To host a wedding at Kew Gardens is to enjoy a piece of this UNESCO World Heritage Site in a truly special, unique way. Celebrating amongst its botanical collection of over 50,000 plants is a spectacular experience, a leafy oasis just a short distance from Central London. Annabel and Oli’s summer wedding at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew was a beautiful Jewish family celebration, the second wedding planned for the Oli’s family in a matter of months.
As a Jewish wedding planner it’s not uncommon for me to work with the same families or friend groups more than once, but this was a particularly special summer in that regard. In May we delivered the wedding of Emily and Avery in Portugal, and at Kew we all met again for the marriage of Emily’s brother Oliver to bride Annabel. The Elegante by Michelle J team spends a lot of time with you and your families throughout the wedding planning process and at the event itself, so we develop a lovely relationship which is always nice to rekindle when we have a second wedding to plan!
“We just wanted to acknowledge you and your team for the planning of not one but two weddings for us all within the span of three months! It has been a pleasure meeting you and your team and we are beyond grateful for everything you did to make Emily and Avery’s wedding and Oli and Annabel’s so memorable and wonderful. We had the time of our lives.”
– Lauren Kraftman, mother of Emily & Oliver
Things to Consider for a Wedding at Kew Gardens
Getting married at Kew Gardens or any other venue that is primarily a tourist attraction, historic location or public space means keeping in mind a few important things. First and foremost, it’s important to remember that although your wedding means the world to you (and us), it is one small part of what your venue does over the course of a year. Kew gets over 2.5 million visitors per year, and even on your wedding day it will welcome the botanically curious and florally obsessed through its gates.
Kew will remain open to the public as late at 7pm during the summer, so while you and your guests are on site you will be sharing the space with visitors to some degree. Your chosen wedding spaces will, of course, be totally private, but you shouldn’t expect to have the whole place entirely to yourselves!
For the same reason, there will be restrictions about what time things can happen – your ceremony, for example, and presence of your suppliers on site to start setting up. For more detailed information about this, take a look at our blog – 7 things you need to know about getting married at a public venue.
Other things to bear in mind are that Kew is very close to Central London, which is a huge benefit for you and your guests in terms of onward travel, finding accommodation and hosting other events either side of your wedding – you could easily have a fabulous welcome party in the City the night before, and guests can easily return to Central London hotels when the party ends.
This does mean you’ll need to think about where you want to get ready in the morning, as it’s not possible to do so on site. Annabel and Oli did their preparations at a nearby hotel, with the bride and her family then arriving on site in a vintage Bentley S Series.
Annabel & Oli’s Wedding Ceremony at Kew Gardens
Annabel and Oli’s Jewish wedding ceremony was hosted in the Nash Conservatory, a short walk from the Elizabeth Gate entrance at Kew. With its floor to ceiling windows bathing the whole place in natural light, it’s a spectacular choice to begin your wedding day. After Oli’s Tisch and an intimate Bedeken ceremony with their immediate families, one of Kew’s handy golf carts transported our couple to their ceremony.
A beautiful floral chuppah by Rust Bloom was waiting at the end of the aisle for their Jewish wedding ceremony, the first introduction of a colour palette featuring fiery red, soft peach and suggestions of orange. Annabel’s bridesmaids and the mothers of both the bride and groom wore spicy red dresses in individual styles, and the bride herself wore a delicate lace gown and flowing veil.
Drinks Reception in the Princess of Wales Conservatory
Utilising different spaces that aren’t immediately obvious to your guests helps retain a bit of magical mystery throughout your wedding day, and at Kew it also gives everyone a chance to take in more of the iconic venue as things progress. After the ceremony we led guests from the Nash Conservatory to the famous Princess of Wales Conservatory, a short, pleasant walk through Kew Gardens to one of its most well known areas.
Guests were greeted by drinks and circulating canapes, and invited to wander through several of the conservatory’s climate controlled sections. There was space to mingle and meet among the cacti, lilypads and exotic species, the surroundings providing sufficient entertainment that nothing else was necessary.
Dinner and Dancing in the Kew Gardens Orangery
Orangery wedding venues are wonderful because of the amount of natural light they let in, and Kew Gardens’ own is no exception. It was another short, winding walk through greenery and flowers from the drinks reception to the dinner and dancing of Annabel and Oli’s Jewish wedding.
The space is lovely and provides a true blank canvas for you to bring your own colour scheme and design choices to, and the palm trees keeping watch around the room retain that tropical botanical atmosphere that flows through the rest of Kew Gardens. For Annabel and Oli we chose to carry through the vibrant reds and oranges from the ceremony and her bouquet, softening the tangy tones with softer pinks and floral stationery by Big Day Designs.
Rust Bloom created tall centrepieces for some of the tables, the silhouette echoing that of the palm trees and the florals mirroring those from the chuppah. Ensuring a cohesive feel throughout three different spaces can be achieved by intentional placement of colour, texture and structure, and this was a perfect example of that.
As at all Elegante by Michelle J weddings, the party was phenomenal – Annabel and Oli opted for something a little bit different to the traditional Jewish wedding band for their entertainment. For their chuppah and Israeli dancing, Uri Gold was on hand with his wonderful singing. We worked with Latino Funkers to keep the atmosphere high throughout dinner, and Dos Tiempos (who accurately describe themselves as a two-person carnival) to bring amazing energy for the rest of the night. We’ve planned a lot of Jewish weddings, and this one was certainly up there for how great a party it was! There was a hardly a person still sitting, which is exactly how we like to see it.
Planning your own wedding at Kew Gardens or another London landmark?
Hosting a wedding at Kew Gardens or a similar venue that also serves another purpose can be a special, immersive experience that your guests will remember for a lifetime, but it does come with added complexities that an experienced wedding planner will help you navigate. If you’d like expert support with your wedding, get in touch to talk about 2027 dates.
All images of Annabel and Oli’s wedding by Lucie Watson Photography.
Supplier team:
Photography: Lucie Watson
Videography: Tete a Tete Films
Floristry: Rust Bloom
Catering – Dvash Catering
Stationery: Big Day Designs
Entertainment: House of Lemon – Latino Funkers & Dos Tiempos
Chuppah singer: Uri Gold
Production: Oxygen Events
Hair & Makeup: Hair by Cassandra and Kiran Phlora
Transport: Traditional Travel