Charming English Country Wedding

By Magnolia Rouge

I'm always a little envious of the wedding venues I see in the UK or Europe� I'm sure the same goes for Europeans looking at NZ venues and all the outdoor ones we have, but what we don't have are beautiful old buildings like this one in Cornwall. BOCONNOC is a historical space called the Stable Yard built in the 18th century and designed by a well known British architect. The space used to house up to 25 horses and the grooms used to live in the cottages within the area. How fun to hold your wedding at a venue with such history!! For Natalie & Anthony it offered them the perfect place to have the informal yet charming country wedding of their dreams and AMY SHORE PHOTOGRAPHY was there to document it all.

THE GARDEN GATE FLOWER COMPANY � talented florists that they are, created florals that were �loosely gathered' and offered the natural look they wanted. And the fact that all their flowers are grown locally on their nearby farm was a nice touch. The bride carried a loosely bouquet of white, cream and pale peach flowers with a darker shot of dusky coral and fresh green foliage fitting her request for texture and scale. The Coach House itself 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.

HOW DID YOU MEET? We met in the arrivals lounge at Alicante airport! We were on our way to a mutual friend's villa in Spain and Anthony got a different flight to the rest of the group so we met him at the airport.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR PROPOSAL: Anthony booked a long weekend away in the Lake District to celebrate my qualification as an Architect. Little did I know that he was also planning to pop the question half way up the mountain Scafell!

TELL US ABOUT FINDING YOUR WEDDING DRESS: I found my dress in the second shop I went to, loved it immediately but thought I should try a few more dresses on before deciding. Nothing else compared though (although the process was fun!) and so I went back to buy it! 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!

ANY DIY ELEMENTS? I designed and made all the 'save the dates', invites, sign posts and place names for the dining tables. Both our mothers sewed the 150 metres of white bunting which was strung up in between festoon lighting in the room where we had our wedding breakfast. We also 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 � it was very atmospheric at night.

FAVOURITE DETAIL OF THE DAY: Many but one was the beautiful shawl my bridesmaids gave me - they had embroidered our names, the location and the date of our wedding day.

WHAT ADVISE WOULD YOU GIVE OUT TO A COUPLE PLANNING THEIR WEDDING? My top tip is definitely to comb through the finer details in good time before the wedding, but on your actual wedding day, make sure you take off your planning hat and enjoy every second.

MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT? Walking out of the ceremony room as a married couple and being showered in confetti.

ANY OTHER DETAILS THAT TELL THE STORY OF YOUR DAY? 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.