Wedding at Caerhays Estate, Cornwall

"David and I first met at an orchestra when we were at primary school," recalls Emma. "David left the orchestra whilst at secondary school and gave me his mobile number. Many years later, I found the card with his number on and sent him a text, which ultimately led to our first date on Valentine's Day 2004."
Eleven years later, David whisked Emma off to the wildly romantic realms of Bryher on the Isles of Scilly where he popped the question after a picnic on Rushy Bay Beach.


Picking places poignant to them to celebrate their love, Emma and David chose St Hydroc's Church in Lanhydrock to tie the knot, an area where David grew up and where they regularly cycle with the Lanhydrock Wheelers. "We spend a lot of our time cycling and running on the Roseland so our reception venue at Caerhays Estate was the perfect spot!" adds Emma. "We used the newly opened Beach Meadow, which had phenomenal views."





Hiring The Vean for the entire weekend allowed everything to take place in one venue while providing the newly-weds with the opportunity to invite their guests to stay and enjoy a celebratory barbecue the day after the wedding.

Using their passion for cycling as one of the sources of inspiration for the look of the day, various bike features combined with stripes and copper to create an eclectic, industrial-feel space, replete with handmade detail including copper candlesticks, a copper cake stand, copper name places and two reclaimed bikes suspended from the marquee. In addition, David designed the wedding stationery that included personalised confetti bags and tote bags that were sent with the invitations. 


"We wanted the day to have a relaxed, elegant feel to it," explains Emma, who hired deckchairs that were scattered outside the marquee alongside various beach games to entertain guests.





A glorious picnic was served to the tables in hampers and included prawns, salmon, homemade pork pies and sausage rolls, salads, and a selection of cold meats. A cream tea with fresh strawberries comprised dessert and, later in the evening, pasties and cheese kept revellers' appetites at bay.

"Enjoy wedding planning and don't let it overwhelm you," implores Emma, looking back. "Plan and prioritise - once the big things are booked, take your time deciding on the detail. Don't rush things and don't feel pressured to comply to a particular wedding timetable; everyone's wedding is different."



She also suggests: "Go into the wedding feeling as rested as possible. On the Wednesday before the wedding, we went to a spa. David was reluctant but afterwards even he agreed that it was the perfect preparation as it took us away from all of the wedding chaos for a couple of hours."

Photography Ross Talling rosstalling.co.uk
Venue Caerhays Estate caerhays.co.uk
Videography Foster Filming fosterfilming.com
Marquee Coast2Coast Marquees coast2coastmarquees.co.uk
Dress Claire Pettibone from The Bridal House of Cornwall thebridalhouseofcornwall.co.uk

Suits French Connection frenchconnection.com
Bridesmaids' dresses Reiss reiss.com

Hair Inkfish inkfishhairandbeauty.co.uk

Make-up Stacey Cremin makeup-artist-cornwall.co.uk
Flowers This Rugged Coast thisruggedcoast.com
Catering Jane Meredew janemeredew.co.uk
Cake Peboryon peboryon.com
Deck chairs Stargazey Hire stargazeyweddingdecorhire.co.uk
Entertainment Skin Tight Funk skintightfunk.com

Copyright Wed magazine 2017