Tara & Simon

I've been looking forward to blogging this wedding for a while. There are lots of reasons why I really love it and I'm going to list them all here for you now ;) Firstly, Marianne Taylor's gorgeous photography is a real treat to share. There is a real trend at the moment for an overly stylised dark or light edit and I feel like Marianne's vibe is just really clean, natural and simple. She captures moments as they happen, as they unfold and in a way that results in a perfect documentation of the day. I feel like I'm living Tara and Simon's intimate at-home wedding just by looking at the images. The other reason that this wedding is so special is that Tara and Simon had been together for twenty years before they tied the knot! So their day truly felt like a reflection of them. They even held their reception in the grounds of their own home. And finally, the flowers are SO BEAUTIFUL. They are making me long for Spring before Autumn has even properly begun...! Let's take a look shall we?

Our Story

Tara the Bride: We met 20 years ago through work and marriage was never a big thing. Then 2 years ago we moved to Cornwall, bought a beautiful Old Rectory near Padstow with amazing grounds and decided that this is where we'd like to marry and make fantastic memories. We were engaged for about 18 months prior to the big day.

The Venue

The venue is our home and we live next door to a church so it made sense for us to marry in the Church and have a marquee in the garden especially as we have space to accommodate all the other services i.e. catering, toilets, parking. It was also very special to be able to walk to the Church from the house and for all the guest to be able to walk to the wedding reception following the ceremony.

The Bride

The Bridal House of Cornwall in Truro had been recommended by a friend so I made an appointment about 6 months prior to the wedding. Kelly and her team were amazing and ensured you tried on a wide variety of styles to be sure I knew 'the one was the one'! I'd gone into the showroom not knowing what I wanted so was really pleased when I left with 3 options (1 favourite!). My mom and sister came to look at the choices and without knowing chose my favourite so it was a unanimous decision!

The Flowers

The flowers were very important to me and it was important that I bonded with the florist. I used Ginny's Flowers who are local and we met numerous times and looked through my moodboard. Ginny instantly got it and did not fail in deliverying my vision. The Church flowers were quite traditional using whites and greens and a variety of flowers. The marquee was colourful and Spring like with a mixture of wow factor big displays dotted around and smaller table displays.

The Decor

We had lots of small vases placed on the tables with loads of colour and lots of other arrangements placed around the marquee. Our local wine bar and shop (Bin Two) installed a bar which they staffed, supplied the wines and created a cocktail for everyone to enjoy and the catering was done by Jack Bristow using all locally sourced produce. We’d used Jack for a couple of parties last year and knew he’d deliver! And to ensure we could both enjoy our wedding day we organised for Emma of Cornish Bluebird to come and manage the day so everything ran smoothly. 

Based on our experience The Old Rectory really does provide a unique setting for weddings and events and have decided to make it available for a limited number of weddings a year. Any enquiries should be made to Tara at thecornishhippos@gmail.com.

The Ceremony

My dad gave me away. I thought I'd cry walking to the Church from the house as that'd be our time together but we talked nonsense and that put us both at ease. When I arrived at the Church the Priest noticed that I didn't have a bouquet...I'd left it at the house and hadn't realised so a neighbour ran back for me. I felt so sorry for Simon who knew I'd arrived but didn't know what the hold up was! Anyhow, that moment set the scene for the ceremony which was a combination of tradition and light heartedness. Our readings were A love poem between two lovers, Song of Soloman and I wanna be yours by John Cooper Clarke.

The Photography

Marianne Taylor was recommended to us by a friend and thankfully was available! We had left booking the photographer until the last minute. We immediately connected with Marianne when we met and her relaxed but very professional approach suited us. On the day you didn't even know she was there!

The Entertainment

We chose not to have a first dance, however, during the meal (after a few drinks!) we impromptly got up and danced which everyone thought was planned! We decided to have two local bands from Newquay. The first was a two piece band called Mountain Ash who played during the canapes and meal. We'd seen them the year before at a Cider Festival and instantly loved their contemporary style. The evening band were The Big Sets that we'd also seen the year before at a Music Festival and immediately fell in love with their energy, passion and stage presence.

Advice

The same as everybody says...take time out to enjoy it as it flies by. Organising your own wedding was quite a task and stressful at times so booking a venue and wedding planner is not such a bad idea! We booked our photographer until 8pm and in hind sight would have loved professional photos of the evening event. As The Old Rectory venue was at our home it was important for us to use local suppliers (marquee, food, wine, facilities and events planner). Our wedding was quite informal and relaxed with everything being organised and decided by us both. We decided on a country style especially as it was held in a marquee in the garden. The marquee by LPM Bohemia was amazing and one we'd never seen before. It was a wooden framed mini orangery that was self supporting with no central columns giving us lots of space inside. The inside was lined with a botanical lining and had two beautiful chandeliers that we were able to decorate beautifully with lots of foliage and large hydrangeas and the guests loved it.