Beach Huts, Balloons & Shades of Pink and Green – A Beautiful Brighton Wedding…

Happy Wedding Wednesday ya'll!  Time for some super stylish wedding inspiration to make your heart sing ;)  I love weddings.  I just thought I'd say 😉

OK! On with the show —-> Hannah and Toby got married on 29 July 2011 in the beautiful Brighton.  It is yeeeeeeeears since I've been to Brighton, in fact the only time I have been, I was a child! I really must make an effort to visit again one day soon and meet one of my all time favourite wedding Photographers, Lisa Devlin, who shot these beautiful photographs.  You need to check out all the reception details and that there wedding cake, it is fabulousa!  And I love how this couple have blended the colours of pink and green so beautifully together {I'm going to be adding a drop down menu soon that will allow you to search weddings and photoshoots by colour inspiration, because I'm good to you like that}…

Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2011, Lisa Devlin, supported by Sacco & Sacco Photography

Hannah's wedding dress was from Blushes Bridal Studio in Sheffield…

"Choosing dresses was a hard job but someone had to do it. I tried so many different styles, colours, lengths etc and actually could have walked out of the shop with a few of them. At one point Toby did ask if i would be ‘doing a Kate’ and changing my dress in the evening. ‘If you want to give me another grand’ i think was my reply!

I have never been a fan of the whole strapless deal as it just doesn’t suit me so I asked Blushes to use the chiffon from the back of the dress to make wide straps which I absolutely loved! The chiffon straps then came together to be knotted at the back which added a different element to the dress…"

"When we began planning our wedding we knew it had to be an honest reflection of the both of us, and I never felt for a minute that this was a wedding I put together alone.  We were inspired by so many different elements which at times we weren’t sure would ever come together…"

"In the end we threw everything we loved into the mix and began from there; a bit of the old and the new, a love of so many different eras, travelling, antiques,and using unusual colours from a pallete of the sand and sea. I am sometimes uneasy with the word vintage as it is bandied about so often now, but we definitely wanted to incorporate ideas and special pieces from a bygone age!"

"I had always said that my shoes would be a ridiculous price from a ridiculous place as i am a shoe fiend. In the end it just didn’t happen that way. These little treasures were from Coast and did the job perfectly…."

"I am only dinky so I could never have had a huge affair and also had to think about the intimacy of our venue.  I just couldn’t take my eyes of all the lace, (oh that lace!) and the chiffon flowers and pearls, but most of all i know there isn’t a dress like mine anywhere because of all the added details."

"We found our Florist, Kate Langdale, when searching for Brighton florists on the net. As we live in Sheffield I emailed Kate with all the details of what we were looking for but it wasn’t until I visited her shop 3 weeks before the wedding that I knew we had found an absolute gem.

Kate’s style was so reflective of our wedding that I never ever felt that I had to explain myself; she totally understood what I was looking for. I love flowers so this element was really important to me. As our scheme had lots of corals and greens I opted for lisianthus, vintage roses, poppy heads and lots of foliage. I asked Kate to wrap each of the bouquets with some vintage lace I had found in an antique store and she was more than happy to do this."                  

 

"I originally ordered a large silk flower from bando.com which i was really disappointed with as it was a size that didn't suit, and didn’t sit against my head as I wanted it to. I vowed not to buy anything else for the wedding online until I spotted my head piece on www.princesssparkle.co.uk.   

I loved it when it arrived-especially as it had the lace, crystal and chiffon detail. Might now look for an opportunity to wear it around the house whilst cleaning!"

Hannah's Bridesmaid's dresses were also from Blushes Bridal Studio in Sheffield…

"It was always important to us that the girls wore different colours. Both Lauren and Claire have such different colouring yet they looked beautiful in their individual colours. I have always loved a one shoulder number so these were spot on and the chiffon fitted so well with my dress.

I will never forget walking into the hotel bedroom and seeing them standing in front of me. Absolute stunners…"

"The boys aren’t the most floral of folk as you could say, so rather than flowers we again went for big poppy heads and herbs for their buttonholes…"

"Toby was adamant that he didn’t want a traditional wedding suit and was completely inspired by Quadrophenia and  the 60’s mod suits that he found at Jump The Gun in the Brighton Lanes.  He eventually chose a fitted air force blue suit with a slim fit white shirt and tan brogues. He blew my mind when I saw him on the day…"

"We always knew that we wanted a smallish wedding surrounded by our very closest friends and family. Toby’s sister and family live in Brighton and we have had some amazing times there. We also wanted to give everyone a hell of a party so Brighton fits the bill in that respect. 

"We were married in the Regency Room at Brighton Town Hall and this was followed by a meal and serious shin dig at the Coach House Restaurant and Bar."

A wedding bus awaited to transport guests to the wedding reception venue.  Meanwhile, Hannah and Toby hired a beautiful Tuk-tuk!

"After the service we treated all our family and friends to a tour of the sea front on a 72 seater routemaster vintage bus. We weren’t privy to what occurred during the tour as we were on our Tuk Tuk and having photos taken by the beach huts, but the word bandied about seems to be ‘raucous!’.  We had  candy striped bags of pretzels for eating on the bus and to ensure that the champagne went down the right way! We also gave everyone a bus ticket with a number punched out which they kept for a ‘draw’.

The winning ticket holder (num 29- as in the date of our wedding) was then presented with a bottle of champage. We used the draw instead of favours which to be honest was far more enjoyable and far less hassle…."

"The coach house is a gorgeous little bar and stands on its own as being very cute so we didn’t need to do that much to it-having said that our wedding was always going to be a reflection of us so we did really go for it in the end! We hung pom poms from the ceiling which my sister and her friends patiently unfurled. A technique which you either get or you don’t!

The majority of the decor was down to my very talented sister Lauren. I am great at trawling the net and dragging inspiration from here and there and everywhere. Lauren however can actually put it into practise and put her own stamp on virtually anything…"

"In the outside terrace we borrowed some lace bunting and again used lots of candles and flowers for the evening which looked lovely when the sun went down…"

"On the tables, I gathered together old battered books (i am a bit of a book worm) and tied them with different ribbons and labels.  We also collected lots of containers for our flowers so every table was totally different…"

Lauren painted gorgeous table numbers which were stood in the centre surrounded by tons of different tea light holders. Toby is a very talented graphic designer and illustrator (so as well as making our invites and telegram order of services, he also created our wedding menus which i know many people have kept. Lauren also made a stunning seating plan using a vintage suitcase and little tags.  This was a huge talking point of the day as she had paid such attention to detail…"

"We had asked people to allow us to borrow their wedding photos to make a display of weddings old and new on one of the shelves which were surrounded by flower fairy lights. The coach house has a huge coach wheel on the wall which we covered with postcards for people to write their drunken messages on! My bridesmaid Claire wrapped up mini buckets and spades, stickers, and other child friendly material in ‘brown paper packages tied up with string’ to keep them entertained during the speeches…"

"Oh the cake, the cake, the cake!  I am a primary school teacher and am fortunate to work with a deputy head who also has an amazing talent for making stunning cakes. How handy! To be honest i really didn’t think she would want the responsibility of making a wedding cake but she jumped at the chance. At least i think that’s how it happened!

After the endless jokes of perhaps having a chocolate waterfall with a Barbie in a canoe (don’t ask) I suggested that perhaps we go for a replica of the brighton fairground carousel. We are not fans of traditional wedding cakes and such a cake would never have fitted with the feel of the day. ‘Ok, easy peasy lemon squeezy’ she replied. She spent months building, engineering, structuring, restructuring, painting, baking and finally presented us with the mother of all wedding cakes. Unfortunately Rachel and her husband could not make it to the day but she should know that the look on people’s faces when they saw her cake was a sight to see. What a talent!"

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

"Planning a wedding won’t always be enjoyable, fun or romance fuelled. In fact more often than not it will be frustrating, sleep depriving, confusing and downright hard work. Unless you are some sort of celebrity or are lucky enough to have an awful amount of money then you will still have to run your everyday life, go to work and do all those mundane daily things as well as making a 1001 decisions about your wedding. This isn’t ground breaking advice but may strike a small chord:

1. Take up every single offer of help that is given and don’t push people away. We were lucky to have many many talented friends and family who helped to make our day perfectly personal so try to draw on all that creativity in your circle.

 2. There were times when we made to feel that we should back away from decorating the venue the way we did (and not by our family and friends i have to say.) I am a sensitive soul and found these conversations very difficult but our advice to others will always be go with what you knew you always wanted, what you had your heart set on from the beginning, what you know will make your friends and family smile and add the touches that you know will provide a lasting testament to your perfect day. Trust your judgement. There will always be people involved in your wedding that won’t ‘get it’ but accept it, move on and then watch your venue light up when your guests arrive. 

3. Our wedding was a weekend experience in a place that many people had not visited. Although this was a bit of a logistical nightmare spending those days together is what really made our wedding special and gave us the time we needed to be with all the people who are most important to us.

 

4. This is not always easy, especially after one too many pinots, but keep your secrets close to your chest! There weren’t many people who knew anything about the tuk tuk, vintage bus, venue, food etc, so when they arrived there were many beaming excited smiles.

 5. Laugh, laugh, and laugh some more. As well as Lisa been an incredible photographer we are convinced that many of our photos are as amazing as they are because we all just spent the whole day bent double with hysterics. A stressed wedding party does not go un-noticed. 

6. No matter what many may say- I honestly believe your wedding day isn’t just about you and your other half. If it were, no one would ever bother inviting anyone to any part of it. We stood back half way through the evening, and both knew that without the love, support, understanding and appreciation of the people closest to us in the world, our wedding would have been half of what it was. Let them carry you through all the emotions of the day as many of your lasting memories will have been created by them. 

7. When the post wedding excitement disorder sets in, remember that you and your boy are now a team who cannot be broken-that feeling lasts way longer than a day.

And lastly but most importantly, buy two pairs of wedding shoes. My lil trotters were killing me by the end of the night; to the point where my eyes watered with pain!"

"I am also very lucky to have married an incredibly creative man who has an amazing eye for detail and always knows what works; using inspiration from very talented members of our family certainly stamps your personality on all that you do. Of course we wanted our wedding to be beautiful (who doesn’t) but at the same time we didn’t want it to look staged; more a little thrown together, rough around the edges and by no means perfect. A bit like us really.

At the end of the day all we ever wanted was for other people to feel inspired by being in brighton. It was a long drive and huge effort for many people but we knew that when they arrived they would understand why we had to get married there. If i could bottle that feeling of having them with us, I would carry it with me in my pocket, everywhere."

Oh I just love love love this! Pretty pink perfection 😉

Thank you Hannah and Toby for allowing me to share your beautiful day – congratulations! Thanks to as always to the lovely Lisa Devlin…

"We never ever thought that we would be lucky enough to have Lisa and Jayne photograph our wedding. Although we don’t live in Brighton, we had seen lots of Lisa’s work on various blogs and just loved the way she captured every individual moment of the day. The light in her photos is also seriously stunning and we have have had endless comments about how they perfectly sum up our day.

When the first photographs arrived there was some major eye watering.  Toby and I have spent more time talking about this aspect of our day than any other. The memory of being down on the sea front and photographed in our ‘borrowed beach hut’ will stay with us forever."

You can see more loveliness from Award winning Photographer Lisa Devlin on Love My Dress here 😉

Also see more pink and green colour inspiration on Love My Dress.

Are any of you planning a wedding near the seaside? I adore seaside weddings! Share a comment to tell us your ideas and plans 🙂

Much love all,

Annabel xXx

♥

 

The Supplier Low-Down
Photographer – Lisa Devlin + Sacco & Sacco Photography
Venue – Coach House Restaurant
Brides dress – Blushes Bridal Studio, Sheffield 
Brides shoes – Coast
Groom – Jump The Gun 60's mod suit
Bridesmaids –  Blushes Bridal Studio, Sheffield
Flowers – Kate Langdale
Cake – Friend/colleague
Hair & Makeup – Jennifer Lucy Makeup + Hair by Chloe Wilson