Monika and Dylan – Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love, what is unique about you and your relationship…

I am a Graphic Designer (also a Yoga Teacher in training), originally from Poland, but I moved to London when I was a little girl and I consider it my home, and my husband is a Structural Engineer, born in London.

We met at college when we were only 16 and we were best friends for 2 years before we actually became romantically involved.  We got engaged after being together 6 years, and we got married after being together for 8 years! We have grown up together and shared so many experiences together, we are each other’s best friends and the trust that exists between us is really indescribable. We live a very simple life, we both think there is so much beauty in simplicity, and together we always prioritize joy. Our aim in life is to be happy, as cliché as that sounds, but we really do prioritize that feeling in our every day, and through conscious living and awareness we try and manifest that feeling of joy as often as possible.

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Tell us about your special day, was there a specific theme or style? Tell us a little about the setting, the styling and some of your favourite details…

There was no theme or no set style, as I mentioned we love simplicity so we tried to keep things simple and not over think it, or over do it. It was a winter-city wedding, three days after Christmas, so our main theme was fairy lights, lots of white and green. The flowers had mainly white and green in them, and the dinner venue had one wall filled with waterfall fairy lights, simply to create a nice atmosphere. The place setting were simple, just white cloth with few cotton bud branches around and nothing else, very minimalistic. The venue decorated the beams and the ceiling in gold scrunched-up foil, which created a beautiful and quirky effect – that was my favourite detail of the wedding.

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Tell us about your main outfits:

I have never been a fan of wedding dresses, probably because they are all very expensive, and I never wear dresses or even skirts. So when I got engaged I knew I wasn’t looking for a wedding dress, but rather a simple white dress, or maybe a gown. In my head I wanted something that is timeless and doesn’t really follow any trends – I think there is beauty in simplicity. I also didn’t want my look to feel too mainstream, I live in London which is filled with so many amazing women who are independent designers, one of them being Jessie Harris who is my sister-in-law. My dress and jewellery were both made by London based independent designers who I know personally- and as someone who works in the creative industry myself, I loved supporting other women who are making a living in the creative field. I had a lot of help and support from Jessie Harris, she designed my jewellery, and also helped me with my outfit, she was one of my bridesmaids, which was so special! Together we called it Pearl-tastic, because I had two pearl necklaces, pearl earrings, pearl headband, pearl bag and my shoes had tiny pearls on the edges – pearl overload! But it worked so well because the dress was so simple and beautiful.

Marina London’s designs are classic and simple, with a real focus on quality and material. The dress was made from silk, and it felt beautiful, she doesn’t specialize in wedding dresses, she just makes everyday, essential silk basics, and I love that her collections are always modest in size, and the focus is on creating pieces that will last season after season, especially with the rise in fast-fashion, I feel like these are the brands we should be supporting and also these are the type of clothing we should be investing into. I am in the process of dying my silk dress with a black dye, so it will be a dress I get to wear to many more occasions!

My husband kept it quite simple, with a dark suit from Hugo Boss. He went for a quirky tie from T.M Lewin to add some colour to his outfit, as he didn’t want to look too serious, and he paired the orange tie with orange socks!

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

What were some of the most memorable/unique moments from the day?

One of the most beautiful moments was our personal vows, we both worked very hard on what we wrote, and it was very special to be able to read them out loud to each other in front of our family and friends, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the room either, even the registrar was crying!

Second favourite was the bus journey from our ceremony venue to the reception venue, prosecco was flowing, music was on, and everyone was in the best mood, and we literally just got married! It was so so fun!

My third favorite moment was when I did my speech for my husband during dinner. He is a structural engineer and I based my whole speech around engineering/foundations/buildings – he absolutely loved it, at the end of the speech I surprised him with his favorite cocktail Pina Colada, and all my bridesmaids got up and started signing “if you like Pina Coladas”- which completely took him by surprise. 

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Any advice for other couples planning to spend the rest of their lives together?

Don’t be afraid to do something that is contrary to normality, follow your gut and let YOUR day be about who YOU are. I didn’t wear a wedding veil because I didn’t want one, and I also did a speech because I wanted to do one, so both me and my husband did a speech to each other. I didn’t choose my bridemaids’s dresses because I didn’t want to, having to find a dress that 5 girls love is impossible, so I just told them to wear white and that’s it – so many people tried to tell me that if I don’t wear a veil then no one will know who the bride is, but of course people knew who the bride was because it was all family and friends! So I stuck with my gut and found myself a beautiful headband, and I didn’t worry about what people were worrying about.

We didn’t know what our readings were going to be because we wanted it to be surprise, we didn’t want to know every single moment of our wedding day before it happened, and it was exciting to see what our family would choose themselves – my advice is to trust people to help you and trust in what they have to offer and give. Our closest friend did our wedding cake and we didn’t know how it will taste or look until we got to see it on the day, we simply chose the flavor: chocolate (which is my husbands favourite) – and few people questioned whether brown cake is “bridal” enough? But my husband loves chocolate cake, so what is more important? How it looks or how it tastes? People will have a lot of opinions, and the most important thing is to stick to what you like and what you want.

Plan whatever you need to plan, but allow the day to have it’s own flow. And trust me not everything has to be perfect, because on the day, you won’t care if it’s perfect anyway, perfection is over rated. And remember this day is about you and the person you love the most, it doesn’t have to be white, it doesn’t have to be bridal, it simply should be filled with love.

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Categories: Weddings-Monika and Dylan - Photography by Ruth Atkinson

Photography: Ruth Atkinson | Ceremony Location: Clissold House | Reception: Bistrotheque | Celebrant: Hackney Council provided one | Bride’s gown: Marina London | Bride’s coat: Mango | Bride’s Jewellery: Pear earrings and two necklaces all by Jessie Harris London | Bride’s Headband: Lele Sadoughi | Groom’s outfit: Both engagement and weddings bands where by Jessie Harris London | Groom’s outfit: Suit by Hugo Boss and tie by T.M.Lewin | Shoes: LK Bennet X Jenny Packham | Make-up and Hair: Sophie Higginson | Bridesmaid’s: Own dresses | Groomsmen’s outfits: Own suits and ties by T.M.Lewin | Styling: Bride styled herself | Flora: Mother of the groom | Food/beverages/catering: Bistrotheque | Cake: Dunn’s Bakery | Transport: London Wedding Bus