Islington Town Hall London Elopement Photography

Alicja + Chris

Sometimes the path to true love is windy but I am a true believer there is the perfect other half waiting for us at some point and time in our lives. Alicja and Chris found each other quite accidentally, here in London, and having had previous marriage experience they were not rushing into having a big wedding again. They opted to have a London elopement instead. With just 5 other people as witnesses they exchanged vows in Mayor’s Parlour at Islington Town Hall. Afterwards we strolled around Islington chatting and taking relaxed and natural elopement photographs. The couple loves colour and although I love moody and black and white photography the colours dominate this London elopement photography. I am a bit of a convert now!

Read more about Alicja and Chris love story, their inspiration for the day and wedding inspo below.

Alicja and Chris love story

We’ve known each other for over 12 years; we first met when Alicja was working in the coffee shop inside De Beers and Chris was coming to buy coffee twice a day (cappuccino in the morning and white americano in the afternoon), we think he bought much more coffee than he needed… We have been together for over 8 years and lived together for over 6 years. We both had had previous marriages which didn’t last long so we didn’t rush to get married again.  We got engaged at Bubbledogs at the end of September 2017. It was a perfect engagement – we had just been to a gallery opening and we had hot dogs and champagne after that. Chris said that he had a present for me. He gave me a scruffy bag from a Polish book shop, I thought it  was something like a chocolate bar or similar. We often give each other silly presents but inside there was a bag from De Beers jewellers. At that point I thought there were diamond cleaning wipes but there was a much bigger box with a yellow diamond ring inside. I didn’t expect that at all!!! He had been planing this since Christmas 2016!!!

Why did you choose to Islington Town Hall for your London elopement?

We love London so without a doubt we wanted to get married in this beautiful city. We chose Islington Town Hall as we live not far away from it and we have seen so many beautiful weddings when we walked by. Plus they have a beautiful small room called the Mayor’s Parlour. We also wanted a simple, non-religious city wedding.

Our wedding outfits and that mustard yellow

As we decided to have a city wedding we wanted something beautifully tailored but simple. We love colour so beige was never an option. Chris wanted to wear something in Alicja’s favourite colour (mustard yellow) and cobalt blue was a perfect combination with it.  We went to a wedding fair where Chris spotted a very interesting bespoke tie designer – Ian Scott Kettle and got a surprise tie made by him.  Alicja had difficulties finding the right dress at the beginning but she found the perfect one in her home town in Poland – Lodz. It was a beautiful, simple silk dress by Agata Wojtkiewicz Atelier, just perfect for the day.

DIY wedding flowers

Alicja’s Mummy is very creative and created a beautiful bouquet made of flowers, we had bought the weekend before at Columbia Road flower market. Alicja made the button holes for the boys and her own flower crown.

Our ceremony and choice of readings

Islington Town Hall gave us a selection of five different types of ceremony and we chose the one that uses humour and that emphasises being together but still independent. We wanted to have one humorous reading and one a little bit more serious. For the former we chose  John Cooper Clarke’s  ‘I wanna be yours’  and ‘So much happiness’ by Naomi Shihab Nye for the latter.

Our favourite part of the day and our tips for wedding planning

All of it and especially being pronounced husband and wife. Also when the registrar gave the marriage certificate to Alicja because “ at Islington we feel that after the vows the woman is now in charge…!”

Remember it is your day but it is very easy to let it run away from you, and get our of control. Do what you want and don’t be afraid of upsetting people!

Why we chose Joasis Photography as our London elopement photographer

Jo was amazing, so easy to work with and very laid back. It helped so much that she speaks Polish too! We booked Jo in November 2017 and had an engagement photoshoot with her in January, which helped us to get to know one another.

Wedding inspiration board:

Venue: Islington Town Hall

Dress: Agata Wojtkiewicz Atelier

Bride’s shoes: Manolo Blahnik

Suit: Paul Smith

Tie: Ian Scott Kettle

Groom’s shoes: Dolce&Gabbana

Flowers: DIY

Engagement and wedding rings: De Beers 

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Joasis Wedding Photography is London elopement photographer specialising in natural yet artistic wedding photography.