pink weddings magazine » 19
W
e met at a bar in
london on a thursday
and got on straight
away. christan was
due to work in Paris
that weekend, and invited me along. i
was surprised, and he generously said
he would leave a tcket at Waterloo
Eurostar terminal, probably taking a bit
of a gamble! But i took the train and we
have been together since.
We started thinking about our civil
partnership but, like most people, our
ambitons outstripped our finances. We
wanted to get hitched, but also wanted
to extend the house. initally that was
the priority, but when the price of the
extension came in higher than we
expected, we decided to do the civil
partnership first instead. i’m pleased it
worked out that way round.
We looked at lots of places before
deciding on the Gherkin. We don’t live
far from hampton court Palace, and
looked around that, but there were many
restrictons on what we could do. it was
the same story at a few natonal trust
propertes – truly beautful locatons, but
as heritage sites the priority now is to
protect them, so the restrictons would
have lef it a bit dull or we’d have needed
to compromise on aspects, such as using
a marquee for dancing.
We looked at some riverside places
on the thames too, but sadly a lot of
them seemed to put their locaton
above the quality of the facilites. so,
just as we were feeling a bit lost while
going down the heritage route, i came
upon the website for searcys, who do
event catering at a really fascinatng
range of places. i was stunned to see
that one of them was the Gherkin –
partcularly given that it’s notoriously
difficult to get into many tall buildings in
london – and got in touch. it’s truly
iconic – during the financial crisis i don’t
think any other building has been the
background to more news reports on
the city, but it really is a symbol for
modern london too.
When we visited, it was an instant
hit. You’re swept up to the penultmate
floor in two lifs, and you use this and the
top floor as your venue. the dome is
totally free of structure – just a 360 view
of london. the curves really work, and
Phil and christian