The Margate beach is a truly unusual setting for a unique wedding ceremony. As a beach wedding photographer, I had the chance to capture D+L’s special day in this fantastic location.

Old time beach glamour

Margate is one of those few UK beach resorts that retains the character of its Victorian beach days. I wandered through streets of grand terraced housing to the promenade. The lido drew me towards the beach where I met the groom’s party creating their very own wedding venue. Near an abandoned concrete padding pool, the team laid out a single arc of chairs in the sand with simple flags to create the aisle. At the front, the best man set up the jug and the bowl ready for the ceremony.

The salt ceremony

The bride arrived along the beach in a stunning gold dress to the sound of a strings duo. I captured the moment that the couple met in front of a cluster of fun-loving guests and then the ceremony began. With so many guests standing together, it was fun to find the gaps to photograph the main event. The focus point was the salt ceremony with the bride offering a bowl of salt to the guests and the groom encouraging them to combine the salt in his jug of water.

Salt is a symbol of good luck and preservation in many societies, so the combination of salt and water signifies the unity of the couple. With the salt and water combined, they ran to the sea to share their vows with the world.

An unusual reception

As a beach wedding photographer, I know it’s a good wedding when my shoes are full of sand from chasing the bride through a 50-pair human tunnel! The unusual events didn’t stop there. Half way through the reception, a pair of penny farthing riders split the crowd. It was great capturing photos of the children enjoying this fantastic surprise. Throughout the reception, Double Bass Dan kept the guests – and the Margate day-trippers – lively with fun live music. We were lucky with the weather so the sun was still shining on the sea for the couple shots.

The promenade parade onwards

I ran up to the high promenade to capture the full group photograph on the beach. Then the guests grabbed a flag and paraded to the wedding breakfast. The couple are expert foodies so the meal was exquisite and personally selected. Then the speeches followed. I love to capture the emotional responses that everyone has to the family’s unique stories.

A beautiful evening for beach photography

En route to the Walpole Bay Hotel for the evening celebration, it was the perfect time for evening couple shots by the Margate lido. The best time for beach wedding photography is the golden hour. We were lucky with the weather on this couple’s day so we had great light on the water. D+L were a great couple to photograph. There was no complaint about taking off their shoes and splashing in the lido water for their shots!

Without too much delay, the happy couple arrived at the evening reception and prepared for an evening of dancing!