Our wedding felt a lot like a house party only in a house that we all wished we could live in!
How awesome is that?
Kate and Kaz gathered their closest friends and family (lots of them flying all the way from Australia) to a converted barn in beautiful, blustery Cornwall for a relaxed, intimate and outrageously fun celebration.
Their wedding was filled with colour, love and eclectic touches. Think mismatched bridesmaids in jewel tones, a performance from a world champion harmonica player (Kaz's mum), origami swans swimming along the dinner table, a beautiful bride in wellies, knitted cake toppers and a horse's head. (Not a real one, Godfather style – that would be weird.)
Thanks to Brett Symes Photography for sharing these wonderfully emotive photos with us – you can feel the love and happiness in each one.
Wedding Style & Vibe
Kaz and I knew we wanted a small, chilled wedding with just our closest friends and family. Living in Australia means we don’t spend as much time with everyone as we would like and this was a great chance to get everyone together. We also knew we wanted it to be in Cornwall, a special place to us both. With those things in mind we started looking for a venue suitable for 30 guests which could also accommodate our families and the bridal party for a few nights. We’d decided to get legally married in Perth before flying home to have a humanist wedding so were not tied to looking at licensed venues.
We didn’t really have a theme, instead just went for a bright, colourful and cheery look to the day with a mix of my favourite colours.
The Venue
We found everything we’d ever and never even known we’d wanted in Tregulland, it is such a beautiful and special place set in a lush Cornish valley on the edge of Bodmin, perfectly set up for relaxing, it even has a swimming pool and a hot tub! Tregulland were able to provide us with recommendations for a caterer and photographer and everything else fell into place once that was booked. We didn’t start out with a theme, I just wanted it to be colourful and cheerful, but the mismatched style of Tregulland suited our wedding to a T.
The Attire
My bridesmaids all helped to choose their own dresses in 3 different colours, the groomsmen wore their own grey suits and we had an eclectic mix of flowers in shades to compliment the bridesmaid dresses and my own green accessories. While planning it from Australia I wasn’t sure if all the colours and styles would even work together, but thankfully I think they did.
The Ceremony
Kevin Murphy our humanist celebrant helped us to create a ceremony personal to us, and Kaz’s mum Miyoko played the harmonica, as she is the 2002 Harmonica world champion, that was a real treat. Reading #1 Bob Marley – He’s not perfect and #2 A Lovely Love Story by Edward Monkton.
The Reception
Our wedding reception was like a dinner party, we all sat at one long table and the food provided by Cornish Delicacies was fantastic. Instead of having a band or a DJ we asked each of our guests to select 3 songs with their RSVP which we used to create a dinner and party iPod playlist, we also put them on disc for our wedding favours and place names. After dinner we retired to the sunroom for some dancing, our wedding felt a lot like a house party only in a house that we all wished we could live in!
Decor & Details
The venue was already pretty gorgeous so we didn’t have to do much; our florist did some table arrangements in a mix of glass and china, we put out some origami cranes, and I made a table runner using paper doilies, we also put up fairy lights and used LED candles in paper lantern bags all purchased from amazon.
We used a funny photo of each guest for our table plan and I personalised a crocheted Totoro (Japanese cartoon character) bride and groom to go on top of our simple wedding cake. Kaz (the clever old stick) made all of our invites and orders of the day himself and created a lovely tree diagram showing when and how we had met all of our guests. We also had a horse’s head mask, just because. I know it’s a cliché but it really was the best day of our lives and I’d love to have a wedding reunion at Tregulland in a few years’ time.
The Flowers
Alison at Flower Scene did a super job of creating exactly the kind of bouquets and arrangements I had in mind, using a mixture of Ranunculus, Spray roses, , Phlox, Craspedia, Tanacetumm, Dahlia's and Chrysanthemum's.
The Refreshments
Our drinks were, Pimms, lashings of Cornish real ale, and wine. For dinner guests ate risotto or avocado and crab cocktail, steak or sea bass and for dessert Chocolate Mousse Cake or Fresh Fruit Pavlova. Later in the evening we had bacon sandwiches and Cornish pasties.
The Photography
Brett was recommended to us by Tregulland, and we couldn’t have found anyone better, he is amazingly talented and a lovely chap to boot! Brett our photographer who we met via a quick Skype chat before the wedding is so talented and we were very fortunate in that as he already knew Tregulland, had some good ideas for where to take some shots. His photos are beautiful.
The Music
Bride entered to “One Love” by Bob Marley, “This is the One” by the Stone Roses played out after the “I do’s” Our first dance was “Stand by Me” by Ben E. King.
Tips and Advice for Other Couples
Take a step back and remember that at the heart of it all it really is just about the two of you celebrating your commitment, as long as you have the people you love with you and good food and drink then how can it not be amazing?
I have to echo Kate's fantastic advice, a party with all your favourite people in the world sounds pretty awesome to me! So remember, don't sweat the small stuff.
Thanks so much to Kate and Kaz for sharing your special day, I hope you're loving newly married life!
