Elopement Wedding Cornwall Devon

Large-scale weddings - from festival weekenders to luxe country house extravaganzas - are big news in wedding world right now. But, at the other end of the scale, the intimate do is having a quiet moment of its own.

While poring over Pinterest, ticking off tasks on the to-do list and making paper pom-poms into the night are part of the whole wonderful wedding experience for many couples, there's a rising movement amongst others to simplify the process and steal away to exchange vows in privacy. Here, Cara and John share the story of their small - yet oh-so special - wedding...

"We chose to elope as we couldn't invite everyone we love, so after some soul-searching, we decided an intimate celebration was much more our thing. I'm a wedding florist and whilst I adore working on big events, I know the stress that can sometimes be involved in the organisation! We wanted a relatively stress-free day that allowed us to enjoy every moment.

It was really important to us to get married outside surrounded by nature and close to the ocean so we were delighted when we found Cornish Tipi Weddings. We adore Cornwall and visit many times a year. We were absolutely blown away by the magic of the venue - the beautiful outdoor pavilion where we would have our legal ceremony was just perfect, as were the tipis, and the lake was the most ideal setting.

The day was really relaxed. I remember sitting outside in the rain making a flower crown for myself in the morning, then getting ready. I wore a beautiful bespoke dress, while John wore a Gresham Blake suit and our son wore a little waistcoat to match. Although I planned to make my own bouquet, John wouldn't hear of it! I adored my bouquet from The Garden Gate Flower Company, it was full of my favourite flowers.

We rented a cottage close to the venue, and my dad turned up in a camper van he'd arranged as a surprise. I have fond memories of my dad and I singing and bopping away in the back of the camper down the Cornish windy roads on my way to get wed!

My dad and our flower girl walked me to the pavilion where John and our guests were waiting. Our music was playing and the candlelight was flickering, which picked up a little tear from John as I arrived. Our little boy and three dogs were a huge part of our ceremony, which was really important to us as it felt like our whole family got married! The celebrants were amazing and really picked up on our vibe.

After the ceremony, we enjoyed a toast, canapes and a little boogie. We then headed off to the lake. I had decorated one of the rowing boats and fulfilled my dream of sailing away with my love surrounded by flowers.

We then headed off to Port Isaac for some coastal photos. It was like a dream - lots of holiday-makers watched us hanging out and having our photos taken! When we returned, we tucked into some delicious stone-baked pizzas with all our favourite toppings in the grand lodge tipi, which created just the right atmosphere for our informal feast. The food was absolutely perfect for us and the dessert was to die for. The frangipani wedding cake was decorated in fresh fruit and flowers and looked as stunning as it tasted. The venue supplied a sound system to play our favourite tunes and, with candlelight, champagne and scrummy food, it couldn't have been more perfect.

After we had cut the cake, we went down to a private tipi area and gathered around a campfire devouring cake. We lit sparklers as day turned to night and then went down to the lake and each lit a floating lantern. We asked our guests to light one with some positive intentions as we began our new journey together as husband and wife. John then rowed them out to the middle of the lake and released them. It was all just so magical.

We would have loved to have had other family members and friends there, but it just wasn't to be, so for this one day we pleased ourselves and had the day of our dreams."