Dorset beach wedding
DORSET BEACH WEDDING
The dress and the look
As soon as we got engaged, I was excited to find my wedding dress. Trying to be practical I didn’t feel there was going to be a moment where I felt I’d found the “one”, so I happily went about trying on tonnes of dresses from regular high street boutiques to get an idea of cuts and shapes that suited me. Trying on regular dresses helped me quickly realise that my main criteria was to feel totally comfortable (no spanx required please) and 100% like me.
I did a lot of research to try and find a dress supplier who could fulfil my dream of an ethical wedding dress. When I found Indiebride and went to try on Miina’s dresses, I instantly knew this was where I’d find my dress. I struggled to decide between two simple, elegant yet intricate styles but the beauty of choosing Indiebride was that I didn’t need to choose, together, we designed my dress, and as soon as I went back to put on my bespoke dress I knew it was the “one”. It was me, in dress form – totally perfect.I loved that it wasn’t white or ivory (colours I knew weren’t as flattering as the nude and cream I chose) and that I could move, dance and eat all my fish and chips and cheese board (!) in it while still looking and feeling incredible. It felt so light and free to move in, the materials were so luxurious to wear and obviously, no one had ever seen a dress like it before.
Hair and makeup
Claire from Changes in Wimborne did my hair, weaving it up using twine to hold it up and my natural curls as I wanted to look as much like me as possible. My makeup was done by Lynne from Natural skin by Lynne. Her brand uses Mary Kay products which I found really light and natural.
Wedding theme
Chad and I knew that although we didn’t have a specific colour or style theme to our wedding, we wanted the most special day of our lives to really reflect us. We knew we wanted as much of our wedding to be locally produced, sustainable, eco-friendly and with low environmental impact. This was reflected in our choice of suppliers, which we really enjoyed sourcing in less conventional ways, going to meet them, see their home grown or hand made products, choosing things in season and simply making some things ourselves.We chose a florist, Meadow Sweet Posies, who grew her own seasonal flowers, made candle holders by collecting jam jars for months on end, and made our wedding rings in a sand cast design, using sand from our local beach and recycled metals.
Venues
Our venues did most of the wow factor for us, we were married at the stunning Wimborne Minster and had our reception at a local seafood restaurant, Shell Bay, on the beach overlooking Poole Harbor. We were so lucky with a glorious fresh May day and sunshine the whole time.
What advice would you give to other brides still planning their wedding?
Every moment of our wedding day was happy and special. Treasured memories. The one piece of advice I’d give any bride is that on the day, forget all the planning, your expectations or organising other people and just go with the day. Savor every moment of it.
Photography
Our photographer was a lovely lady called Emily Of Lotus photography. She works with great candid shots as we were keen to capture the day organically and not be too posed with lots of portrait shots.- Kat -