Steve & Rachel’s Vintage Seaside Wedding in St Ives

How they meet/ The proposal

We knew each other’s friends growing up but we never met until I returned from traveling America. It was 30th December 2000 and we were in a local pub. We still disagree on who chatted who up! After nine and a half years (and a son) later Steve proposed on my 30th birthday. A trail of presents throughout the day (in the house, at the hairdressers) led to a small box, which I assumed were earrings. We were all ready to go out for a meal and he proposed at home – which was great as we could both relax and enjoy the evening. He had arranged a private room in a restaurant for the next day to tell our families. They thought that they were there for my birthday celebrations!

The Dress

I only went to one bridal shop and after trying three dresses on, I tried to convince myself that I had found ‘the one’ but I knew I hadn’t and had a year to look so I waited. We went to St Ives in September (exactly a year before the big day) and wondered into Beaten Green, St Andrews Street. There was a single wedding dress in there which had been laid out across an antique bed. My friend, Sue told the guys to carry on and I tried it on. It fit me perfectly and I bought it there and then. I have since contacted Beaten Green http://www.beatengreen.co.uk/ with photos of the day and they were delighted to hear all about it – they don’t sell wedding dresses so it was fate. We got married yards away from the shop I bought my dress.

The Ceremony / Reception

We got married in St Ia’s – St Ives’ Parish Church. We came down for Easter and The Royal wedding to live in the Parish. We probably spend a month a year in St Ives so it was a great excuse to come to this beautiful place for another holiday! The service was amazing. Father Andrew made us feel so relaxed and the Hayle and St Ives Community Choir did such a fantastic job, we chose to keep the wedding small and only had 40 guests (including 8 children) so it took the pressure off the guests to perform! After the ceremony, we wondered through the busy cobbled streets of St Ives to Porthmeor beach – a fantastic location for the photos and a quiet setting for our guests to enjoy a cheeky glass of champagne. We chose The Loft http://www.theloftrestaurantandterrace.co.uk/ for our reception and what a great choice that was. Louise, Tony and the team made the entire day and night so relaxed, intimate and unforgettable. Every guest commented on the high standard of food and selection of drinks on offer. Nothing was too much trouble! Raze the Roof came to DJ for us – we wanted to source everything locally (even down to the contents of the favours, which we hand made). The DJs were spot on with the playlist! When our son, Finley actually let someone else on the dance floor, it was packed all night. People ask if we would change anything and the only one thing would have been to hire Kiss Photography http://www.kissphotography.co.uk/ for the evening as well as the day. They did such a great job and would have captured the shenanigans of the evening for us to laugh about for years to come!!

The Theme

We started off by talking about the flowers -Steve is a florist for www.urbandesignflowers.co.ukThis is usually one of the last things that people book but it was so important for us to get the look and feel agreed between us before we even started talking about the smaller details. We had lots (and lots) of discussions about a vintage seaside theme and how we could get this to work with the wow factor of the flowers! Steve would have had me wearing a dress made of flowers if I hadn’t steered him in, I am sure. We knew we wanted antique pink roses, driftwood, white bunting, butterflies and the rest sort of naturally fitted. We also wanted to source as much as possible from St Ives (and other seaside locations) – Steve always wanted to buy his suit from Gresham Blake in Brighton. It cost more than my dress but it was worth it! He is still doing the washing up every night to make up for it!