Message In A Bottle Proposal
Victoria & Johnny: We first met 10 years ago at a surf competition on Porthmeor beach in St.Ives. Johnny was competing and I was photographing the event. He walked up to me after his heat and we started talking. The proposal was complete surprise. It happened on Christmas eve in the same spot where we first met on Porthmeor beach.
We were walking along the shoreline on the beach and I found an old glass corked bottle and picked it up. I then noticed it had a rolled up piece of paper in it. I started to get quite excited at this point, thinking that I’d found a really old message in a bottle! As I started to read it I soon realised it was meant for me! Johnny then dropped onto one knee and held out a beautiful engagement ring.
The Photography & Film
We hired the extremely talented
Ben Selway. I always knew if we were to ever get married that I’d ask Ben to take our wedding photos. There was never going to be anyone else. Ben is also a surf photographer and has been on many a surf trip with Johnny. So they knew each other already and therefore I knew johnny would feel comfortable with ben doing the photos. Being a wedding photographer myself, I’ve always admired Ben's work and love his creative and unique style.
The film was something we weren’t going to have but turned out to be one of the best things we booked. I love looking back at our wedding highlight film, I’ve watched it so many times!
Coastal Wedding Venue
We wanted our day to be completely private. Prussia Cove gave us both stunning views and total seclusion. The only people to share our day were the people we wanted there. It was the only venue we looked at as we knew nothing else could compare. I’d walked past it many times on the coastal footpath so knew it was there, and I heard that they held weddings so we went to view it and fell completely in love with everything about it. It’s located in a secluded private cove, perched above the rocks by the sea. The house itself is quirky and beautiful with so much character and charm. It’s not what you’d call fancy or luxurious! It’s old and retains it's original furniture and features. There is no TV, no internet or phone signal – but this is everything we loved about it – it was just perfect for us!
The Bride
I found dress shopping quite difficult, as I’d seen so many wedding dresses before at all the weddings I have previously photographed! I knew I wanted something a bit different and as soon as I saw all the gold tassles and the beautiful details I knew it was the one. I was asked ‘what do you want people to think when they see you walk down the aisle’. I just said that I don’t really mind what they think. As long as I loved it and felt like Johnny would love it too then that’s all that mattered. It has ¾ sleeved ecru striped Cluny lace sleeves and has a v-neckline with a sweet lace insets. There is an open back framed by delicate lace fringes and gold Guipure dangles which create a beautiful movement as you walk.
My mum and sister bought me a pair of gold Moroccan slippers to wear in the morning.
I wore a long veil with gold accents on the trim. A gold headpiece, vintage opal earing’s that Johnny bought me, an opal necklace of my mums and a gold opal bangle which was my Nanas. I wore a gold kimono for some of the photos. In the evening I wore my mums vintage fur coat for photos.
Yellow Bridesmaids Dresses
My bridesmaids dresses were from H&M. I knew I wanted mustard yellow as that colour always reminds me of spring in Cornwall. High heels and formal dresses just wouldn’t of fitted in with the venue and isn’t my style. So all the girls wore different brown boots and kimonos. They also had flower head wreaths too.