A Delightful Cornish Seaside Celebration

Good morning wonderful, have you been up with the early birds? Thank you for stopping by this morning, we are so happy to welcome you back, and hello there if this is your first visit to Love My Dress! We hope you love your time here.

Becky, a PhD student and Tom, a TV Researcher and Production Assistant, decided they wanted to tie the knot with a Cornish coastline 'knees-up' style celebration at Cawsand, Maker with Rame in Cornwall, followed by a reception at The Devonport Inn.

The couple's wedding took place on 18th August this year, and their venue was chosen especially as it is where Becky’s dad’s side of the family is from, and where she spent most holidays as a child. Tom and I have had lovely holidays there too, so it was the only place we considered. It is an absolutely wonderful place.

"We wanted it to feel like a massive Cornish knees-up, and like a big family party to a certain degree. Our guiding feeling the whole way through planning was ‘how can we make this the best party we could ever host for our guests?’, especially given that many of our friends and family were travelling a long way to Cornwall.  We wanted the style to reflect the coastal countryside setting but we didn’t expressly follow a theme.   In terms of style I was quite into the kitsch wedding symbols – bells, doves, white – which are used in traditional Mexican papel picado, which are dentelle-like paper bunting made by hand using a chisel and hammer."

Photography Copyright (c) 2013, Sarah Falugo

"Tom and I were set up by friends. Tom proposed to me in Cayo Largo in Cuba where I was doing my PhD fieldwork. There were a series of minor glitches: the suitcase with the ring in got lost, and when the moment arrived I didn’t realise and was throwing a bit of a strop. Whoops. We were engaged for about 14/15 months before we got hitched."

"We got married at Rame church, which dates back to the 13th century, has no power or plumbing and is very significant to my side of the family – its candelabras were donated by my great-grandparents in memory of my paternal grandfather who was a Captain Lieutenant in the Navy who died in his 30s.

We continued our celebrations with a reception at the village hall in Cawsand with a later reception at The Devonport Inn just round the corner."

"My amazing mum made my dress and there was love in every stitch. She also made the 5 bridesmaid dresses! It was a big project to take on, given her full time teaching, job but she was so gracious about it and always maintained that it would be 100% what I wanted and that the finish would be indistinguishable from a shop bought dress. It was such a special dress.

I knew I wanted sleeves. So we pinged emails back and forth with different pictures until we found a Marchesa design which I loved. We used that as the inspiration, and she designed it from there, and sourced beautiful lace. The neckline, back and sleeves followed the pattern of the lace, with extra lace motifs hand-appliqued over the bodice and a blush-coloured tulle skirt. My mum worked so hard! Talk about a labour of love. She has done a few bespoke wedding dresses and can be contacted through her blog."

"The veil was also DIY – I couldn’t find anything quite right, and my Mum had got a cheap one off eBay to ‘play with’ when trying on the dress. In the end we customised that and used it – it was only worn for a couple of hours. She pinned the sides into rosettes on either side to create a cap style, and attached daisy trim. I loved that it was a bit ‘60’s.

Later I wore a floral crown by local florist Tamsin McBride at Rosemary Jane Flowers. (Frida Kahlo has always been my ultimate style reference)."

"The bridesmaids dresses were made with a soft white broderie-anglaise lace my Mum and I shopped for together, using a pattern we knew would be a nice style for all five girls. We worked on them together but my Mum did the lion’s share!

I made the flower circlets and barrettes worn by the bridemaids. All I can say is, most DIY wedding crafts are made easier with a hot glue gun. Buy one."

"Tamsin McBride at Rosemary Jane Flowers did our bridal bouquets, corsages and buttonholes, using september flowers, dahlias and cows parsley. She was so great, patiently and graciously dealing with the many photos I emailed to her. Finally the flowers in the hall (astrantia, guilder roses and soft ruscus) we bought wholesale and arranged the day before.

The church flowers were done by their lady – she was brilliant. The church was filled with Cornish stocks, roses and lots of lush green foliage and it looked and smelt incredible."

"Tom got his suit from Reiss, and his shoes from the Hugo Boss outlet at Cheshire Oaks. The staff were knowledgeable, attentive and not pushy. He doesn’t normally wear a suit and I could not get over how handsome he was.

Tom’s sister, Emily, gave Tom the most beautiful cufflinks which contained photos of their grandparents on their respective wedding days, from Etsy shop ‘PhotoJule’. They were so exquisitely made, and Emily said the producer, Julie, was really lovely and professional."

"We did all the wedding stationery ourselves. I did the chalkboard menus one night in front of the telly. We have been able to reuse them at another family wedding"

"The village hall did not cost much at all but needed a lot of beautifying. The papel picado (Mexican bunting) was custom-made in Mexico via Mexico Sugar Skull – a bit of an extravagance but they lifted the hall. We also borrowed gazebos for the outdoor area and bought white balloons to decorate.

All of the other décor bits we hand-made or put together: spray-painted jam jar vases, soft ruscus stapled around the edges of the room, hundreds of big paper flowers made from coffee filters, bunting featuring photos of our guests, wooden signs, a boat shaped ‘ice-bucket’ for the booze (which began life as a children’s sandpit), tag place-cards done by our friend Josie – we prepared lots in advance (which I would recommend), but got loads of help from friends and family the day before too. We couldn’t have done it without them.

The chairs were hired from Hire Class Plymouth."

"Richard McGeown at Couch’s Polperro catered our wedding lunch. So many guests raved about the food, which was fresh locally-sourced and totally delicious. There were big platters and bowls of food to share between the long tables, which worked really well: there was more than enough for our 145 guests (being hungry at a wedding is not fun), and having to pass the stuff and share was a good ice-breaker, I think.  The food was really, really good, and Richard’s staff were incredibly professional and unflappable.

The day before, when we were unable to dress the hall because half the tables had not been delivered they encouraged us to go to our rehearsal drinks, and then they set up a lot of it without any fuss – which was not their responsibility. I cannot recommend them highly enough.

All the booze was collected from supermarkets by my mother-in-law Joey well in advance – each time there was a wine deal!  We also bulk-bought the ingredients for a mojito reception which some of my friends very kindly helped to serve outside."

"Our friend, and my bridesmaid, Sophie, made our lemon-flavoured cake in the shape of a lighthouse as a wedding gift to us, managing to transport it from Leeds to Cornwall on an especially hot day. She had some help from another friend, Joanna. They are very talented – the cake was so delicious. I may or may not have slowly eaten the entire smallest tier during our mini-moon in Cornwall.

We didn’t do favours, exactly, spending the money on booze and other things instead, but collected little bells from charity shops for months and encouraged guests to take them home– now lots of our friends have them in their homes, which is great. They were rung enthusiastically during parts of the speeches and the reception, and as they were all different they added a bit of interest on the tables."

"How do I love our photographers, Sarah and Bear Falugo? Let me count the ways; the photos are beautiful and we just love them. Looking at the photos is like re-living all the major moments and tiny details of the day. Sarah happens to be from the area and knew exactly how to capture the best of it. They put in a really long day and were so lovely about it. They were so personable to our guests – a few even thought they were friends of ours from ages ago. Most of the groomsmen had a crush on Bear – I mean, understandably. They were so friendly and patient in the run-up, and regularly in contact.

Perhaps the best example is the fact that despite when Sarah turned up at our house on the morning of the wedding, and everyone was running ragged, wet towels on every chair-back and banister, forgotten cups of tea everywhere, I thought to myself how chaotic the photos would look as she was snapping away. Instead they look lovely – she worked some hefty magic. You should absolutely contact them to photograph your wedding, especially (but not only) if you’re getting married in the South West."

"My unspeakably talented twin brothers Nick and Luke Ogden of High Six Media made our beautiful wedding video. We have watched it so many times – it is exactly how we remembered the day. It was an incredible gift to us, as it is not their usual line of work, and we would not have been able to budget for a videographer otherwise."

"My shoes were Jimmy Choo's gold Lance sandals. A very extravagant gift from my parents. So dreamy. So expensive. So guilt-inducing. But I’ve worn them since!"

"I had gold ‘T’ initial earrings, a gift from my lovely friend Helen, and wore the gold charm bracelet my grandmother gave me which has beautiful nautical charms. It’s a very rare style and was given to her by my grandfather."

 

"My parents both walked me down the very narrow aisle to 'Moon River' played acoustically…which was tricky but just about worked!  My brothers best mate Joshua Flowers, my cousin Charlie and our friend Rosanna played for us as we walked in, as well as playing ‘Islands in the Stream’ by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers (with Tom’s sister Emily singing), and ‘Hearts and Bones’ by Paul Simon as we signed the register. That was such a highlight – they were incredible. Hearing the congregation join in, unprompted, with the last chorus of ‘Islands in the Steam’ in this tiny 13th century church was priceless and totally unexpected!

We had readings from Colossians 3 12-17, which talks about clothing oneself in compassion, humility and love, a poem called The Vow by Roger McGough and another reading from a children’s book called ‘I Like You’ by Sandol Stoddard. Our family friend Richard married us, and spoke very movingly and naturally about marriage through the metaphor of Scrabble!"

 

"We used our own family cars to get to the church – and then my uncle and his wife leant us his stunning blue MG to drive off from the church and had decorated it, which was a lovely surprise!"

 

My great-aunt arranged for her daughter’s string quartet, Two's Company String Duo, to play at the village hall and a family friend DJ'd for us in the evening – both as wedding gifts to us. It was amazing!"

"We were both dreading the first dance. In the end, because there wasn’t a big enough indoor space to do it at the evening reception venue – The Devonport pub – we danced outside in the street with Tom’s Dad, and our friends Josh, Charlie and Rosanna playing ‘Home’ by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. Because it’s an upbeat song we knew we could avoid the dreaded ‘stand-and-sway’ we were so nervous about.

The bridesmaid kazoo orchestra, organised by Tom’s sister Emily, was a surreal and hilarious touch. Having been so nervous about it, it ended up being one of our favourite moments of the day."

"My cousin Jack did fire-twirling on the beach – too gnarly for words. And we bought fireworks from a family friend who is a supplier, and set them off at nightfall."

"There are so many favourite moments from the day – the speeches were astounding; so moving, personal and funny. One of my personal favourite moments was quite an unexpected one – stopping to look across the pub where all of our mates and family were sweatily shacking out on the dance floor, having a great time, was one of the best feelings ever. Tom said he loved hanging out with his groomsmen in a boat on the beach too.

At the end of the night we left by boat, rowed by local fisherman Malcolm ‘Bumps’ Baker, and as we lost sight of everyone waving goodbye, the sea was still and it was completely silent, just a few lights from the other boats. Tom and I just stared at each other like, ‘did that really happen?!’. It felt almost cinematic – incredible."

Words of Wedded Wisdom…

"Let’s start with the random but practical: smear crunchy peanut butter onto jam jar labels to break down the glue (leave them for a minute) and exfoliate off the paper. Sounds mental, but 100 jam jars later, you’ll thank me.

My advice to other brides is – it’s never too early to start getting ready! I swam in the sea in the morning, skyped my friend in China, all very relaxed – but the hour before leaving was frantic. On reflection I could have done with a bit more time to get ready."

"Pinterest is useful, but maybe only 50% of the ideas work well/are feasible/affordable so don’t do your nut in trying to channel Martha Stewart weddings. It’s not like you can sacrifice your job/ friendships to do so anyway. You won’t remember the difference between having tiny drink flags or not having them after the wedding – trust me!

You can do a lot with a small budget, if you friends and family are as bloody brilliant and generous as ours. Just ask and most will graciously accept.   Lots of celebratory fizz throughout your engagement as well as sanctioned dates (where you’re forbidden to talk about the wedding) are good in the run up so you don’t lose sight of what it’s all about."

 

"Tom’s advice is to remember that the person you are marrying is the person you have loved for your entire relationship, not just on that day or in the run up to the wedding, *nervous laughter*.  My parents life mantra, which I think is relevant here is when it’s a one-off, special life event, get champagne, not prosecco. In other words, yes, be reasonable, but all out joyful when celebrating.

Weddings are expensive (for guests too), but the good feeling lasts for a long, long time. Life is short, and it can be sad and difficult at times so celebrate the good moments as decadently as you can afford. In other words, you only live once."

"The ‘B&T’ initials were made by my cousin Julz. We have them at home now!

Finally, it’s not wisdom, exactly, but something I hadn’t anticipated is how overwhelmed we would be by the feeling of love and positivity that we received from our friends and family on the day and around. Even strangers honked their cars, waved and wished us good luck. People were SO generous with their time, resources, talent, and stuff. You can’t panic too much about not having spent loads of time with everyone on the day as the love and appreciation you feel for all these people, who want the best for you both in your new married lives, is such that afterwards we felt very keen to reconnect with people we hadn’t seen in some time, and see even more of our closest friends. We found that the wedding boosted lots of those relationships, not just our own."

Such a lovely day – full of love, hugs, smiles and celebration, just what we like.

Huge thanks to photographer Sarah Falugo for sharing this beautiful wedding.  You can see more from Sarah Falugo on Love My Dress here – please also take a moment to visit Sarah's website

especially if you are looking for a wedding photographer in Cornwall.

Are you planning a seaside celebration?

Much love,

Annabel

Photographer – Sarah Falugo
Venue – Cawsand, Maker with Rame + The Devonport Inn, Cornwall
Brides Dress+ Veil – The bride's mum
Floral headpiece – Rosemary Jane Flowers
Brides Shoes – Lance (gold sandal) by Jimmy Choo
Groom – Suit via Reiss + cufflinks via Etsy shop ‘PhotoJule’
Bridesmaids – dresses & flower crowns made by the bride & her mum
Papel picado (Mexican bunting) – custome made via Mexico Sugar Skul
Entertainment – Two's Company String Duo
Rings – Erica and Edwards in Manchester
Catering Company - Richard McGeown at Couch’s Polperro
Chair Hire – Hire Class Plymouth

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