MiuMiu, mirrorballs and Guinness cake: inside Bel Powley and Douglas Booth's chic London wedding
The Prince and Princess of British cinema, Bel Powley and Douglas Booth, are married! The pair have been together since they met on the set of romantic period drama Mary Shelley in 2017, and engaged since July 2021, after Booth popped the question to Powley atop Primrose Hill.
For their nuptials, Powley told Vogue they "wanted it to feel relaxed, fun, and very London," which, she reveals, it "definitely did when the heavens opened after lunch!”
As well as the rain, the couple brought tinges of the capital to their wedding proceedings via a fleet of old Routemaster London buses, hired to shuttle them to the reception at the Institute of Contemporary Arts. En route, entertainment was provided by two drag queens, Heather Duster and Taylor Trash.
Guests included actors Gemma Chan and boyfriend Dominic Cooper, as well as Freddie Fox, Emma Appleton, Joe Cole and Jack Whitehall, who emceed the speeches. At the reception, guests gathered beneath gargantuan mirrorballs for a 90s-themed disco while Champagne was poured and the Guinness-flavoured wedding cake, courtesy of Ravenscourt Park restaurant, Burnt, was cut by the bride and groom.
But that's only the start of Powley and Booth's ultra chic wedding details — and we haven't even mentioned the MiuMiu yet. Here's everything we know.
The bride wore two MiuMiu dresses
Bel Powley reaffirmed her longstanding love of MiuMiu with not one but two dresses from the brand for her wedding celebrations. The Morning Show actress and Italian fashion house have worked closely together for almost 10 years, with MiuMiu designers having dressed her for countless public appearances.
Her first dress, a square-neck, ankle-grazing gown with a bell shaped skirt, was custom made for her by the brand, and included a covering organza flowers and crystals, each of them hand-sewn. "I have never felt so beautiful and so completely myself as I did in my wedding dress [...] The design process of this dress was an incredible experience, and one I shall never forget," the actress wrote on Instagram alongside a series of pictures of her in the gown.
For her second look, during the party stage of the evening, Powley switched into a shorter, glitzier cocktail dress which was inspired by looks from MiuMiu's 2021 collection, but remade in bridal white. For footwear, Powley wore 2023's favourite shoe: the ballet slipper, though this was brought up to wedding form as satin, ballet-style, heeled pumps.
The bride accessorised with elongated pearl drop earrings, a traditional garter and a white MiuMiu handbag. The couple's rings were designed by Rachel Balfour, who also created Bel's circular-cut diamond engagement ring.
There was a host of London venues
The night before the wedding, friends and family gathered for the rehearsal dinner in Café Cecilia in Hackney, where the table was decorated with ikebana-style flower arrangements from Flowers by Cosmos. According to Vogue, the immediate family members, groomsmen and bridesmaids drank Champagne and cocktails — palomas and negronis, to be specific — and dined on steak and chips while chatting about the events of the next day.
Then, when the big day rolled around, the wedding party headed to Petersham Nurseries, a Michelin star restaurant in Richmond, where Powley and Booth were wed in one of the greenhouses. Guests sat on cushioned benches and watched as the couple read their vows beneath the chuppah cloth canopy, a Jewish tradition. "I’m Jewish, and although I’m not religious, I wanted to honour my heritage," Powley told Vogue. "Douglas’s sister, Abigail, is an artist — one half of the art collective Forest + Found — and she made the canopy, which was dyed with madder root she’d grown in her London garden allotment and embroidered with an Emily Dickinson quote."
After lunch at Petersham Nurseries, guests boarded their buses to the Institute of Contemporary Arts for the party, where a 90s-style dance party took place and revellers danced amongst strobes, lazers and massive hanging mirrorballs. Meanwhile, Powley and Booth cut their Guinness-flavoured three-tier wedding cake, which was made by Bel's sister, Honor Powley, and her partner Finlay, of Burnt Restaurant in London. As the night went on, guests spilled out onto the balconies of the ICA and enjoyed the neighbouring sights of St. James’s Park and the Mall.
The colour scheme was blush pink and red
Powley and Booth's wedding ceremony had a consistent colour scheme of blush pink and red — the Glossier duochrome, if you will — because it's Powley's favourite combination. She also utilised this palette for her hen event two months ago, where her friends and family gathered at a manor house wearing various shades of rouge to drink, eat and celebrate the bride-to-be. Like on the wedding day, Powley wore white to her hen party, but accessorised with a deep red lip, cowboy boots and a little mock veil.
As for the wedding, bridesmaids were tasked with "finding different pink dresses that they each felt comfortable in but complemented each other,” Powley told Vogue, and the end result was an array of Valentine's Day-esque looks that perfectly matched the theme. Powley also had some help from her friend Billie Cronin, who happens to be the creator of cult scrunchie brand Good Squish, and helped design custom red hairclips for each bridesmaid to wear on the day.
The colour scheme was also present in the chuppah, which was decorated with red and pink dahlias, and the groomsmens socks, which were a delicate rose pink.