Planning a Humanist wedding at St John? Here’s why this iconic London restaurant makes an unexpectedly perfect ceremony venue…
The perfect London wedding venue for foodies
If you’re a foodie in London, I can guarantee you’ll have heard of St John. Housed in a former bacon smokehouse near the city’s Smithfield meat market, Head chef Fergus Henderson has been a pioneer in nose-to-tail eating since 1994. He’s earned Michelin Stars. St John has featured in the ‘World’s 50 Best Restaurant’ lists and sits at the very top echelons of London’s fine dining scene.
When looking for their ideal wedding venue, Jen Mae and Yin Yin said their top priority was the food. The space didn’t need to be especially grand. It didn’t need to be big. It just needed to guarantee a delicious night. So in many ways, the venue was an easy choice.
Having done the legal bit with a very traditional Eastern ceremony in Singapore, Jen Mae and Yin Yin said having a Humanist wedding at St John, felt like the perfect answer to the conundrum of how to keep the whole celebration under one roof. And yet, they struggled to envisage how it would actually work in the space. They’d seen plenty of photos of wedding receptions there. But it seemed almost no-one considered using it for the ceremony itself.
St John is sparse yet chic – industrial features, whitewashed walls. It’s also compact. With the dining room set for dinner, the bar needed to work for the ‘I dos’. There were a handful of seats for anyone who needed them, but everyone else stood.
There’s something about being crammed in, shoulder to shoulder. It strips a ceremony of all its stuffiness. The buzz in the room before the ceremony started had the energy of a restaurant about to hit its stride on a Friday night – noisy, excitable and full of anticipation.
To guarantee everyone a perfect view, we took the rather radical decision to do the entire ceremony from a tiny little balcony at the top of the dining room stairs. Jen Mae and Yin Yin took the top spot and I perched myself a couple of steps down. And you know what? It worked like a dream.
A snippet of ceremony…
“One thing Jen Mae and Yin Yin love doing is cooking together. They’ve got a tiny galley kitchen at the moment, but their friends have said watching them prepare dinner in that confined space is like watching a perfectly synchronised dance routine. They always seem to know exactly where the other one is and what they might need next. Yin Yin joked that it’s like a microcosm of their relationship!
They’re also a couple who, when they set their minds to something, fully commit. They don’t believe in half measures. They have a little balcony at their flat and having been gifted a seed subscription, they didn’t just grow one or two plants. No, they turned that space into a veritable jungle…I mean a lovely little oasis! They’ve grown tomatoes, courgettes, aubergines, and really enjoyed the meals they’ve cooked with their harvest. Yin Yin said they now operate a strict one plant out, one plant in policy because things were just getting out of hand! But then Jen Mae chimed in that ‘propagating plant babies didn’t count’ so I’m pretty sure the jungle will continue to grow!”
Jen Mae and Yin Yin’s marriage celebration felt less like a formal ceremony and more like the best dinner party you’ve ever crashed.
“We could not have chosen a better celebrant. Laura made the whole process as seamless as possible, from the first email to our chats online and in-person, right up to the ceremony. She listened to our requests for a not-too-saccharine or soppy ceremony and completely delivered. We had so many compliments from our wedding guests who were completely blown away and disbelieving that she managed to encapsulate us so well.”
Wedding at St John: Supplier dream team!
Venue: St John
Photos: We Heart Pictures
Flowers: I Think That You Are Magic
Celebrant: Moi!