Natalie & Anthony

This afternoon's wedding is from the gorgeous Boconnoc Estate in Cornwall, with flowers by the wonderful and completely lovely Garden Gate Flower Company. Becca and Maz grow all of their flowers on their farm in Cornwall and so their work has an organic, natural feel that can't help but be seasonal in colour and structure. If you're looking for completely British grown blooms arranged with real flair, then they really are the girls for you. The images come from Amy Shore, whose atmospheric, journalistic style we love at RMW. If you're new to the wedding planning world, we're here to show you that every aspect of your day can be exactly as you want it - photography included. If you favour relaxed, natural images, then you'll love the weddings we feature. And this one is particularly gorgeous, just wait until you see the reception decor...

The Venue

Natalie the Bride: We totally fell in love with the Stable Yard at Boconnoc the moment we first saw it. It had everything we were looking for in a venue. Some of Anthony’s family are from Cornwall so we were looking for somewhere in this county. We didn’t want anything too grand – we were after something relaxed and informal. The beauty of the buildings and their setting, and the fact that all the spaces we planned to use centered around a charming courtyard, made it a very easy decision to make when it came to deciding between all the venues we had visited. We also loved the fact that we could hold both the ceremony and reception at one venue, cutting out any potential logistical headaches. Our first visit to Boconnoc was during a torrential thunderstorm – we thought if this is our perfect venue even in atrocious weather then it will be even better when the sun shines!

The Bride

I didn’t want a ‘traditional’ big wedding dress. I fell in love with this dress because it was slim fitting, an unusual style and was so comfortable to wear – no corsetry in sight! I wore simple flat sandals from Massimo Dutti. Nude suede with beaded embellishment. My flower crown was by my florists, The Garden Gate Flower Company.

The Wedding Party

After extensive searching, both on the internet and the highstreet, the Bridesmaids wore silk dresses from ASOS. I bought them gold necklaces to wear on the day and they wore their own shoes. The best men and usher wore their own morning suits and we bought all the ties. Anthony wore a morning suit jacket that he already owned. His waistcoat and trousers were purchased from David Saxby. His white shirt was from Thomas Pink, black Oxford brogues from Jones Bootmaker and pale blue cotton mix tie from T. M. Lewin.

The Flowers

We wanted our flowers to have that ‘loosely gathered’ and natural look – nothing too over styled or formal. The Garden Gate Flower Company seemed to epitomise this look. They grow all their flowers locally on their farm in Cornwall - just around the corner from the wedding venue. My bouquet was a soft, loosely arranged collection of white, cream and pale peach flowers with a darker shot of dusky coral and fresh green foliage. I wanted a combination of texture and scale. My floral hair crown was of a similar style, with smaller delicate flowers to the front and sides and three large pale peach roses to the back. The Coach House was decorated externally with a garland of evergreen foliage and frothy white flowers, which was dressed over the barn doors and tapered down at the sides. Internally there was another foliage and floral garland which was attached to an exposed beam in the ceiling. This space was used as the dance floor in the evening and so both garlands had fairy lights strung through them which lit up a night. There were also two large milk churns filled with seasonal whites, creams and greens that stood at either side of the entrance to the Coach House. The confetti consisted of bowls of fresh sage, hyssop and pale peach petals. The dining room trestle tables were scattered with grey green foliage, herbs, white flowers and fruiting branches that ran down the entire length of each table.

The Food

We didn’t want a traditional wedding cake. Instead my mum, Anthony’s mum and my aunt each baked a particular cake. My mum baked hundreds of traditional Czech wedding pastries with various toppings (my parents are Czech), Anthony’s mum baked a few of her famous cinnamon cakes and my aunt baked a few flourless chocolate cakes. These were all displayed at the end of the dining room on vintage cake stands. Guests were greeted with Cornish cream tea scones and a gin and elderflower cocktail on arrival. For the main meal we decided not to have starters but canapés instead while people were mingling in the courtyard. The main course was Rump of lamb with a parsnip and rosemary crust served with a red wine jus, Roasted new potatoes with scallions, parsley, olive oil and Cornish sea salt, Salad of mixed organic leaves, with sugar snaps peas and pea shoots with a zesty lemon dressing. For dessert we had home baked cakes as mentioned above. At 10pm we served Cornish pasties.

The Decor

Scattered flowers/foliage as mentioned above (we didn’t want tall flower arrangements that obstruct people’s view across the table). I designed and made all the ‘save the dates’, invites, sign posts and place names for the dining tables. My mum and Anthony’s mum made 150 metres of bunting which was strung up in between festoon lighting in the dining room. We enlisted the help of friends and colleagues who collected 300 jam jars for the wedding. These were placed in a circle around the large planter at the centre of the courtyard, and each filled with a tea light which was very atmospheric at night.

The Ceremony

Reading 1: Anthony’s parents wrote a beautiful poem about us and read it at the ceremony. Reading 2: We got engaged in the Lake District, while staying at a gorgeous little National Trust cottage in the middle of nowhere. The cottage had a Visitor’s Book filled with fantastic entries dating back to the 1960’s. Some were absolutely hilarious – a real reflection of the times in which they were written. Anthony and I put together the second reading which consisted of a selection of the best Visitor Book entries, the last of which was our entry detailing that we had got engaged that weekend.

Our Wedding

We wanted a relaxed and informal wedding day at a beautiful venue in the country with good food and great music! All the different aesthetic elements that had taken months of planning came together on the day and exceeded expectations. In particular the flowers and the lighting scheme really showed off the venue. We were beyond thrilled with our wedding photos. Our supremely talented photographer totally surpassed our expectations! Amy was also an absolute pleasure to work with. Our florist totally ‘got’ the look we were after and created the most beautiful arrangements that attracted many compliments. The Boconnoc staff were amazing and were happy for us to treat the venue as a blank canvas upon which we could put our own stamp. The caterers were so thorough in the planning process which really put us at ease, and they were brilliant at accommodating our every request! Most importantly, the food was absolutely delicious!

Advice

Spend the time planning all the finer details in good time before the wedding. On the wedding day itself, take your planning hat off and just enjoyed every second! It’s all over in a flash!