Destination Wedding; Lorna and Chris's Beach Wedding in Kenya

Lorna and Chris Spencer  7th September 2012 Nyali Beach Mombasa Kenya  Wedding Reception Leeds UK
A wedding on the beach in the gorgeous sunshine sounds amazing right?  That's exactly what Lorna & Chris Spencer did for their big day!

Lorna and Chris decided to have their wedding in Kenya and their wedding reception in Leeds, UK. Lorna told me  'We decided to get married abroad as I'm originally from Leeds and hubby is from Durham where we now live. We looked logistically where we would get married. I have lived and travelled across the world so Leeds didn't feel particularly significant and neither did durham as majority of guests would be travelling from Leeds and would have children etc. Chris doesn't have much family and my parents have both been married 3 times so a traditional wedding didn't feel right with roles and responsibilities, trying to make sure everyone was included and no one had special treatment/involvement etc. We decided to just go away somewhere we have both wanted to go and have the wedding we dreamed if rather than what was expected and what was traditional.'   Very sensibly Lorna and Christ used a wedding co-ordinator to help them plan the wedding and booked the ceremony & reception via Thomas Cook. This meant they could relax and not have to spend hours chasing up invoices & suppliers!  

She then told me how they went about planning a destination wedding 'It could have been difficult organizing the wedding as we arranged it from Durham, had wedding in Kenya and reception in Leeds. We didn't have any worries with Leeds reception because my mum was able to act on my behalf with suppliers when I was in Durham and we had a wedding coordinator who dealt with our plans for our Kenyan ceremony and reception. I also did LOTS of research before booking anything so knew what was expected and what I wanted and needed to do. I feel like we got the best of both worlds because we got married in a relaxed environment, enjoyed every second and didn't worry about big crowd, saying the wrong words, falling over etc. when we came home for our UK reception we were so happy that we were finally married that we enjoyed every second from start to finish. I think we probably enjoyed it more because we had chance to reflect from the ceremony and Kenyan reception and played DVD for our guests. It was like doing it twice. Telling everyone stories and sharing the memories over and over again.'

A theme with Lorna and Chris's wedding was the personal DIY touches and as Lorna is a very crafty person she preferred to hand-make things herself! She also found making them herself gave her the freedom of getting exactly what she wanted and she enjoyed the trial and errors of deciding.  She now has bits and pieces from her wedding dotted around her and Chris's home, 2 candle center pieces in their bathroom and kitchen! 

I just HAD to ask about their wedding cake, I fell in love at first sight! 'Our cake was a custom made design by ADC cakes in Leeds. We discussed exactly what we wanted, took samples of the ribbon and material we were using for invitations and throughout the wedding. Ashleigh who made our cake was amazing!! Couldn't have asked for anything better. I had always wanted a rainbow cake because I LOVE rainbows and bright colors (hence the yellow wedding) lol - it was a brilliant surprise to all our guests when we cut our cake. Exactly the reaction I wanted -everyone loved how it looked and even more how good it tasted!'

Wedding Details
Couples Names; Lorna & Chris Spencer Wedding Date; 7th September 2012 Reception Date; 22nd September 2012 Locations; Nyali Beach Mombasa, Kenya & Corn Mill Lodge Leeds, UK. Photographer; Renson A Adoyo, Kenya & Darius Nowak, UK Transport; Camel, Kenya & Vintage VW Beetle, UK. Flowers;  Locaal Supplier, Kenya & DIY flowers brought via Country Baskets Flower Wholesaler, UK Decorations; DIY by Bride & family I'd like to say a massive thank you to Lorna and Chris for sharing their gorgeous wedding with me! I fell head over heels in love with so many details of this wedding!