Keon and Nadia met pre-tinder, back in the days when people mostly met IRL, so needless to say it was a little while ago. They met during that great summer of the 2012 London Olympics, at a London-tube-stop-themed house party.
Keon has been London/Surrey based all his life and Nadia grew up in Dorset but has ventured overseas a few times to live. They got their dog, Piglet, around 6 years ago, and Nadia says “we love spending time with him and exploring the countryside and all that London has to offer.” They have just completed a house renovation so have had a very busy first year of married life! Today on our blog they share with us their absolutely stunning wedding at St. Giles House in Dorset. A meticulously planned celebration that radiated love and warmth and involved their family, and of course their dog Piglet! Nadia and Keon invited their guests to help them enjoy a minimoon to Scotland rather than traditional gifts and said they loved setting up their minimoon registry together. Sit down with a cup of tea and soak up these gorgeous Autumn vibes.
How did you get engaged?
Nadia: Keon surprised me with dinner in our first home together. I thought I was coming home to go out to a restaurant but was so surprised to find Keon getting down on one knee shortly after serving Tiramisu (also delicious!) in the kitchen.
We had a trip planned to Southwold the same weekend for our 7 year first date anniversary so we had a wonderful time enjoying the moment and celebrating.
What kind of wedding did you plan?
We’ve always loved Autumn and so it was an obvious choice to get married in such a beautiful season. As I’m from Dorset it made sense to start looking for venues in that area, and we fell in love with St. Giles House as soon as we saw it.
It’s such a unique venue that’s been lovingly restored and still has a beautiful rawness to it that creates a really magical atmosphere. It also works well for a cosier, smaller wedding which is what we wanted to create.
Keon and I did a lot of the planning. We hired What Peggy Did Next in the final 6 months but altogether we were planning for 2 years! The day was full of colour, love, food, wonderful music and dancing! Our dog Piglet also featured heavily!
Did you have a first dance?
Yes we did. There is a jazz band called Kansas Smittys who we discovered early on in our relationship and so we decided to get them to do a few sets of music at the wedding. They also did the first dance song for us which is one of the band members’ songs – Couldn’t Stop Lovin’ You by Pete Horsfall.
What was your favourite part of the day?
It’s really hard to choose but we loved the way our ceremony was set up in a circular format with us at the centre. We truly felt surrounded by love, our family and friends. The flowers were out of this world and the room we chose for our ceremony elevated it to a whole new level.
We chose some of our favorite songs too and decided to have a string trio play them for us. Our family and friends gave readings and their children joined in as flower girls and ring bearers which made it even more meaningful.
The design details were beautiful too and this was always an important aspect of our day.
What made Patchwork the best wedding registry choice for you?
We thought it was a super fun and easy way for people to buy gifts without having to bring anything on the day. It also gave us the opportunity to showcase what we planned to do and bring some personality to the gifting process. We really enjoyed setting it up together too!
What did you invite guests to contribute towards?
Mainly towards our minimoon in Scotland and the different elements of the trip such as train tickets, hotel costs, walking boots, drinks, food, travel guides and many other bits!
What was the best part about using Patchwork?
The fact that our guests felt part of our adventure. It was a wonderful feeling to know that someone had contributed to a particular moment and memory, at a special time for us just after getting married. We also loved that we could make it our own by choosing images and making a Patchwork – it appealed to our creative sides 🙂
What did your friends and family think?
We had so many lovely comments about our Patchwork and everyone found it really straightforward to use.
Where did you go on your honeymoon and what were the highlights?
We traveled by The Caledonian Express (an overnight train) to Scotland for our minimoon in the Scottish Highlands. We stayed at an amazing place called the Fife Arms in Braemar which had the most incredible scenery and walks. We would hike for hours, and then come back to delicious food and spend our evenings by a cosy fire with a few drinks (great interiors and loads of art too). We also spent a couple of nights in Edinburgh on our way back down, and had a great time exploring the different neighbourhoods.
Wow, what a beautiful celebration and a perfect-sounding minimooon! Definitely giving us all the Autumn feels 🙂 Thank you so much Nadia & Keon (and Piglet!) for sharing these words and photos with us, and we wish you many happy years ahead together!
If you’ve been inspired to set up your own Scottish honeymoon fund, we have a beautiful Highlands fling template that you can easily personalise, or check out our hundreds of other honeymoon destination templates.
And finally, here are some of the incredible suppliers that made Keon and Nadia’s day extra special:
Venue: St Giles House, Dorset
Florist: Jenni Bloom Flowers
Stationary: Creative Feel Designs
Wedding Styling: Nadia and What Peggy Did Next.
Caterers: Red Herring
Music: Kansas Smitty’s and Halo Strings
Dress and Bridesmaid dresses: Halfpenny London
Groom and Groomsmens suits: Suit Supply
Photographer – Steve Bridgwood
Videographer – Baxter and Ted
Hair – Victoria Ralph Hair
Make-up – Amalie Russell
p.s. You can listen to Keon and Nadia’s first dance song on our Spotify playlist, made up of lots of our Patchwork Couples’ first dances.