An Antique & Faded Beauty Inspired Wedding at The Old Timber Store, London

Lottie has always been drawn to antiques and faded beauty, shaped in part by growing up around her mother’s work as an antiques dealer and by a long-standing love of antique textiles, dark period novels and woodland spaces.

Those influences quietly guided her wedding to Simon at The Old Timber Store in London, where she was determined not to compete with the venue’s character but to work alongside it, allowing the timber, low light and sense of age to remain visible and present.

Rather than trying to style their venue, Lottie and Simon imagined the space as though a woodland had gently arrived in the city, layered with texture, foliage and softened colour.

Faded velvets, dusty pinks, olive green and calm neutrals brought warmth and depth without overwhelming the space, creating something that felt lived-in, tactile, full of character and that very much reflected the couple.

Lottie chose to wear a gown and veil by the wonderful Indie Bride London, who we are delighted to recommend. Indie Bride London create handcrafted modern bohemian wedding dresses for brides who love an effortless and comfortable look that reflects her true self. Designer Miina’s aesthetic is very much era, antique and bohemian inspired. We adore this wonderful independent brand.

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Our venue was The old Timber Store on Maltby Street Market in London. I found this beautiful venue on Instagram and instantly fell in love.

We visited the market soon after and just loved the feeling of it. It’s a true hidden gem in London, just tucked out of view but so full of life. It has everything we wanted, great food and drink, independent suppliers and character everywhere you looked.

Once we got in touch with The Old Timber Store, it became apparent that the vendors from the market all worked closely together so that you can have all of your flowers, food, wine supplied from the market. It was like the luxury and ease of a big venue with their own supplier list but scaled down and much more personal. 

I would not recommend to the faint hearted. I bought all my fabric from Merely Susan on Etsy. She hand paints watercolour flowers and then transfers the patterns onto a lovely light linen. I loved her designs again for the faded beauty aesthetic. I made four dresses and two tie back tops.

I wanted all my bridesmaids to feel beautiful and to wear their outfits again so they each helped to choose a design that best flattered them or in my sisters case allowed for her to be comfortable while very pregnant.

In the end the process of fitting and making each dress was special. I travelled around to do fittings with each of them and it carved out time to really get excited with each of my bridesmaids.

They all looked stunning on the day and despite only finishing the final hem 48 hours before I got married, I was really proud of myself for actually pulling it off.

Each bridesmaids chose their own shoes and the little wicker baskets were bought online. 

I hired a classic black cab for my dad and I to get to the ceremony. I walked down the aisle with my dad to the sound of ‘Concerning Hobbits’, from The Lord of the Rings movie soundtrack. The fellowship of the ring is our favourite movie.

Simon wore a pink double breasted waistcoat from Sir Plus and a linen suit from Marks and Spencer. He wanted to have something breathable for a potentially hot day in central London and Linen worked perfectly. 

We both wrote our own vows despite being very nervous about reading them. Im so glad we did write them in the end because it was so much more special. I realised while writing them that its not about declaring all the big moments and actually what I wanted to celebrate was all the day to day quiet moments that actually bind us together. 

Our reading was a poem by J.R.R. Tolkein wrote for his wife and we also had a hand-fasting reading. This was led by our best friend before dinner.

I really wanted a hand fasting because of the history and significance of literally tying the knot. I chose the ‘Blessing of The Hands’ reading by Rev. Daniel L Harris, because I am always very inspired by the imagery of hands and how the represent union and love for one another. To have it read by our best friend of 15 years was so special and a moment that really stood out in our day. 

Simon got his ring from a local jewellers and my ring was from my late grandmother. 

My favourite part of the day was finally seeing Simon at the end of the aisle and all of the nerves and anxieties evaporate. He took my hands in his and then I suddenly felt like we were the only people in the room. 

We found Marie Wooten on Instagram. Looking at her Photos I instantly knew we would be a match. They were relaxed and not too staged.

Marie captured the feeling of places perfectly. As soon as we started speaking she reassured me, I hate having my picture taken as I was so nervous to spend my day posing for pictures I might not even like.

Marie settled my mind and helped me to come up with a plan so that I would have all my pictures without loosing too much time. She somehow caught the most gorgeous images without flash in very low lighting.

They are beautiful, ethereal and just captured our day in exactly the way I wanted. No small detail was missed she came in with a plan and executed it perfectly. 

We met when we were 17 at a house party in Lancashire where we both grew up. We then went to University separately (Simon to Liverpool me to the RSN in London) but agreed to just see how it went long distance. We managed four years of long distance only seeing each other in the holidays and couple of times a term. It actually worked pretty well for us we both enjoyed the freedom of really exploring our own interests and studies but still knowing we had each other.

Simon moved down to London for his masters and PHD and we have been in our little house in south London ever since. He finally proposed on the night we were celebrating eleven years together! It felt right his PHD was done I had recently got my dream job at my school and it felt like a new chapter full of excitement.

We got married just under two years later. 

My mum was amazing with helping to source antique table cloths and the exact shade of olive green velvet curtain I wanted for my top table. I bought candelabras on Facebook Market Place and decorated them with florists foam, moss and dried flowers for centre pieces.

The signs were old frames off my mums wall with chalkboard paint and then hand drawn decorations by myself. 

We got our tapas from Tonzino and our main meal was pizza, followed by Tiramisu from Bon Vino also in the market.

I worked in fine print for eight years before moving into teaching, operating an antique copper plate printing press, giving me lots of time to think about the exact design I would have on my own wedding invites.

And so I designed our own invites and then my previous employer, Mount Street Printers, made all our stationery dreams come to life. I went with an art nouveau style; gold and white die stamping on my favourite mid green-colour plan paper. All placed in a bespoke folder and envelope with wax seal.

We got our cake from Em Cakes. We chose a two tier white frilly cake with cherries. It had a fresh strawberries and cream filling. My sister in Law (MOH) found this supplier for us, we wanted a vintage aesthetic.

I was so happy this style of cake had come back into fashion by the time we got married because its just so much fun. I wanted something a little kitsch but classic. The cake itself was so tasty everyone loved it.

Yes we chose ‘Sometimes, by James, for a first dance. It has been our song as long as I can remember we have thrown ourselves around at concerts and festivals to it. 

We hired The Maydays via Dirtbag Entertainment. They were so much fun, everyone danced all night long to all our favourite songs.

I would hire a wedding planner. Its so much to co ordinate on your own even with an awesome team of bridesmaids and mothers. 

We didn’t really set one. We spread everything out over the two years just doing little bits and pieces here and there so its hard to tell what we even spent in the end. I think having a smaller wedding with less than 60 guests really helped. Anymore people would have felt too big and would have cost a lot more. 

Our advice is to work out what your big non negotiables are- the things you really really want to make the biggest impact. Mine were my dress and the flowers. Spend big on those things and then really look around/compromise or get crafty for the rest. 

The day goes so so fast so don’t sweat the little things. It feels like your world might implode if the napkins aren’t just right before the day, on the day you don’t even notice your just having the time of your life with all the people you love most in the world. 

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