Years later, the couple were enjoying 360-degree panoramas of Barcelona when Ash presented Luka with her engagement ring. 'As he did this, he managed to knock a bottle of water into my lap and I got drenched! I rolled around on the floor in hysterics before he had to remind me I hadn't given him an answer!' she laughs.
Designing a 'classic and timeless' celebration with a palette of black, white, grey and green, the floristry was a key component of the natural look, with white flowers featuring alongside lots of foliage, particularly eucalyptus.
'The main thing we focused on was being true to ourselves. A lot of the elements of our wedding day were inspired by or similar to things in our own home,' adds Luka. Luka designed the stationery herself, including handwritten grey and white marble hexagon place cards and the statement table plan, which was handwritten on frosted acrylic suspended from black frames decorated with flowers.
The ceremony took place in the main event space in front of the fireplace with a stunning floral mantelpiece feature, after which everyone relocated next door for champagne and canapés. 'This was the perfect opportunity for our guests to take some Polaroid pictures to attach to our 'guestbook grid'. We were then called back into the event space to join our guests as the new Mr and Mrs Thorp and we took our places for the speeches,' says Luka.
After the speeches, dinner was served, comprising mains of Creedy Carver chicken breast, slow-braised beef blade and harissa aubergine, finished with lemon and elderflower meringue, honeycomb and lemon sorbet.
An evening of eating, drinking and dancing ensued before guests were whisked off to the after-party. 'We followed them over after a quick outfit change for myself into an embellished white suit. At Hanging Gardens we danced the night away under the disco ball and colourful lights!' reminisces Luka.
'Our guests said they had never been to such a fun and relaxed wedding,' she reports. 'We tried to make the day as light-hearted and fun as we are and I think the response from our guests really reflected this. The speeches however, were a particular highlight, a real rollercoaster of emotions with tears and lots of laughter!'
'Our top tips for busy couples planning a wedding would be to delegate as much as possible!' she advises. 'If you plan on making a lot of the decoration yourselves like we did, allow plenty of time. It always takes a longer than you imagine.'
Photography Joshua Gooding joshgooding.co.uk
Venue Ocean Studios (Ocean Studios no longer hosts weddings) Hanging Gardens facebook.com/hanginggardensplymouth
Coordination Jenny Wren Weddings & Events jennywrenweddingsandevents.co.uk
Celebrant Tread Softly treadsoftlyceremonies.com
Dress Pronovias from The Wedding Company the-wedding-company.co.uk
Groom's outfit Next next.co.uk
Hair Bridie at Bombshell facebook.com/BombshellSaltash
Make-up Emma Roberts facebook.com/emmarobertsmakeup
Flowers Miranda Hackett Flowers mirandahackettflowers.co.uk
Catering Rock Salt rocksaltcafe.co.uk
Cake Boo to a Goose bootoagoose.net
Transport Oakleys Coaches oakleyscoaches.co.uk
Entertainment DJ Craig facebook.com/thedancership
DJ Andy Bacon facebook.com/AndyBaconDJ
Copyright Wed magazine 2019
