Brighton Rocks ~ A Fun and Relaxed Vintage Inspired Wedding…

Morning loves 🙂 I hope this first post of the day finds you well.  Got some super posts planned for you today :)  Let's start with this lovely wedding sent in by alternative wedding photographer Joanna Brown.

Sam and Shanna tied the knot on 27th August 2011 at the HotelDu Vin in Brighton.  I love the tongue in cheek humour of these photos, it's sits nicely alongside the love this couple obviously have for one another – and the relaxed approach they had to their wedding day.

Shanna purchased her beautiful dress from Cloud 9 Bridal in Cheam, Surrey…

"This was the first dress that I tried on and it was not like any other in the shop.  I went on to try on others and even went to other bridal stores to make sure that I was not missing out on anything but none of them (for me) compared to the dress that I first tried on. 

With it’s lace overlay and A-line shape I thought that it was contemporary, yet timeless.  I went dress shopping as soon as we started the serious wedding planning (about a year before the day) and never once had second thoughts about the dress that I had chosen…"

Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2011, Joanna Brown

Shanna and sam-1

"Sam and I were together for 10 years before we got married and 8 before we got engaged.  We met in a bar when I was 16 (oops) and we have never been apart since that night.  Sam didn’t propose – we were in Thailand or Laos (too many buckets so I can’t quite remember which) and I brought up the subject and Sam said “yeah, okay” (and who said romance was dead? 🙂

We then chose the engagement ring together and started planning the day from there…"

Shanna and sam-54

Shanna and sam-52

Shanna and sam-52

Shanna and sam-71

Shanna and sam-52

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Shanna and sam-84


I love these getting ready shots…

Shanna and sam-1

Shanna and sam-1

Shanna and sam-9

Shanna and sam-1

Shanna and sam-1

Shanna and sam-1

"I ended up getting my shoes from Dune in Debenhams.  I bought them quite early on and they didn’t cost a lot of money so I thought that if I wanted to change them later down the line it wouldn’t matter too much. 

As it happens I am not a shoe girl and I ended up sticking with those shoes…"

Shanna and sam-1

Shanna and sam-1

"I did buy a white peacock feather birdcage veil but it just didn’t look right on me.  In the end I decided to go to Fur Coat No Knickers In Carnaby Street after work.  I had called them in the day to ask if they had any hair pieces and they told me that they had vintage broaches that could be used in the hair, rather than actual hair pieces. 

I went with my 17 year old brother (who has a great eye for things) and together we picked a 1930’s dress clip – again, it was the first one that we saw and after looking at others nothing quite compared -  I think you just know!"

Shanna and sam-1

"Miss Mole’s Flower Emporium provided our flowers.  I am kind of clueless with flowers and really don’t like anything too fancy but Miss Mole was great – she put together a wonderful rustic / meadowy bouquet on only the second attempt – Perfect!"

Shanna and sam-1

"I didn’t want everything to match perfectly so asked the girls to pick their own dresses.  I asked them to get a pastel pink colour and then when the day arrived only one of them had a pastel pink dress and the other three had champagne / coffee coloured dresses; Shanti (Pink dress) was not amused…"

Shanna and sam-52

"I love the vintage style and glamour but that is me and not Sam and so he chose to wear what was comfortable for him – I asked the best men to wear braces but that didn’t really materialise into anything ☺ 

I would like to say the wedding had vintage undertones but in honesty it was pretty carefree and everyone just went with the flow.  Sam's suit was from Lambretta.  He also had a slim fit shirt from TM Lewin and he looked hot!…."

Shanna and sam-1

Shanna and sam-1

Shanna and sam-1

Shanna and sam-1

"My Daddy gave me away :)  I walked down the aisle to the 'Kissing You' instrumental from the Romeo and Juliet OST.  It has been a favourite song  of mine for a while so I was so pleased when Sam managed to edit it and put a fade-in / fade-out effect on it for walking down the aisle…"

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Shanna and sam-1

Shanna and sam-1

Shanna and sam-1

Shanna and sam-1

Shanna and sam-1

Shanna and sam-1

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Shanna and sam-54

Shanna and sam-50

Shanna and sam-52

Shanna and sam-71

Shanna and sam-71

Shanna and sam-71

Shanna and sam-58

Shanna and sam-1

Shanna and sam-102

Shanna and sam-71

"We did wedding favours.  We managed to find some cute blue polka dot boxes on hitched.com and filled them with pink Rock sweets (in keeping with getting married by the beach) saying “just married”

Shanna and sam-99 Shanna and sam-99

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Shanna and sam-90

Shanna and sam-71

"We had the candelabras as mentioned above and we also made some origami wheels to place around the room.  We named the tables after Hollywood icons (Marilyn Monroe, James Dean etc) and put pictures of the icons into frames and on the tables so that people would know (well most people knew) where to sit…"

Shanna and sam-71

"We almost didn’t bother with the cake but in the end my mummy bought us one from M&S – it was the vintage daisy pearl design I think, it looked cute and went with the wedding theme so for a last minute order it was perfect ☺"

Shanna and sam-71"

"Sam is a foot taller than me so we don’t really make a habit of dancing together in public.  When we met and were growing up we were both into the ska and pop punk era of music so we couldn’t think of anything suitable for our first dance that had sentiment.  We originally picked a Ray LaMontagne song but then decided to change it to Al Green “Lets stay together” on the day of the wedding.  So now we finally have a song YAY…"

Shanna and sam-143

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

"Stick with what you really want, even when it gets tough.  Don’t get swamped because your idea seems too daunting, there is always a way!

You will change your mind over things so many times, just take your time and make sure you feel comfortable before committing to anything (We planned to get married in Croatia at one point). 

Finally, you cannot change anything about the day so try and relax and enjoy it.  For example, I had bought these really cute place name cards in the shape of birds that sat on the wine glasses – they were supposed to be folded in half to give it a 3D effect but there must have been miscommunication and they were put flat on the glasses; this looked a bit odd as the design was such that only one half of the bird had a beak and the other half was a bit like a snowman head! 

It was funny and Sam and I laughed, there was nothing we could do to change it so why worry…"

Shanna and sam-143

A lovely, relaxed, fun day – just how it should be 🙂

Much love this morning to Joanna Brown for sharing these lovely photographs.  Shanna said…

"Ah, the wonderful Joanna Brown did our photography and I cannot speak highly enough of her… she was so good at giving little instructions to get the right pictures!"  

Anyone else planning on marrying in Brighton?

Much love,

Annabel xXx

Photographer – Joanna Brown
Venue – HotelDu Vin in Brighton
Brides Dress – from Cloud 9 Bridal in Cheam
Brides headpiece – Fur Coat No Knickers
Brides shoes – Debenhams
Groom – Lambretta + TM Lewin
Bridesmaids – Chose their own
Hair & Makeup Artist – Powder Beauty
Flowers – Miss Mole’s Flower Emporium
Cake – Marks & Spencers

Annabel

Annabel View all Annabel's articles

Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Editor. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and star gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she's not working on Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip in the running of the family's sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers. In 2013, she became a published author.

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