Sarah & Ian

Sarah and Ian both arrived in Bermuda the same week in 2005. Ian is from South Africa while Sarah from Canada and the two met through work. They became friends right away and not long after that, the chemistry was obvious and soon enough, they were dating. Five years after meeting, Ian proposed one Sunday afternoon overlooking the South Shore at Chaplin Bay. They spent the rest of the afternoon on Skype calling friends and family overseas and that night, they met up with a group of friends to celebrate. It was perfect. They have adored living in Bermuda and also traveling the world together over the last six years and their wedding was the perfect start to many years of marital bliss.

Sarah found the dress in a small shop in her hometown in Canada. She and her mum went in over Christmas not thinking they'd find anything because it was their first time out and she had no idea what she wanted. 40 minutes later, they emerged with the elegant strapless Alfred Sung creation. Sarah also stumbled upon an "after party" dress while on a girls' shopping weekend in New York. Apparently, Amsale has a whole line of after party dresses called "Little White Dress".

The bride's fabulously colourful and sparkly shoes were Kate Spade.

I have photographed Sarah once before when she and a group of her friends wanted to commemorate their friendship with a shoot. All the girls wore jewel tones or rich pinks, purples and blues and so it was fun to see the colours again at her wedding. Love a girl who knows what she loves. Sarah had actually seen a pink and navy wedding on the Style Me Pretty blog shortly after they were engaged and she loved it. She adored the bright pink and the navy offset. Ian let his beloved run with all the aesthetic details of the day and she really got into it.

Both the wedding bands as well as Sarah's engagement ring were all from Tiffany's.

Sarah had seen these robes on the Style Me Pretty wedding blog and thought they were so cute. The kimonos are hand made by women in California and they were ordered off Etsy from the Plum Pretty Sugar shop. The bride gave them to each of her maids as a gift, along with the pearl earrings they wore on the day.

Shortly after Sarah and Ian were engaged, her brother gave her the most thoughtful gift for the wedding. There were three elements to the gift. For Sarah's something borrowed, he gave her a bottle of her grandmother's perfume, Chanel No 5, which her Nana wore virtually every day of her life. Also from her grandmother was her something old which was a cross which the bride tied to her bouquet. For her something blue, he gave her a little key charm from Tiffany's, which she also tied to her bouquet, though her sweet knickers were also blue! he decided that she had the something new covered what with all her dresses, veils and shoes!

The flowers were created by Marguerite at Petals and were one of the bride's favourite details on the day.
Sarah's mum adores birdcage veils (well, all veils really) and so does Sarah. They day they bought the wedding dress, they got a little carried away and were giddy with excitement. They loved the veils so much that they bought two - the long one for the ceremony and the birdcage for later on. At the time, Sarah didn't even have her second party dress to change into, but after they bought the birdcage, they decided she simply had to have one! So they basically got the adorable party dress to go with the veil and not the other way around.

I was very excited by this hanger. My sister has given both my kids picture frames with their names made in the same way. Sarah's friend Melissa, who was a bridesmaid, gave this to the bride as a present at her bridal shower. She had had it made by someone she had found on Etsy. Melissa was so excited about it that she emailed to tell Sarah about it before the bride even had a chance to open the gift.

Anna at Newstead Belmont Hills did all of the bridesmaids' hair. The bride and her maids and family also prepared for the big day at the hotel and so it was a dreamy spot to take the early photos.

Hello beautiful - I later saw Aphrodite, the make up artist, and the two of us couldn't stop swooning over this gorgeous bride!

Ian looked super dapper on the day in his Hugo Boss tux, as did his groomsmen with their pink ties from Ted Baker.

I loved how Sarah and her father arrived at the ceremony by horse and carriage - adds that element of old world glam that is so special to Bermuda.

Judging by the number of cameras aimed at the bride and her father walking down the aisle, looks like they won't be short of photos from that angle so I was thankful to have opted to shoot them from behind and capture Ian's face as his beautiful bride approached.

Ian and Sarah knew they wanted to get married overlooking a beach. Since they live near Elbow Beach and have always loved it there, it seemed like a natural choice to tie the knot. They also wanted to make sure that they found a place where the party could go on until late! The Lido complex has lots of great options and Adnana,the coordinator, was excellent to work with.

I always like to try to squeeze in one formal shot of the couple - even though they are not as creative as I like to shoot, they are always appreciated by previous generations and I always try to remind myself of that.

Since the couple had so many guests from overseas at the wedding, they wanted to offer classic Bermuda drinks for the cocktail hour. The faves were Bermuda Rum Swizzles and Dark 'n' Stormies. The stir sticks said "ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE" which was also played during the ceremony by Christopher Darryl & Co. The cocktails were perhaps a little strong, for as the day wore on, the bridesmaids were asking for more "swivels"!

Is this wedding party a fun crowd or what - loved them!

Ian's mum had made all the place cards. She is very talented in painting and ceramics. She used a ceramic mold and then painted each one and added the individual names. They were wrapped up and carefully brought to Bermuda all the way from South Africa. Along the pink and navy theme, Sarah had rented the tablecloths from Especially For You, and her mum had brought the pretty pink napkins from Canada. Sarah added the peacock feathers to the table settings as well as to her bridesmaids' bouquets.

The centre pieces were submerged pink orchids and Sarah loved how they were a modern take on a traditional floral arrangement.

The cake was created by the pastry chef at Lido. It was of course supposed to be nave and pink, but not sure how easy a colour that is to get so a little off from the rest of the colours but still fun and gorgeous.

Sea Breeze was a great choice for the reception because it has that indoor / outdoor aspect so even if it rain, there are still sea views, but there is no worry of having to move since the roof can retract to cover the room if a shower comes.The food is delicious and they were able to book the Deep for the after-party so that their friends could dance the night away until 2am - it was the perfect place to get married.

Ian chose their first dance song. It was "You And Me" by Lifehouse. Ian said the son had always reminded him of Sarah and was very popular in 2005 when they first met. They both love to dance but had no idea how to go about a formal first dance at their wedding, so they took lessons with Laurie Marshall. Poor Sarah had completely underestimated how tricky it would be to dance with all those layers of her long dress so the didn't exactly make it through the whole dance, but the parts they did do were such fun and so well choreographed and a joy to watch.

Ian and Sarah - I hope these images capture how much your wedding was a magical dreamy fairytale for you. You were blessed to have so many friends and family fly in from all over Canada, South Africa, New York, London and Dublin. I can imagine how special it was for you having everyone together in Bermuda. Such a wonderful combination of the friends you have made here on the Island over the last few years together with loved ones from far away. I loved capturing so many emotional parts of your day, from the arrival in the horse and carriage with your father to your first dance to your tears when you danced with your father. Your brother as MC was hilarious and personable and there were lots of laughter and tears during speeches. The weather was gorgeous, as are the two of you and I felt honoured to have been a part of it. Thank you so much and happy days to come xxx