KNOT Cornwall Leanne and Jim

Making Connections

Leanne and Jim are great friends with Mike of Puravida Cornwall a wedding videographer and whilst on social media, Leanne noticed that he had been working with Zena Birch Humanist Celebrant so she started
following her.

“We fell in love with her work and how she made ceremonies so bespoke and beautiful.”

Six months after they got engaged Leanne then spotted a video of Zena talking to Claire from Fal River Cruises aboard Moyana.

What followed next was an amazing offer to have not only a Zena Birch wedding ceremony but also a ceremony upon Moyana!

“Well, that was it! I spoke to Jim and we just went for it! With such an amazing combination of the beautiful FalRiver and special ceremony aboard Moyana we simply couldn’t miss this opportunity!”

The logistics

Travelling to Malpas to catch the boat was time-critical, parking at Malpas was an issue plus if guests had to drive they wouldn't be able to have a drink on the boat.

“These problems posed a potential disaster and this made me nervous!”

Leanne and Jim then decided it would be fun to hire a coach to bring guests to the boat from Newquay making it even more interesting by not telling their guests where they were going!

“What a surprise to arrive in Malpas to board a boat! It was one of the hardest things to keep secret for so long!”

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Fal River Cruises

The communication and effort that was put in from Claire at Fal River Cruises exceeded anything Leanne could have hoped for from answering questions and replying within the hour even sending them tickets to travel on the enterprise cruises to admire the scenery they would encounter on the day of their wedding.

Nothing was too big an ask and even though all the planning was via email Leanne felt at ease trusting Claire with planning her wedding ceremony with no concerns whatsoever.

“This trust spiled over to the morning of the wedding where Claire came to get us to board the boat and while we were doing final finish rushing around I handed her my children to take care of!”

Quay Cottage and a
pontoon aisle

Leanne stayed in Quay Cottage a National Trust house located on the river edge.

“This house with its amazing grounds and location meant I had a little walk to the pontoon. I had my very own pontoon aisle.

Once married we sailed off on a pleasure cruise that was filled with excitement and happiness from all our guests who were thrilled to be part of our day!”

Mark Shaw Photography

Leanne and Jim really wanted to have their friend Mike from Puravida to capture their wedding but unfortunately, even with twelve months notice, Mike was already booked. They asked his advice and Mike recommended Mark Shaw Photography.

“I searched for Mark Shaw online and was so impressed with his work I even started to imagine how our day would look in photographs!

We went for a pre-shoot with Mark, this was a great opportunity to get to know Mark a little more and to get used to having a camera pointing at us”

Leanne and Jim made little postcards from a selection of their pre-shoot photos and asked their guests to write on them on the day for their wedding guestbook.

The reception

Keeping to a budget Leanne and Jim chose their perfect venue Newquay Rowing Club.

“The room is perfect, large enough for the number of guests we had, the most stunning unspoilt view of Newquay harbour, with two sets of french doors opening out onto the rooms own little private balcony.”

The Theme…Mexican!

Leanne’s DIY colourful Mexican theme consisted of Mexican paper, bunting, cacti, pineapples and embroidery.

Instead of table flowers, she chose pineapples, miniature cacti, marigolds and herbs that Leanne had grown at her allotment all of which filled the room with amazing smells as well as the vibrant colour. Little miniature maracas were used as name places and wedding favours.

A MEXICAN feast with
El Huichol

A food van for their wedding feast was the perfect solution! A van that would be able to come along to Newquay rowing club, park up and serve their guests and leave without being a massive disruption to the Harbour. After doing some local research they discovered El Huichol.

“These guys are a couple that have the most gorgeous food van serving authentic delicious Mexican delights. I went to meet them when they were pitched up in Porthtowan for the summer of 2018 to taste their food and that was the end of that search!”

The dress

Leanne’s dress was a Mermaid fit with a low back.

“I really like my back and was keen to get it out!”

The dress was everything Leanne didn't think she would buy. She had always said she wanted a relaxed easy dress with no train. A long train on a boat? Not practical!

“Well I think I left with the longest train I could find! I didn't believe people when they said you will know which one it is when you put it on, but they are absolutely right!

I was extremely open-minded and tried all types of dresses and all of them were stunning but this one dress I couldn't stop thinking about even after visiting several shops!"

Even though Leanne was pretty certain what dress she wanted she still decided to go further afield to try more dresses from the same designer. This did make things a little more of a challenge but once she narrowed all the choices down she came back to the original dress.

The alterations

Leanne added lace detail to the spaghetti straps which changed the look of the dress so subtly but made a massive difference.

“I decided the longer train was justifiable as I have two daughters and if either of them get married even if they don't want to entertain wearing my dress at least we can make something amazing out of the lace!”

Hair and accessories

Leanne has reasonably short hair so decided to wear her hair down with curls (the wind swiftly blew them straight out!) A hair slide was her statement hairpiece along with statement earrings.

She wore a necklace given to her by Jim on her 30th birthday bought from Cornwall Gold which is where they bought their wedding rings.

Leanne made a last-minute decision to ditch her shoes and wear flip flops!

“This did affect the way my dress hem fell but I'm so glad I made the decision as I was so much more relaxed and comfortable!”

Leanne’s Favourite part of
the day

"My favourite part of the day was most definitely throwing my bouquet!! I had done the nerve-racking part and we had managed to wing all the timings and get everyone back to the reception venue for food and it was at this point I truly truly relaxed (not that I was stressed, but we had pulled it off!) I gave that some welly and the girl that caught it a friend from work could not have reacted with any more honest enthusiasm and joy to be the one to catch it!”

Jim’s Favourite part of
the day

“My new husband's favourite part of the day was the ceremony, he enjoyed the surprise element of a reading from my brother's partner Tom, which was funny and lovely all at the same time!”

Top Tips

"Book everything as soon as you know your date, to secure who you want. I tried to make things easy for myself by choosing things that weren't time/temperature critical...for instance not having table flowers meant I didn't need to rely on the florist being able to gain access to the venue at a set time and choosing pasties that can be eaten hot or cold, all these decisions were to eliminate any last-minute crisis.

Once the booking was done... I forgot about it as much as I could and didn't really start tying loose ends together until two or three weeks before the big day. I also kept telling myself that we could get married in a multi-storey car park and it would still be beautiful but we didn't...we did it on a BOAT!!”

• Photographer: Mark Shaw Photography
• Wedding Transport: Fal River Cruises