Milly and William’s Relaxed Outdoor Wedding

The Proposal

William proposed to Milly on the steps of the British Museum in April 2016, and she couldn’t wait to get stuck into the planning pretty quickly.

"Luckily, for William, I had a couple of weeks before I could make a start, as he’d cleverly chosen to pop the question just before a big family holiday to Costa Rica."

As soon as they got back to the UK, they made a leisurely start at looking for venues that would suit them.

"We knew this would be a key decision, as the vibe of the day would be governed by the surroundings. This was honestly quite overwhelming at first, as there were so many options - the world really is your oyster now in terms of wedding venue choices!"

A truly relaxed Outdoor Wedding

They had a few ‘must haves’ that helped them to whittle down the venue choices - there needed to be local accommodation, an outdoor ceremony option, with a good indoor backup just in case. It needed to be a venue with a fairly chilled atmosphere; both being laid back people Milly and William wanted their day to be fun for them, and their guests.

Many Pinterest sessions followed once the venue was chosen consciously balancing the budget with the type of wedding they wanted, they sought out bargains wherever they could. Milly spent a memorable day ironing and hemming about 100 metres of hessian into table runners because it was cheaper to buy from a camping supplier!

Wedding Photography was important and they chose Alexa Poppe Wedding Photography

"One area where we were less willing to compromise was with the photographer. We felt that having a beautiful record of our marriage to look back on was one of our highest priorities."

After several wedding fairs and lots more research, Milly and William found their photographer looking through one of the sample albums that Knightor provided.

"There are so many amazing wedding photographers out there, but we instantly fell for Alexa Poppe’s style. Of course, we wanted a few of the traditional, posed photographs, but we were also looking for natural, candid shots of how the day really looked from ours’ and our guests’ perspective.

Alexa uses a reportage style full of beautiful, natural light and colour, which really reflected the joy we wanted to convey. When we met her, we were even more sure - she’s a bundle of energy and a keen outdoors-woman, which really struck a chord with us. We knew there would be nobody else who could capture our day like her."

The styling on the day...the couple chose A minimalist approach with succulents taking centre stage!

Milly has a succulent growing obsession! So the couple chose to showcase the succulent with succulent centrepieces. William was set on a cake made of cheese wheels, as neither were interested in having a traditional cake, the cheese wheels were ordered from Waitrose and the wonderful Knightor team set it up on the day.

Remaining suppliers were found through a combination of Google and word-of-mouth; a good friend highly recommended Flowertime Florist in Hayle for the bouquets and boutonnieres, which were stunning (more succulents!), they found the Deco Quartet online to provide the gorgeous, relaxed instrumental background to the start of the reception, as well as Laura of LJP Hair and Makeup, who did a brilliant job.

"I had reasoned that the more complicated our wedding became, the more there was to go wrong."

The wedding rings by Justin Duance

There was really only one choice. William had Milly's engagement ring created by Justin Duance, who uses a brilliant sand-casting technique.

William collected some sand from the Helford Passage, one of their favourite walking spots, to cast the diamond, aquamarine and London blue topaz ring he also smuggled a bottle of sand from that post-engagement holiday in Costa Rica to make their wedding band - his gold, Milly's white gold to match her engagement ring.

"The Justin Duance team were so helpful in making sure that our rings were exactly what we wanted."

The dress! dress shopping- it’s not ‘me’ Traditions are guidelines...

"One of the traditions that I was worried about was the dress shopping- it’s not ‘me’ at all, and I dreaded the idea of trying on hundreds of extremely expensive dresses only to not end up with what I wanted."

Luckily, Milly realised early on that traditions are guidelines, which are not set in stone. So she dumped the dress shopping! She found exactly what she wanted - a simple, ivory lace gown with a small train and a cap sleeve (which was actually achieved with a cropped top over a strapless gown) from Monsoon.

"I ordered it online, and it fitted, so my dress shopping probably took an hour in total! As the gown was floor length, it meant that my shoes effectively didn’t matter. With an outdoor ceremony combined with being relatively tall, I didn’t want a heel, so I treated myself to a pair of sequinned Converse instead- I was so comfy all day!

For the accessories, Milly chose gold hair vine from HowlingMoonUK on Etsy to top of Laura’s lovely work on her hair which finished off her simple, outdoors wedding look perfectly.

The groom. A long-coveted three piece Ted Baker suit

William used the occasion as an excuse to buy a long-coveted three piece Ted Baker suit. The colour scheme was pale blue, the groom and groomsmen wore pale blue cravats and pocket square which matched the colour of the bridesmaid's dresses.

The long-coveted three piece Ted Baker suit was a great purchase in the bride's own words...

"He looked amazing!"

unbelievably magical

The whole day was, to quote William “unbelievably magical”. Neither of us can choose a favourite part because it all went so brilliantly.

Milly's personal highlights include walking through the garden to the arbour with her Granddad and bridesmaids - sister and her husband’s cousin. Another was the meal (and only in part because of the incredible barbecue). The Sun had been kind enough to grace the wedding party with its presence - something not guaranteed, even in August. This meant that they were also able to eat outside.

"Seeing the people we love chatting and laughing in the sunshine on our wedding day is a joyous memory which will stay with me forever. I would honestly do it all again if I could!"

Three top tips

"Our top three pieces of advice for making your wedding day a truly amazing occasion:
Work out what you want, and stick by it. As I’ve already mentioned, wedding traditions are not the law - if something doesn’t work for you and your partner, don’t do it! We carefully chose the traditions we wanted to incorporate and those we didn’t, meaning that we got the exact day we wanted. Be open to compromise where your partner is concerned, however - I didn’t want a first dance, William did. It was important to him so we had one, and I’m glad we did.

Put in the work beforehand so that you can enjoy the big day. I knew that I didn’t care about exactly where the cake was, or how the tables were set out, but dealing with all of it ahead of time meant that we were able to relax and just celebrate the occasion on the day itself. It’s worth the hassle in the lead up to take the pressure off on the day.

Take a deep breath, and remember what it’s really all about. It can be so easy to get obsessed with the small details, which is understandable as you want your day to be perfect. However, it’s really all about promising to spend forever with the person you love. Make a decision, move on, and know that nobody actually cares that the candles are cream, not ivory."

Like the look of this venue? Contact Marie at eeek! for more information.

• Photographer: Alexa Poppe Photography
• Venue: Knightor Winery