Hello lovelies. I hope this mid-week treat will perk up these cold days we are experiencing. Lindsay, a Florist and Yoga Teacher and Stefan, a Local Government Community Officer and Person-centred Counsellor got married on the 11th of July last year at the beautifully unique Electric Picture Palace Cinema in Southwold, Suffolk. The newlyweds and their 80 strong guests then walked together to the beach for ice cream and Prosecco accompanied by a piper, then walked to their reception at Southwold Cricket Club. Amazing!
Of course when a florist gets married, one thing you can be certain of is that the flowers will be immense (they really are) but the greatest credit must go to Lindsay’s mother for the stunning handmade dress, the couple’s rings and 400 feet of bunting, yes she made them all. It’s not too often we see a suppliers list that is so short, testament to the couple’s talented friends and family.
“We realised that the main ingredients of the wedding were already there in the form of lots of loving, wonderful, creative friends and family. We wanted to harness that and involve as many of these special people into the process as possible in order to make it feel like a truly shared experience. It was essential to keep things relaxed, informal and fun, personal to the individual characters.”
Photography by Beth Moseley Photography
Lindsay’s mum Moira had been a fashion designer in the 1960’s and worked extensively in Japan so it was an obvious choice that she designed and made her daughter’s gorgeous dress and what a fabulous job she did. I adore the shape and gold detail around the neckline, beautiful.
“I didn’t want to go for a traditional wedding dress and liked a halter neck style. The opportunity to have a hand-made-by-my-mum dress was too good to be true. A very special dress evolved over many fun fittings at both of our homes.”
The couple chose Beth Moseley Photography to photograph their special day. The images are wonderfully fun, capturing the laid back atmosphere perfectly.
“Beth is a friend and a fab photographer. She captured the day beautifully whilst being a pleasure to be around.”
Libby Ferris Flowers, an independent florist in Norwich and also also Lindsay’s place of work put the beautiful flowers together.
“The decision was easy as they are simply the best and most unique florists in the city. We had every faith that they would make a beautiful job of it, making an impact whilst keeping it simple. We used vuvuzela and other roses, Singapore orchids, burgundy scabious, veronica, ferns, grasses and honesty in a colour palette of peach, burgundy, cream with greenery.”
“My brides bouquet was a horse shoe shaped double-ended design. Amazing! The bridesmaids wore wrist corsages and the buttonholes were all slightly different.”
Lindsay’s jewellery was simple. A mix of silver and gold to match the Russian wedding ring that Lindsay’s mother had made for her (she also made Stefan’s white gold band) and Stefan’s late mum’s (very small) wedding band was also worn mid-finger as a nod of respect.
“I wore simple flat gold summer sandals and lots of flowers in my hair.”
The bridesmaids wore long peach summery dresses, chosen because they didn’t look too ‘bridesmaidy’. The ladies accessorised with some flowers in their hair.
“We met in the summer of 2010 and to quote the song lyrics to Human League’s ‘Don’t you want me?’, Lindsay actually was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar. Stefan’s friend owns a cocktail bar business and Stefan sometimes helped out at private functions. I was helping out as they were short staffed and as the night came to a close, we got chatting as we were packing up and discovered that we had been practically neighbours for some 3 years. After a couple of weeks of chatting on Facebook we decided to meet up for a drink, and the rest is history.
In January 2014 on a 3 week tour of Sri Lanka and Stefan proposed a life together with a locally made ring that had caught Lindsay’s eye. He bought it secretly and after an al-fresco dinner in a beautiful courtyard, Stefan placed the ring in front of her and popped the question. It was a quiet, intimate and special moment which left them both a little lost for words.”
“We love Southwold (Stefan grew up there) and wanted to incorporate all of our favourite places of the town into the wedding experience. From the magical The Electric Picture Palace Cinema the party of 80 walked to the beach together led by a Scottish Piper (inspired by Lindsay’s late Scottish Grandfather). Friends helped serve bubbles and locally made ice cream from a hired beach hut as we had photos and people paddled to the sounds of the pipes being played from the water’s edge.”
“After an hour or so we took another piper-led walk together over to Southwold Common where we had a marquee and bell tents erected at the Cricket Club. The group walking through the the town was a real winner of an idea in that it united the groups of friends into one big wedding tribe, all embarking on a special wedding journey together on a beautiful sunny day in Southwold.”
Groom Stefan got his vibrant blue suit from independent suit maker Beggars Run in Bethnal Green, London.
The groomsmen wore their own clothes but all of the guys got matching socks and chose from a variety of mismatched ties.
“There were so many highlights to the day – the ceremony was magical, as was walking en-masse to the beach with the piper playing. The speeches were all wonderfully humorous and moving, Beth’s amazing photos of people’s faces laughing and crying during them really captured the vibe of the day, and have perhaps made this our favourite part of the day to reflect upon.”
“The Beau Bow Belles provided uplifting 1920’s style, fiddle-based folk music outside during the afternoon prior to the speeches, before The Vagaband got everyone up and dancing into the night inside the cricket pavilion with a mixture of their own cool, smoky, Americana based soul, and a variety of alternative quirky covers of more well known songs like ‘Jolene’ and ‘All Night Long’.”
“We hung 400m of multi-coloured bunting around the marquee and a rag garland around the outside of the bell tents. The centrepieces were made from slices of bark with brass containers of flowers and colourful Moroccan lanterns. Outside we had hay bale seating areas, fire pits and lots of church candles in glass hurricane vases”
“A relaxed, informal gourmet picnic/buffet style lunch of gorgeous homemade food was provided by Robbie, our Best Man and Vivi who are the owners of The Rocket House Café. They went above and beyond, providing all of the home-cooked food as a gift. It was enjoyed by all and encouraged the ‘group sharing’ communal vibe we wanted. True heroes of the day.
The Wood Kitchen provided delicious wood fired pizzas through the evening from their cool, retro 1920’s Citroën van.”
“Another friend contribution was the cake. ‘Caker Shaunna’ made our cake as as a gift. We wanted a simple naked cake decorated in gorgeous flowers… It was delicious.”
Words of Wedded Wisdom
“Stay authentic, and keep it simple. A wedding is just a wonderful gathering of everyone special in your lives, all coming together to offer their love in celebration of your love for one another. Stay focused on how you want the day to feel and don’t concern yourself with how it might be perceived by others. It should only ever be a fun, relaxed and enjoyable experience from the planning to the day itself.”
Thank you so very much to the newlyweds Lindsay and Stefan for sharing your fabulously fun wedding with us. Thanks also to Beth Moseley Photography for the amazing images.
Love Caoimhe xx
Photographer – Beth Moseley Photography
Venue – The Electric Picture Palace Cinema + Southwold Cricket Club, Suffolk
Wedding Dress – Designed and Made by Moira Venn (the bride’s mother)
Bride’s Scent/perfume – Jo Malone
Groom – Beggars Run
Florist – Libby Ferris Flowers
Cake – Made by a Friend
Entertainment – The Beau Bow Belles + The Vagaband
Rings – Made by Moira Venn
Catering – The Rocket House Café + The Wood Kitchen
Caoimhe Anderson View all Caoimhe's articles
Caoimhe will never tire of beautiful wedding dress and a blooming flower crown. When she's not lusting after a gorgeous wedding she will be trying new vegetarian recipes, knitting very slowly or capturing a pink sunset from behind a camera lens.
Brilliant photos – they really tell the story of the day. I particularly like the ones in the cinema – how cool is that venue? And then the seaside and then a picnic with tipis AND the sun shone! A beautiful dress made by a mum and gorgeous flowers by the bride. Too much good stuff 😉 Finally, one of my favourite wedding day activities – walking between venues! I always love images of everyone walking through the town on their wedding day. Congratulations Lindsay & Stefan xx