About Us
We are Fuze and Natalia and during Lockdown we decided to get married on Zoom and this led us to create our own Venue. It took us three months to set up and get the wedding venue ready! It was an Amazing Challenge we set ourselves. We had so much fun at our wedding and realised that there must be many more couples looking for a similar type of wedding, where they can have guests virtually from around the world, have front VIP seats and all from the comfort of their own home.
Venue
The venue is beautifully decorated with white drapes, fairy lights and Ivy, backdrop and a wedding aisle. There is a big (60 inch) screen that will nicely display the 49 people per page which is currently the maximum amount allowed by Zoom and the Zoom operator will be able to scroll through the pages to show up to 500 guests from all over the world.
Technical Team
We have a technical team who can facilitate smooth running of the whole event dealing with Video and Audio. This includes remotely operated cameras as well as a handheld camera, operated by a masked and socially distanced camera man and also microphones. The team are experienced and professional, working extensively for TV and will make you feel completely relaxed on your Special Day.
Events Staff
We have friendly, efficient Event Staff who can serve snacks and drinks in a COVID friendly way to the Bride, Groom, participants and staff.
Gallery
Here are some highlights from our online wedding. Enjoy! Natalia & Fuze.
Claire
Wedding Guest
Being my first time at a Zoom Wedding I did not know what to expect and have to say I was blown away. Whilst saying hello to many guests who attended who I had never met before, everyone was welcoming in fantastic spirits dressed for the occasion and ready to party online!!! Drinks were flowing and eagerly waiting to see the Bride and Groom in the beautiful surrounding they had created in these crazy and tough times and seeing through a screen I felt every part of their wedding including tears as soon as I saw my beautiful friend about to marry her best friend in front of all their loved ones. After the ceremony and signing of the register we toasted, had a lovely reading and then sang together and the Bride and Groom said hello to us all and you really did feel a part of their day... it was like watching a film that you also interact with. Beautiful Wedding and Beautiful Wedding Venue.
Suzi Bamblett
Wedding Guest
Zoom wedding is surprisingly intimate. When we were invited to a zoom wedding, I didn’t know what to expect. It felt a little strange dressing up and putting on my hat to sit in front of the pc screen. I needn’t have worried. It was an absolutely lovely event and very intimate. I know that’s an odd word to use for a virtual wedding but it really was. As we waited, we sipped wine and tried to spot people we knew. When we did, we waved. We met many more guests through the screen than we would have met huddled in the usual little wedding cliques. The ceremony began and I didn’t have to crane my neck for a glimpse of the bride because I had a front row seat. I could see every little gesture and hear every word. I could also snap the best photos unobtrusively at any point I liked. Like many other guests, I wrote comments in chat throughout: ‘oh, your mum is crying, bless her.’ ‘What a gorgeous dress.’ The bride and groom can keep those comments as a treasured memento. After the ceremony and sharing with the couple the intimacy of signing the register, we bopped along to the music of the reception and sipped more wine as we were entertained by a magician. It truly was a magical day I shall never forget.
Maria Start
Wedding Guest
When I received my invite to Fuze and Natalia’s wedding I really didn’t think it would be much fun. How wrong was I...everyone was dressed up, the champagne flowed and it honestly felt like I was there. The service was beautiful and made so personal with the speeches and music. And the zoom speeches and ‘turns’ from friends and family drew me in and I felt like I had met new friends. I stayed until the very end and I can’t wait to be invited to another. Congratulations F&N, you pulled it off perfectly 💕 💕 💕
Rachel and Jim
Wedding Guests
Just a quick note to thank you for inviting us to your awesome wedding! We had a really lovely time. You both looked fantastic - you looked beautiful, Nat, and Fuze looked very cool. The format couldn't have been more suited to you both - with lots of music and production - it was like it was meant to be! It was a real treat to hear your accordion teacher, Claudio, play for us too. It was just so well choreographed - we were really impressed!
Our Story
Almost all the couples who dream of their wedding day imagine doing it surrounded by all their friends and loved ones and sharing their most intimate day with them, but in times of Covid-19 many of those couples ended up postponing, or even cancelling, their big day. Down but not defeated, in September of this year we decided to have the most intimate wedding with no physical guests. Thanks to the wonder of technology and Zoom we were able to host a wedding with over a hundred guests with the pandemic restrictions – we weren’t going to be defeated and who knew how long we would have to wait for a time when we would be allowed to have all our guests physically there? Wait we did not! It was full steam ahead and on the 12th of September 2020 we pulled off the most special day ever, in a very special way.
How did we do it may you ask? With a little bit of imagination, a few favours pulled-in and a lot of hard work. Oh, and little thing called Zoom! We had seen and heard of weddings and gatherings taking place virtually so that gave us the impetus to do it ourselves. Doing it this way couldn’t seem further from the initial wedding we had planned, but as with anything during this pandemic we, as well as the rest of the country and the world, had to adapt so that we could ensure that we still had a day we could celebrate our love in front of all our friends and family, we knew it just wasn’t going to be conventional and we were ok with that.
We realised that we had the space at the back of the house in the full-length conservatory, It was a real team effort and we came to the realisation that we could really pull this off with what we had, we had to be extremely resourceful and Natalia’s parents helped clear, decorate and dress it with drapes, garlands and backdrops. The invitations were kindly designed by Natalia’s brother – and as another way of keeping things being done in-house and which made it personal to us, Natalia’s brother and mother also helped to curate the flowers and bouquet and what another success that was! We also employed the services of a fun and reliable dedicated local pub manager and her partner to serve snacks and drinks to the technical team and helped serve our wedding buffet that we arranged with a local restaurant, all in the comfort of our venue and socially distanced.
When we had been looking at venues six months previously, whilst still thinking in terms of a conventional marriage, we had met a Celebrant who could run a wedding ceremony. We connected with Steve Eggleton and immediately asked him to officiate at our Zoom Wedding and that got the ball rolling – all of a sudden we found ourselves in touch with a technical team (through our music business contacts) who could supply video cameras and sound equipment, including our microphones. If this was going to happen we were going to make sure it looked and sounded good on the screen as it would in real life, it was so well executed that it was like watching a reality tv show but without the drama! We changed our Internet provider with the best bandwidth, nothing was going to slow us down! We set up a Pro Zoom account to allow for the big number of guests and made up the invitations incorporating the Zoom meeting link for the big day and before we knew it we were sending out the invitations as far afield as Japan! The virtual nature of this occasion meant that we could have people attending virtually from all around the world especially because Natalia’s grandparents had recently moved into a retirement home in Portugal and regardless of the pandemic that was going on around us they wouldn’t have been able to fly out to be at the wedding - Natalia’s dream had always been for her grandparents to be present on her Special Day, our Zoom wedding meant that this could be possible! So with them and the rest of family and friends in Portugal, Norway, France, USA, Germany, Japan, could all be close and still be far.
This event gave everyone the opportunity to attend from wherever they were from the comfort of their own homes and that way everyone got a front row seat with nobody stuck at the back of the church or registry office! People were able to message each other and comment on the wedding in real-time. Guests were genuinely happy to be part of the couple’s Special Day. We kept things traditional with speeches and toasts but we also jazzed things up a bit for our guests with music and entertainment from a juggler, a dancer and a live duet from us! The transitions were seamless as the technical team with years experience under their belts made it flawless.
As the speeches were read you could sometimes tell, people were just as nervous to read as at a traditional wedding. There was a feeling of reality that was projected through the way the cameras were filming and as it was so professionally done, people felt like they were immersed in this wonderful unique event.
As we stood there and exchanged vows we were able to see everyone displayed on the sixty-inch screen we had installed by us. Our dedicated Zoom operator would scroll through the screens so that we could connect with all of our guests and it was wonderful, we took time to see and speak to people and to see that they too had made an effort, dressed to the nines complete with suits, fascinators, the lot and drinks in hand, it was a perfect moment, one we get to watch over and over, as Zoom gives the option to record the meeting in it’s entirety – not to mention all the other video edits from the videographers at the venue – a true keepsake.
The feedback from the people who attended online was so positive, even to the point that some guests said it was better than a “real” wedding and so it got us thinking “hang on”, other couples could benefit by using our space, expertise and contacts. That is how we came up with the idea of our online wedding venue company: STRING AND BOX.
String & Box
2020
A hidden little gem tucked away in North London near the fields of the greenbelt. Natalia and Fuze felt that not only did they achieve a union of marriage but together they built their first ever online wedding venue.
Contact
Please fill in the contact form below with any queries and we will get back to you as soon as possible
Location:
20 Pycombe Corner, Woodside Park, LONDON N12 7AJ
Call:
07976 901 312