Fi + Henry by Chloe Mary

I love how gothic, romantic and moody the aesthetic is

Tell us a little about yourselves, what you do, what you love…

We are a couple whose careers are worlds apart, but we love, share and value all the same things – I think that’s what has always made us work together so well. Henry spends most of his time and work on the restoration and renovation of period homes – he’s incredibly hardworking, creative, and so talented at what he does, working on incredible projects from the ground up. I work as an in-house lawyer in the music industry, so my day-to-day often involves a lot of contract drafting and time spent in the office.

Together, we love music, good food, time spent outdoors, exploring and travelling. We are renovating our own house at the moment, so that takes up a lot of our time, but we love doing it as an outlet to be creative together and build something amazing for our future.

How/where/when did you meet – and what were your first impressions?

We were set up by two of our best friends – Henry’s old roommate who was dating my best friend back in 2013. We met at an indie music festival in Oxford, and it quickly became apparent that we were, in fact, on a double date. On the day, there was a twinge of awkwardness as our two friends kept leaving us alone together to talk, and I remember giggling about how obvious it all was.

We succumbed to the set-up and began talking – mostly about music – instantly connecting over what we both loved. After multiple drinks, long rambling conversations and wandering around the festival together all day, Henry leaned in and kissed me during the final set of the day. I loved everything about him, and we began seeing each other shortly after that – one extremely bold and out-of-character move, and the rest is history!

Registry Office

What styling and visual elements worked best for you? (could be things, the florals, particular hire products or your marquee, etc., something the stylist created or simply just the scenic beauty of your location or the existing design of your venue).

The Mount Without is already such an incredible venue; I didn’t feel like we needed to do anything drastic to it. I love how gothic, romantic and moody the aesthetic is already, so I just wanted to lean more into that.

One thing that I am so glad I sourced for the wedding was my hoard of doilies and lace tablecloths. Both of our grandmothers kindly gave most of these to us, and the rest I collected over our nearly 2-year engagement period from charity shops and retro stores. They looked beautiful scattered across the dining tables and across all the surfaces at the Mount and really added to the vintage feel we were trying to achieve.

Our florist also went above and beyond to incorporate them into some of the floral displays across the venue. We now have them all round our house, and it takes us straight back to the wedding day. Candles were very important too, and there were a lot of them!

We also had an area dedicated to the ‘love stories before ours ’, displaying old photos of our relatives weddings, including those who couldn’t be there on our special day. This was a particularly special part of the styling.

What did you enjoy most about the planning process, and do you have any tips for couples starting their wedding planning journey?

I really enjoyed the creative process of mood boarding and deciding what we wanted our wedding to look like. The main thing is that we wanted our wedding to reflect us as a couple and what we liked – almost like a seriously elevated version of our own home.

My main tip would be – if you have a vision, stick to it. It’s really easy to get swept up in what’s trendy now or what other people are doing, but I think if you want your wedding to feel like your own, go with your gut and make choices based on what YOU love as a couple and park the stuff that doesn’t bring you joy. The biggest compliment is for your guests to come away from your wedding saying, “That was so you guys”.

Wedding Day

Tell us about your vendors. Were there any standout suppliers you would like to make special mention of?

We are so lucky to have worked with so many amazing suppliers; I wish I could mention them all.

Special shoutout to our amazing photographer Chloe, who not only captured the day more beautifully than we could ever have dreamed of, but also just brought the most incredible energy – she was one of the family by the end.

Our florist, Victoria at Wren and May, was also just the most wonderful person to work with. What she put together on the day was beyond my wildest expectations, and I am forever grateful to her for how hard she worked to bring it all together. She’s also just the warmest and most gorgeous human, constantly popping up with new ideas on how to make the setup even better and genuinely an artist at what she does.

Our celebrant, Nat Raybould, was also crucial on our wedding day, and I’m so glad we invested so much time with Nat into making our ceremony so special. It was the highlight of the day.

There are many more, but it meant so much to us to have this wonderful team on the day who are all so passionate about what they do, so talented and so enthusiastic about the creative vision we wanted to achieve. I’m sure they all have a lot of weddings on, but they went above and beyond to make us feel like we were the only ones in the world!

Tell us about your main outfits, what was unique, and is there a story?

I knew for my dress the brief was textural, ethereal and romantic. I found my dress through a bit of a process of elimination, first trying on some shockingly expensive ones in fancy London bridal shops, and then I stumbled on this one online – the only problem was that nobody sells it in the UK, and Kerry at Bridal Indulgence was one of the only people who was willing to ship it over from the US for me to try on – I am so grateful to her! It was a bit of a gamble, but it was an instant ‘yes’. I loved my trips to her beautiful shop in the countryside for all my fittings.

I also worked with Bridal Indulgence to create sleeves for the dress, which I could take on and off at different parts of the day. My second look was a Shona Joy mini dress which perfectly matched the vibe of the first dress, both of which I paired with some statement trailing pearl earrings by Completedworks.

Henry (ever the Vinted expert) found his wedding suit on Vinted – a classic vintage Giorgio Armani 90s power suit – black, double-breasted with that classic straight-leg tailoring. He wore a vintage Gucci dress shirt underneath and a vintage silk tie that we bought whilst travelling in the US. His suit was a truly unbelievable find at an amazing price, and it just so happened that it also fit him like a glove. He paired it with Solovair dress shoes and a vintage brooch.

Tell us about your wedding and engagement rings.

Jodie Gearing designed my wedding ring and resized Henry’s grandfather’s ring as his wedding ring. My engagement ring is antique, so I needed a wedding band that would fit snugly around it – I opted for a jigsaw style band with delicately milgrained edges for a vintage feel. Henry had his grandfather’s ring resized and added his initials on the inside.

We both wanted our rings to look lived in and aged, which I thought would be difficult to achieve when designing a bespoke piece, but Jodie was so amazing and really understood the brief – leaving my ring brushed instead of highly polished so it looks like it’s been in my family for generations!

What were one or two elements that were most important to you both that you were happy to spend a little more on? (food, photography, florals, the venue, your outfits?).

For us, photography was a really important element because, once all the celebrations are over, the photos are what you have to relive the day. That’s why we went with Chloe because her style is so natural and authentic; she captured all the little moments and the atmosphere, as well as the main events of the day. We are so glad that we invested in someone whose work we genuinely love, and her photos will form little pieces of art all around our home.

Our celebrant was equally as important because we wanted the ceremony to feel personal and genuinely reflective of us as a couple. Having someone take the time to get to know us and to tell our story in a warm, funny and meaningful way made such a difference and set the tone for the whole day.

Was there a favourite moment (or two) that you will treasure always?

The ceremony will always be one of the moments we treasure most. Walking down the aisle to a 6-piece choir singing our favourite Radiohead song was incredibly emotional, and it felt so surreal to see all of our guests in one place. Seeing each other for the first time that day, surrounded by all our favourite people, is something we’ll never forget. I think the most special part (and the part we were actually most anxious about) was delivering our personal vows. We had both spent a lot of time writing our vows, and delivering them was such a sense of achievement. It was beautiful to hear each other’s vows and a perfect start to newly married life!

What does being married mean to you, and are there any special rituals you have that you would like to share?

For us, being married is a continuation of the life that we’ve already spent years building together. We’ve been together for 12 years already, so it was just amazing to solidify that commitment in front of our friends and family.

Being married just feels like being part of the most indestructible team, choosing each other for the rest of our lives. It is definitely something that is felt in the small, everyday gestures and the everyday experience.