Older Wiser Married – From Kelly and Paul at Paul Joseph Photography

For those of you who are regular readers of the blog you will know all about the Older Wiser Married feature. The idea of the feature is for couples who are married to share with you their wedding story and experiences and also the things they would do differently if they could go back and do it again. We also focus on the positives and the things they think really worked, what they have learnt and how their marriage has changed their reparations.

Last time Penny and Martin from Tino & Pip Photography talked us through her wedding day and the highs and the lows. Today it is the turn of my good friends Kelly and Paul at Paul Joseph Photography

Name – Kelly and Paul
Name of company – Paul Joseph Photography
Date of wedding – 10^th October 2008
Location of wedding and venue – Almond Morgan Bay Hotel, St Lucia (Now St James’s Morgan Bay resort) 
Number of guests – 23
How long did it take to plan – 1 year

We picked to get married abroad to cut out all the fuss of a wedding.  The thought of top tables, bridesmaids, ushers, table plans, presents….well, it pretty much scared us.  We just wanted an intimate wedding and knew that only our closest family and friends would be able to join us.  The wedding was very laid back.  We got married at 2pm and there were no plans.  We chilled out in the afternoon by the bar with our family and spent a lot of time together alone.  We all ate together in the evening in the hotel restaurant overlooking the sea.

Best Decision

The weather

Family and friends

Spending a lot of time alone together

Paul’s linen suit

First dance just after sunset on the beach.

Getting married over looking the Caribbean sea.

The steel pan band. 

Having both my dad and step dad walking me up the aisle.

The Rings

The weather.
We were pretty much guaranteed to have sunshine on our wedding day due to the location.

Family and friends
What better way to celebrate your marriage than having your closest friends and family at your wedding.

Spending a lot of time alone together on the day.

Paul’s linen suit.
It was so light and cool. Definitely recommend anyone who gets married abroad to wear linen

First dance just after sunset on the beach.
It was very romantic-Not like us at all!

Getting married on the pier over looking the Caribbean sea.

The steel pan band.
Totally awesome. They wore the coolest, funkiest shirts and played lots of Caribbean beats for us on the pier just after we got married.

Having both my dad and step dad walking me up the aisle.
Both have played a major part in my life and how on earth would I have picked?

The Rings – We bought matching rings.
They are really different and we still love them so much. We always get compliments about how lovely they are. We didn’t originally go out to buy the same rings. So pleased that we did

What would you change

Hair and make-up.

Photography

Getting married in England

The dress

Flowers

The Vicar

Shoes

The location

Hair and make up
I used an onsite hair and make up artist and well,they were terrible. My hair had fallen out even before I got to the pier

Photography
The photographer we chose was perfect for us how we were back in 2008. We have both definitely changed so much and would agree the budget would now be blown on the photographer. Only one Mexican man would fit the bill.

Getting married in England
Again the location was perfect for us in 2008 but what we know now about weddings and our experiences we would get married in a registry office and have an outdoor blessing in the UK a few days after the official part.

The dress
I loved the shop that I bought the dress from and I loved the designer but looking back I think a lovely tea dress length would have been perfect.

Flowers
We had a choice from the hotel book out of 3 bouquets and 3 buttonholes. We hated every one of them. I think what we really should have done was source a flower shop before we travelled out there and discussed what we really wanted or Paul could have made them (he’s a cool dude like that)

The vicar
He was so miserable. We were getting married! It should be a time when everyone is happy!

Shoes
What idiot wears heels to walk up a pier? That would be me then. I had to take them off just before I got to Paul.

The location
When we picked the hotel to stay in and get married we chose it in part for its affordability for our guests. In hindsight we would have stayed in a more exclusive hotel.

In Hindsight what would you spend more on and what would you save on

The photographer-This would be the first thing we would book. Even before the venue. Photography would be the most important part for us so we would definitely have spent most of the budget in this area.
Shoes-I wouldn’t wear any. I spent over £100 on shoes that I took a maximum of 30 steps in. Then the day after Paul spilt all his Cola on them and ruined them.

What you learnt from your wedding day

That we would do it totally different now. We have discovered so much about ourselves in the last 5 years that it wouldn’t be us to do the same again. We have also learnt that when you get married you should plan for yourselves mainly and not everyone else.

Do you think marriage has changed things in your relationship?

No. Nothing really seemed to change between us. We just gained a ring and had the same name. We had been together 8 years before we got married so pretty much knew that nothing would change. Just how we wanted it.

How your wedding business came about?

Paul bought his first SLR camera to take out to St.Lucia to get some nice pictures while we were there. Paul is the kind of person to buy something and ‘mess’. Just what he did on holiday and we came back with some really lovely pictures. Then our little princess Fearne arrived. Paul took pictures of me in labour and one of Fearne when she was just a few minutes old and he took pictures of her all the time. These all went on facebook for friends and family to see. Friends started to ask Paul to take pictures of their children which he did and it went for there when we received our first wedding enquiry. The wedding was awesome, our pictures were pretty awesome too even if we do say so and it managed to get featured on this very blog!

www.pauljosephphotography.co.uk
http://pauljosephphotography.co.uk/blog/
FACEBOOK
Paul on Twitter
Kelly on Twitter

Thanks so much to Kelly and Paul for sharing their wedding story with us all, doesn’t all that sand and sea make you want to jet off on holiday!  Are you married,  Do you think about what you would do differently? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

If you are a wedding supplier or bride who would like to get involved in this new feature then please get in contact I’d love to hear from you. [email protected]