Kerri and Katie knew they didn’t want a spectacle for their wedding. No themes, no overwhelming itinerary, no audience of distant cousins and plus-ones. Just them, two witnesses, and the Northumberland coastline stretched out behind the walls of Bamburgh Castle.

They live by the sea, so choosing a venue that sat above the shoreline was less about grandeur and more about feeling like home. “We knew we wanted a small intimate ceremony with our best friends and minimal details to worry about so we could have the focus of the day be us and our love for each other”, they said.

Music came from a pianist; Katie walked in to Running Up That Hill. They wrote their own vows and did not stretch the ceremony out longer than it needed to be. As soon as they were pronounced married, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun played, and the mood instantly lifted from emotional to joyful.

After photos around the castle, they changed outfits and walked down to the sea. Kerri swapped into a black dress and they waded into the water without hesitation. “Being able to really have time with each other after the ceremony and be present in the moment was so important to us”, they said. Their photographer, Emily of Bailey and Mitchell Photography stepped into the sea with them, getting some truly iconic shots.

The reception that evening was quiet. Their two witnesses had decorated the car that drove them to dinner. One of their best people, Fay, wrote a speech that made everyone cry. Then they went to bed early. The party came the next day, when the wider circle joined and they could share the joy without sacrificing the intimacy they had protected.

Their biggest cost was their dresses, both of which came from Wed2Be. They chose them carefully and altered both to include pockets. They also bought secondary dresses specifically to get wet and sandy in. They skipped flowers and décor entirely, except a dried flower bouquet.

“We chose each other to marry and spend the rest of our lives with, and that’s what we wanted the focus of our wedding day to be about,” they explained. “If we could change any wedding ‘rule’ it would be that you need to have everybody in the room where it happens. We got so much joy from having such a private ceremony and the celebration we had the next day was fabulous. We loved celebrating with our friends and family but having them separate was perfect for us.”