Wedding photography at Worthing Pier wedding

A Worthing Pier wedding and a special place for Sarah and Nathan. It was instrumental in them meeting and so was a clear choice for their wedding reception last Saturday. Being a November wedding, there was always the probability that the weather would not be kind – it wasn’t. But this couple and their guests just shrugged that off. Despite it being a dark, dank, damp sort of day. A grey weather day. When even the horizon had seamlessly merged between the slate-grey sea and sky. Despite all this, the wedding was full of warmth and smiles.

It began just up the road, where Sarah got ready. A friend was on hand to help with her hair. Her sisters and Nathan’s daughter as bridesmaids as well and their young son, Dylan, being perfectly behaved, by being asleep as this all happened.

A short hop away to St George’s church, where Nathan was waiting in the drizzle. Ready for the wedding ceremony, with a choir that seemed to have half of Worthing’s population in it.

(Vicars…I probably shouldn’t grumble, as this vicar did let me photograph the ceremony and the actual signing of the register. Once he’d asked me if I had photographed a wedding before?! Then he said that I mustn’t be seen – thereby in conflict with the natural laws of physics somewhat. But in his long speech before letting Sarah and her father walk down the aisle, he announced that Sarah and Nathan would walk back down the aisle at the end of the ceremony and all the guests were to remain in the church as they would come back in the side for the pictures in the church. What? Was he now doing the photos too? The plan was for them to come back into the church so that the guests could leave, form a posse with the confetti outside and then Sarah and Nathan could walk back out – all nice and smooth. Avoiding a bottleneck of a receiving line, etc… The first spanner in the works from the vicar – it all went wrong…

The second came at the end. He assembled the wedding party ready to walk down the aisle and then announced it was all for the ‘benefit of the photographer and videographer’ ??? He then proceeded to walk all the way down the aisle, just in front of the couple, blocking any image. I have never seen this before!!! ……………… Really, why? )

Sunny Worthing (?)

Anyway, back to the wedding….past the sign for “Sunny Worthing!” and onto the pier by bus or on foot. Actually for the final stretch, for the bride and groom at least, by tuck tuk. Just! It struggled with the wet surface on the pier. On the pier, a little girl out with her family said she saw a ‘princess’ as Sarah walked towards her. Onto the reception in the recently renovated Art Deco Southern pavilion. (Grade II listed, it has undergone a five-month complete refurbishment programme.) Once a nightclub where Sarah would hang out with her mates, it is now a café and wedding venue right at the end of the pier. On a sunny day, this must be flooded with light, with windows all facing the sea but it wasn’t a sunny day! Still, it’s a lovely space for a wedding reception and so much better than many a top hotel. It is unique and has character, as well as history. (Judging by the meal, the food is good there too!)

After the meal, the speeches touched all the bases – corny jokes, laughter, tears, memories, even some poignant history thrown in. The pavilion then (partially) became a nightclub again as the music started (Dylan by now was asleep at home).

A Worthing Pier wedding with lots of warmth on a damp winter’s day by the seaside! Here are a few images from the day…