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A Proper London Wedding – Islington & Hackney

Posted on: 9 October 2013

Some weddings are defined by a country house, a grand hotel or a destination somewhere overseas. This one felt unmistakably London.

The day began with the ceremony at Islington Town Hall, before everyone travelled across the city by red double-decker bus to the Prince Albert pub in Camden for the reception, meal and evening celebrations. The two venues could hardly have looked more different, but somehow they worked perfectly together. Both had character, history and that slightly unconventional quality that makes a London wedding feel like it could not really have happened anywhere else.

The ceremony at Islington Town Hall

Islington Town Hall is a wonderful setting for a wedding ceremony. The rich woodwork, red furnishings and stained glass give the room a sense of occasion, but it still feels quite intimate. It is formal without becoming overly grand.

For this wedding I was asked to provide solo guitar throughout the ceremony, beginning as the guests arrived and took their seats.

There were also three particular songs that the couple wanted included: Andy Williams’ “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” Buddy Holly’s “True Love Ways,” and Toploader’s “Dancing in the Moonlight.”

None of these pieces were originally written for classical guitar, so I arranged each of them specially for solo guitar. This is one of the aspects of wedding playing that I particularly enjoy. A piece does not necessarily have to come from the traditional classical guitar repertoire to work beautifully in a ceremony. Sometimes a song that means something personally to the couple becomes even more effective when it is reduced to a single instrument.

During the ceremony I played for the different musical moments: as the guests were seated, for the bride’s processional, during the signing of the register, and finally for the bride and groom’s recessional.

These parts of a wedding require quite different approaches. Music before the ceremony is largely about establishing the atmosphere of the room. The processional, by contrast, is a genuine performance moment: everyone is listening, and the timing has to fit naturally with the bride’s walk down the aisle. The signing allows a little more musical space, while the recessional needs to immediately change the mood and carry the celebration forward.

And in this case, the celebration was about to become considerably more London.

A London bus from Islington to Camden

Once the ceremony had finished, the wedding party climbed aboard a hired London double-decker bus for the journey from Islington to Camden.

There was something wonderfully appropriate about it. Rather than disappearing into a fleet of anonymous cars, the guests travelled through London together, with the journey itself becoming part of the wedding.

The contrast between the two venues also became part of the day. We left the ceremonial surroundings of Islington Town Hall and arrived at a proper London pub.

The Prince Albert, Camden

The Prince Albert had an entirely different atmosphere: wooden floors, dark interiors, traditional pub details and the relaxed feeling of a place that actually belongs to its neighbourhood.

It was not trying to recreate an old London pub for the benefit of wedding guests. It simply was one.

That made the reception particularly enjoyable. There was none of the sense that everybody had suddenly entered a highly managed wedding venue. People could settle in, have a drink, talk and enjoy themselves.

And the drinks reception was very much a pub drinks reception.

There was considerably more beer and bitter being consumed than champagne. This was less Moët & Chandon and more Snake Ale and Ghost Ship, which suited the venue rather well.

The food followed the same philosophy. Among the choices was bangers and mash, which seemed about as appropriate as it could possibly be after travelling across London on a double-decker bus.

Guitar during the wedding meal

I played again during the meal.

Playing for a wedding breakfast is quite different from playing during the ceremony. At the Town Hall, certain pieces had been specifically chosen and everybody’s attention briefly focused on the music. At the pub, the guitar became part of the atmosphere.

People were eating, talking, moving between tables and catching up with friends. The music needed to sit comfortably within all of that rather than dominate it.

This is one reason I have always enjoyed playing several different parts of the same wedding day. The same instrument can perform quite different jobs. During the ceremony the guitar can be almost concert-like; a few hours later it can simply add warmth and character to a room full of conversation.

Later in the evening a live band took over, and that was the point at which my part in the wedding finished.

Two sides of London

What I remember most about this wedding is how successfully it brought together two very different sides of the city.

Islington and Camden both have strong identities of their own. They are elegant in places, scruffy in others, historically rich, full of pubs, venues, musicians and people from everywhere. Neither feels anonymous.

That character ran through the whole wedding.

There was a beautiful civic ceremony surrounded by stained glass, polished wood and red upholstery; specially arranged songs played on classical guitar; a red London bus; a traditional Camden pub; pints of beer; bangers and mash; guitar during dinner; and a live band to finish the night.

It was stylish without feeling too polished and carefully planned without ever becoming stiff.

In other words, it was a very London wedding.