Tamsin & Alex

Tamsin and Alex are a little bit cool. Actually scrap that, they're super cool. I mean a bride and groom who performs Pulp Fiction inspired choreography for their first dance has serious style points in my book and we haven't even gotten started on their Lobster Shack wedding venue in the super pretty Whitstable. Tamsin looks beautiful in her Alice Temperley frock and colour pop headpiece and Alex looks like a dapper dan in his light blue Suitsupply garb. All the action was captured magnificently by Dale Weeks.

The Bride's Fashion

Tamsin The Bride: My dress was by Alice Temperley at Temperley London. Charlotte and Emma at the beautiful Notting Hill store were extremely patient and helpful from day one. It was the first dress I tried on and found myself comparing everything else to this... I therefore knew this was the one! I didn't want a traditional wedding, I was after more of a relaxed and chilled day and wanted my dress to reflect this also. My super talented friend Joanna has recently left the media business and opened up her own florist/ event styling company called Little Tin Shed... It was her and her team that created my amazing flower crown and bouquet! It was when she arrived at our hotel room with the flowers that it all suddenly become real! My Swarovski crystal teardrop earrings were my something old/borrowed. My Aunty Brenda left these to my mum when she passed away in January having lost her battle to Bowel cancer. I knew how much she wanted to be at the wedding and see her grandson walk done the aisle with me as our page boy... So this meant she could still be with us on the day. They were also the perfect match for the dress. Shoes were of course Jimmy Choo!! Don't think I'll get to spend this much on shoes again.. But totally worth it! They were so comfortable and I picked a style that I can wear again. Hair was by Olivia Jane hair and make-up and make-up by Louise Scotland. They were again very patient with me and did such an amazing job! I wanted something relaxed and natural for the makeup, and always knew I wanted some sort of braided up do.

The Groom's Fashion

A week before the wedding Alex and his brothers took a trip to Ted Baker grooming rooms in London for a beard trim and haircut. Alex's suit was tailored made by Suitsupply in Saville Row London. Again Alex didn't want something traditional and always knew he wanted to wear light blue. He chose Suitsupply as they also offered off the shelf suits that were similar for the groomsmen. After ordering hundreds of different ties, Alex settled on a champagne coloured knitted tie from ASOS and to finish the look, my gift to him was a vintage pocket watch from Rotary.

The Venue

Our venue was the East Quay venue in Whitstable which is also known as the Lobster Shack. It's a shack on the beach. We actually accidentally found this venue when popping into Whitstable for lunch on the way back from looking at another venue nearby. We love Whitstable and spend most of our summers there... But had never been to this venue before. We missed our usual carpark and drove on to another carpark and came out at this venue. We both knew straightaway it was the one! We just loved that it wasn't traditional and would reflect the chilled and relaxed vibes we were after.

The Flowers

I didn't want a set colour scheme. I wanted bright multi-coloured flowers to reflect the mismatched look of the venue. I had seen a beautiful multi-coloured bouquet on Pinterest with colourful ribbons attached, which I showed my florist and she did an awesome job of recreating it! And also created amazing mini versions for the bridesmaids' bouquets and also the Groomsmens' buttonholes. Because the venue was do unique and looked amazing already, it didn't need much in the way of decoration, so for the ceremony, Little Tin Shed created just one standout piece, which was the beautiful flower arch, which I saw for the first time as I walked down the aisle. It was absolutely stunning! Little Tin Shed used a similar multicoloured flower theme for the table decorations, placed in a mixture of different sized jam jars we had collected over the last two years. Other table decorations included bits of driftwood we had bought off eBay to bring to life a bit of a beach/seaside theme. Our place names were oyster shells that we had been collecting over the last two years. My Aunty, who has amazing handwriting, used a gold pen to write our guest's names within the oyster shell. For our wedding favours we chose to donate to two charities: bowel cancer UK and also LittleHeartsMatters (a charity who support my page boy and his family - he was born was a valve missing in his heart). We made the cards ourselves using the same font and style as our invitations and then pinned the badges to these; it was so nice to see our guests wearing these after the wedding breakfast. Selfie sticks were doted around the benches and I also made sure the children were kept occupied with colouring-in sets at their places. Lighting was key for us, so Little Tin Shed provided a fairy light curtain behind the top table and then huge festival bulbs for the dance floor to bring a bit of a festival vibe to our wedding. For the table plan, we bought a large framed chalk board off Etsy and my Aunty again used her drawing and writing talents to create an amazing seaside themed seating arrangement. For the card table, to bring the Lobster shack theme to life... We bought a Lobster pot off of eBay along with some plastic lobsters, and used a bit of driftwood for the card sign. We knew we wouldn't look at a guest book in years to come, so instead we asked our guests to sign a pebble, which we now have as decoration in a large glass vase in our living room! Alex and I have lost a few family members over the last eleven years we've been together so it was important for us to have a memory table. I caught a glimpse of this just before I walked down the aisle and knew straight away they were all there looking down on me. Instead of a photo booth, we again wanted a bit of a seaside theme so had the super talented Daryl Bennett create a graffiti styled personalised peep-board.

The Wedding Party

I always knew I wanted the bridesmaids in white. I wanted a blank canvas so that we could go crazy with the multi-coloured flowers. I also wanted something simple and knee length but couldn’t find this anywhere so ended up having these made at The Bridal Design Studio in Beckenham Kent. I was so pleased with how they turned out, and would highly recommend having your bridesmaid dresses made if you have lots of bridesmaids, as I found this worked out cheaper. The groomsmen wore off-the-shelf suits from Suitsupply, in a slightly different shade of blue to the Groom and Best man.

Ceremony

We walked into the lead singer of the evening reggae band playing ‘My Girl’ acoustically, and then Bob Marley's Turn the lights down low for the signing of the papers. For our exit we chose Higher And Higher by Jackie Wilson. One of my special moments was seeing Alex’s reaction when he first saw me; he cried. And then also, I asked my Dad to do something funny so that I wouldn’t cry, and so when asked if he was happy for Alex to take my hand in marriage my Dad punched in the air and shouted out YES. This made everyone laugh. We had two readings. My Uncle Larry first read an amazing version of John Cooper Clarke’s ‘I wanna be yours’ – also made famous by our favourite band ‘Arctic Monkeys’. And Alex’s cousin read ‘The mayonnaise jar and two cans of beer’. Again the guests loved this! Another favourite moment for us both was the Father of The Bride Speech – My dad got out his guitar and changed the lyrics from the classic song ‘Oh Boy’ to ‘Thank You Alex’. It had us all in bits, and also got everyone joining in – priceless!

Entertainment

We were determined to find a reggae band (our favourite genre of music) for the evening reception, but a reggae band that would not only play reggae songs but also play other songs in a reggae style. It took us a year to find, but via Prelude entertainment, we were able to find and book The Mighty Leap, who had everyone dancing from start to finish! A highlight was seeing everyone dancing to the reggae music out on the beach as the sun set. They were absolutely amazing and I would definitely book them again for a party. In between their 3 sets, our DJ again provided us with the most amazing playlist that kept everyone dancing until closing. To ensure we catered for everyone, on the RSVPs we asked our guests to let us know their favourite ‘Guilty pleasure’ song that would get them dancing. This worked a treat! Our first dance was a huge surprise for everyone, we decided to do the Pulp Fiction Dance scene (one of Alex’s favourite films). This was definitely another highlight of the day as no one expected it from us. There are lots of videos of this going around on social media and I just love seeing our guest’s reactions.

Food

A mixture of canapés along with half pints of beer and Pimms kept hunger at bay during the reception drinks. And the oysters kept our guests occupied; it’s definitely a talking point for those who have never tried them and for those who love them! It was a must when having our wedding in Whitstable. The wedding breakfast was classic seaside food - Fish & Chips - and then cheesecake and chocolate pots for dessert. We weren’t too fussed about having a wedding cake, so we opted for a cake made out of cheese, which then also doubled up as food for the evening guests along with a selection of cakes, biscuits and also bacon & sausage baps.

Photographer

The super talented DALE WEEKS! I booked Dale two years ago as soon as we booked our venue. I had seen some of his stuff online and it was exactly what we were after. We weren’t too keen on having the standard group shots as we wanted to spend as much time as we could with our guests without missing any of the party. I was pleased to see that Dale was an alternative photographer and totally agreed with our views. I also hate having my photo taken but once we had our pre-wedding shoot with Dale we felt so at ease and knew we had picked the right guy. He made us feel so comfortable and as a result has given us the most amazing set of photos that perfectly captured our special day.