SEPTEMBER 2026 | September has always had a back-to-reality feeling to it. The holiday’s end, diaries fill up again and there’s a sense of returning to normal life after the balmy days of summer (and there’s been a few, these heatwaves have been A LOT!). It got us thinking about weddings and what happens when the day itself is over. Because for all the attention we give to planning one very important day, the more interesting part is surely what comes afterwards.

This idea is explored in the September issue, which looks beyond the wedding itself to the relationship - and life - you’re actually building together.  

Our cover bride, interior designer Millie Howard, married Jamie Kaye after almost a decade together. Their reception was at Spring (a must-visit if you’ve not been) where Millie persuaded her chef father to recreate her favourite dish from a restaurant that no longer exists. From something borrowed from her bridesmaid, to the priest marrying them being the groom’s best friend’s dad, to back-to-back DJ sets from friends, so much of the day was rooted in the people and details that held so much meaning for them. 

Elsewhere, Vicky Jessop looks at the rise of the millennial pre-nup and asks whether one of marriage’s least romantic traditions deserves a rebrand. We’ll admit we’ve always thought of them as slightly chilling but the argument that they force couples to talk properly about - money, careers, children and fairness - before marriage is surprisingly convincing. Maybe it’s time for a post-nup?

For most though, the aim of the game is to build a lasting partnership, but how does this work in practice? Newlywed Chloe Laws asks three women married for five, ten and forty years for their secrets to a happy marriage. The answers are reassuringly unpolished. Top tip? Invest in two televisions. I’m convinced converting my spare bedroom into a personal dressing room would also lead to marital bliss but unreasonably, my husband disagrees.

Elsewhere in the issue, we make the case for vintage shoes, sculptural bangles and a new generation of voluminous gowns while Daisy Edgar Jones’ tanning artist James Hacknett tells us exactly how to achieve an unbelievable (yet believable) glow. For more beauty, read India Cardona’s interview with Amy De Klerk where she spills the tea on her wedding day skin prep and the on-the-day products she still has in her make-up bag.

Welcome back to reality (sniff) and enjoy the issue.

Rosie and Jess x