A 1950s Red, Retro and Seaside Inspired Lesbian Wedding

 

"It's really that simple, it's all about love."

I didn't watch it all, but I did manage to catch the last half hour or so of Stephen Fry's 'Out There' programme last night – an incredibly moving and very personal journey into what it is like to be gay in other countries. Anyone who witnessed the Russian Politician on that programme last night will be as shocked to the core as I was.  It was incredibly sad, and disturbing. 

I felt compelled to get on to Twitter and tweet Sir Stephen asking for his support to promote this weekend's brilliant One Love Wedding Show, which I blogged about yesterday afternoon – a brand new and super-cool wedding event for the gay and lesbian community. The show is proudly shouting about it's tag line; 'unique, gay and lesbian and inspirational', and that's precisely what it's set to be. It's wonderful that our wedding industry is supporting the British gay community like this and I'm so proud to get behind and support the event.

With this in mind, there seemed no other wedding more appropriate to share this afternoon than the fabulously fun Brighton bandstand nuptials of Anna (wearing the dress) and Katie, who tied the knot seaside style on 18th May this year.  I wanted to celebrate what Stephen Fry said last night – love is the most important thing. Sex, sexual preference, age, race, hair colour, skin colour! none matter in the slightest, as these wonderful photographs prove.

Photography Copyright (c) 2013, Emmest Photography

"We met singing at 'Souled Out' (Brighton Soul Choir) and started
dating for a few months before Anna was off to Australia to work for a
year!  The timing was awful, but we managed to last six months with only
one romantic meeting in Bali, but hours and hours of skype calls.  We knew
that we wanted to be together for the rest of our lives but we didn't
mean to get engaged, it just kind of happened when shopping one
afternoon we stumbled across the rings we both wanted we bought them and
then once we’d left the shop turned to each other and said ‘I think
that means we’re engaged!’

We didn't want to have our civil partnership in the town hall or any other
licensed venue/hotel.   We cycled past the bandstand daily, and thought it
was stunning and right by the sea, so it was the perfect place for
us to 'tie the knot' – although it was a risk weather wise!

 

"We also knew we wanted a
seafront venue, but it needed to be big enough for our evening do and
casual enough to not feel too stuffy.  Brighton Music Hall is funky,
relaxed and offered a great little menu so was just a perfect location –
they ticked a lot boxes for us. 

 As both our venues were seafront the seaside was always going to
play a big part in our day, (especially as Katie grew up in Brighton
too!).  I (Anna) had an idea on the type of dress I wanted, so the 1950's
inspired seaside fun theme evolved from there."

"Our bunting was sewn by a friend and all our table decorations were
 made by our friends who work in the creative/ fashion industry and
spent hours making windmills, buying buckets & spade and sourcing
plastic sea creatures for the table centre pieces."

"We gave ourselves away so walked down 'the aisle' together to the sound of a choir singing."

Anna’s dress was handmade by local Brighton based dressmaker Jill Nina Burt (no website).  She also wore a petticoat by Petticoats-a-Plenty.

 "I designed my dress myself, loosely based on the dress Audrey
Hepburn wore in ‘Funny Face’! I also wore a veil that was handmade by
local Brighton based dressmaker Jill Nina Burt.  My shoes were by
Irregular Choice and I also wore some red glitter Vans for the rest of
the day. 

Katie's
high waisted wide-leg trouser suit was from Vivien of Holloway.  She also wore some silver glitter Vans."

"Our reception took place at Brighton Music Hall and when it came to catering we went with the Hall's Great British Seaside
menu: Cherry Tomato Soup or Prawn Cocktail, Bangers & Mash or Fish
and Chips, followed by Knickerbocker Glory or Spotted Dick.  We offered a welcome drink of Pimms for our guests, half a
bottle of wine with dinner, bubbly for toasts and coffee.  All were
included in the reasonable price per head. It was delicious!"

"Our photographer was Emma Meston of Emmest Photography.  From day one Emma has been more than we
could have wanted from a wedding photographer.  Not only are her images
simply stunning, she’s professional, personable, fun and relaxed.

Emma was great to work with at the planning stages as well as on the day. 
She just totally ‘got us’."

"Our bridesmaids all wore their own different dresses and the little
outfits for the ring bearers were designed by us and printed locally. 
All the little flower girl dresses were purchased together on EBay for
just £6!"

"We were wandering through town and found the rings we both loved in Jewel Thief. 
We didn’t actually get wedding rings as we love our rings (designed
& handmade by Kate Hodgson) so much nothing else sitting next to
them looked right. We even went back into the shop to ask them what they
thought and they said the same – it would take away from rings we
already had."

 

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

"We’d do it exactly the same! We loved every minute of it."

Hooray! I am so happy to be sharing these images with you today – our thanks to Anna and Katie, to photographer Emma of Emmest Photography  to Sir Stephen Fry for reminding me of the importance of supporting the gay community and sharing fabulous civil partnerships just like this one.

Anyone else planning a fun seaside bash?

With much love,

Annabel

Photographer – Emmest Photography
Venue – Brighton Bandstand +  Brighton Music Hall
Anna – Jill Nina Burt (no website) + Petticoats-a-Plenty +
Irregular Choice + Vans
Katie – Vivien of Holloway trouser suit + Vans
Bridesmaids – Their own dresses
Flowergirls – EBay
Page Boys – Designed by Anna + Katie, printed locally
Flowers – A friend
Cake – A friend
Additional Styling –
Rings – Jewel Thief
Hair Stylist – Fran Carter Wedding Hair & Makeup