Here''s a bright and beautiful little seaside celebration for a Thursday afternoon. I love natural light and big spaces and so these photographs shot by Sassy of Assassynation of Naomi and Luke on their wedding day in August this year are just so sweet...
"The day after Luke proposed, my Mum and I were out and about and we passed the local bridal boutique, Bridal Way. As it is the only one in our town, we decided to go in and get a little feel for what was out there in the world of bridal dresses! I came across this dress that I liked the look of, and the store manager whipped me into the changing room and helped me try it on.
It originally came with a 50’s style diamanté belt, which I wasn’t keen on, so they showed me their other belts and I found this pearly-vintage one which went perfectly with the dress."
Love My Dress Wedding Blog - Photography Copyright (c) 2012, Assassynation
"My Mum fell in love with that dress, but as it was the first one I had tried, I thought nothing of it. We shopped around 10 other shops in the process, and ended up coming back to that dress! It was the only one in the whole process where I came out smiling, and was totally relaxed in!
It suited my age, the type of wedding we wanted, and I could move in it!! I think my favourite qualities were that it was so simple, but elegant, it didn’t touch the floor, and I could swirl it when I danced!"
"There is an amazing florist in Luke’s parent’s village of St Nicholas-at-Wade, Flowers by Vanessa, who we knew would understand our vision. We wanted flowers to play a big part in the day, but we didn’t want to be restricted by a colour or a certain type of flower. For our centrepieces we had 5 jam jars which were filled with wild, seasonal flowers, but also flowers like roses and alliums, so that there was a touch of luxury to the arrangements. We had two long meetings with Vanessa about the arrangements, and she ended up using about 20 different types of flowers! I put complete faith in her to do my bouquet and the bridesmaid’s, as I just couldn’t decide on anything!
All that I knew was that I wanted it to look natural, beautiful, full of life, colourful and to have a touch of luxury. I loved loved loved all four bouquets! She used a selection of different roses for the bridesmaid’s bouquets and the same for mine, but added in little daisies and wild flowers. It was very big and heavy, but I didn’t want to put it down! It smelt amazing too!"
"We got married in the local church, which is next to the sea in Broadstairs. Our reception was at the brand new art gallery in Margate, The Turner Contemporary . The gallery had just opened around the time that we got engaged, and we were regular visitors. Luke proposed to me on the end of Margate harbour arm, (just along from the Turner), and we went to the Turner after to have a mooch.
It was then that we saw this empty room, with floor to ceiling windows facing out directly to sea…we knew we had to have it as our reception venue and booked it two days later! It was perfect for us, and pretty much embodied everything we always wanted – modern, chic, by the sea, around art and with scope for imagination."
"I did not want the bridesmaids to look as though I had picked their dresses out of a catalogue, and didn’t want to spend loads of cash. It was important that they could wear, and love them, again – especially Esther. I always knew that my niece’s dresses would be easy to find, as I love virtually all of the Monsoon flower girl dresses, but also knew that I had to find Esther’s first. It took us ages! It was so hard to find a high-street dress that wasn’t too bridesmaidy, too formal, too informal, too clubbing, too grown-up etc.! In the end, we found the perfect dress in Reiss. She looked elegant, young and beautiful – all that I wanted her to reflect, and that she is!
After buying Esther’s dress, which was a neutral-nude, I tried to match the girls’ dresses to it, but couldn’t find a match. We therefore decided to go for matching crème Monsoon dresses. Without realising, what tied us all together nicely was that all the dresses had chiffon skirts. We all felt so relaxed in our dresses, and loved dancing in them!"
"I came across my shoes without intentionally looking for them! We were actually looking for accessories for my bridesmaid’s and my Mum, and I found them in Dune.
It was very important for me to have shoes that were comfy and flat as I didn’t want have to take them off and dance bare feet in the evening; in the I forgot they were even on my feet! I feel like the subtle embellishment of the flowers and pearls went really well with the embellished belt on my dress."
"Oh my goodness, we cannot sing our photographer Sassy of Assassynation's praises enough! Once we found her website, we never looked back. Even though there was quite a distance between us and her, we knew we had to have her capture our wedding. Her style is so relaxed and she really captures the essence of the day. We didn’t want a photographer who would be in our faces with a camera all day, and who would get our guests to pose, and we could tell from her candid-style that this wouldn’t be an issue.
The photos we did pose for are truly beautiful and because Sassy is such a lovely person we felt totally comfortable with her. She felt like a guest, but was totally professional all day meaning that our guests were relaxed and she could capture natural shots of everyone."
"Luke’s suit was from Ben Sherman. Luke didn’t want a stiff, traditional suit, and he wanted to be able to easily wear it again. The suit he bought was perfect, as the cut was modern, and the colour wasn’t quite grey, or quite blue. It was young and relaxed, which was what the day was about!"
"My Mum gave me away, wearing a stunning red number from Hobbs. I walked down the aisle to John Stanley’s Trumpet Voluntary, a favourite tune of mine (and my Mum and sister!) While watching Downton Abbey the other day, I noticed that Lady Mary also walked down to it!"
"Luke and I met when I was 15 and Luke was 16 at a local skate park, and never looked back after that night! When I started University in London, a year after Luke, we moved in together. After a year of living together we really started thinking about marriage. We had known for ages that it was something we were definitely going to do, so why hang around! Luke proposed to me a few days before my 21st birthday, on the end of Margate’s Harbour Arm. Not wanting a long engagement, and not wanting to plan it in my third year, we set the date for just over a year after the engagement.
We didn’t think twice about getting married so young, or while we were both students – it was such a natural thing to do, and one that excited us! The day was amazing, but more importantly, our future together as a married couple is one which we are looking forward to living out!"
"We didn’t want to do too much to the room as we loved the simplicity of it. We also didn’t want to do anything to detract from the flowers, which were the focal point of the room; bursts of colour breaking up the white. Five days before the wedding I suddenly came across tissue-paper pom poms and fell in love! I ordered them straight away, and am so glad I did because I think they added such a great element to the room. I feel that they reflected the flowers: both were pops of colour coming from the floor and the ceiling.
I also spent a few months making all of the serviettes; sourcing vintage fabrics and then slaving over my sewing machine! The whole idea was to add subtle touches here and there, so guests could discover little things through the day. For instance, I also made porcelain table names, which were different surnames from each of our families – these were nestled in the flowers, so some people didn’t see them for ages."
"Stay completely chilled. Why would you stress about a day that is supposed to be one that is filled with such happiness? I am proud that I managed to not stress until the week before, and even then I think it was only because of nerves. Luke and I loved planning the day, and really thought about every booking and decision that we made.
We didn’t rush anything, and sometimes another idea would present itself out of the blue. It was such a pleasant experience, and by not getting stressed we really enjoyed the run up to the wedding, but more importantly, the day itself."
How I do love to be beside the seaside (I'm moving even closer to the seaside in 3 weeks time, I cannot wait). Huge congratulations Naomi and Luke, your wedding day looks as though it were really perfect.
And thank you as always Assassynation.
You can enjoy more seaside weddings right here.
Back soon with one more blog post for today my lovers,
Annabel
Photographer - Assassynation
Venue - The Turner Contemporary Art Gallery, Marsgate
Wedding Dress - White Rose, via Bridal Way
Wedding Veil - Bridal Way
Bride's shoes - Dune
Groom - Reiss
Bridesmaids Dresses - Reiss + Hobbs white sandals
Florist - Flowers by Vanessa
Flowergirl - Monsoon
Cake - Valerie Manning
