Playful Cornish Wedding: Emily & Matt

Amanda Wilcher

July 3, 2013

Matt & Emily by Amanda Wilcher-53

Emily and Matt were married at the beautiful Trelowarren in Cornwall. These self-catering cottages provided the perfect backdrop to their laid back outdoor wedding. The bride wore an Isabel Marant gown and Chanel sandals. She hand-stitched her own veil.

“I had never dreamed about a big wedding”, Emily began. “The only thought I had ever really had was for it to be outside, like in the American movies I grew up watching (not that our wedding particularly ended up like that!) So that was a good starting point which inspired our choice of venue, the stunning Trelowarren Estate. We both wanted to get married in Cornwall which is where we live now. We love it here so much so it felt like the perfect place. We chose Trelowarren as it had a beautiful lawn in the courtyard of an old chapel. This is where we had the ceremony in front of a magnolia tree. The area is also very woodlandy which reminded me of where I grew up in Herefordshire.”

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“As we wanted an outdoor ceremony this also lead to us choosing a Humanist ceremony, although I think we would have chosen one anyway. We had been to our friends humanist wedding and felt it was the most beautiful ceremony we had ever witnessed. It was so personal and unique to the couple and filled with humour and love. We also wrote our own vows which at first seemed daunting but in reality was much easier and something we will always remember. Matt’s a big music lover and chose some incredible lyrics for his vows which encapsulated how he felt.”

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“The ceremony was the biggest highlight for us both, even though it was a bit cold, okay, that’s an understatement, it was freezing! But at least it didn’t rain, which meant we could still have the ceremony outside. Our guests had to wrap up and my poor bridesmaids almost went blue! Our 4 year old niece Bailey was our flower girl. Wrapped up in a blanket she took her role very seriously and concentrated so hard on scattering the petals that she didn’t look up from her basket. Super cute! We had the talented Polly Jones sing for us during the ceremony. When she sang Ho Hey by the Lumineers it was the most magical moment of all as we were both surrounded by our family and friends in such a beautiful setting. I get goose bumps whenever I hear that song now! Overall we hoped our wedding would feel intimate, relaxed and not too formal without losing all of the traditions.”

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“I didn’t wear a traditional wedding dress and Matt didn’t wear a suit”, she continued. “I came across my beautifully embroidered Isabel Marant ivory mini dress in Selfridges. I wore this with some Chanel sandals. I’d always had in mind that I wanted to wear flowers in my hair. I think I am a bit of a hippy at heart. Our florist made the stunning head pieces for myself and our flower girl, as well as the pretty wrist corsages for the bridesmaids. At the last minute I felt I wanted to add in a bit of tradition and bought a lace trimmed veil which sat under the headpiece. I think in the end the whole look was a bit of a mix of eras; 1960s beachy Californian and also reminiscent of a 1920s Cecil Beaton photo, as one of my bridesmaids observed.”

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“The bridesmaids dresses were all individual yet sat together because of the pretty, tonal colours. Their shoes, a dusty pink, also matched which tied them all together. I loved their shoes! Matt and his groomsmen wore chinos, shirts and braces with a white rose boutonnière. Again this was quite an American look seen a lot online, and felt more informal than a suit. They did have to add a jacket in the end as it was so cold! Matt also wore a handmade lace and silk tie by Marwood.”

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The couple wanted to add their own stamp to the day and so decided on a few simple DIY projects. “Our main project was designing and making our invites. I run my own graphic design studio so felt a lot of pressure when it came to the invites, however it did make sense for us to do them ourselves. I actually wanted minimal design. The main elements of the invite were one of our favourite pictures, a photostrip taken in an old fashioned Photo Booth we discovered in a Brooklyn bar, an insert with some hand rendered type I had created of both our names, underpinned with a web address directing guests to our wedsite. My favourite part were the envelopes which are made by a friend’s company Paper Stock. They had a very cool fashion edge and the way they opened up like a napkin was fabulous and really original.”

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