A Jackie-Kennedy Inspired Cake, 3 Chic Outfits, and a 1 a.m. Wedding Breakfast—This Wedding Had It All

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"I think, like most Hinge users, we didn’t go on to the dating app expecting that to be our marriage story, but that is exactly where we found each other", explains lawyer Latifa El Shafei as she recounts how she met her now husband, Armand van Hien. "Despite sharing the same Pret and working in offices next door to each other for three years, our paths never crossed in real life. Our first date was after-work drinks, and honestly, I thought it was 'nothing special.' He, on the other hand, said that he walked away knowing he had met his life partner. Armand is, on paper, a nice guy, the kind of guy who always opens doors and offers coats in the cold, but I never saw that for me. As someone who was used to holding doors open for myself and providing free therapy on dates, it took me three months and two failed breakup attempts before Armand truly convinced me that he wasn’t just holding doors open to lure me in and was, in fact, the one for the long haul.

"As someone who sees themselves as fiercely independent, I felt very aware of sharing my life with someone ready to commit and with someone who was equally independent. I can now say I am glad I relented to the good guy.

"So, after a very slow start, our relationship changed pace, and only 14 months after our first date, he proposed privately in my living room. It was a yes from me!

"We had two wedding events, the main focus for both being intimate. First, the legal and religious ceremony with both our families in January 2024, the wedding ceremony. Second, a separate event with our friends, the wedding party. The legal ceremony was in Chelsea Old Town Hall; the religious ceremony at a mosque in Notting Hill and the reception with family at Akub, a restaurant in Notting Hill. The wedding party with friends was at Sessions Arts Club in London in November 2024 with our closest friends followed by a wedding breakfast at Duck and Waffle overlooking the city in the early hours."

"As a lawyer, I will always naturally be drawn towards a tailored look. But my inner fashion girl hates doing the same thing as everyone else. I wore a Ralph Lauren Maxi Tuxedo Dress paired with green Jimmy Choos and green Bottega bag to the legal ceremony (I love green.) It was a very me outfit, and to me, this is the outfit I got married in. I will never be able to resell or redesign the Ralph Lauren Tuxedo dress. It’s timeless."

"For both the wedding ceremony and wedding party, I worked with different stationers and designed my own invitations/had a heavy say in how they were presented. Natalie at Sixfold Studio was particularly amazing when helping with the wedding party. She somehow managed to take all my brainstorming and put them to paper. My favourite detail was the insert for the afterparty/wedding breakfast in the shape of a coaster at Duck and Waffle in addition to the main invitation. Natalie also helped sketch an image for each of the table names, which were: London, Jakarta, Cairo. Each of these cities holds special significance to Armand and me given I am half-Egyptian and Armand is half-Indonesian."

"The evening before the wedding party, the bridesmaids and I stayed the night at a hotel in London, which, in keeping with the theme of the party, had scenes overlooking the city of London in all its glory. This was particularly important for me as my bridesmaids are all from different friendship groups and live in different areas, so it felt so great to have everyone together for some proper bonding time ahead of the party."

"The morning was chilled. I knew I had done everything I could at this point, and it was all out of my hands. The planner and the florist were on site, and I was happy to be with my friends getting ready. The bridesmaids were in Free People's pyjamas. It was important to me to get them pyjamas they could re-wear and I had a relaxed outfit on from With Jéan, which again, I knew I’d be able to re-wear, as opposed to a bridal robe. I also knew I’d feel more comfortable and more myself that way. My photographer, Alex, and makeup artist, Natasha, were the same photographer and makeup artist from my January ceremony, so I was at ease in their company as we all had breakfast, got our hair and makeup done, and chatted."

"When it came to my wedding-party looks, I wore two Harriette Gordon dresses that I tried on in The Fall Bride London store in January when passing by there with my mum before my January ceremony. I planned on doing a lot more dress fittings after the January ceremony, but when my mind is set on something, it’s hard to consider other options. I also loved working with Annelise from The Fall Bride, as we got on well, and it made it feel like such a personal experience.

"My amazing tailors, Bernie and Micah, played such a huge part in getting my dresses right for the day. And making the dresses right for me—and for my personality"

"I loved that the Harriette Gordon Rumi gown was one of three ever made. I loved the fit of it, the hang of it on my body and the detailing of the fabric. To make it even more unique, I worked with my incredible tailor to create a high-low effect so my shoes were on show.

"The second dress was also a Harriette Gordon but a very different 1.5 gown. Simple, relaxed, effective. This had a lot more of a silhouette, fitted style. But, importantly, it allowed me to dance and to accessorise. And I did. With a huge flower bomber jacket. I wanted a statement piece that would bring the party and make an entrance as well as make a subtle nod to the bridesmaid’s tulle-and-ruffle dresses."

"Because both dresses were relatively simple in their form, I spent a lot of time thinking about accessorising—the right shoes and the right jewellery. I was aware I had a lot of neck on show and I wanted a choker necklace. This ended up being one of the hardest things to look for. I spent a long time looking for something that I hadn’t seen all over Instagram and that would be personal to me. I ended up finding some necklaces in a boutique store in Paris on a weekend away with my mum and sister and buying a mixture of five separate necklaces in silver and gold and then asking my jeweller to sew them together into one large choker necklace on my return. My friend and bridesmaid Chloe lent me some diamond and gold hoop earrings to tie into the necklace.

"My friend and stylist Prue Fisher (who is incredible), who I was connected with by my tailor, helped me source my shoes. I explained my vision for the evening and how I was keen to find pointed metallic platforms that were closed-toe (because everywhere I looked it was open-toe) and within minutes she had found me the perfect shoes. I love them so much and I love that I can re-wear them.

"I wanted my bridesmaids to stand out and be the main event rather than blend into the crowd. Given the party was focused on fashion, I gave them a theme of 'ruffles and tulle' and asked them to find dresses that they felt comfortable and themselves in and that they felt represented their personality. Each bridesmaid spent time finding a dress they liked and felt good in—the last thing I wanted was for my bridesmaids not to feel good, or not to feel themselves, on a night where they would be by my side the entire evening. We had a green, blue, pink, red and yellow bridesmaid, and it looked amazing. It was really touching seeing some bridesmaids go to great lengths to get their dresses tailored, some got their trousers made to measure from scratch—it was a real team effort. But a fun one. I was conscious that we needed something consistent (other than the ruffles and tulle) so we decided on consistent 'hair-up' ponytails for all the bridesmaids to tie them all together."

"It was a black-tie event, so it was a tuxedo for Armand, but he wanted to have a bit of a difference to the other guests as the groom but didn’t want to be too out-there for a classic look. He spoke to nearly enough every tailor on Savile Row about his vision, but only one tailor truly knew what he was after and could articulate it better than he could. Raphael at Huntsman made Armand a double-breasted barathea wool dinner jacket inspired by the '80s Versace suit block and fishtail trousers to create an oversized silhouette with a tailored look.

"His dress shoes were patent leather from Joseph Cheaney, and [he wore] a bespoke white dress shirt and white braces from Dege & Skinner. Armand chose to have a crimson rose to sit out of his jacket pocket rather than pinned to his lapel."

"Sessions Arts Club was an easy decision for us. Once we had decided we would be doing a separate wedding party for our friends, we knew that the venue for our party needed to be a place that balanced great food, great service, style with cool, thoughtful and understated."

"Sessions was everything and more than we could have wanted. It’s such a beautiful venue and really doesn’t need anything added to it. However, I knew I wanted some artistic, statement florals to make the already stunning restaurant into our wedding venue. We worked with our florist and chose to focus our attention on places guests would be spending their time such as the fireplace and the bar. I even added some to the bathroom as it was such a beautiful space and I knew it would have a lot of footfall anyway!"

"I did a small wedding pre-party with my friends in London before the November party. For that, I bought a long white gown from Selezza in a sample sale, and my amazing tailor, Bernie, helped me shorten it into a cool minidress. It was very ballerina-esque and unlike anything I would usually ever wear, but I plan to dye it or resell it, and the process of cutting it short and tailoring it was super fun."

We decided on super-simple winter berries for the dinner tables given they wouldn’t take up much room and were seasonal. We also used a lot of candlelight to create a romantic mood. We wanted somewhere all our guests—[for whom] we had emphasised a serious black-tie dress code—would walk in and feel that their outfits matched the energy of the venue they were in."

"We spent a lot of time thinking about where and how our guests in particular would spend their time. The outside terrace at Sessions Arts Club was another great feature because even if people were out smoking cigars, there was a huge window, which meant that, at any one time, people could see the people on the balcony outside or vice versa so you always felt together. This was a huge selling point of the venue."

"I thought a lot about every single guest’s food and drink requirements. Because it was an intimate crowd and I knew everyone on a personal level, I was able to do that. It was of huge benefit to us that Sessions were such professionals and were able to cater to that. I made notes for Sessions about who was drinking and who wasn’t. Although Armand and I don’t drink, we know from friends how important the drinks on arrival are and that not everyone necessarily likes champagne; some people prefer cocktails (or mocktails in my case). So I really tried to think about everyone rather than just what has been done in the past at weddings and doing a copy/paste exercise. The details and the personal guest experience were very important to us."

"We followed the main party with the afterparty wedding breakfast at 1 a.m. overlooking London at Duck and Waffle for those who were still hungry. The food and vibe were such a great contrast to Sessions. The whole idea was the we wanted somewhere people could have post–night out carbs and fries."

"The vision for the wedding party was fashion, friends, food and fun. We were already married and we were focused on celebrating our marriage with our friends but wanted to make sure we weaved in elements of a wedding for our friends. We were also very focused on making it super personal and thought about the details of the evening."

"We knew we weren’t going to do a ceremony, and instead once the guests had arrived and had their drinks in hand, the bridal party, Armand and me walked down from the mezzanine stairs where the bridesmaids and me had been in a corner to the pianist playing a mashup of Succession x 'Gangsta's Paradise.' We made sure we weaved in speeches, so I did a thank-you to our guests, and then Armand and his best man spoke throughout the dinner."

"We didn’t want to do a first dance—we just wanted everyone to move to the dance floor when they were ready. Instead, we split the end of the dinner section of the evening and the beginning of the party section, i.e., me switching from my first gown to my second gown by doing the cake-cutting.

"The cake was a huge feature of the night. Armand had the idea of making sure the cake would be sat out the entire evening as part of the interiors of the party, and we weaved in the florals of the cake with Armand’s rose and my bouquet. I have to give Armand credit for the cake as he was very keen on a super-traditional cake—one that was inspired by the Jackie and John Kennedy cake, and Lily Vanilli bakery really came through with helping us deliver that in perfect form."

"The DJ played Arabic pop/habibi funk, which brought in my Egyptian culture and I was keen to bring to the party. We also had a pianist for the beginning of the evening who could play literally any song on the piano—he played throughout dinner."

"As people who have attended many an event and seen cake go to waste, we know the best time for cake is often the day after—or on the way home from the event—so I was particularly keen to put together 'take the cake' boxes with forks inside so that guests could pick up the cake as they were leaving and on the way out."

"I’m currently in the process of redesigning one of my wedding party looks with Loom. I’ve been working closely with Daisy, the founder of Loom, to redesign the dress into an outfit I can re-wear again. I love looking back at photos of the Rumi gown and will forever love that gown, but because I love it so much, I don’t want to resell it. I know that the only way I’ll be able to re-wear it is if I resign it. Watch this space!"

Bride: @latifavh
Photographer: @alexwysockiphotography
Wedding Ceremony Venue: Chelsea Town Hall
Wedding Party Venue: @sessionsartsclub
Afterparty Wedding Breakfast: @duckandwaffle
Dresses: @harriettegordon @thefallbride
Wedding Coordinator: @charlotteeliseevents
MUA: @natasha.de.cazalet
Stationery: @sixfoldstudiolondon
Cake: @lily_vanili_cake
Florist: @paularooneyfloraldesigner
DJ: @chebmimo_
Pianist: @gdaykeys