A West African Inspired Hot Pink and Gold, Cornish Seaside Wedding

Hello everyone! Are you ready to be dazzled? Today’s wedding is quite simply amazing, the most strikingly colourful affair, an absolute delight in hot pink, vibrant green and shimmering, glittering gold, with the stunning backdrop of a fort on the rugged and beautiful Cornish coastline. An exquisite beaded gown, bright blooms, twinkly sequined ‘LOVE’ words and some pink wellies too! 

Jenny and Emiko’s beautiful wedding celebrations took place in the exquisite Polhawn Fort in Cornwall on the 2nd March 2013. Jenny is the very talented director of Hip Hip Hooray wedding stationery, and designed all the fun and colourful stationery for their own big day.  Emiko is a Design Engineer in the defense sector, rather apt perhaps then to have their reception in a Fort! The couple have created a day that combines their shared love of the sea and the groom’s African heritage. The results make for the most dazzling, eye catching wedding with a super sophisticated, contemporary and glamorous feel, that really conveys them as a couple.

These vibrant images of their wedding have been shared with us today by Benjamin Toms Photography and The Barn Media have captured Jenny and Emiko’s day in this delightful film.

Film Production Copyright (c) 2014, The Barn Media

“Emiko is Nigerian and we wanted to bring a little bit of the colour & vibrancy of West Africa to Cornwall, and as a stationery designer, I really wanted to incorporate an unusual colour scheme (which turned out to be chartreuse green, pink and gold) with striking patterns. The gold & glittery elements were a really nice contrast to the exposed brick of the fort.”

Photography Copyright (c) 2014, Benjamin Toms Photography

“We hired Sama at Utterly Wow for on-the-day co-ordination and she was fabulous. It’s a ‘DIY’ venue with no staff on site, so we definitely couldn’t have done it without Sama.”

Jenny wore cute flat shoes from Debenhams and she cleverly adapted a necklace from Accessorize to create her elegant headband. All other accessories were Jenny’s own and her gorgeous natural looking make up tousled up-do were created by Milly at No. 4.

The venue décor & styling was by Elle at Inspire Hire including the unusual ghost chairs which give the sense of being invisible and uncluttered and allows the table decor to really stand out. In keeping with the influences of the day each guest received West African suya spice blends via Pepper & Stew as favours. The gold sequined ‘LOVE’ sign was by the lovely ladies at Pocketful of Dreams who create the brilliant monthly mood boards here on Love My Dress.

Jenny and Emiko’s venue was draped with pretty fairy lights, candles, stunning english garden blooms in striking and vibrant pink and greens to compliment the gold decor and african inspired stationery. 

“I designed all the stationery myself which is available on request through our company Hip Hip Hooray; The laser cut round menu & order of the day fans were a big hit, they looked lovely on the gold charger plates, and so many people used them later to keep cool on the dance floor.”

“I’m not going to lie, I don’t know anything about flowers. I had worked with Jenny at Jenny Rose Flowers before on photo shoots, and had always loved what she produced. I chose her as our florist as I knew that with minimal input from me, I could trust her taste and experience impeccably. We loved what she came up with, which complemented the rest of the details perfectly.”

“We wanted somewhere near our home and by the sea, and also loved the fact that we could have the whole fort for our immediate families over the wedding weekend. Emiko’s parents live in Nigeria so being able to spend so much time all together over the course of the weekend made it extra special.”

“We met back in 2006 on an evening out ,we started dating during that summer and things went from there. We had a beautiful daughter in 2009 and got engaged in November 2012, just 4 months before our big day. After being together such a long time, we were keen to have a short engagement so we could make a start on trying to extend our family. (Happy to report, baby no. 2 arrived last month!)” 

(Ooh congratulations from all of us here! *waves* ‘hello baby 2’!)

“I initially bought a dress (ahem, actually 2!) from Coast, thinking that with such a short engagement I didn’t have time to order a designer gown. Although I did love them both, during a family get-together at Christmas, my sister & Maid of Honour gave their honest opinion that I might later regret not having something more elaborate.” 

“I think at the moment I realised I had also been thinking the same, so I went to a wedding dress boutique the next day (sadly now closed down) and tried on a few; I found this end-of-line beauty by Ronald Joyce straight away and ordered it for a steal at £400.”

“We asked Ben at Benjamin Toms Photography to be our photographer and he was great and I’m so glad we chose him. I came across his work beforehand through a stationery client who had booked him, and instantly loved his style. He was a real pleasure to work with both during the engagement shoot, and on the big day.”

Emiko’s dashing outfit was from the tailor Ozwald Boateng, with the Fathers of the Bride and Groom, Best Man and groomsmen wearing suits of their own choice with dark pink ties from Selfridges, to compliment the colours of the day.

Jenny, her dad and her gorgeous little daughter travelled to the church in a classic vintage car from Louannon Cars.

“I walked down the aisle with my dad to the track  ‘I’m Ready’ by Tracy Chapman, which is a beautiful song and summed up the journey of our relationship very well.”

Jenny and Emiko chose two readings 1.13 Corinthians and ‘One Tree” from Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, by Louis de Bernières.

“I love the message and sentiment of this reading, which is about long lasting love with all its ebbs and flows, joys and challenges.”

‘We chose ‘By Your Side’ by British-Nigerian singer Sade for our first dance track. It has always been a special song for us, so it was a very easy decision. Listening to it now brings back lovely memories from the day.”

“Hearing Emiko say his vows was the best moment and one that will stay with me forever. After being and living together a long time, and having already started a family, it was amazing to officially commit to each other in front of all our friends and family. We had a lovely quiet 10 minutes having photos taken on the beach. This was great as it allowed us a few special moments to catch our breath, take it all in and marvel in the fact we were husband and wife!”

I adore the beautiful traditional Nigerian outfits worn by the ladies in the bridal party;

“The ladies wore ‘aso ebi’ in turquoise and yellow, with the colours and fabrics chosen by Emiko’s mum. Aso ebi is the traditional Nigerian attire made from matching fabrics and worn at weddings and other events.

Wearing a certain aso ebi identifies whether you’re with the Bride or the Groom (which can be useful at a more traditional African wedding, where it’s common to have over 500 guests)”

The deep cerise pink, beautifully embellished bridesmaids dresses which complimented the detailed beading on Jenny’s dress, were from Monsoon as were the adorable and floaty little flower girl dresses, with pretty hair accessories from Claire’s . The bridesmaids all chose their own shoes.

“Seeing (and dancing with) all our friends and family on the dance floor in the evening was pretty great. Kenny Hectyc a British/Nigerian DJ played some of our favourite afrobeat songs and it was so special seeing such a diverse mixture of people, all coming together to celebrate with us.”

Words of Wedded Wisdom

“Not that it’s ever worth harbouring regrets, but one thing I would do differently if we were doing it all over again is to have a proper staffed bar. Our venue was self-catering with no in-house staff or help – we had decided to have an informal ‘help yourself’ type bar, without really considering the logistical challenges. That whole area soon became quite a mess, and having unmeasured amounts of spirits to pour yourself, let’s just say that some of our guests ‘peaked’ a little too soon!

Looking back, I’m really glad we had such a short engagement of four months. I did enjoy the creative aspects of planning the wedding, but as I’m sure many Brides will agree, it can be pretty all consuming. The morning after the big day, it was so clear to me that all I had ever wanted was to marry the love of my life and share that with our families. At that point, we were quite relieved that all the planning, deliberations and logistics were behind us, and we could finally enjoy being married.

Also, I read ‘Love My Dress’ every day, long before I was even engaged. Luckily, having a wedding stationery company, I was able to call it market research! Love My Dress is my favourite blog as I love the great selection of diverse weddings featured, the fact that so many ideas are really achievable for everyday Brides, and also the discussion posts, which I think are really valuable in what can be an implicitly materialistic industry.”

Huge congratulations and thanks to Jenny and Emiko for sharing their amazing wedding with us today and to Benjamin Toms Photography for the vibrant images. 

I really do love the bespoke stationery Jenny created, it’s so very colourful and brings all the decor and inspirations together, I particularly like the little love birds. Can you believe that the whole day was planned with such stunning detail in just under 4 months! It’s beautiful isn’t it?

Are you and your partner planning your wedding to incorporate influences from your different cultural backgrounds? We’d love to hear all about it.

Love Rebecca x

Photographer – Benjamin Toms Photography
Videographer – The Barn Media
Venue – Polhawn Fort, Cornwall  
Brides Dress – Ronald Joyce
Brides Shoes – Debenhams
Brides Jewellery – Brides Own
Brides Headpiece – adapted necklace from Accessorize
Hair and make-up Artist – Milly at No. 4 Plymouth
Grooms Suit, Extras & Accessories- Ozwald Boateng 
Groom and Groomsmen Ties – Selfridges
Bridesmaids and Flower Girl Dresses – Monsoon
Bridesmaids Hair Accessories – Claire’s 
Bridesmaids Shoes and Jewellery – Bridesmaids own
Page boy/young male assistants outfits  – H&M
All Stationery – Hip Hip Hooray
Florist – Jenny Rose Flowers
On the Day Co-ordination/Event Planner – Utterly Wow
Cake – Marks and Spencer
Catering – The Real Food Kitchen, Devon
Entertainment – Kenny Hectyc (DJ)
Wedding Favours – Pepper & Stew
Décor & styling, including the Ghost Chairs – Elle at Inspire Hire
Sequined ‘LOVE’ sign – Pocketful of Dreams
Wedding Cars – Louannon Cars