Pastel Petals, Sunshine and The Seaside ~ The Sweet Summertime Wedding of Helen and Dan

Afternoon folks, I hope you've had a moment to enjoy the previous two blog features of today, this very elegant bride in her Juliet cap veil, and an introduction to our sponsor and bespoke wedding dress maker, Sarah Willard.  This afternoon, we're sharing Helen and Dan's wedding photographs with you, because they are beautiful, colourful and uplifting. The couple got married on 13th July 2013 at St Mary’s Church, Portchester Castle, followed by a reception at Southsea Castle, and photographer Hayley Savage  was there to capture all the love, laughter, sunshine and smiles…

"I found the dress shopping quite daunting as I am not a massive fan
of the traditional long white dress. I went to at least 8 bridal
shops and tried on over 60 dresses and had started to worry as there were
none that I loved.  I had an idea that I
might prefer a tea length dress but most shops only stocked a couple of
these (if at all) so it was difficult to find the right one.

I
eventually found my perfect dress by Alfred Sung in a shop called Everything But The Girl in Chichester. I loved the
fact it had a fifties style but in a modern design so it wasn’t costume
like. The taupe ribbon at the waist added a splash of colour.  I completed my outfit with a birdcage veil from Twirl in Petersfield. I took me ages to find the perfect one!"

Photography Copyright (c) 2013, Hayley Savage 

"Dan and I met on New Years Eve 2008/9 where we had mutual friends.
My best friend (who was my maid of honour) is now married to one of
Dan’s best friends which is all very convenient and very lucky for us!
We had been together four and a half years when we got married, after a year’s
engagement.  Dan proposed in Amsterdam whilst we were sitting by one of
the canals. It was evening time and all of a sudden the lights all came
on over the bridges reflecting in the canal and Dan felt like it was the
right time to ask the question!"

"Dan and I both like
things with a vintage edge and I had a vision of lots of bunting and jam
jars filled with flowers. It all spiralled from there really. We chose a
1960’s VW camper as our car, a vintage bus, wicker baskets and handmade
favours and decorations.

It was really a celebration of all our loves!
There was a loose theme of travel and music tied in too, as these are
shared passions of ours.
Dan and I went travelling around the world together in 2010
so we designed the table plan around the countries we had visited. We
had confetti hearts on the tables made from vintage maps and music
sheets too! All the colours came together with dusky pastel hues,
including the VW, bridesmaid dresses and decorations."

"We were very lucky and had gorgeous 30 degrees weather. Looking out
over the sea gave it a Mediterranean feel to so we had the perfect
venue to enjoy the weather. I had the most amazing day from beginning to
end and there were so many highlights. But I think that my favourite
part of the day was the ceremony. It was such a surreal experience
walking down the aisle and getting married, and meant such a lot to us.

It was also the most daunting part of the day, but the most exciting
too. What can be better than marrying your best friend in front of all
your loved ones!"

"We chose to have our wedding ceremony at Portchester Castle 
– its the most intact Roman fortress in Europe and I was fortunate to
grow up with it being at the end of my road! I have spent endless hours
there with family and friends throughout my whole life. I was christened
in the Norman Church there, as was my father – so the whole place is
not only beautiful, but a huge part of my life. Dan and I have also
spent a lot of time there together. It was very special having everyone
there on our wedding day to see such a special place.

 To be honest, we struggled to find a reception venue close by to the church, but then we saw Southsea Castle
and it was the perfect venue. It kept with the history of where our
ceremony was held, and was right beside the sea with views out over the Solent. The Castle has a permanent marquee within its fortress walls and
from the moment we went there it seemed like the perfect place to
celebrate our wedding. It also has the cutest black and white lighthouse
on the top and our guests could walk around the ramparts and look out
to sea."

"Our florist was TFS in Portchester.
I wanted our flowers to have a vintage, rustic, country feel and I
loved the idea of having peonies, daisies, roses and pretty pastels. I
also wanted mismatched jam jars as vases to fit in with our theme.

Iain
at  TFS really brought our ideas to life!

"I had a couple of unsuccessful make up trials where I looked
completely unlike myself. So instead I went to Bobbi Brown at Elys in
Wimbledon, where they took me through how to apply everything myself in
my own way and I purchased some of their amazing products. In the end I
am very glad I had the control to do it myself and I was pleased with
how looked !

I don’t think Dan would have been impressed if I had not
looked like myself. I had eyelash extensions added before the wedding
which is something I have never had done before, it really helped make
the difference as  I didn’t need to worry about redoing my mascara or
smudging it.

I borrowed my best friends earrings as my ‘something borrowed’ which were originally from Luella’s Boudoir in Wimbledon. I wore a drop pearly necklace too."

"We made our own invites, order of service, table plans and place
cards. It was important to me that we were creative and designed and
made our own stationery. However, I did leave a lot of it to the last
minute which added to a lot of stress in the run up to the wedding.

It
was a collaboration with my brother also, who is a whizz on the computer
and helped make all my crazy ideas a reality!"

"We organised a vintage bus via South Coast Motor Services to take the guests from the church to the reception."

"Dan wore a lovely blue suit that was from Next.
We had thought about buying another one or getting a bespoke one made,
but it had the perfect cut and colour for him so we were very happy and
could invest the money elsewhere. He looked absolutely gorgeous on the
day."

"I found our photographer Hayley Savage
through a friend on Facebook and straight away we knew we loved her
style. Once we saw her pictures we were smitten and when we met her she
was absolutely lovely. It was the easiest decision to make!

And on the
actual day she was such a huge help, it was like having a wedding
planner and photographer in one. Everyone at the wedding has such
positive things to say about her too. We were over the moon with the
photos !"

"I wore the most perfect 50’s inspired wedding shoes! I found nothing that compared – they were Eva by Rachel Simpson.  I also ordered the Laurel Lime Rachel Simpson shoe clips to go on them – both were from Fur Coat No Knickers."

"We were able to have two readings. We chose ‘Song of Solomon’ as
our religious reading. But our secular reading was our favourite which
was the words to ‘I love you because’ by Johnny Cash.
When we were looking for a reading we wanted something a bit different
and found these words really resonated with us and made the perfect
reading."

"We chose ‘Here, Ehere and Everywhere’ by the
Beatles for our first dance, as it was a song we both liked and we liked
the sentiment behind it."

"As Dan and I went travelling in Australia and NZ in a camper-van, we
thought it would be apt to have one as our wedding car! We found a
gorgeous Hawaiin blue VW from the 1960’s named Basil. It also tied in
with our colour scheme.

We hired a double decker 1960’s vintage Southdowns bus to get all our guests from Castle to Castle."   

"The venue put up some bunting for us but I made metres of my own to
go around the edge. I did this in a panic the day before with printed
patterned paper from the internet, pinking shears, staples and some thin
coloured tape. I was so pleased with how effectively it worked and it
saved me a lot of money!

My mum's friend made huge paper
flowers in our colour scheme to give a pop of colour to the walls. We
also sprinkled handmade confetti over the tables hole punched from
vintage maps and music sheets."

"Dan is friends with the owner of Crumbs and Dollies
a cupcake company in Wandsworth. I love cupcakes and had decided early
on I would prefer a cupcake tower to a traditional tiered cake. We had
them make dozens of pastel cakes in some delicious flavours including
salted caramel, vanilla and rose.

We had two lots of wedding favours. For the girls my mum and I
made lavender hearts. We cut hearts from Cath Kidston fabric and stuffed
with lavender and added a cute button and ribbon.

For
the boys, Dan and I made a compilation CD of songs that meant a lot to
us. And had them printed on vinyl style CDs in a handmade paper
sleeves."

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

"Although the wedding day is so important, never lose sight of
the fact it’s the actual marriage which really matters. At the end of
the day, once the bunting has been taken down and your loved ones have
travelled home, the real adventure starts. As long as you keep this in
mind, and remember that the wedding day is just a celebration of all
your days together thereafter – when things don’t go your way or a few
hiccups ensue – you will manage to see the bigger picture, and how at
the end of the day it’s just about the two of you that really counts.

On reflection I would have not left a lot of the finer details
until the last minute. Making the bunting, order of service, table plan
etc in the last couple of days meant that I was a wreck the day before
and kept bursting into tears with the pressure. I am pleased to say that
on the actual day I was the picture of serenity and calm. But I would
definitely not like to go through the stress of the build up in the last
couple of days again. But then again – the stress did spur me on, so
it’s a tricky balance isn’t it!

Oh, and leaving things to the last minute is not recommended for those with fragile sanity."

What a beautiful day – huge thanks to Helen, Dan and photographer Hayley Savage for making another beautiful inspirational post possible on Love My Dress.

Do we have any other Alfred Sung brides reading this now? We'd love to hear from you if so.

You can see more Summer, seaside and pastel pretty weddings here.

Have a super lovely afternoon everyone,

Annabel

Photographer – Hayley Savage
Venue – Portchester Castle + Southsea Castle
Brides Dress – Alfred Sung, Everything But The Girl, Chichester     
Veil/Headpiece – birdcage veil via Twirl in Petersfield
Brides Shoes – Eva by Rachel Simpson, via Fur Coat No Knickers
Grooms Suit – Next + Rogues from Russell and Bromley
Bridesmaids – Sage green dresses by Debut at Debenhams
Flowers – TFS in Portchester
Cake – Crumbs and Dollies
Transport – South Coast Motor Services
Entertainment – Disco Wed, part of Disco shed
Rings – Timothy Roe in Chichester
Catering – Yellow Kite
Stationery – Made by the bride and groom