The backdrop to this lovely wedding is breathtaking. Gorgeous couple Emma and Jack were married at the London Wetland Centre, where they said their vows in the glass-walled observatory overlooking lush greenery and calm waters. The location is spectacular, the images by Buckinghamshire-based documentary wedding photographer Andy Siddders are simply perfect.

Wedding photographer’s website

Andy Sidders – https://www.andysiddersphotography.co.uk

Wedding photographer review

Andy was a fantastic photographer, he really went above and beyond and got some great photos of us (he even waded in the water to get a reflection photo of us on the bank!) His photography style of natural and candid really suited us and what we wanted, and the shots he got captured the day perfectly. He was great in picking the perfect backdrops and foregrounds, as well as organising us and everyone else for the photos.

Your best wedding moment or memory

It’s hard to pick just one thing. But being able to celebrate our love story with the people who mean the most to us and adding our special touches to the day made it very special. We also were treated to a flyover thanks to our wedding taking place on the trooping of the colours and proximity to central London. Something we hadn’t planned but was a fantastic surprise.

Tell us anything you did differently – we love hearing about NEW traditions (or none at all!)

Our wedding venue was the first ‘different’ part of our wedding – we got married at a Wetland Centre, the observatory where the ceremony took place consisted of glass so we said our vows and exchanged rings overlooking the lake. Our guests were seated next to us (as opposed to behind us) in both directions.

We also had a slight scuba diving theme throughout the day – including dressing up in our fins, masks and snorkels for some of the photos, naming our tables as dive sites we’ve visited, and even having a guest dress up in an inflatable shark suit!

We branded the wedding, with ‘Two Less Fish in the Sea’ themes throughout – including on the website, invites and place mats. This wasn’t overdone, just placed as needed to keep different parts of the wedding in theme.

Videographer name + review

Paul Burton

Paul was a fantastic videographer. He was recommended to us by our photographer, as they’d worked together before and knew each other’s style. He got some great footage throughout the day and edited it very well, capturing the important moments perfectly.

Venue name + review

Barnes Wetland Centre

The Wetland Centre was a great venue to get married. Although the arrangements in the Observatory (the room we got married in) were a little unorthodox, we made it work and it lent itself with a great backdrop.

Although the centre was open to the public, no-one got in the way of the wedding at all, and come evening we had the whole site to ourselves. We got some great photos around the site, and everyone’s highlight was the otters!

Tell us a little about your outfits – both of you!

Emma: I wore a floor length white satin dress with a train. It was the first dress I tried on and despite it not being what I imagined going for it was perfect.

I got my dress from Love Me Do Brides who were very helpful and had a large collection to choose from. It was a fantastic experience with my Mother, Mother in Law and two bridesmaids.

Jack: I wore a three-piece suit, light mottled grey, with a light pink shirt and a custom made bow tie. The groomsmen all had identical two-piece suits, white shirts and matching neck ties. I also had custom made cufflinks which had our wedding logo engraved on them.

Groom and groomsmen’s suits were from Suits direct. A local tailor made my bowtie using a spare necktie I’d bought (I wanted the colour and material to match the groomsmen). This tailor did a great job.

I got my cufflinks off of Etsy, again the seller did a great job, it all looked very professional.

Florist name + review

We went with The Wild Garden Florist – as soon as we saw her portfolio we knew she was the exact style we were going for. It was very natural and the colours complemented our bridal party. She captured exactly what we wanted in her video calls and we couldn’t have been happier with what she produced on the day.

Cake maker name + review

The groom’s mother made the cake. We planned it with her for quite a while, we had our ideas but they needed to be grounded at times! We went for a dense chocolate cake, lemon drizzle, a raspberry yoghurt and a salted caramel yoghurt cake (tiered). This was iced and decorated with photos of us throughout our relationship, my mother did a fantastic job and it looked very professional (and was also very delicious).

Wedding stationery

We made all the stationery ourselves. This included: laser engraved wooden save the dates; laser cut card invitations with printed envelopes; branded printed vows and speeches; branded photograph upload/download poster and personalised laser cut slate placemats which doubled as favours for the guests. We also designed the table seating chart, and had that professionally printed on foam.

Any crafty projects or homemade styling touches?

Loads! Anything which could be home-made, was. This included a 2m tall welcome banner; all the stationery as mentioned above; seat reservations; table names; the cake (including topper); our wedding website.

Wedding readings?

We had two readings: one was a poem written by the bride, which told the story of how we met and important events through our relationship; and the other was some extracts from the BSAC (British diving club) handbook, which we took out of context to relate to the wedding (ie looking after each other and making sure you’re never far away).

Wedding planner name + review

We did all the wedding planning ourselves – using a mixture of the Bridebook app and making physical notes in a planner. We had help on the venue side of the planning from one of the venue’s event managers.

Hair + makeup name + review

Storme Makeup and Hair.
I was very lucky that Storme herself was available and did my hair and makeup. For her expertise and skill she was very reasonably priced and her work was amazing. I don’t wear a lot of makeup, so wanted something natural but beautiful which Storme captured perfectly. Both at the trial and on the morning of the wedding she put me at ease and made the experience enjoyable.