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“I was working for a magazine and a client gave me a pair of Craig David tickets so I invited one of my best friends, but he was already going with a group of his friends, so gave his spare ticket to another pal–Terry”, explains London-based event producer Kate Terry. “We swapped numbers and started dating soon after. Things moved pretty quickly and one of our early dates was a weekend in Stockholm, where looking back we both know we fell in love.”
When it came to the proposal, it was, in Kate’s words, unexpected. “I was sitting on our sofa on a Tuesday night in mis-matched pjs about to go to bed when Terry got down on one knee–I was really shocked and he was so nervous–I immediately said yes but it’s a blur for us both”, she recalls. “We kept it private for a few days (so I could get a fresh mani too) and then kind of redid the proposal when we were on our way out for dinner a few days later to make it official. TK years—and a pandemic—later, and their wedding day took place in the capital over the Jubilee weekend. It was a day filled with love, laughter, fun and, of course, a life size Craig David cutout.
Scroll to read more about the wedding day from the bride’s point of view, from the outfits and the flowers to the ceremony and the food.
I knew from the start that I didn’t want to wear a traditional dress and the thought of visiting multiple bridal boutiques made me feel uncomfortable. I researched looks online and via Instagram pages of amazing photographers, and pretty quickly decided on separates. I was excited by the idea of picking an outfit I could wear again for an anniversary or big birthday. When I saw the Henson Trousers and Eppel Headband by Halfpenny London I fell in love, it was just a case of finding the top. I tried on one dress there, just because I thought I wouldn’t get the opportunity to do that again but I was so glad I didn’t feel like me at all. I was certain I wanted to wear trousers on my wedding day and felt amazing in them. I didn’t manage to get an appointment until just over six months before, so I had to make a decision fast and I felt the pressure but I knew it was the right choice. I wanted the outfit to be simple and tailored, so it could work with the statement headband and opted for a long veil too.
I wore a white linen outfit–the trousers were from Second Summer and the top was handmade by a talented friend, her brand is called Forty One. For my hair and make-up I wanted to still look like me but just better. I didn’t want to look like I was wearing loads of make-up or a drastically different bridal look, so I went for black eyeliner, glowy skin, natural fluffy brow and natural lip. I was so glad I had a trial a few months before, as make-up artist Sophie tested two eye looks on me and one meant my eye would not stop streaming. I must have been allergic to a product she used, I was keeping my make-up simple but I am so glad I didn’t risk it on the day. My hairstylist Natalie gave me some really good advice about the colour of my hair with the look I was going for, so I had time to lighten the hair around my face to better suit the headband.
We had so much fun getting ready that we didn’t keep to time very well and it was a rush getting dressed, then my dad pulled up in a bike lane and got a fine. I was late for the ceremony but let’s just say that was meant to happen.
We were really glad a lot of our friends and family stayed at the Hoxton Hotel in Southwark with us, so we spent time together pre and post wedding. Most of all we wanted to have fun getting ready. I had my two sisters as bridesmaids, so all my best friends popped in throughout the morning for a hug and a glass of Laurent Perrier rose champagne. It was so nice to see everyone before the ceremony and felt like the party before the party.
I love Scandi jewellery designer Sophie Billie Brahe so when we started to talk about marriage I made an appointment at their Copenhagen boutique when I was there on holiday with one of my best friends. The Cartier love necklace was my wedding gift from Terry–I wore it on the day and have pretty much not taken it off since. As my ‘something borrowed’ I wore a gold bangle that belonged to my late grandma and I was so happy to wear it on my wedding day–my godmother said afterwards I could keep it, I hope it becomes a family heirloom. I rented the Shrimps Poppy Pearl Bag from By Rotation too, but sadly it didn’t make it into any of the photos.
During the day, I wore Bottega Veneta’s stretch strap sandals as my ‘something blue’ but I knew they wouldn’t be comfortable for long, so opted for flats when we sat down for dinner. I had been trying to get a pair of Chanel dad sandals for years and felt like it was meant to be when I got a text from the shopper in the Selfridges boutique a few months before the wedding, so I had time to wear them in, too. I planned to take my veil and headband off for the evening, but I was having so much fun that I completely forgot.
My husband wanted to wear a mis-matched jacket and trousers–he went for a double breasted Havana jacket by Suit Supply and the sales assistant was encouraging him to wear white trousers with it like on the model. But luckily I managed to talk him out of them so we wouldn’t both be wearing white trousers! He went for a beige linen trouser instead and a Gucci tie with gold bees. He wanted to invest in a pair of wedding shoes that he would wear for life, so we headed to Churches and whilst he was paying for them the song I was going to be walking down the aisle to came on which brought on happy emotions.
We were pretty last minute with everything, even though we got engaged in 2020, two years before the wedding. But it was lockdown and we didn’t want to marry without everyone there to celebrate, so we enjoyed being engaged for a while before we made any big decisions. However, we didn’t book our venue until a year before so there wasn’t any Saturday availability, so we opted for mid-week, the day before the Queen’s Golden Jubilee bank holidays, so the wedding day was like a Friday for everyone and instead of welcome events we continued the celebrations throughout the long weekend.
We have total confidence in each other and laugh and joke a lot, so we wanted this to be the centre of our wedding plans too. Of course, it was fair to have some Craig David ‘touches’ throughout the wedding (more my choice than Terry’s at this point!) We named our tables after his best noughties hits and there was a life size Craig cardboard cut out in the toilet–it made it back from my hen party in Spain, thanks to my friends!
Bride’s Tip: Don’t rush into planning when you first get engaged, that was one of the best pieces of advice I received from a friend and so I pass it on to everyone. We enjoyed being engaged for at least six months before we started properly planning anything. It meant we had time to research and really think about what was important to us, as well as aligning on ideas and opinions.
We didn’t want a traditional ceremony, so we found a celebrant who could talk about us as a couple and most of all we wanted people to laugh. We had one reading–He Never Leaves The Seat Up by Pam Ayres–which was chosen and read by the friend we met through. When he first stood up he read the title as “What’s Your Flava by Craig David” which made us all laugh, thankfully he didn’t read the full lyrics to that song!
Picking a humanist celebrant meant we had to get legally married separately, so we had a very low-key ceremony the day before at our local registry office in Peckham with two of our friends as witnesses. That was just the formal part, but this was the real part to us and didn’t change how we felt on the big day.
We commissioned illustrator Phoebe Rutherford to sketch some things we love and memorable moments from our relationship and the wedding plans–the boat that was hanging in the ceiling of the Stockholm restaurant on our first trip (when we both got the feeling of love for the first time in that moment, Terry also has this tattooed on his arm), flowers, wine, our family heirloom wedding car and the venue. We wanted a minimalist design that could run through all of the graphics–e-invite, order of ceremony, food & drink menus and seating plan. Having a hard invitation was important to us too–I love details like paper texture (G.F Smith colorplan in mist) and I learnt calligraphy so I addressed 100+ sage green envelopes with white ink by hand which took me weeks to do around work, but our guests loved it.
Bride’s Tip: Get a hair and make-up trial, at the time it might feel like an expense you could do without when the wedding budget adds up, but consider it as part of the overall hair & makeup cost. I am so glad I did it and I made plans with friends afterwards to make the most of it so I also got their opinion before the day too.
As I’m an event producer, my husband left absolutely everything up to me. It was a lot of pressure and there were definitely some stressful moments. I am not used to working as far ahead as the wedding planning world, but I totally appreciate how different it is and our suppliers were amazing. We wanted a relaxed and fun vibe for both us and our friends, so that was always front of mind during the planning.
Having an area outside to park our wedding cars was important to us too–I was driven to the wedding in a classic convertible Aston Martin that belonged to my late grandparents (my something old) and this car has featured in all of my family’s weddings for decades. Terry was driven to the ceremony by my brother in my dads classic Ford Mustang.
We knew from the start we wanted to do a city wedding in London where we live–my husband is from East London–in fact a few minutes down the road from our venue, Trinity Buoy Wharf. I had produced an event in a new property development nearby a few years before and bookmarked it straight away. It was the only venue we considered and it was everything we wanted–a blank canvas so we could do our own thing, right on the River Thames to make our guests really feel like they were in London and a space large enough for us to invite everyone we wanted so we could have a big party.
After the venue, the most important things to us were the food, wine and flowers. I was so happy Kasia from Gloria Studio was available–I absolutely love her wild but controlled style and enjoy working with her on events for my clients too. The end of May/start of June is the best time for peonies, which are both of our favourite flowers, so they featured throughout. Inside the venue we went for minimalist bud vases on the tables, hired large olive trees for the room and my sisters gave me some personalised candles by From P To You which we had in front of us on the table. Guests were served family style Italian pastas and lamb with greens and potatoes.
Bride’s Tip: Research suppliers via Instagram first and when you find ones you like look at their tagged photos and explore other suppliers that way. Look at what other couples have said about them on their own Instagram pages as those will be the most genuine reviews.
My husband has a thing for wine so this was where he got involved. We love English sparkling so we served Gusbourne, plus red, white and provence rosé wines, all sourced by our favourite local wine bar, Peckham Cellars, who also hired kegs from Black Lines for us so we could serve Tommy margaritas and Aperol spritz on tap.
My husband has since said that before the day he had no idea about any of the styling or details, but he just turned up and loved how everything looked.
Bride’s Tip: Consider new and small suppliers. For example, some florists freelance for bigger companies so have loads of experience, but may be able to offer a better rate due to less overheads or might not have yet reached the income threshold to charge VAT, you could save 20%.
Music is important to us as a couple and brings a lot of happy memories–we spent many covid lockdown nights in our kitchen drinking wine and listening to Corey Taylor’s acoustic album, so it felt right that I walked down the aisle to his cover of Rolling Stones’ Wild Horses. For contrast in our broad music taste, we walked into dinner with Drake Nice For What.
The speeches were the perfect balance of hilarious and emotional. Terry made a joke about my wearing the trousers in our relationship, a nod to my bridal look which I had perhaps dropped too many hints about.
After the speeches, I had asked our friend who was the master of ceremonies to introduce a surprise for him–Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline–the classic football fan song is my worst nightmare but something he had mentioned and I had vetoed when we were discussing the plans for the day. Everyone was up on their feet with arms around each other singing–looking around the room and seeing everyone so happy is a moment that we will remember forever. It was the perfect start to the party that followed.
Bride’s Tip: Invest time in getting to know your suppliers during the planning, it’s important they love ‘working’ with you so things run as smoothly as possible and if they enjoy being part of your wedding too it will make a difference.
We cut the cake straight after dinner, as everyone wanted to dig into the seven tiers. It was made by my mum who has made wedding cakes for all my closest friends and my uncle made the wooden board personalised with our names and wedding date.
We skipped the traditional first dance moment and instead asked the motown band to start with Sister Sledge Thinking of You so everyone joined the dancefloor straight away and then didn’t really leave all night. Later on, we had lined up an old school garage MC to perform with our DJ as a surprise for our guests–my parents were mortified but our friends loved it. Terry got on the mic which went down well with the crowd, but he’s still too embarrassed to watch any of the videos back.
Our London wedding turned into a destination wedding that it wasn’t intended to be, but we wouldn’t change a thing. The day after the wedding we watched the planes fly over the River Thames and then a spontaneous pub crawl followed, the next day was a dinner with friends at our favourite local wine bar that sourced the wine for our wedding day and my parents hosted a BBQ on the Saturday. We partied hard and I wore my bridal headband for four days straight!
Photography: Joe @thecurries.co
Hair & make-up: make-up @bride_by_sophiehigginson and hair @bride_by_natalieharrison
Nails: @amathesalon
Flowers: @gloriastudio
Venue: @trinitybuoywharf
Stationery illustrations: @phoeberutherfordart
Stationery design: Greg Deacon
Stationery printing: @feburmanltd
Stationery paper: @gfsmithpapers
Personalised candles: @fromp.toyou
Music: Groove Station band via @entertainmentnationuk; DJ @dj.djchris; Garage MC @vizzalgram
Caterer: @londonbasquekitchen
Drinks @peckhamcellars
Celebrant: @roxycelebrateslove
