Josh & Melissa’s East Quay Seaside Wedding

We chose to get married at the East Quay Venue in Whitstable. We instantly fell in love with its beautiful coastal setting and relaxed, intimate feel. We knew that we wanted a beach wedding in our home county. We wanted to make the most of our beautiful, local surroundings and celebrate with all of our friends and family. EQV was exactly what we were looking for (and more).
We wanted to keep our theme relaxed and ‘beachy’ and decorated our venue with lots of shells, candles and sand! It was also really important for us to incorporate our musical influences (as we are both musicians), our tables were named after our favourite bands and we even had an open mic and a band made up of our friends! It was amazing.

Which flowers did you choose?

We chose to fill the venue with Gypsophila and ‘Love in The Mist’ (Nigella damascena). We loved the undone look of the flowers and thought they complimented the venue’s style beautifully (thank you to the bride’s aunt and uncle for sourcing the flowers and bringing them all the way from Hampshire).The bridesmaid’s bouquets were a mixture of gypsophila and some pretty pink and blue flowers from a neighbour’s garden!

The bridal bouquet had a mixture of peonies, roses and flowers with a rustic feel (thank you to the bride’s sister for making the bouquets).

Which style was the brides dress?

I (bride) chose some gorgeous Catherine Deane bridal separates, as I wanted the freedom to change the look later in the day.
For the ceremony I had a bespoke embroidery-on-tulle topper made. It was important for me to have a more formal option for the ceremony and then a more relaxed style through the day into the evening in keeping with the style of the venue and of our day.
In the evening I had some beautiful vintage lace added to my top, which really meant a lot to me, as it was a family heirloom. By chance, the lace also perfectly matched the lace in my shoes, bonus! I also wore the Jenny Packham Opaline belt, which perfectly matched our beach theme and picked up the blues in the colour scheme beautifully.

How did you have your hair/make up and why?

I wore my hair in a very natural, undone style with loose curls topped off with a shell headpiece, which I bought from etsy, again to fit with our wedding theme. I also did my own makeup (a great excuse to buy loads of new products) and kept it very natural.

Which colour did the groomsmen/ bridesmaids wear?

Our best men all wore mix-matched navy blue suits with blue/blush coloured ties and our best girls all wore ice blue dresses. We were very happy with how well all the colours went together on the day. Everyone looked really smart and beautiful.

How did you feel that the day went as a whole?

The day was absolutely incredible. We both felt like it couldn’t have gone any better. The staff at the venue were brilliant, extremely helpful and accommodating. It all just went so fast, we had the time of our lives and we can honestly say it was the greatest day ever.

Some personal highlights included the two of us singing on stage with our wedding band made up of some great friends, seeing the co-ordinated bride & best girls dance routines. Seeing our friends perform at our open mic. I (bride) loved the impromptu performance with my dad playing guitar and all the times I couldn’t help getting up onto the stage and singing!

Our cake was so beautifully made by the groom’s Grandma, she worked so hard and we couldn’t have wished for anything better – she also did a great job on our stationary! We also had some delicious vegan cupcakes made by the bride’s big sister (they are her speciality) and everyone loved them – yum.

The wedding speeches went really well. And the ceremony itself was really lovely. I (bride) was really thankful to include my Nan in as much of the day as possible. She sadly passed away in 2014 and we were incredibly close (I needed her there with me). I had a brooch specially made with her picture in it that I fastened onto my bouquet and kept with me for most of the day. I was also incredibly grateful to be given her wedding ring that I now wear as my own – it means everything to me.
We are so thankful to all of our friends and family who helped us so much to create the best day; we had a lot of help and will be eternally grateful.

Being surrounded by all our friends and family to celebrate our special day in a venue with as much character and beauty as the East Quay is something we will always look back on fondly for years to come.