Cool Stylish & Windy Coastal Wedding

WWW readers Greg and Maxine chose beautiful Whitstable for their wedding day on 20th October 2017. They wanted a formal Catholic ceremony and a big party afterwards – all brilliantly captured by the wonderful Hollie Carlin (thanks for sharing Hollie!).

There’s a subtle coastal theme throughout everything here and I think you’re just going to love the abundance of greenery adorning the seaside venue. The fairy lights strung up in the ceiling looked simply magical and after the formalities, the focus really was on fun, just check out the light up letters.

Now I do think we need to take a minute to talk about the wedding party fashion, what a stylish looking group they were! Maxine’s dress is a Hayley Paige number and I’m sure you’ll agree, she looks simply fabulous in it. Our bride wanted her bridesmaids in different dresses and the coastal tones she chose match the day just perfectly. Of course, we mustn’t forget dapper groom Greg in his incredibly smart three piece suit from Anthony’s.

Take in every single detail here, what a special day.

THE PROPOSAL | It was Wednesday 1st June and I was at work on my 29th birthday, I was expecting to have a quiet evening and a nice dinner at home. I managed to get home a bit earlier and was going to enjoy seeing my mum for a cuppa before Greg got home. When I opened the front door my whole living room was covered in candles and rose petals, my favourite song (which we had as our wedding song) was playing and Greg was already home on one knee which was the biggest surprise ever! I wasn’t expecting it at all! He had the arranged for all our family to come round for a surprise party… best Wednesday ever.

THE VISION | A fun relaxed wedding which wasn’t too formal. I love the rustic vibe and had a vision of us having a relaxed venue where we could make it personal to us and something different to a normal wedding venue. We wanted to get married in a Catholic Church so I saw this as the formal part of our day then I wanted a party!

THE PLANNING PROCESS | I struggled with the planning process to start with, there are soooo many options and I really didn’t know where to start. I felt lost in a world of wedding! I started by thinking about what we really wanted and what was important to us and just took it step by step from there.

THE VENUE | I’d been going to Whitstable ever since I was little, it is a beautiful sea side town and I loved everything about the East Quay venue, it was relaxed, rustic and completely different to any wedding venue we had seen before. Its beautiful views out to sea were amazing and venue itself was completely flexible, nothing was ever too much trouble, there were no secret costs or extra charges for small things. I knew as soon as I saw the venue it was the place for us! Greg was brought up Catholic so once we found the reception venue we managed to find a small Catholic Church a couple of minutes away which was perfect for our ceremony. So we had our formal part to the day and then to East Quay for fish & chips and a party.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | Dress was Blush by Hayley Paige, I knew as soon as I saw a photo of this dress it was the one for me, all her dresses are just magical!

My hair accessories were by a very talented friend Sally @ Tilly Thomas Lux

FINDING THE DRESS | (Include where you purchased)

I visited a number of wedding shops and tried a few dresses on but in my mind I had a vision of the Hayley Paige design I had seen online.

I found her dresses in The Wild Heart in Rochester, Kent. It is such a gorgeous shop with lots of different unique styles. As soon as I put the Hayley Paige dress on I loved it and knew it was for me. Nicole and Alex from The Wild Heart were amazing, they really gave us a great experience and helped me find the perfect veil to go with my dress.

GROOM’S ATTIRE | Greg knew he wanted a three piece suit and wanted himself and his brother Ross to have something slightly different to the ushers. He found the perfect suits from Anthony’s in Billericay, Essex.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | We opted for traditional as we had a Catholic ceremony so we had two readings from the bible and traditional “Here Comes the Bride” for my walk down the aisle.

BEAUTIFUL BRIDESMAIDS | I really loved the idea of having something different for the bridesmaids and wanted to try and have different colours for them, I also wanted them to be able to wear them a way which they felt comfortable in.

I found some amazing dresses in Debenhams which were all coastal tones and they were multiway so could be worn in a number of different ways which suited each bridesmaid individually rather than forcing them to wear the exact same thing.

THE FLOWERS | Jane from Jane at Graham Greener in Whitstable made our flowers, she was amazing and I couldn’t recommend her enough! I love my flowers and the main thing I said I wanted was lots of greenery, and for it to look at bit rustic and wild! With all the greenery I mainly had white flowers, but added blue, green and cream ribbon with them to pull the different colour bridesmaid dresses together. I had greenery running down all of the tables, up the banisters, on the window, on the ceiling and cake – basically everywhere! My bridesmaids had smaller versions of my bouquet.

THE CAKE | I was really lucky that my mums friend made my cake! She just made 4 tiers which were different flavours and iced them roughly. Jane from Graham Greener then covered it in greenery for us and I found a green cake topper on Not on the High Street.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | The amazing Hollie Carlin who literally captured the most perfect moments. We both wanted more natural shots which weren’t too cheesy and we wanted to feel comfortable. I loved having Hollie there on the day she helped us feel organised and relaxed! All the guests commented on how lovely she was too! She went above and beyond for us and honestly has captured our day perfectly. We were lucky enough to have a beautiful sunset and Hollie captured some great shots even in 100mph wind!

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | The decor was mainly done by myself and Jane at Graham Greener. We were lucky enough that the venue was available the day before so we could take all the pieces I made to the venue like the table plan, sweet table, candles etc.

Jane then provided all the fairy lights and greenery which we used to decorate. She also covered the ceiling in twigs and rustic branches which looked really cool. She really did make the venue look amazing inside and out! We hired a giant deck chair from Jane for outside which the guests loved for a photo opportunity! She also provided the bunting for outside too which added to the look.

THE HONEYMOON | We went to The Pig Hotel in the New Forest straight after the wedding. We wanted to wait and have honeymoon a little while after so we could really take it all in. We are off to the Amalfi coast soon to enjoy our honeymoon.

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | All of it!! We had the most amazing day. I loved getting ready with the girls, and knowing we had the whole day to come was exciting but I don’t think anything will top walking down the aisle with my Dad and seeing Greg. I wish I could do it all again! We had perfect weather and all our guests commented on how different the venue was, it was amazing!

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | I know it sounds cliche but my advice would be enjoy it and don’t worry about the small stuff. Do exactly what you want to do, it’s your day so don’t worry what other people think because at the end of the day the guests are there for you.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photography | For capturing our day perfectly Hollie Carlin

For the most amazing dress and service | The Wild Heart

Reception Music | Songbird Sessions – These ladies have the best voices and got the guests up dancing during the drinks reception, I honestly couldn’t recommend them enough! They blew us away.

Beautiful Flowers and Venue Decoration | Jane @ Graham Greener

Beautiful Hair Pieces | Sally Thomas

Suits | Anthony’s

Magic Mirror Photo Booth | Viva la Foto

Light up letters | Light of My Life

Make Up | Lydia Rae Make Up

What a special day. Thank you so much for sharing everything with us Greg and Maxine. Rachel x