Inside: a Beautifully Intimate Chelsea Wedding

Alice works in prime residential property sales at Savills, and Harry is head of UK partnerships at a tech company called BrandTurbo. Alice and Harry caught eyes across the dancefloor at a Bakermat gig in early 2016, had their first date four days later and never looked back. The couple downsized their wedding list due to the pandemic and changed their plans, hosting a beautiful, intimate Chelsea Wedding.

The best part of our day was….

We loved every moment. Saying our vows in our intimate ceremony, entering our reception as Mr and Mrs Burch and dancing for the first time since the pandemic started surrounded by our amazing friends and family was certainly up there. The love and energy we felt from everyone was incredibly special (it was the first weekend that larger gatherings were permitted since lockdown, so there was a lot of over-excitement!).

Chelsea Wedding — Photography by Phoebe Goddard

We choose to get married at…

We had planned a two-day wedding in Spain which we had to cancel due to restrictions, so we decided to get married in London, at Chelsea Town hall followed by reception at a family home in Wandsworth Common. The flowers were blooming, we were thankfully very lucky with the weather, and despite dancing being advised against, being in a private venue allowed us to bend the rules a little…

I knew I found ‘The One’ when….

I ended up finding my dress at The Own Studio. It was the perfect bridal-meets-evening-piece, and I loved their sustainability credentials. The style was a simple version of the dress I had bought for our Spain wedding and it worked perfectly for our day. I paired the dress with a custom wrap top which I wore at the ceremony.

The most enjoyable moments of planning were…

Cocktail and canapé tasting with our amazing chef was a lot of fun, as was choosing our music and practicing our first dance.

The hardest part of planning was…

The ever-changing travel restrictions and limits on guest numbers which ultimately left us with only eight weeks to plan our revised UK wedding. We also had to half the number of guests we were allowed in the room at Chelsea Town Hall a week before the big day. We loved our intimate ceremony though – friends and family tuned in on Zoom and we had guests greeting us on the steps outside Chelsea Town Hall.

The best accounts to follow on Instagram for big-day inspo are…

I found inspiration from all over – personal accounts, photographers (Alex Marks Photography, BenjaminWheeler) and beautiful wedding designers (Rime Aradoky, Savannah Miller, Made With Love Bridal and J.Adreatta) as well as accounts such as IvoryTribe and The Wedding Edition of course!

My top three tips for any couple would be…

Have fun with it! We made decisions based around what we loved, not what tradition dictates. Slow down and enjoy every moment of the day as it goes so fast. Have a pair of more comfortable shoes at the reception for later/dancing.

If I was able to do it all over again, the one thing I would change is…

All my family being able to attend – many of them are based in Australia which had closed borders. We were so torn about whether to have a smaller London wedding, or wait a year to have our wedding as planned with all our friends and family, but we were so glad we went ahead in the end, and thank goodness for modern technology!