Meg and Dan's Perfect Thailand Beach Wedding by Nicola Casey Photography

Welcome along to another fabulous week on the blog. With December only a couple of days away, I hope you are all feeling suitably festive? How was the snow for you this weekend? Did you get much of an offering? We got SO much snow, our plans on Saturday completely changed due to the weather, as I’m sure most did. Sunday we managed to get to Chatsworth House for their Christmas event but had to leave early as it started snowing again, otherwise we would have got stuck in Derbyshire! If I’m honest I’m hoping the snow melts quickly or our building work will get behind and it won’t get done before Christmas! On with today’s wedding and Meg and Dan take us on a wonderful trip to Thailand with this delightful destination wedding that sees warm sunshine and golden sands! Just what we all need right now! A beautiful boho wedding, captured perfectly by Nicola Casey Photography

There is only one word to describe our day.…. PERFECT

Meg and Dan were married on 17^th August 2019 at Loyfa Beach Resort, Koh Phangan, Thailand. ‘We just love Thailand and Koh Phangan stole our hearts time and time again. We have had many family holidays before our wedding there and it was a unanimous decision that, that would be the place to promise our love to one another.’ We were very blessed to have had 52 guests attend our wedding, family and friends came from Canada, South Africa, England, and friends that we had made in Thailand. We were blown away to have had so many of our loved ones travel so far. It took just a little over a year to plan our wedding, but we would never have had such a perfect day without our wedding planner from Phangan Weddings.’

How they met
We met nearly 18 years ago in a pub in Cambridge (super classy) I had not been in the country for very long, 5 days in fact. A friend had invited me to their friends 21^st, I thought why not, and I am so grateful that I went. Running down the stairs to greet me was the one and only Dan (now hubby). We were friends for 6 months until finally we plucked up the courage and went on our first date. We have now been together for 17 years and have 3 gorgeous children! Bet he never saw that coming when we first met.

The proposal
Dan and I were working at a festival 9 years ago, and finally our shift was over, it was time to head over to watch one of the headliners when he stopped on a bridge called Writers Bridge at Latitude Festival, Elbow were playing “Beautiful Day” in the background. It is a beautiful bridge with live music and ballet dancers gliding like swans across the stage floating in the water. I was lost in the performance when our friends around me started to gasp, confused I turned around to make sure I was not missing out on whatever had caught their attention to see Dan on one knee (shaking). I said yes of course, after the shock had worn off.

How did you allocate your budget?
We didn’t really have a budget. Just as cheap as possible ha-ha. However, before you know if costs rack up. I think combining our wedding destination

Where did you splurge and where did you save?
We had originally planned to get married in England years before our actual wedding, but the prices were just too much for us. We really did not want to get married in a church or a hall, we wanted a wedding surrounded by nature. We held out for a few more years saving nonstop, then a great opportunity happened, Dan and his best friend started an online ecommerce sight that in no time generated enough for us to live comfortably and still have our dream wedding. The most important part of our budget had to be the venue, a definite must. With the flights, the venue, and the food our budget was fast disappearing. The only way to keep our dream venue was to make the décor myself. I love making things so that was never going to be a problem and it meant we could take out a flower budget with the wedding planner, the biggest issue would be getting all of it there. But we did it, thanks to all our friends and even Nicola our wedding photographer we got all the faux flower arrangements and Persian rugs over to the island.

How did you choose your photographer?
I love photographers that capture a moment, one that no one may see at the time, but when looking back at the images it takes you right back to that moment. The smell, the noise, the feeling, it all comes back to you in one image and Nicola Cassey Photography brings exactly that. I have always been a fan of her photography and knew I wanted her for my special day, I knew that she would capture ever moment so that I could relive our once in a life time day every time I looked at our photos.

The dress
My dress is a Maggie Sottero design, I really wanted a lace drop over the shoulders and thankfully a brilliant seamstress recommended by the bridal shop was available to help. There was one rule for our wedding…no shoes! I felt so comfortable all day.

The suit and bridesmaids
The bridesmaids wore dresses of dusky pink. The groom and his groomsmen all wore grey trousers with white shirts, grey braces with maroon bowties. The corsages the men wore were made by the bride and matched the colour of the bow ties.

Theme or colour scheme
Dusky pink, white and green. We wanted it to be natural earthy colours

Flowers
Faux Peonies with Eucalyptus and ferns. The bouquet was made by Megan, as were all the flower arrangements. The fact that they weren’t real flowers, meant that we got to keep them afterwards. In fact we actually reused some of the flowers for our Christmas wreath that year, which we put up every year.

Decoration
We were very minimalistic, bringing Persian rugs with us from the UK for guests to sit on, and having a wooden archway built that was decorated with macrame which was where we were married.

Food
We opted for a Thai buffet with loads of options for guests to choose what they wanted and how much they wanted. We had a couple of curry dishes, lots of prawns and skewered meats. Which was our idea of heaven – all our favourite foods!

Wedding cake
We chose not to have a traditional wedding cake. We were on a tropical island and finding a cake maker wasn’t an easy task. We had numerous deserts.

Entertainment
We hired a local DJ and partied on the beach until we could dance no more!

Where did you go on your honeymoon?
The great thing for us, was that we were already there! One of the most amazing things about our trip was that we got married towards the end of our time there. We have been to many weddings where you only know a few people. You party for one night and never speak to some of them again. In this occasion, our guests had two weeks together, whether it was lazing on the beach or parting in the woods together, they had the chance to make new friends and then have one big party together at the end.

Personal touches
Nearly all of it was done by us. We hired a wedding planner to make sure that all the elements were put together, but the decorations were all made by Megan.

Special moments
I think just the pure fact that so many of our friends and family took the effort to fly halfway around the world to spend our wedding day with us was the true highlight. We got to share one of our most favourite places in the world with people we love.

Advice for other couples
Don’t take it too seriously! Enjoy each step. If you worry too much about the little details (that most people wont notice) you will be distracted from enjoying the day. Have fun!

Biggest surprise
Due to varying reasons, none of Dan’s family could make the trip. Unbeknown to him, all of his family wrote letters which his friends stood up at random and read out in turn.