Saara and Sam married on 25th May 2025 in London, beginning with a ceremony at Old Marylebone Town Hall before heading on to he Last Judgement on Chancery Lane for their reception. They met at university in 2014 and chose to marry in the beautiful city where their relationship began.
Saara wore a gown from TDR Bridal Birmingham – who we’re delighted she discovered through our recommended supplier directory, and styled her hair with Arabian jasmine, a traditional Yemeni bridal detail. When guests arrived at the pub, they were welcomed by a Yemeni band playing oud and tabla, and the couple worked closely with the venue to create a menu that brought British and Yemeni dishes together.
The couple chose photographer Helaina Storey, who had photographed their surprise proposal, arranged by Sam, so they already knew her well by the time the wedding came around. Helaina used to work as a wedding planner before moving into photography, and that background absolutely shines in how she captures couples loves stories on their wedding day.
Alongside the main coverage, Helaina’s daughter Poppy took polaroids throughout the day and handed them out during the reception as a surprise for Saara and Sam.
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We really wanted the day to feel like a celebration from start to finish, and for everything to feel like a reflection of us as a couple. Sam and I tried to blend our cultures – his, British and mine, Yemeni – at every opportunity. I wore a traditional white Western wedding dress, but styled my hair with فل (pronounced “full”) Arabian Jasmine buds – the national flower of Yemen, and a traditional accessory for brides.
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We didn’t opt for a videographer as it wasn’t in our budget, but we did want some video memories of the day, so we opted for a content creator instead. Helaina’s daughter Poppy also does content creation and is very talented at it! Since we had her on polaroid duty, we hired Vix of Rings & Reels for our content creation. She was a delight and turned everything around within 24 hours, including putting together 3 reels for us to share on our socials.
The Ceremony
Our ceremony took place at We had our ceremony at Marylebone Old Town Hall, My older brother walked me down the aisle to the sound of Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell’s ‘You’re All I Need To Get By’.
Our officiant was allocated through Old Marylebone Town Hall.
We used one of the pre-set scripts provided by Westminster Council for our ceremony. You’re allowed to edit it to a degree, as long as you keep all of the legal bits in. We opted to cut out as much as possible, keeping it short and sweet.
Our wedding bands are from Orla James. We just wanted clean, simple wedding bands.
Sam’s suit was from Moss Bros, and tailored by Tupper’s Tux, Canterbury. He wore an offcut of lace from my wedding dress as his pocket square.
Our florist was Tabby from Charlotte Wild Floral Design. We wanted largely seasonal flowers, and getting married in May, of course, meant peonies! I wanted to repurpose flowers from the ceremony to the reception and she worked with us to make it happen. Tabby harmoniously composed the florals, pulling together colours from all aspects of the venue and bridal party styling.
We met at university in 2014. Sam planned a surprise engagement with our photographer, Helaina Storey in York in October 2023. We were engaged for a year and a half before getting married in May 2025.
The Reception
Our reception was held at The Last Judgment, a gorgeous pub on Chancery Lane, and one we used to frequent as students. We kept the reception venue a secret, and it was such a pleasant surprise for our university friends. Besides holding all those memories, it’s also a remarkable building in a lovely part of the city.
We complemented the typical British setting with a traditional Yemeni band playing the oud (guitar) and tabla (hand-beaten drum) to entertain our guests during cocktail hour. The pub, The Last Judgement, were so accommodating of our vision that they helped us custom-design a menu with their chef to blend our two cuisines in the wedding breakfast and evening food.
Our reception venue did a lot of the heavy lifting for us. The Last Judgment is such a beautifully decorated venue that it didn’t require any additional decor from us. The uplights we rented from Daniel Lay Events really showcased the gorgeous pillars and high ceilings.
We purchased half bottles of Nyetimber Classic Cuvee from Waitrose and replaced each sticker with a personalised one made by my talented friend, artist, and bridesmaid Rumbi, of Mary Keeps Going. She created a replica of the original bottle labels, replacing the blank background with one of our engagement shoot photos by our photographer, Helaina.
We also gave our guests small boxes of Charbonnel et Walker milk chocolate truffles presented in heart-shaped boxes. The colour of the boxes just so happened to match the colour of the ribbons on the napkin rings! As we needed a large number, we placed an advance order at their Bond Street store.
As a nod to my heritage, we offered guests mini jars of Yemeni Sidr honey, sourced from an independent British brand, Maters & Co, through their online store.
We did our stationery on a tight budget, so I chose a design template from Vistaprint, and cobbled it into a full stationery suite using accessories like envelope stuffers, vellum jackets and ribbons from Etsy.
Lighting was provided by Daniel Lay Event Services. They were brilliant to deal with and cover the whole of the South East and London.
Our cake was from Violet Cakes in Hackney. We wanted something fresh, sweet and seasonal. Initially, it was going to be their seasonal Alphonso mango cake but unfortunately 2025’s mango season ended a few days too early for us, (and at that point it was too late to move the wedding forward for the cake! Kidding, not kidding) so we opted for their classic lemon and elderflower with Swiss meringue buttercream. There wasn’t a crumb left by the end of the night – it’s a classic for a reason.
Words of Wedded Wisdom
Feelings evoke the strongest memories, so plan your day around a feeling. How do you want to feel? How do you want your guests to feel? Make your decisions with that in mind, and your day will be one that people won’t soon forget.
Despite spending the night before apart, Sam and I had a quiet breakfast together in our room. It was just what we needed to calm our nerves and centre ourselves before the chaos of the wedding morning began.
There isn’t much we would change, but we do wish that we had made more of the band and had them play longer at the reception. They were so good, but by the time Sam and I arrived at the reception venue after our photos, their set was almost over.
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