Inside: A Charming Floral Wedding At Kin House

From meeting as neighbours, taking out the recycling to their charming floral wedding at Kin House, the couple’s story is one of love, laughter, and cherished memories. Discover all the details of Francesca and Ben’s dream wedding here.

The Story So Far..

Ben and I met because we were neighbours. Unbeknownst to us, we’d been living two floors apart from each other for two years, but had never met. During lockdown, we bumped into each other – ever so romantically – taking the recycling out. The next day, Ben slipped a note through my door asking if I would like to go for a drink, and the rest is history!

Fast forward three years, and I woke up one Saturday morning to a similar note on the kitchen table telling me to pack an overnight bag and to meet Ben at Bushy Park. When I arrived, he’d set up the most gorgeous picnic on the banks of the pond and that’s where he proposed. He’d been working with independent jewellery designer Rachel Boston to create my engagement ring, which is a beautiful oval diamond on a super dainty gold band with a hidden halo.

The Venue

We fell in love with Kin House the second we stepped through the door, and knew straight away we didn’t need to look at any other venues. We love bright colours and bold prints, and knew we wanted a venue that had a lot of personality – and Kin House certainly delivers that in spades. The interiors make you feel like you’re in a cross between a whimiscal boutique hotel and the private home of a very chic friend, and the grounds are breathtaking. We also wanted somewhere that could house our nearest and dearest for the full weekend, and Kin House’s 12 bedrooms (each individually designed and completely different from one another) fit the bill perfectly.

We arrived on the Friday afternoon and hosted a beautiful sharing-style welcome supper with our immediate family, bridesmaids and groomsmen, which was the perfect way to ease into the weekend. Saturday was the main event, and we couldn’t have got luckier with the weather – bright blue skies and blaring sunshine at the end of October! We held the ceremony in the conservatory-style Garden Room surrounded by greenery, and then hosted our drinks and canape reception outside, which was something neither of us had even considered, but was such a wonderful bonus. Our wedding breakfast was in the glass-walled Kilvert Hall, and then we ended the night in Kilvert Bar which we loved with its statement bar and chequerboard floor. On the Sunday, we regrouped with our closest friends and family at a local pub The Metheun Arms, which was really special.

The Fashion

I did have quite a dress journey – I must have tried on close to 50 dresses at about six or seven different boutiques. I actually tried on ‘the one’ on quite early on in the process, but as it wasn’t what I originally had in mind for my dress, I kept searching. It was always the one I kept coming back to though and in the end, couldn’t imagine myself in anything else. The dress was made by New Zealand-based designer Hera Couture, and I bought it at Heart Aflutter Bridal in Hackney, with just a very simple veil to go alongside it. For my shoes, I knew I wanted a pop of colour somewhere while still having quite a classic bridal look, so I opted for the Manolo Blahnik Hangisi stilettos in emerald green.

Ben wanted to dive into the autumnal vibe and went for a lovely navy, tweed suit from Walker Slater, with a contrasting waistcoat. His groomsmen wore a full navy tweed three-piece from Moss Bros and they all got orange socks from The London Sock Co to match the bridesmaids.

Jewellery

Most of the jewellery I wore on the day was borrowed from my Mum – my necklace was made bespoke using a diamond from one of her rings, and the earrings were from her archives too. For my wedding band, I found a beautiful diamond band at Susannah Lovis, an antique jewellery store in Burlington Arcade, which matched the hidden halo on my ring perfectly. Ben opted for a matte and brushed hammered platinum band from Rachel Boston who made my engagement ring, engraved on the inside with the date of the wedding.

The Tablescape

It was really important to us that our stationery and tablescaping had plenty of nods to our story, so we worked with an incredibly talented illustrator Love From Lexi to curate personalised handwritten menus for each guest, alongside beautiful drawings to sit alongside the table names each inspired by our favourite hotels around the world. Our florist sourced table candles in varying shades of pink and orange to mix amongst the flowers, and the result was just beautiful – whimsical, bright and colourful, without being overly crowded.

One of our favourite elements though is our table plan. Lexi designed us a bespoke print that had lots of subtle references to our relationship – the note Ben first posted through the door, the postcode of the first home we shared together and so on – all centred around a hand drawn illustration of Kin House. We love it and now have it framed at home!

Food & Drink

Ben and I love indulging in good food and wine, so this was really important to us. One of the elements we loved about Kin House was that catering was all handled in house so there was no need for external caterers – and the food was exceptional. We opted for a feasting-style menu of bone-in ribeye alongside roasted veggies and the crispiest pommes anna, followed by a triple chocolate cookie for dessert (perfectly suited to my sweet tooth). We decided not to have a wedding cake in the end but served wood-fired pizzas in the evening which went down a treat.

We kept it simple throughout the reception with drinks – Hugo Spritz and our favourite sparkling wine – and for the evening, a selection of crowd-pleasing cocktails: espresso martinis, whisky sours and spicy margs.

Entertainment

The process of choosing a band was scary for us, as it’s such a make or break moment for a wedding! In the end we landed on The Distractions, and what a triumph that turned out to be. We had a seven piece band complete with a trumpet and a sax, and they were amazing. Our first dance was ‘This Will Be (An Everlasting Love) by Natalie Cole’ and after that it was an evening of pop classics and ultimate floor fillers.

Beauty Regime & Wellness

I did try to invest in my skin before the wedding with regular hydrofacials and plenty of water (and I gave up alcohol for six weeks before the wedding), but really I have to credit my incredible makeup artist Amy Rose for making me feel like the most beautiful version of myself on the day. She did the makeup for me, my Mum and all of my bridesmaids, and everyone looked so gorgeous. I did a couple of trials with my hair stylist Katya ahead of the wedding to land on the perfect half up half down look, and as my hair is so heavy, we ended up building in some clip in hair extensions to make sure the curls lasted all day.

Honeymoon

Immediately after the wedding, we spent two nights at The Newt in Somerset, which was the perfect hideaway to just regroup and relive the highlights from the last few days. We then flew to The Maldives for a week, staying at two hotels – Joali Being and Gili Lankanfushi – both of which were phenomenal. We’d originally wanted to do something a bit more adventurous, but actually we were both taken aback by how exhausted we were afterwards, so a week of sunshine, snorkelling and rose on the beach was exactly what we needed.

Advice:

Investing in an amazing videographer (Jake Burgess) was the best money we spent – there’s something so incredibly special about being able to watch back the moments through video. People say you won’t watch your wedding video much, but I still watch our teaser video on my Instagram at least once a week!

Plan the day for the two of you. Everyone will have opinions on what your day should look like, but remember you’re only doing this day once, so do it exactly how you want it and block out all of the other noise.

It sounds cliché, but be in the moment. People tell you the day passes by in a flash, so we really tried to soak up every minute and not get caught up in looking ahead to the next moment.