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It is easy to see why Kellie and Serg chose this venue for their wedding in Rum Point, this gorgeous private home was absolutely perfect. Their family and friends from all over the world arrived to this beach home in the Cayman Islands as Kellie watched from a window above as her beautiful wedding unfolded before her.
Venue: Private Home in Rum Point
Planner: Juliette Heath – Five Star Events
Makeup: Kirk Freeport
Hair: Mel – Spa to Go
Food: Kirk Market (Hors d’oeuvres/dessert) Mango Tree (dinner) Roti Shop (trinidad necessities)
Cassava Cake: Gran Gran (Sallie Hislop)
Rum Punch: Serg and Family
Canopy/Beautiful Signs: Martinne Knight (family friend)
Set up: AI Rentals/Massive
Cake: Chantal Incledon
Premarital Counseling: Yvette Bloomfield
Flowers: Kirk Market
Steel Pan: Olujimi Lapierre
Coconut Water: Carson the fireman
Wine: The Tasting Room
Lighting: Milton
Photography: Rebecca Davidson Photography/Marisa Paradis Photography
They first met in the Cayman Islands on Friday, April 27th 2012 at a carnival wet fete. Considering their shared love of soca music, it was not an unusual place for them to meet. It was Serginho’s (Serg’s) first trip to the island to visit one of his closest college roommates, Ian Lindo. Kellie, at the time was working for a few months in Cayman in between her undergraduate and Master’s degree. Not even a few hours after he had landed in the tropics, Jodie Ricketts, a friend of Kellie’s who had previously met Serg, introduced them to each other upon arrival at the wet fete. For those who KNOW Serg, they will tell you not to be fooled by his very calm and collective nature, for he loves to party, particularly when Soca music is playing. Needless to say, Kellie never saw Serg for the rest of the night they met. Two days later on April 29th, 2012. Kellie was hosting a birthday party at Rum Point for Jodie, on Ryan’s boat. And of course, there was Serg sitting on the boat eagerly anticipating his very first trip to rum point as Kellie arrived at the boat. It was a day filled with sun, sea, fun and rum. Oblivious to Kellie, Serg never left Kellie’s side the entire day. In retrospect, there wasn’t a single photo that day that Serg wasn’t either beside Kellie or somewhere in the backdrop only a few feet away. A story, they now laugh about today! Loyal to his friend and the game of football, Serg never took the journey back on the boat with everyone, and instead took the drive from Rum Point to George Town to watch his friend’s football game. He did, however, make sure before he left to solidify plans for Kellie to join them at a local bar, “Roof-top” after the game was finished. However, after a full day on the seas, Kellie retreated to an early night to recharge batteries for work the next morning. Nearing midnight, Kellie awoke that night to many missed calls and text messages from her friends, but little did she know Serg had borrowed their phones in attempt to convince her to join them at the bar. Serg, feeling slightly embarrassed at his desperate measures to see Kellie when he awoke the next morning, suggested that he took her out to lunch before he left Cayman. Kellie made arrangements to take the day off on Serg’s last day, and to this day, they both agree that day or “first date” as they now refer to it as was one of their most memorable. It was a wonderful day spent at the turtle farm, drinking rum punch at Royal Palms, strolls on the beach, complete with a trip to Singh’s Roti shop for goat roti and Carib beer (which was obviously how Kellie won him over!). Being together came so naturally and Serg certainly knew how to make Kellie laugh without effort. Their day was so much fun that they even tried to go to the airport at 9pm to extend his stay, although the airport was already closed! Neither of them knew what was to come out of their connection, but they would message, skype, send packages, hand written letters, postcards to each other non-stop. MANY, and I stress MANY flights and endless hours of telephone calls, they have managed to build a strong relationship despite distance and can’t wait to finally be together in the same place (forever).
No place like home 🙂
The entire week before, and the whole day of the wedding were consistently incredible. The events we planned each day (beach parties, dinners, boat trips, new years on the beach) during the week before the wedding allowed our 50+ overseas guests from more than 15 countries and all stages of our lives in a number of countries to get to know each other and our local friends and family, which just made the wedding day so much more special! We also had incredible help finishing up the wedding preparations from our wonderful friends who were so eager to help, which made it all stress free, and even fun in fact! Waking up the day of the wedding was like a small kid waking up on Christmas day. The night before the wedding was spent watching bridesmaids (favourite movie) and packing with my bridesmaids and friends all on my bed, while Serg and his family danced to music downstairs while preparing the rum punch for the wedding. The excitement on the day helped me to forget about the fatigue I had from not being able to sleep! One of my best friends (Gerlin) and I woke up extra early and went out for a coffee and chats as the last Saturday morning as a single lady (such a special morning) (and also running some minor errands)! The road trip up to North Side was filled we laughter and chatter, and the getting ready process was what every lady dreams of! Non-stop bubbles, my beautiful best friends in their matching floral robes, music, and SO MUCH EMOTION!! Given that I was filled with so much emotion in the days leading up to the wedding, I completely surprised myself at how composed I was, and only cracked when Serg’s VERY BEAUTIFULLY written letter and gift arrived. eeekkkkkk. Seeing my hair, makeup, and beautiful bridesmaids all come together like a perfect puzzle was overwhelming. Getting in to my dress was the last piece of the puzzle – I felt beautiful, and SO HAPPY! The first look was breath taking, as all our bridesmaids and groomsmen watched from the balcony. As I walked out onto the dock, Serg’s back faced to me and looking out to sea – I called his name for him to turn around. He said, “say it louder.” I called, “Sergy” again. He said, “I can’t hear you.” so I shouted his name, and then he turned around, and as he held me tight, he began to cry. I felt like the most beautiful girl in the world! Our photo shoot was so much fun and we were in great hands which took the nerves away and allowed us to be, well, US! The day was spent with Sandy feet, just like we like to spend our time together (and as our last name suggests). Walking down the aisle, mom one side, dad the other – incredible incredible moment. The vows, eek, broke down again!! We’d written our own and put so much thought into them. There was so much meaning in them – got the best of me! The sand ceremony was meaningful to us – we took sand from Maracas beach in Trinidad the year before (this might be illegal, lol), and from Seven mile beach where we got engaged. And well from there, the rest was just one incredibly giant and amazing party with our favourite people. Very laid back, great food, wine, drinks, music (steel pan music originating from Trinidad, the best DJ), and the atmosphere, weather, the sunset, the people were all so incredibly PERFECT!! I know we are biased in saying the day was perfect, but it honestly was one of those days that the people and the vibe they created just added the finishing touch, something that all the money in the world can’t buy! The ceremony was short and sweet, extremely emotional. The kiss – breath taking, of course! The bridal party photos as the sun went down – no shortage of laughter as there was no shortage of personalities around, and while we weren’t there for a significant part of the cocktail hour – the sweet sound of the steel pans resonated across the bay! Our entrance as The Sandy’s as everyone was seated for dinner, was full of energy, and sheer happiness! The first dance under the stars to Ed Sheran’s Thinking out loud was sung by our close friend Jeffrey Wilson, making it all the more special! Smashing the cake into Serg’s face was too much fun, and I really don’t think he minded as it was sooooooo unbelievably tasty!! Madagascar vanilla cake with fresh strawberry rum infused filling, and a butter cream-cheese icing – I’m still dreaming of it!!! While we are biased, the speeches had all 175 guests in stiches – two very different speeches, but equally fantastic and perfect!!! And well, after dinner, the dancefloor stayed packed all night long, to the fabulous tunes of DJ Lin who has a wonderful gift of reading the crowd. When Trinidad meets Cayman, meets the rest of the world, makes for some incredible vibes, great moves, and the right recipe to get the men’s shirts unbuttoned, and the ladies shoes off!! And just as everyone started to get hungry after lots of dancing, out came the beef patties and doubles!! I won’t tell you how many bottles of rum were consumed, but let’s just say, it was one heck of a party!!! We hear the boat ride back was entertaining to say the least, and the sparkler send off was the perfect end to a magical night.
Serg and Kellie are all about value for money. After a short “get to know us” session with Rebecca, she said we’d get more value if we took our photos before hand, and we wouldn’t be in a race with the sunset to get the photos we needed! It therefore didn’t take much convincing for us to do a first look. In fact, in the end, I found it that more special to do a first look with our closest friends watching from afar. Holding on to each other on the dock right after the first look was a hugely special and intimate moment that we’ll remember forever, and it took the edge off of walking down the aisle in front of everyone, yet didn’t take the emotional experience of the ceremony away at all.
Magical! Growing up amongst my closest friends who constantly talked about their dream weddings, venue, dress, the prince, the ring etc., I was always silent during these conversations, as it was never something on my radar. I was the girl who was too consumed by her textbooks, having fun with her friends and family, doing her community work and fulfilling her desire of traveling the world to even entertain the idea of getting married! Needless to say, when her Trinidadian prince charming came into her life unexpectedly, and asked her to spend her life with him a couple years later (when she least expected it), it was all a very new idea to her! After toying with the idea of eloping with a couple friends somewhere very far away, just getting it over with in vegas with a pretend Elvis at the alter, they finally decided that they wanted a special day to celebrate the start of a special marriage with their loved ones from near and far. Once we decided this, I quickly became the excited little girl that all her friends had been many years before, and so unbelievably excited about her marriage to Serginho,and of course the wedding! The key to a stress-free experience was a very capable, and amazing planner who kept everything under control, and was there for the bride and groom, way beyond what her job description says she will do! I can’t say enough about Juliette – she’s ever brides dream! So was a supportive husband, who was equally involved in the planning process, particularly the gatekeeper in cost control, and letting me know when my ideas were too extravagant for our modest budget. Pinterest was helpful too! But, I must say bridesmaids are the icing of the cake, and I could never thank them enough for all they’ve done, from the bridal shower to the bachelorette party, to the dress trips – yes, they even came back with me for the fittings! FOREVER THANKFUL TO BEST GIRLS IN THE WORLD! My husband and I jointly made the decision early on that we would pay for our wedding ourselves, so we knew we’d be involving lots of friends and family to cut costs, using non-traditional vendors, and doing as much of the work ourselves to save pennies. Yes, it was lots of work! But no, neither of us regret it, as we clearly got exactly the wedding we wanted, for a fairly affordable price!! The experience of planning the wedding, meeting with vendors, the pre-marital counseling, the cake tasting, and the wine tasting was all very fun, and a great way for us to learn lots about each other, and of course making joint decisions! I believe I can confidently say we made it through the process without turning into bridezilla or groomzilla! The most stressful part of it was finding places to put all our guests up, doing all the airport runs for those who couldn’t rent cars, and planning the daily events for us all! We survived, and it was everything we imagined, and we wouldn’t have changed a thing! The wedding was a great beginning, but the marriage is really the best part of it all!!
Be flexible, be open, go with the flow, but most importantly be yourselves! Like I did, you can spend many many hours saving Pinterest photos with help of your friends of shots you love and want to capture, but you can also run behind schedule and on Cayman time like we did (this is no surprise at all), and not have enough time to get all the shots! You just have to go with the flow and put trust in the photographer, just let go, and enjoy it all, rather than stress about the shots you don’t get to do!
The dress trip was in the July before the wedding! Mom, Bridesmaids (Tristanna and India), Brother (Jamie), and I set off for a fun-filled weekend (and we were met by Sister in Law and niece (also flower girl) in Miami)! India made all the appointments for dresses, which made it effortless for me – I just had to show up! The first was Alegria’s Brides on Miracle Mile, a small family owned boutique. Approaching the place, it looked slightly underwhelming, but it was entirely a hidden gem! The experience was special, the customer service was unrivaled, and there was no judgement passed for not being your typical size 2 bride! Not remotely knowing where to start, I asked the lady helping us to pick some dresses! She was young, and recently married, which made her all the more credible! The first dress looked like an explosion of lace onto what felt like a VERY heavy, restricting, and hot dress. However, I was pleasantly shocked at how it fit, as I really didn’t think I would like a figure hugging dress! As we moved on to our next few appointments, I quickly began to feel exhausted, hangry, and was comparing each and every one to the very first one I tried on, which I was pretty shocked at!! During happy hour on Miracle Mile, I had an epiphany that the very first dress I tried on was THE ONE (and believe me, that was after trying on MANY MANY dresses, some puffy and horrible, just for the sake of getting the full experience!) As the boutique was Jewish owned and not open on Saturday, we filled the Saturday with celebrations, casually going to a couple more boutiques, champagne, lots of champagne, shopping, to keep us busy until we could get back first thing on Sunday to try the very first dress on again! And there, many of my favourite people all around, as I put the dress on began to tear up, clap and scream, as we all agreed (without anything being said) that the very first “explosion of lace” that I tried on was CLEARLY the one!! After what was a painful purchase (these things are NOT cheap!), we made the appointment for the fitting in December after the dress would be made, and went to celebrate with brunch on South Beach in very corny matching bride, bridesmaids, brother of the bride, mother of the bride, and flower girl shirts! It was such a special weekend, with special people, laughter, lots of laughter, and food, before it all became real, and the wedding diet would need to begin! (hehe!)
It was so enjoyable, and effortless! It was such a pleasure to work with you Rebecca, as you were incredible at reading our emotions, knowing when to give us space, when to get close, and when we needed a break. We felt so comfortable throughout the entire day with you, and even though we had only met with you once together, and once on my own, I felt as if we’d known you for much longer!
Despite having a fairly large wedding party that is full of jokes, everyone was highly cooperative! (even the flower girls and ring bearer). The only thing I would have done differently would have been setting aside more time for bridal party photos, and possibly getting them shot in more than one location! That being said, I know there are still loads of fabulous ones, and Rebecca was fabulous at orchestrating everyone!
My best advice, which is probably weird, is to not over prepare!! You’ve chosen a great photographer, and you’re in great hands, so just relax, soak in every moment, and trust that they have the experience and skill to capture it! That being said, if there are special shots and props you want to use, make it known to your photographer, and be organised to have the props ready on the day, and make sure to stick to your “getting ready” schedule to make ample time! Assign a bridesmaid to water and lipstick duty – I never thought of this but a friend of mine (Marzeta) who wasn’t a bridesmaid quickly assumed this role, which was very helpful! Also, take some time for photos of just the bride and groom – it’s a special time that allows you to soak it all in, and share some very special moments in what can be a fairly overwhelming day. Also, if hubby sweats alot (like mine does), its very helpful to have a handkerchief handy!
Lots and lots and lots of Etsy!