Creative wedding, couple & family reportage photography covering Cornwall, London, UK and overseas
Last month we had the pleasure of covering Elodie & Vianney’s magical wedding in France. It’ll be a while until I’m finished with processing all the pictures, but I couldn’t resist giving Elodie a little sneak peek of one of my favourite images from the day. Check out Elodie’s blog for her thoughts on the day, and possible further sneaky peeks!
If there was one wedding I had been waiting for impatiently for absolutely ages, it had to be Rebecca & Andi’s Cornwall wedding! Most people know that I’m a huge fan of Cornwall, and try to get down there as often as I can, so when Becks contacted me over a year ago about covering what she described as ‘party of a lifetime’ down in Cornwall I jumped at the chance! I can’t quite believe that the party is now over – but the memories of this most awesome wedding ever will remain with me forever.
Becks and the girls got ready at The Watergate Bay Hotel, which sits on one of the most beautiful beaches ever. Lil and Bridie at Kelly Anza, Penzance did a beautiful job on their hair, and makeup artist Suzi Winter made sure that everyone looked pretty as can be. Becks’ beautiful Temperley dress and Manolo Blahnik heels created such a lovely nostalgic look, and her Royst and Aran headdress really set the whole look off. The colour theme at this wedding was baby blue and red, and the gorgeous customised bridesmaids’ dresses from Anoushka G and red (burlesque!) shoes from Bordello fit so well into it.
The ceremony took place at the Chapel of the Franciscan Monastery of Lanherne in St Mawgan in Pydar, where only a couple of weddings in a year are allowed. Guests travelled to the reception at Bre Pen Farm in fantastic 1950’s coaches from King Harry Coaches, while the wedding party arrived in iconic wedding VWs from Cornwall VW Wedding Hire. The party itself was held in a marquee on a cliff top overlooking the sea, which was absolutely one of the most amazing places I’ve ever had the pleasure of attending a wedding at! Here’s what Becks told me about her vision for the wedding:
‘I collected all the jam jars and glassware myself and it was all inspired by “The Darling Buds of May”, but also we wanted it to reflect festivals (wellies) and our Northern/Greek/Cornish connections. It was a big-ish wedding, but I wanted everyone to feel like they got looked after and almost like they received a “hug” from all of the little details! The gingham tablecloths and bunting were made by my mum and the vintage lace tablecloths and vintage china were sourced by me and friends from charity shops and flea markets! The strawberry plants were grown for the occasion by a friend.’
‘The flowers (George Mackay Flowers) were so important to me and we even used apples (to reflect the origin of my name ‘Crabtree’) and olive branches for Andi’s Cypriot roots. We wanted it to reflect two people joining together. The rest were seasonal, mainly native and used to create a “just picked” feel.’
‘Another aspect of the day that was important was that we wanted to show how we don’t take ourselves too seriously and had quite ironic touches such as naming the tables after some of the worst nightclubs we’ve frequented over the years (as we met in our teens in a BAD nightclub) and giving everyone kebabs later in the evening to soak up the booze!’
‘The food (catering by Round Kitchen) was, again, slightly retro and ironic in theme and we went for old-fashioned desserts like trifle and black forest gateau.’
I think that’s more than enough for the introduction, let’s get to the pictures and relive this incredible party. Enjoy!
I’d like to thank Rebecca and Andi for taking us with you on this incredible ride, it was an unforgettable day!
Also a huge thank you to Susanna, as always, and to Maz from Light and Day Photography, who came along to assist and to be ‘on call’ in case my ankle couldn’t take the long day up on a hill.
Where do I start! Rose & Brendan’s garden tea party wedding at the Larmer Tree Gardens in Dorset really was a pretty special affair. I don’t think my words could ever do it justice (hence I take photos), so I’ll borrow some words from the bride herself – this is how she described her theme for the wedding: ‘I’m a sucker for tradition, but I love tiny personal details. For the day I wanted to create a real inside outside feel – like a vintage 1940s tea dance that has come through time and ended up in a garden – so everything’s a little distressed from the elements but still beautiful.’
Rose and the bridesmaids got ready at the gorgeous Launceston Farm, which really set the mood for the day from the start. Rose’s dress and veil were from Pronovias Bond Street, her shoes were Louboutin and her lovely little bag was a last minute buy from Monsoon Bridal.
One thing that made this wedding feel very special, was the fact that the whole wedding party was just 14 people in total (Brendan lost his best man as he had to be onboard his Navy ship on the day of the wedding as the queen was visiting). It really felt exceptional to be a part of such an intimate party, and it made for a beautifully relaxed day – the often normal ‘stresses’ of a wedding day seemed far away. I still can’t get over how beautiful all the carefully selected details looked. Here’s what Rose told me about them: ‘I collected a lot of mercury glass as it looks like formal interior decorative items that have been left outside – silver glass that has been worn away with sun and rain. They came from places such as Niki Jones, Cox & Cox, Graham & Green, and from antique shops.’
‘The candelabras were from eBay and all our cut glass vases, candle sticks, bowls and ornaments were all vintage/charity shop finds. There are some fantastic charity shops in Devon and Cornwall where you can find the best things for a bargain. Woodside is probably the all time best where most of the things came from.’
‘I used all country garden based flowers that were in season, very unstructured – no “floristry” as such, just flowers in pots and vases. I ordered all our flowers through our local market Petals Florists and we made our bouquets and buttonholes ourselves the night before the wedding. My mum did all the vases at the venue for us in the morning before the wedding.’
I should mention that Rose is a designer and she made all the table cloths and linens, and designed and made all the beautiful stationery herself (Rose’s website). ‘I tried to keep all the stationary formal in style as I really like formality, but like the contradiction that it was a garden party event,’ she said. I think that in itself sums up the feel of this wedding.
Thank you so much Rose and Brendan for letting us share your stunning and intimate wedding day, we really felt privileged! Thank you also to Susanna (whom I really should thank at the end of most weddings, as she’s quickly become my ‘right hand woman’), without whom I probably couldn’t have covered this wedding as it was the first one after injuring my ankle.
I have to start packing for tomorrow’s wedding now, but I can’t wait to finish editing Rose & Brendan’s beautiful Dorset garden wedding on my return, so that I can show you more images. Everything about this wedding was prettiness turned to the max!
It’s been a bit of a traumatic week so far, as on Monday, on my way to a engagement session, I fell down some stairs that gave way due to rust and tore the ligaments in my ankle. Ouch doesn’t quite cover it! It’s been a busy week rescheduling things and arranging for cover and extra help for upcoming events. Fingers crossed I’ll be back on my feet soon though!
In order to cheer us all up I’m finally posting some pictures from Amy & Jonny’s super pretty Kent wedding. I have to say I really adored Amy’s style on the day. Amy’s gorgeous dress and veil were by Amanda Wakely Sposa and her beautiful hair bloom, an ivory feather peony which I absolutely l-o-v-e-d, was designed and made by Yasmin Rizvi. Her perfectly ‘imperfect’ hair was carefully teased into place by Victoria Boorman and her make up was done by Vicky Snepp from Space NK in Tunbridge Wells.
The ceremony took place in the charming St Peter’s Church in Ightham, made really special by the beautiful singing from the members of the City of London Choir (with soloist Louisa Brown). This was followed by a reception in the family garden, held in a marquee decorated beautifully with flower arrangements made by a family friend, Judy Debenham (who was responsible for the gorgeous boquets as well), and lots of personal touches, such as the cute lavender bags made by Amy’s mum and the napkins which were made by Amy herself from fabric off-cuts from Cabbages and Roses‘ gorgeous fabrics. Henrietta Donovan was in charge of the catering and I must say that all the food looked simply divine!
I feel so privileged to have been a part of this lovely wedding, with such loving atmosphere and beauty all around. I wish Amy and Jonny all the best in their future adventures together! <3
