Quirky Seaside Whitstable Lobster Shack Wedding - Whimsical...

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WWW readers Jackie and Paul tied the knot on the 25 ^th October 2014 in beautiful Whitstable, Kent. Somewhere I must admit I have never visited but is on my must visit list. Jackie and Paul are currently renovating their home there so it was the obvious choice for their nuptials.

Their venue the Lobster Shack has a quirky cool vibe, with rustic furniture and the perfect seaside setting. Jackie made the amazing wedding cake, there was a juke box to get the party started and pretty Chrysanthemums took pride of place in the decor.

I can't believe Jackie's divine dress was a high street find at bargain price, she looked stunning.

Huge thanks to Babb Photo for providing the awesome imagery.

THE PROPOSAL | It was just after Christmas 2013, we had spent the holiday apart and travelled back to our home. We always waited to open presents until that evening and my last parcel was a beautiful handmade Perspex ring with my nickname engraved. I wasn't sure if it was a proposal at first! We then choose a beautiful ring together in Hatton Garden a week later.

THE VISION | Nothing too flash or too big or too drawn out, just a nice celebration. We decided to have it in Whitstable where we own and are renovating a house that we will be moving into full-time this year. We both wanted the same vision - it was easy, which always helps.

THE PLANNING PROCESS | Organising events is a big part of my job so I wasn't too fazed and decided we wanted to do as much ourselves as we could. Once the venue was booked (there was really only one place in Whitstable we wanted so we didn't have to trawl around lots of places) and they agreed we could bring our own wine, food and decorations and get married n the mezzanine level, we just got on with it. Paul handled all the invitations and graphics as he's an illustrator by trade and I did most other things. I developed a terrible habit with Amazon as it was fantastic at finding all the decorations and odds and bobs like the sweets, sparklers, disco lights and squeezy tomato ketchup holders!

BUDGET | We set a rough budget of 10k and didn't overspend. We just wanted to have a special day with nice food and wine. Cars, long honeymoons and lots of entertainment weren't important to us. We also only had 60 guests for the whole day, which felt big enough. I work in the wine trade so could buy great wine at a great price, which saved lots. I wanted to do all the catering but came to realise this wasn't possible so the venue did the fish and chips main course (in boxes!) and I did the canapés, puddings and cakes. We also got a great local tapas restaurant to supply the platter starters that were delicious.

THE VENUE | The Lobster Shack is a great venue right on the beach at the end of Whitstable Harbour. We knew it was a good fish restaurant and when we found out it had a licence, the decision was made. We love the "realness" of the space, lots of brick walls and wooden floors, huge windows, doors to the beach, a log burning stove and the mezzanine space for the ceremony. No theme for the venue dressing, just lots of white lights, candles, white bunting and balloons. We only had 3 hours to get the space decorated and sort the catering but we just about did it with the help of friends and family.

THE DRESS & ACCESSORIES | A Ben Di Lisi Debenhams dress bought in the sale for £110 from £450 and I couldn't fit into it for many months but I loved the texture and lightness of the dress. Sparkly heels from Next with a pair of flats for dancing and walking on the beach also. I bought a pair of silver earrings in Eygpt on holiday and Paul bought me a bracelet. An antique art deco style hair clip was really a bracelet pinned into my hair by Vicki Lord. It took 2 hours to do and I had about 80 pins in my head! A hybrid Mohawk/ chignon, it was the one real "statement" for the whole look. Lucy Jayne Makeup did a superb job, it felt light but didn't move all day. I didn't want hair and make-up at first but when we decided we did want a photographer I had second thoughts that I'd do a good enough job on myself.... no regrets booking Vicki or Lucy.

FINDING THE DRESS | I was terrified about looking for a dress. I knew I wanted to lose weight and so scared myself into starting by visiting all the shops and stores on Oxford Street one day in January. I ended up seeing and buying my dress and using that as my goal. I got into it 6 weeks before the wedding through lots of hard work and it was the kick I needed to do it. Hopefully it'll be too big for me soon! I do regret not having a big "trying on" session but I couldn't face it. Perhaps I would have found a dress that suited my shape me better but I bought the dress I liked the design of, whether it was right for me, I'm not sure - but I'm pleased I got to wear it.

GROOM'S ATTIRE | Paul bought a Paul Smith French Navy, two piece, single breasted fine wool suit fitted for him. In fact, they kitted him out head to toe - tie, socks, everything! A perfectly fitting suit is money well spent. He looked so smart and he said he felt great in it.

THE READINGS & MUSIC | The ceremony was short on purpose. And we choose late afternoon to get married so the day didn't drag and people could get ready in their hotels beforehand. Paul's old uni friend's 14 year old son did a brilliant job reading the "what are you going to do with your life" passage from David Nichol's One Day - not too slushy. I read Roger McGough's "A Vow" which was funny and emotional too, the only time I nearly cried.

I walked into an orchestral version of Ice Dance from the Edward Scissorhands soundtrack, my favourite film. I had to listen to it a million times to desensitise myself to it! The playlist before I came in and during the signing of the register was upbeat and fun, we walked out to Feelin Groovy by Simon and Garfunkel.

We hired a jukebox for the evening so people could choose their own song to dance to, though we did have a poor excuse of a first dance to The Beatles Got To Get You Into My Life. Second song was Love Is In The Air! Most successful juke box track was MegaBlast!

THE FLOWERS | Very simple as it suited the venue, just tin pots of pretty white Chrysanthemums and a few vases of white roses on the bar/ desk. My beautiful but striking Chrysanthemum bouquet was from Jane Greener in Whitstable. The Bola de Ora variety had lovely tight structured cream blooms that matched the texture of my dress, but not too "girly". It lasted 10 days!

THE CAKE | I'm a keen baker and having had some professional training and made wedding cakes for friends in the past, I always wanted to make my own. We stuck with the subtle seaside "story" and had a simple off white three tier cake with lots of hand made metallic lustred sugar moulded shells and starfish to separate the layers. I found some miniature deckchairs to go on top, which was perfect for a cute but non-cheesy "topper". It was traditional fruitcake and also chocolate fudge cake. We served it late in the evening alongside the cheese boards and sweetie table.

YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER | Laura Babb was great. We'd seen her banner on WWW and liked her portfolio; they had the right feel to the pictures for us. No-one else was really in the running. A meeting confirmed our choice and she was very easy to deal with through the entire process. The portrait photos only took about 25 mins and were enjoyable, I thought I'd hate that bit the most but we are so pleased those moments were captured, they are the only thing left now the day is over! Highly recommend her, we LOVE our photos.

THE DETAILS & DÉCOR | The devil was in the detail and what made it special to us, so we worked hard on thinking about what kind of a day our guests would have. Lots of food, and drink on hand, not too much waiting around and little formality was important to us. Info on Whitstable, brunch the next day, hidden quotes and tags on the table to surprise people, rugs for on the beach, toys for the children - consider every aspect of your day to others and it will bring you so much joy through making them happy.

THE HONEYMOON | We had an extra night on the Sunday at in The Marine, our hotel in Whitstable which was lovely to enjoy once we were by ourselves. We then went to Canterbury and stayed in the Abode for a night then onto Ashdown Park for a night on the way home... lovely, but we were so happy to get back and have a home cooked meal and open our cards and presents!

MEMORABLE MOMENTS | As everyone says "it goes by in a blur" and it does! I loved greeting everyone as they came down stairs straight after the ceremony. I also loved seeing everyone enjoying themselves and the whole day come to life after 10 months planning... and of course getting married!

ADVICE FOR OTHER COUPLES | Have the day you both make to have.

Don't make plans that are weather dependent, though we were super lucky and had a gorgeous bright day.

Think about what's really important to you - food? Décor? Entertainment?

If you have lots of the prep to do yourself, leave enough time to do it properly and get lots of help, dressing a venue takes longer than you might think!

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE |

Photography | Babb Photo

Hair | Vicki Lord

Makeup | Lucy Jayne

Bouquet | Graham Greener

Suit | Paul Smith

Dress | Debenhams

Wine | Domaine Faiveley, Romos Pinto, Mud House, Meerlust, Roederer Estate

Juke Box | Juke Box Hire

Venue | East Quay Venue

Hotel | Marine Whitstable

Crckery, linen, etc | 1st Setting