers: Siobhan at La Belle Floral Designs is the right florist for us, very reassuring and with lots of ideas, especially when we have little inkling and conflicting ideas of what kind of colour schemes we would like. Moreover, she is able to come up with many ideas to help us make the most of our budget, and in fact, we expanded our flowers/foliage budget as we went along because she provided so many fantastic and cost-effective options. On the day, we were blown away by how well she has executed our brief and how generous she is with providing extra foliage and hair flowers. The guests also really enjoyed taking flowers away with them!
Hair and makeup: Arabella Hewitt is a schoolmate from Ying’s Canford days and now a professional make up artist. She is very patient with Ying’s lack of experience with makeup and has figured out a perfect look for the big day. On the day of the wedding, Arabella and her assistant Holly really struck the right balance between putting people at ease and getting people excited and looking forward to the wedding proper. Ying is also grateful that Arabella let her use up, like, half the stock of black hair grips… #asianhairproblems
Stationery: Emma from Ochre Eclectic pulled together our ideas for a science- and gaming-influenced “on the day” stationery set.
Decorations: Isabel from TransparentEsDecor (Etsy) made the circle garland backdrop as a custom order. Shipping was very speedy!
Shoes: Sezane and Swedish Hasbeens
Arcade machines: JSEnt came to our rescue about two weeks before the wedding when our original supplier fell through (on Friday the 13th).
DJ: Dave from Amadeus Event Music was responsible for the music once we were done with the Swing playlist of the first dance.
Cake: red velvet cupcakes from the Hummingbird Bakery is one of Graeme’s favourite cakes so that was an easy choice for the cake for our wedding!