Most beautiful seaside nautical wedding
by
Alexandra and Wesley
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WEDDING COUPLE: Alexandra & Wesley
INSTAGRAM: @alexandraannamua and @bluewes80
WEDDING DATE: 20th June 2019
WEDDING LOCATION: East Quay Venue, Whitstable @eastquayweddings
WHERE DID YOU MEET: Tinder- we both swiped right, talked for about 10 days before we had our first date on the Southbank in London. We stayed out drinking and dancing to a Luther Vandross cover band until our last train home
WEDDING THEME: Nautical, Boho, Vintage, Colourful
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THE WEDDING DAY:
We both wanted a wedding that reflected us, relaxed and fun but still beautiful with lots of little touches making it personal to us. Wes has always lived by the sea, so a seaside location was important too. We wanted our children to be involved as well, so each of them even down to our two year old had a part to play in the wedding itself. Dylan, Wes’ eldest was his best man and ring bearer- he’s autistic so this was a huge job for him which he did brilliantly, Wes’s daughter Arwen was one of our bridesmaids and the two youngest boys were both page boys alongside our nephew.
As soon as we walked into East Quay Venue we knew we had found our venue, it is right on the beach in one of the most beautiful and quirky little seaside towns in Kent. Not only was Wes happy with a seaside venue, but Whitstable has always been one of our favourite places to visit, even more so as Wes can see his beloved Southend across the Estuary on a clear day!
I arrived in a vintage VW Beetle and my bridal party in a vintage VW campervan, I cried as soon as I saw the venue decorated as it was even better than I had imagined! I walked down the aisle to an acoustic version of “Times Like These” by Foo Fighters. Sung by the amazing Redfords acoustic duo.
We had Katie Keen from True Blue Ceremonies conduct our ceremony and she wrote a perfect script for our ceremony, telling our story of how we met and how we had gotten to our big day. We had so many comments on how lovely our ceremony was and how great it was to hear how we met as some people didn’t realise we were a Tinder match! Katie also suggested one of our readings for our fifteen year old to read as some of the readings out there aren’t suitable for a teenage girl to read about her dad! She read an excerpt from Wild Awake by Hilary T Smith and my friend and bridesmaid Beth read “He’s Not Perfect” by Bob Marley. She gave the most perfect dramatic pause after the opening line “he’s not perfect” which had everyone laughing.
Following the ceremony The Redfords sang “Never Too Much” by Luther Vandross which we first danced to on our first date and then we walked out to Three Little Birds by Bob Marley which is a song that means a great deal to us and our little boy was born to that song.
The Redfords then continued to play out on the beach during our drinks reception which just added to the relaxed beachy vibe we were going for.
During the photos we served Pimms and a Pimp your Prosecco stand for guests to have a bit of fun with.
I Do Devoted Dreams provided us with a lot of our decorations for the tables and the venue itself. We hired a lot of fairy lights from them to decorate inside and outside the venue. I bought pastel lanterns from a friend who had used them for her wedding and Emily and her team put them up for me over the dancefloor- they created such an impact.
My bridesmaid Jane hand painted our name cards for us, our tables were named after bands we had seen together; we had mini chalkboards with our music themed table names and in the week before the wedding we decided to add album covers to each of the tables as well to really show off the music theme we had gone for.
I do Devoted Dreams provided wildflowers in jars for the tables, hessian table runners and we had tealights in lace covered jars.
We provided a couple of Instax polaroid cameras for people to use and write in our guestbook, blankets in a basket for if people got cold in the evening as we were on the beach and a flip flop basket for those tired feet!
It was so lovely seeing it all come together on the day as I had worked so hard to try and think of little touches to make the day more special. It meant a lot that many of our guests told us how much they appreciated everything we had done. My nana and grandad even told me it was the best wedding they had ever been to which is high praise indeed!
For the evening entertainment we had a DJ so people could request whatever they liked and I also hired the amazing Luxurious Glitter, an eco friendly glitter bar to come and glitter up my guests! Wes isn’t a massive glitter fan but he knew how much I love it! I actually ended up working for them following the wedding and as of this month I now own and run it so it was most definitely meant to be!
The whole day went by so quickly and we still wish we could do it all again. We had so much fun and it was personal to us and everyone we know told us how special it was and they had never seen a venue like it!
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WEDDING ATTIRE:
Alexandra
Alexandra’s dress: Lucy Cant Dance @lucy_cant_dance Gold Leaf crown: Crown and Glory @crownandglory_ Shoes: Kurt Geiger @kurtgeiger and Dr Martens @drmartensofficial Leather Jacket: Painted by Lucky @luckysewandsew Jewellery: Kate Spade @katespade
Wesley
Wes: Chinos, Shoes, Belt, Braces all from Next: @nextofficial Shirt: Ted Baker- @tedbaker Bowtie: Boyds of Bedford @boydsofbedford
WEDDING BUDGET: 12000
WEDDING PARTY: 70
WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER: @floberryphoto
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STYLISTS:
Make-Up and Lashes – @kellyjennermakeup Hair- @shesaidyesbridalhair
WEDDING FOOD:
We kept it really simple and what we thought everyone likes to eat at a wedding! Boxed fish and chips, with veggie and vegan options for our guests- perfect for by the seaside!
Dessert was a buffet of donuts, cakes and brownies plus a cheese tower AND a vegan cheese tower made by our lovely friend Mike at @honestly.tasty
For the evening we order Papa Johns pizza for everyone which went down a storm.
WEDDING PARTY ATTIRE:
Bridesmaids wore dresses from @asos and the groomsmen all wore the same as the groom. Our page boys all wore mini versions of the adults with yellow shorts and bowties with blue braces to complement the colour scheme.
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ANY TIPS ON GUESTS, FAMILY:
We hired a creche to come in from 4pm until 10pm to look after the little ones. It was quite possibly the best money we spent on the wedding as it allowed our families and us to enjoy the day. We used Carousel Creche Company @carouselcreche
BUDGET SAVING IDEAS: Food! If your venue allows, do it yourself. We originally looked at having a hog roast for our evening food but that would have been around £1200. We ordered Papa Johns in for less than £250 and it was so popular!
WEDDING FAVOURS: We had charity pin badges for two charities close to our hearts @demelzahospice where Alex works and @nationalautisticsociety as Wes’ eldest is autistic
TIPS FOR FUTURE BADASS BRIDES:
Keep it you. Don’t do something because you feel you have to, it’s yours and your partners day so do you what you both want 🙂
VENDOR DETAILS:
Venue: East Quay Venue : @eastquayweddings Celebrant: True Blue Ceremonies: @trueblueceremonies Dress: Lucy Can’t Dance @lucy_cant_dance Hair Piece: Crown & Glory @crownandglory_ Nails: Pinkys Beauty @pinkysbeauty1 Hair: She Said Yes Bridal Hair @shesaidyesbridalhair Make-Up: Kelly Jenner @kellyjennermakeup Groom and Groomsmen bowties: @boydsofbedford Photographer: Florence Berry Photography @floberryphoto Flowers and Venue Styling: I Do Devoted Dreams @devoteddreams Cake: Artcardia @artcardia1 Vegan cheese tower: Honestly Tasty @honestly.tasty Music: The Redfords acoustic duo @theredfords and Celebration Sounds disco for evening @celebrationsounds Glitter Bar: Luxurious Glitter @luxurious_glitter Cars: VW Brides @vwbrides Creche: Carousel Creche Company @carouselcreche
LOVE Alexandra & Wesley XXX
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