Claire and Chris were married in June at The Dome in Worthing. The inspiration for the wedding was to have a small, intimate day with their closest friends and family. “We wanted to feel surrounded by love from those dearest to us”, said the bride. “We had 31 guests and found this to be the perfect number. We had plenty of time to speak, hug, laugh, cry and dance with all of them.”
“We are both passionate vegans and wanted to share this very important part of ourselves with our guests on our special day too. The Dome’s catering team had never done a vegan wedding before, but they were so accommodating and created a wonderful three course meal for us that all of our guests enjoyed.”
The couple’s wedding budget was £8000. They managed to save money by doing their own décor. “We sourced various turquoise patterned materials from local fabric shops for bunting”, Claire explained. “A friend of ours made them for us. Almost everything else was from eBay. It was really fun sourcing vintage turquoise items online and was my hobby for the majority of a year!”
However the one they they didn’t want to scrimp on was their photos, “Finding a good wedding photographer was really important to us. The photos are memories that last a lifetime and we lucked out with Victoria. Victoria was so dedicated to taking beautiful photos on our wedding day and all of our guests said how much she made them feel at ease. She also helped us keep on task with the scheduling of our day!”
“We met with Victoria a few weeks before the wedding for an engagement photo shoot in Brighton. We were both feeling really nervous about this, but we had a wonderful time. Neither of us had ever have our photos taken professionally before, but with Victoria it was just like being with an old friend. We had so much fun and was lovely to do as it released some of the stress we experienced leading up to the wedding and our love for each other really shone through in the photographs. We also splashed the cash on our band, Stone Junction, who were amazing.”
“My advice to other couples would be to not worry, it will all be OK!” Claire concluded. “Leading up to the wedding we experienced last minute nerves as all engaged couples do – what if guests don’t turn up? What if the cake doesn’t arrive? What if there’s a problem with the dress?! On the day itself everything will work out and it will be beautiful. Also, wedding planning can be all consuming so make sure you do other things you enjoy also in the lead up and spend quality time together.”
