Colourful & Fun Seaside Funfair Wedding

Russell found an amazing 1920s vintage ring in Brighton’s Lanes and proposed to Tilly on Christmas Eve 2018. We were walking our French Bulldog Gus on the beach in Southsea near where we live when Russell went down on one knee. Since Tilly’s Dad lives in the midlands, Russell had to wait for him to come down on that morning to ask him in person for his permission. It was a little cold and foggy but very romantic and it was great to be able to break the news to our families at Christmas.

We always planned to have a small legal ceremony and a bigger, unofficial party a few days later, so that we could eliminate much of the formalities from the big bash. However, once COVID swept the nation and scuppered our 80+ wedding we were left with just the smaller ceremony taking place this year. This meant that some of the elements we had planned to exclude, we decided to include to make the day feel a bit more special.

Flowers, cake, vintage Fiat transport, make-up artist etc. were all added, using the same suppliers we had booked for the bigger day. This also felt particularly good, since Russell is a wedding videographer and we understood how much the industry was struggling, it was really nice to give those suppliers an opportunity to showcase their wonderful work in an otherwise quiet year.

We married at Portsmouth Registry Office, which as registry offices go is a pretty beautiful Grade II Listed Building, formerly part of the Royal Engineers barracks. After the ceremony we visited Clarence Pier on Southsea seafront who had amazingly given us special permission to get some photos on the fairground rides, despite being closed during the week out of season.

Our reception was held on the Deck of The Canteen in Old Portsmouth, a very cool waterfront cafe with a passion for local produce. The Deck looks out over the Solent and we celebrated as boats and ferries passed by and with passengers giving us a wave and a few toots of their horns.

Dress – ASOS Shoes – Steve Madden I wanted my dress to feel special, but also have a chic vintage feel and this ASOS dress was just perfect, the midi length made it feel less ‘weddingy’ but no less special as it was heavily adorned in sequins. The length was also perfect for showing off my absolute favourite Steve Madden shoes, which had an iridescent finish, colour changing in the sunlight. I felt like Audrey Hepburn!

Suit – Next Tie – Russell’s floral Liberty print tie was made by @catkinjane Russell wore a three-piece navy suit from Next and added pops of colour with a fab floral print tie by Catkin Jane and bright yellow pocket square from ASOS.

I found a fabulous hair and make-up artist Lauren from ID Hair & Make Up on Instagram and had followed her work for a while. We quickly found out that we lived super close to each other, so she popped round for a trial and was so helpful in giving me glowing skin, vintage winged eyeliner and a pop of pink lip colour. Having quite short hair, it was pretty easy to style for the big day and I did that myself (big shout out to Sam Gunn Hairdressing for the cut though).

The Bridal entrance music was ‘You’re So Cool’ by Hans Zimmer. This features in the film True Romance and has always been a piece of music we both loved. For the signing of the register it was Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel, such a happy start to the celebrations! And then of course we had a small band performance from Batala Portsmouth – the Samba Reggae group that Tilly plays with.

This was a surprise arranged by Tilly’s mum, also in the band, and was everyone’s favourite part of the day. They had covered the drumskins with coloured powder, so with each bash a haze of holi-like smoke rose up. The rhythm really stirs up some primal happiness and it was pure joy!

We wanted lots of colour and used two local florists to get just the right look we wanted. The buttonholes were made by Megan from Thistle & Ivy and the bouquet was given a splash of amazing colour and life by the fabulous Jo McNamara at Florish Studio.

Russell’s sister Laura made our crazy colourful cake so we had that personal touch. Each layer was a different flavour, with our favourite being ginger and it was delish! She had spent the whole day prepping and baking and we were so grateful – she’s a brilliant baker, but never had to make something quite like this before. Thank you Lou!

Russell is a wedding videographer and had worked with so many great photographers that it was so hard to find the perfect fit for us. We chose Angela Ward-Brown as our photographer as we both loved her offbeat style and eye for the absurd. It’s so important to have a good rapport with your photographer and we just hit it off straight away with Ang. She did such an amazing job with our photos on the day, they really capture the spirit and the fun

of the wedding and she did it all with such ease (or at least it seemed that way to us!) it felt so relaxed and fun. We also wanted our pictures to be full of colour and this is absolutely Ange’s style, everything popped, just as we’d hoped.

We got our awesome guest facemasks from Amazon which had everyone in stitches and our beautiful coloured confetti from Proper Confetti (We now know you can NEVER have too much confetti). Our laser cut place names and cake topper and favours were made by South East Design Company.

We honeymooned for a week in Santorini, Greece which was absolutely stunning. Tilly found an incredible Air B&B in the gorgeous tiny fishing port of Amoudi Bay, close to Oia the town (those famous white buildings when you think of Santorini). It was a great place to relax, reflect and recharge our batteries after the wedding madness. We then travelled by ferry to a neighbouring Greek island of Naxos where we met our best friends David and Natalie who shared a stunning villa with us.

In Naxos we saw much more of the Greek culture and visited the stunning sandy beaches.

For Tilly, it was extra special to have her Dad, Allan, with her at home and to travel with her to the Registry Office. Since he lives in the Midlands, they don’t get to see each other as often as they would like, but they have a really special bond, and this meant a great deal. You can probably tell from the pictures! For Russell… As a videographer, I always try to tell couples to try to take as much in of the day as they can, but I now know that is so hard to do.

Seeing Tilly in her dress for the first time is something I will never forget and being serenaded by the Samba band was such an amazing surprise.

For anyone considering a mini wedding in these circumstances, we would say absolutely GO FOR IT! We were so surprised by how special and ‘big’ it felt, despite all the compromises we had to make. None of that mattered on the day and in fact, some made it even more heart-warming – see glamour Gran in her big grin face mask.

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Colourful & Fun Seaside Funfair Wedding

The Proposal

The Planning Process

The Planning Process

The Venue

Our reception was held on the Deck of The Canteen in Old Portsmouth, a very cool waterfront cafe with a passion for local produce. The Deck looks out over the Solent and we celebrated as boats and ferries passed by and with passengers giving us a wave and a few toots of their horns.

The Venue

Your Outfits & Accessories

Suit – Next Tie – Russell’s floral Liberty print tie was made by @catkinjane Russell wore a three-piece navy suit from Next and added pops of colour with a fab floral print tie by Catkin Jane and bright yellow pocket square from ASOS.

Your Outfits & Accessories

Beauty

The Readings & Music

This was a surprise arranged by Tilly’s mum, also in the band, and was everyone’s favourite part of the day. They had covered the drumskins with coloured powder, so with each bash a haze of holi-like smoke rose up. The rhythm really stirs up some primal happiness and it was pure joy!

The Readings & Music

We wanted lots of colour and used two local florists to get just the right look we wanted. The buttonholes were made by Megan from Thistle & Ivy and the bouquet was given a splash of amazing colour and life by the fabulous Jo McNamara at Florish Studio.

The Flowers

The Cake

Your Photographer

of the wedding and she did it all with such ease (or at least it seemed that way to us!) it felt so relaxed and fun. We also wanted our pictures to be full of colour and this is absolutely Ange’s style, everything popped, just as we’d hoped.

Your Photographer

We got our awesome guest facemasks from Amazon which had everyone in stitches and our beautiful coloured confetti from Proper Confetti (We now know you can NEVER have too much confetti). Our laser cut place names and cake topper and favours were made by South East Design Company.

The Details & Décor

The Honeymoon

In Naxos we saw much more of the Greek culture and visited the stunning sandy beaches.

The Honeymoon

Memorable Moments

Seeing Tilly in her dress for the first time is something I will never forget and being serenaded by the Samba band was such an amazing surprise.

Memorable Moments

Advice For Other Couples

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