We have such a treat for you today! Owen Mathias has been his usual amazing self with Hollie and Owen’s seaside wedding. This wedding is perfect inspiration for all the brides wanting an laughter and emotion filled day.
It is impossible to pick just one moment, so I’m not going to! We enjoyed every minute and part of the day for different reasons; from the quiet calm of the morning getting ready with our closest family and friends, and the warmth and humour of our vicar which made the ceremony so special, to laughing so hard during the speeches, getting heckled by friends as we watched our old photo reel in the cinema, and of course dancing the night away with some impressive routines on display. 
I should say as a prelude to this answer that decisions are not my strong point. I went to four boutiques, three of which I visited twice, and must have tried on dozens of dresses in every imaginable style – long, short, slinky, floaty – from Great Gatsby to full-on Disney princess and everything in between. I loved the experience of trying on wedding dresses. The problem wasn’t finding a dress I liked; it was finding the dress that was right for me, and that would suit my personality and the style of our wedding.
I was too wrapped up in the myth that you’ll have that ‘moment’ when you find the right dress. Yes that happens for some people, but that wasn’t my experience. So in the end it was a much more practical decision for me – could I walk/sit/stand in the dress, was it comfortable, did it make me look short (I’m only 5ft 2”), and most importantly, could I dance in it!
I really liked the idea of having a dress that was made locally and finally narrowed my decision down to two dresses by Stephanie Allin Couture in Mumbles, Swansea. Strangely, the two dresses were called ‘Grace’ and ‘Kelly’. This in itself was a sign that I was on the right lines! Finally, with the help of my Mum a decision was made.
The whole look really came together when I had a hair and make up trial with Emma Kidby . Emma really understood what it was I wanted and helped to turn me into a classic Hollywood star for the day, I really did feel like Grace Kelly.
When I put my dress on on the morning of the wedding I knew it couldn’t ever have been any other dress for me. My final choice – ‘Kelly’ – was perfectly suited to me and my personality. I could quite happily have worn my dress for the entire honeymoon. In fact I’d still be in it now if it was considered suitable work wear! 
Hollie: Picking my bridesmaids was easy, I just chose my three shortest friends. That’s a joke obviously, the fact that they’re all under 5ft 3” is just a happy coincidence!
I met all three of my bridesmaids during my first week at Aberystwyth University. I didn’t have to go far to find Katie A, as she was allocated the room next door to mine. We helped each other through the late night essay writing sessions, the homesickness, the fashion disasters, and the epic hangovers. Katie’s hen do organising skills are second to none, which is obviously a very important attribute for a bridesmaid!
I met Charlie (my Chief Bridesmaid) and Katie W when we joined the same cheerleading team (yes, I know) at Freshers’ Fair. We were each looking for the same thing, a sports team that required no sporting ability whatsoever. We might not be cheerleaders anymore but I’ll always have these two on my team. 
We always knew that we wanted a wedding venue that was a little bit different but we hadn’t found anything that was quite right for us. Hollie is originally from Wigan, Lancashire, but we decided that we wanted to get married in south Wales as that’s where we’ve made our home. We moved to Penarth six years ago and absolutely love living here. We had followed the redevelopment of Penarth Pier Pavilion with interest but hadn’t even considered that having our reception there was a possibility. We found out by chance from a friend that they were accepting a limited number of bookings for the following year and were over the moon when we finally secured a date.
Penarth Pier Pavilion was just perfect for us in every way, and it was certainly original as far as venues go. It had the vintage feel we were after and even had its own cinema, which we used to show old pictures of everyone who was at the wedding. Luckily the rain that was forecast held off for most of the day and our guests could fully enjoy our fabulous seaside setting with a stroll along the pier.
The Pavilion staff were all fantastic and extremely organised, which meant we could just relax and get on with enjoying the day knowing that everything was completely in-hand. 
To put it simply, our photographer Owen Mathias was an absolute legend.
We knew Owen before we booked him but it was his style of photography that attracted us to booking him for our wedding. We didn’t want an album full of traditional posed wedding photos. Owen, and his assistant Aga, were all about the relaxed approach, catching people in the moment, allowing them to enjoy the day without the pressure of posing for photos. This fitted perfectly with our wedding theme.
To have a photographer there from start to finish was also a massive plus point for us. He started the day having a full English with the grooms party and was one of the last people to leave the wedding, even giving one of our friends a lift home!
Most of the time you didn’t even realise Owen was taking photos, but he was always there ready to catch the perfect shot, particularly on the dance floor. He was just like one of the guests and all our family and friends absolutely loved him! You know you’ve made the right choice when your guests are taking selfies with the photographer.
Owen is an amazing photographer with one hell of a beard, and just an all round top bloke. 
I’m not overly artistic. I have lots of great ideas, Pintrest helped with that, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. We were lucky that the Pavilion is such a striking venue so we could keep the décor, other than our fabulous flowers, quite minimal.
We did make a few things ourselves, but we decided to keep it simple. I also drafted in some of our more artistic (and patient) family members to help!
Our saving grace came in the form of Something Borrowed Vintage. We were able to hire vintage vases, suitcases and dozens of old books for the table centres and to dress the room, which meant that we didn’t need to trawl the vintage and charity shops ourselves. This saved so much time and I’d definitely encourage hiring décor if you don’t have time to make or source it yourself. 
Our first dance was to a mash-up of Elvis’ ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’ and ‘Ignition (Remix)’ by R Kelly.
I [Hollie] have been in love with Elvis since the age of four, when I watched the film Blue Hawaii with my Grandma. It would have been unthinkable not to have Elvis feature in our wedding in some way. Owen and I didn’t have ‘a song’ as such but if we did, ‘Ignition (Remix)’ would be it. We met at university and this song reminds us both of that time, and some great nights out at the student union.
We had already chosen The Velveteens as our wedding band and were confident they could pull this off. However, we did offer a back-up song choice if Elvis/R Kelly proved to be too much of a strange combination. We were so pleased when they came back to say they could do it and we were absolutely delighted with how it sounded on the day.
We only told one person about the Elvis/R Kelly mash-up, my bridesmaid Katie W. Everyone went crazy when ‘Ignition’ kicked in and the dance floor was full before the band had finished singing: ‘Now usually I don’t do this but uh….’. 
Do it your own way! There are no rules. The best advice I could give would be to not listen too much to other people’s advice. Plan the wedding that YOU want, not the wedding you think you should plan or that other people want.
Oh yes, and enjoy it – the build-up, the wedding, the honeymoon, everything! And try not to get too stressed out, it’s meant to be a happy time. You don’t want to look back and remember being stressed out the whole time. 
I’m sure we must have received some marriage advice but I can’t remember any of it now!
What was your favourite thing about planning a wedding?
The best thing about planning the wedding was spending time with family and friends. We arranged a couple of get-togethers in advance of the wedding, including a day at the races for the girls. Seeing our families and close friends getting to know each other in the lead up to the day was great.
We remember looking across the dance floor during the wedding party and seeing all of our cousins dancing together like they’d known each other for years. That was a lovely moment. 
The Suppliers
Photographer: Owen Mathias Photography
Ceremony Venue: St Augustine’s Church, Penarth
Reception Venue: Penarth Pier Pavilion
Bride’s Dress: Stephanie Allin Couture
Bride’s Shoes: Jimmy Choo
Bride’s Jewellery: Bracelet from Gill Clement in Mumbles
Groom’s Outfit: Reiss
Bridesmaid’s Dresses: E&W Couture
Bridesmaid’s Accessories: Bracelet from Gill Clement in Mumbles
Cake: Five Star Chef
Flowers: Sweet Peony Floral
Hair And Make Up: Emma Kidby Hair and Make Up
Band: The Velveteens
Caterers: Five Star Chef
Any Reception Decor/Props: Something Borrowed Vintage
Transport: Swansea Bus Museum
Other: Rings from Jonathan David Jewellers
The Wedding Album
