For their spring wedding, Claire and Simon wanted a laid back, beach wedding. They didn’t want any stress or anything too fussy, so they kept their guest list small and chose things that made them happy!
“Our theme was rockabilly meets surf and the beach”, began the bride, “Rockasurf? Beachabilly? We are quite different in styles but we both absolutely knew we didn’t want a generic, traditional wedding. We’ve been together 14 years and after Simon proposed in March 2013 (with a beautiful black diamond and platinum ring!) we decided we didn’t want to wait very long for the wedding considering how long we had been together already so planned the wedding for April 2014.”
Although they both have different interests, it was important that they incorporated things they both love into their wedding. “Simon loves surfing, VWs and I’m more into tattoos, rockabilly style and rock music!” Claire continued. “Red, white and black are also the colours of my favourite football team and we definitely had to have skulls in there somewhere!”
“We tried to get rid of any stress-inducing aspects so we didn’t have a table plan, speeches or a first dance. We wanted the day to be a really relaxed and informal for everyone involved. In the end Simon did do a short speech to thank people but that was it!”
“We couldn’t find any table centrepieces we liked so my dad (who is very into his music) kindly donated some of his vinyl records for me to melt into bowls. I then filled them with red and white glass pebbles, candles and finished off with polka dot ribbon. I also made loads of paper pinwheels and hearts from some funky 1950s card that I found in a craft shop. I made up our own version of a sweet buffet full of sugar skulls, love hearts etc which went down a storm with guests. I also put together a flip flop basket and bucket and spade sets for guests. For our guest book, we provided props and a Fuji instax camera for guests to amuse themselves with-it made for some very funny (drunken) photos!”
“There were so many things I loved about our wedding”, she continued, “but most of all I loved my gorgeous bespoke button and charm bouquet, seeing all our family and friends really enjoying themselves, hearing the waves crash onto the beach as we said our vows, and all the bubbles when we walked back down the aisle!”
“Don’t get sucked into the pricey wedding industry and feel as if you have to buy into all the traditional bits”, Claire advises in conclusion. “We got married on a Monday which saved us a ton of money and you can tailor your wedding to suit your tastes. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t all match perfectly, the people who are there will be the ones who love you and your quirkiness!”
