Wedding at The Castle Bude

After 20 years together and "two enormous baby boys", Emma and Jamie wanted to get married, but one thing had been stopping them. "We have always been slightly terrified of planning a wedding, which is why we never bothered," says Emma. "But thankfully weddings are changing! Now you can have colour! You can have pretty food vans and petticoats and funky wellies and no seating plan and whatever food you want. Hurrah!"


"Our ceremony was at The Castle Bude, which we travelled to via an awesome vintage bus," says Emma, whose tea-length dress was complemented with a lace top, mint petticoat and mint shoes. "Dad and I came down the aisle to 'I'm A Believer' by The Monkees, and got everyone to sing along! Then my band, who I sing with, played a beautiful song called 'Bless Your Tombstone Heart', with our best friend and my brother singing."

Moving on to Milton Barn for their reception, Emma and Jamie created a pom-pom extravaganza for their carnival-style wedding. "I had seen a lot of pictures of wild looking flowers in vintage bottles and tins - and pom-poms! - and just thought that that was such an elegant, vintage look but also lots of fun and really pretty. I formed a 'pom-pom team' for the day before and somehow they just created exactly what we wanted. It was actually even more beautiful than I could have believed possible!" says Emma. "To see everyone's reactions when they went into the barn was such a special moment and made all the planning so worthwhile."


A feast of paella was followed by pasties and cheese in the evening, as well as a beautiful cake and edible teacups - then the night's entertainment took the celebrating to a new level.

"Instead of a DJ, Jamie organised a few friends and family to do half-hour DJ slots, and we also had a ceilidh, which was amazing and got everyone in the dancing mood," says Emma.

Ending with a silent disco at midnight, Emma and Jamie couldn't fault a single moment of their day. "We had the most amazing time with all of our friends and family together in the same place. It really is a day like no other and I just wish we could do it all again!"

And what's her advice for those getting married after years - or decades - together? "Just do it where you want, the way you want and enjoy every second," says Emma. "Of course, the best thing for us is that our two little boys got to share the day with us."

Photography Verity Westcott Photography veritywestcottphotography.com
Venue The Castle Bude thecastlebude.org.uk Milton Barn miltonbarn.co.uk
Dress LouLou Bridal louloubridal.co.uk
Petticoats Doris Designs dorisdesigns.co.uk
Shoes Rachel Simpson rachelsimpsonshoes.co.uk
Bridesmaids' dresses Etsy etsy.co.uk
Make-up Suzi Winter suziwinter.co.uk
Groom's outfit T.M. Lewin tmlewin.co.uk
Props, games & tables The Prop Factory propfactory.co.uk Stargazey Wedding Decor Hire stargazeyweddingdecorhire.co.uk
Flowers Church Park Flowers churchparkflowers.co.uk
Catering Buen Apetito buenapetito.co.uk
Photo booth The Little Red Bus freeformimages.co.uk/thelittleredbus
Prosecco van Bring Me Bubbles bringmebubbles.uk
Ice cream van Devon Vintage Ice Cream Van Company devonvintageicecreamvan.co.uk
Cake Emily Hankins emilyhankins.co.uk
Hannah's Cornish Cakes hannahscornishcakes.co.uk
Magician Magic Martin magicmartinsouthwest.co.uk
Crèche Hannah's Busy Bees Childcare hannahsbusybees.co.uk
Festoon lighting & DJ supplies DJC Event Hire djc-eventhire.co.uk
Silent disco Silent Discomania facebook.com/silentdiscomania
Transport Taw and Torridge tawandtorridge.co.uk