A Vintage Inspired Gown for a Laid Back Beach Side Wedding At The Gallivant Hotel…

As I finished editing this post in advance of it going live this morning, I looked outside to see the magical snowy fields, part of the beautiful view I'm blessed with from our house on the hill, and I listened to weather reports of blizzards and total white-outs due across the UK today and through the weekend.  And so to remind those brides hoping for sunnier climes on their wedding day, I thought I'd feature this little beauty this morning, sent in the the talented photographer Nabeel Khan.

Sally and Andrew tied the knot on 6th October 2012 at the light, bright and beautiful beach-side Gallivant Hotel in Camber Sands, East Sussex.  The first thing that drew me to this wedding was Sally's incredibly elegant wedding dress, a design by Charlie Brear (formerly known as 'The Vintage Wedding Dress Company).

"I
knew I was after a reasonably simple, elegant dress but on the advice
of friends, I tried lots of other kinds of dresses on, just to be sure!
As soon as I walked into Charlie Brear, though I had a
feeling I’d find my dress there. It’s such a beautiful showroom and I
had a lovely time trying on both original vintage dresses as well as
dresses from their Decades collection…"

Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Photography Copyright (c) 2012, by Nabeel Khan

"When I tried on the boat neck
1960's inspired dress from the Decades Collection it just felt right. I loved the
delicate lace sleeves and the relatively demure neckline coupled with
the low cut back and absolutely loved wearing it on my wedding day."

"Although we live in London Andrew and I both grew up by
the sea – Andrew in South Africa and me in West Sussex. We both love
being by the seaside and got engaged by the sea so were keen to have a
wedding as close to the beach as possible.  Our ideal venue was a
relaxed and laid back one that could host the ceremony and reception all
in one place. Whilst researching venues online I came across the Gallivant Hotel
in Camber Sands, East Sussex.

We knew the area well as have spent a few
weekends down there over the past few years (we’d actually tried to
have lunch at The Gallivant on a sunny weekend away but hadn’t been able
to find a parking space there as it was so popular!) We went to have a
look and it turned out to be the first and only venue we looked at.  As
soon as we walked in we loved the feel of the place, its lovely laid
back ‘beachy’ vibe and the fact that it gave us the opportunity to have
the drinks reception on the beautiful Camber Sands beach (weather
permitting!) We also really liked the fact that all our guests would be
able to stay within walking distance of the venue– either in the
Gallivant itself, or in the lovely New England style clapperboard
cottages behind the venue."

"Natalie Lowe is the Weddings Co-ordinator at The Gallivant Hotel who
comes as part of the wedding package. She was a brilliant help to the
run up to the wedding and the day itself.  The hotel came with a blue and white colour scheme as they provide navy and white
table runners and bunting so we just built on this and incorporated
some blush pink into the day through the flowers and bridemaids dresses
and then added some little seaside touches.

I loved looking at wedding blogs
(Love My Dress was one of my favourites) for inspiration and tried to do
as much as I could myself, mainly because I love a bit of craft!"

 

"I knew I wanted a veil but something that wouldn’t detract
from the lace sleeves which were my favourite part of the dress. I went
to Mirror Mirror, where they had a good
selection of veils. I originally chose a short, 60s style veil but they
were very accommodating when I changed my mind and let me swap it for a
long, simple single layer veil."

"The Gallivant Hotel provided the catering but you can chose from several
different options. We went for a BBQ as Andrew is at his happiest when
braii’ing so felt it added a little South African touch to the day. The
food was absolutely superb and all our guests commented on how tasty it
was. Inkeeping with the relaxed feel of the day both starters and mains
were served on sharing boards on the long tables.

Dessert was an ice
cream buffet where you could chose from lots of different toppings. A
full tasting together with an overnight stay at the venue is included in
the package. We went down on a sunny bank holiday weekend in May and
had such a nice time tasting all the food and trying all the wines. The
staff at the venue couldn’t have been nicer and it was so nice to spend
some time in the venue before the big day."

"A lot of my friends really love baking so instead of having one
wedding cake I asked a few of them to bake a cake. They came up trumps
and produced some mouth watering cakes, from ‘death by chocolate’ to red
velvet cupcakes. I wanted the table to look like a stand at a village
fete so made some cake signs and painted a rustic ‘let them eat cake’
wooden sign, borrowed some cake stands and appointed my friend Sadie as
‘Creative Director of Cakes’ to set the table up on the morning of the
wedding. It looked brilliant and was so nice to get friends involved."

"We
provided blue and white stripped candy bags filled with fish and chip
sweets with a label on were place settings and favours in one. The bags
and the labels were from amazon and the sweets were from Sweets 'n Candy."

"It was really important for us to include some South African
touches to the day (as that’s where Andrew is from) and luckily the
Protea, which is the national flower of South Africa, has always been
one of my favourite flowers. I opted for a king protea with some
eucalyptus leaves for my bouquet, the bridesmaids had bouquets made of 3
smaller proteas and the button holes were pinhead proteas.

We used
jamjars as vases for jars of gypsophilia which lined the aisle and Cafe Des fleurs put together some other bunches of flowers in jamjars that bought out the same pink colour from the protea’s."

"My earrings were vintage style pearl earrings from Gama from NotOnTheHighStreet.com, my fur jacket was from Biba from House of Fraser and my aquamarine necklace is a family heirloom that my mum, my gran and my sister in law have all worn on their wedding day."   

"I designed the invites, table plan and place cards myself on
photoshop using a design I’d seen online and card and envelopes from
ebay. We used the same font throughout with a small heart motif to join
it all together. We mounted the table plan on a vintage frame. The venue
provided menus and order of the day."

"Family and friends helped to collect jam jars that we used for
flowers and put candles in to make little lights – I bought long burning
tea lights from Amazon. Fairy lights and lanterns were from Lights4fun and extra bunting and the ‘time to drink champagne’ sign were from NotOnTheHighStreet.com. 
I made the confetti bags myself by cutting pink and white stripped
candy bags in half and sealing them with a little heart shaped button
(both bought on Amazon).

We found a seaside cut out board (one of those
ones that you stick your head through) online for £25 which was a bit of
a bargain and set up a camera on a tripod so people could take photos.
We also had framed photos of our grandparents wedding on the guest book
table together with a Polaroid camera and dressing up box for people to
take photos and stick into the guest book (which I got from Paperchase
but personalised with little heart shaped maps of where we both born)."

"Our wedding photographer was Nabeel Khan. We saw one of Nabeel’s weddings featured on the blog and really liked
his style. We met him for a coffee and got on really well and liked that
the package included an engagement shoot so we could get used to being
photographed.  Nabeel is a really nice guy, very relaxed and
accommodating and worked really hard on the day – he was there from
first thing in the morning until last thing at night and we absolutely
love his photos."

"My shoes were by Rachel Simpson, a purchase a made from the Bridal Rouge Gallery…"

"Andrew and I met whilst working at the Metro newspaper in
London. Although we’d done our induction together we didn’t really get
chatting until we were on conference in Berlin and ended up drunkenly
daring each other to eat fruit out of a bowl on a bar which in
retrospect sounds a little weird – I blame the strong German beer! The
strange combination of fruit and German beer obviously worked though and
Andrew asked me to marry him whilst on a surprise weekend away he
planned for my birthday in November 2011.

As I’d taken him away for his
birthday I didn’t suspect anything until he revealed where we were
staying on the drive down there and suddenly had tears in his eyes,
which is most unlike him. He’d booked a weekend in The Salthouse, St
Ives, a beautiful two bedroom B&B where both rooms have floor to
ceiling windows with amazing views of the sea.  Andrew popped the
question in the room whilst we were both looking out to sea and had
chosen and designed the engagement ring himself (and seemed to have
become a diamond expert in the process!) I loved it and it meant a lot
to me that he’d done it all by himself."

 

"My Dad walked me down the aisle, to 'Sea of Love' by Cat Power.
It’s such a beautiful song with a really nice introduction and words
that were perfect for the occasion..."

"We didn’t tailor our vows but the ceremony was definitely one of
our favourite parts of the day. We’d been to a friend’s wedding the year
before in Rye and by chance it was the same registrar who was
brilliant. We were both really emotional during the service which took
us both a bit by surprise. Andrew’s sister had given me a really good
bit of advice the day before the wedding which sounds obvious but I
could have forgotten in the excitement of seeing all our friends and
family as I walked down the aisle. She said to focus on Andrew as I
walked down the aisle and to look just at him rather than at the guests.
It made the moment really intense and made it feel as if it was just
him and me in the room."

 

"The reading we chose was 'What is love?', by Mark Coulson because we loved the words;

 'What
is love? To solve that riddle with just one answer is beyond me, for
love is many different and contradictory things. In the early stages
love is excitement and breathlessness, it is the ache of separation and
the comfort of togetherness, and it builds inexorably to that moment
when 'I' becomes 'we'. Later, if blessed, love becomes a stronger, less
transitory thing, a foundation for two lives lived as one. It is all
around us, there for the taking, yet to seek it out is futile. It cannot
be bought or stolen or given. It cannot be avoided or denied. Love is
the beautiful, wonderful, mysterious mortar that binds two souls
together and I first heard its voice on the day I met you. It has been
with me every moment since. This is what love is.'

We also had 'Guess how much I love you', by Sam McBratney – my friend Zoe chose
this to read for us. Although it’s a little bit of a different reading
it such a lovely sentiment and Zoe bought us a beautiful copy of the
book to keep as a reminder

"We had a brilliant acoustic guitarist called Aaron Norton
play during the ceremony and on the drinks reception on the beach. I’d
seen him play at a friend’s wedding a few years ago and knew he’d fit in
with the laid back feel of the day. He was absolutely brilliant and
lugged his amp up the sands dunes, powered by a car battery!"

"When it came to our favourite parts of the day, firstly, I have to choose the ceremony as it was so much more intimate and emotional that we had imagined  it would be.  Secondly,
the drinks reception on the beach. It was always a risk having a beach
wedding in October and the morning of the wedding it was windy and
raining. By 11am it had cleared into the most beautiful sunny day and we
were able to enjoy a few hours drinking cosmopolitan cocktails and
beers on the beach – it was just magic.

Finally, the speeches as I had planned a surprise for Andrew –
as some of Andrew’s friends and family from South Africa were unable to
make the wedding I got them to record video messages that I then edited
together and played as a surprise for him after I’d done a short speech.
The venue provided a projector and a sheet to project on. It was a
complete surprise to him and one of my favourite parts of the day was
seeing his face when it was playing. All his friends and family had made
such an effort with their messages and everyone else really enjoyed
watching them."

"Our first dance track was 'We belong together' by Richie Valens.
Andrew loves music from the 50s and we listened to lots of different
tracks but the words from this track felt just right."

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

"Do as much as you can as you go along. The last 2 weeks will always be
manic, no matter how prepared you are, but it really helped that we had
done a lot of stuff as we went along so it didn’t feel too overwhelming
in the weeks just before the wedding. 

Everyone says it but
the day will go past in a flash so try and take a little time out with
just the two of you. Andrew and I snuck off to our room at one point and
gave each other our wedding presents and a bit of time together. Also,
don’t feel guilty if you don’t get to talk to everyone (which you
probably won’t) as people don’t mind!"

Although there are
certain traditions that you think you should do, stop and think about
them and only do the ones that you really want to do. We didn’t cut a
cake, throw my bouquet or stay separately the night before but we did
have a first dance and speeches. We just did what we wanted to and what
felt right and were lucky that our families were as relaxed as we were.

The only other thing is, I would have left myself more time to get ready as we completely
ran out of time and it became rather hectic towards the end and I was
15 minutes late!"

What a gorgeous set of images – huge thanks Nabeel for so kindly sharing them with our readers.  By the way guys and gals, you can see more from Nabeel on Love My Dress right here.  You can also see more from The Vintage Wedding Dress Company and if beach and seaside wedding are your thing, go here and here.

I had my own 'not too far from the sea' wedding in March 2009, one of the most beautiful and memorable days of my life. Is anyone else planning their seaside nuptials?  Or hoping to walk down the aisle in a gown from The Vintage Wedding Dress Company? I'd love to hear from you if so.

Congratulations Sally and Andrew, your wedding is so beautiful and inspirational and I hope you are both enjoying your first few months as Mr and Mrs.

With much love,

Annabel

Photographer – Nabeel Khan
Venue – Gallivant Hotel in Camber Sands, East Sussex
Wedding Planner/Stylist – Natalie Lowe, Weddings Co-ordinator at the the Gallivant Hotel
Wedding Dress -  Charlie Brear
Wedding Veil – Mirror Mirror
Brides Shoes – Rachel Simpson from Bridal Rouge Gallery
Bride's accessories – Earrings from NotOnTheHighStreet.com + fur jacket from Biba at House of Fraser + aquamarine necklace (family heirloom)   
Grooms Suit – Hugo Boss + Tie Rack tie + Thomas Pink Shirt
Bridesmaids Dresses – Warehouse + shoes from Marks and Spencer and Dorothy Perkins
Flowergirl Dresses -  Monsoon 
Florist – Cafe Des fleurs
Cake Designer – Friends and family
Favours – bags filled with fish and chip
sweets (bags via Amazon, sweets from Sweets 'n Candy)
Entertainment – Aaron Norton (acoustic guitarist)
Catering Company – Gallivant Hotel
Flower girl’s bracelets were pearl bracelets from Hurley Burley Junior on NotOnTheHighStreet.com
Bridesmaid’s bracelets silver and suede friendship bracelets from Lisa Angel on NotOnTheHighStreet.com
Bridesmaid's flower hair accessories from Cafe Des fleurs