A chic carnival wedding in London Town

 

From the iconic London buses to the funky neon table decs to the showstopping sunflower pinata (who needs a cake anyway?), it’s safe to say architect Sohanna pulled off an Indian-British fusion wedding of dreams when she tied the knot with her groom, William, in The Big Smoke.  

From meeting at a dance festival to showing off their first salsa as husband and wife, read all about this fun and sun-filled urban wedding with images captured by Scottish photographer Mark Swaroop.

As soon as they set eyes on one another – they met while doing the salsa at a weekend-long dance festival then headed to a Spanish restaurant for their first date – Sohanna and William had started building the story that’d culminate in an elegant wedding filled with funky carnival feels.

Will popped the question with an opal ring (in honour of Sohanna’s birthday month) at a romantic London spot – Primrose Hill.

And they celebrated back in the Spanish restaurant where they’d first got to know one another.

The most important thing for the couple was having a super-relaxed vibe – “Nothing formal or stuffy” – on their wedding day.

But embracing her Indian heritage was also a big deal for Sohanna who wanted “lots of colour and brightness to remind me of where I’m from”.

Architect Sohanna definitely has a creative streak and fully embraced it when it came to bringing her wedding vision to reality.

In fact, she says doing the decorations was her favourite part of wedding planning.

She designed all the stationary herself, pulled together the statement neon/botanical table decorations and did the flowers!

“I went to Covent Garden Flower Market really early the day before the wedding to buy all the flowers and tried to use potted plants so people could take them home rather than them ending up in the bin.”

She found her “simple, non-fussy” Alon Livne silk dress in the first shop she went to.

“I went with my mum and my best mates from doing my masters – Jess, Paul, Cat and Iain. We’re a really diverse bunch of architects and drive each other crazy.”

Adding Nyla, her oldest friend from back home in Dubai, and her cousin, Urvashi, to the foursome completed her bridesmaid/men line up, and Sohanna knew she wanted them in her favourite colour – yellow.

Again, keeping it simple, she ordered a bunch – “About 20!” – from ASOS to try on and, within that, found ‘The One’. The boys then added a yellow tie/bow tie to match.

They headed to Islington Town Hall (an iconic and elegant listed building on fashionable Upper Street, boasting a grand façade and a sweeping marble staircase) and Sohanna’s happy, festival theme was immediately evident as she walked down the aisle.

“I walked in to Got My Mind Set On You – but the original version by James Ray, which has a bit of a carnival vibe to it.” she says.

Will’s sisters sang for the couple and their 100 guests, and Sohanna and Will exchanged wedding bands they’d made for one another at a jewellery workshop.

Afterwards, they jumped onto a classic red London buses (cool or what?) and headed off in style to celebrate.

Everyone enjoyed a beautiful set of speeches (including Sohanna’s, which she concluded with a Dirty Dancing quote) and the newlyweds swapped the usual cake-cutting ceremony with something that fitted far better with their wedding vibe – a sunflower-themed piñata!

“Getting married was the best thing we ever did,” she smiles as she advises other brides not to get too caught up in “fuss about cakes, flowers and lipstick shades” when wedding planning.

“Instead,” she adds, “Make sure the people you love are there, provide enough drink and have a good time.”