Pencarrow Claire and Tom

Claire and Tom fell in love with Pencarrow before they were even engaged.

Tom and Claire met at University in Exeter and regularly went down to visit Tom’s aunt in North Cornwall. Claire's family are from London and Tom’s are from Bristol, so they deiced that Cornwall was neutral ground for everyone, plus it holds special memories for this couple, it's the county where they got engaged.

"Tom proposed on Polzeath Beach while the sun was setting, it was just us on the beach and it was just perfect."

The couple had 200 guests for their big day and based everyone in Padstow, many of our friends hadn’t been to Cornwall before so many extended their stay for a whole week and turned it into a holiday.

Claire and Tom wanted their wedding to be as relaxed as possible, and to reflect them as a couple. They both love music and food, so made sure there was plenty of both to go around! For their wedding feast, the couple chose The Good Food Catering Co.

The marquee at Pencarrow is beautiful and the gardens are stunning

So little decoration is needed. Keeping it simple they hung photographs of their guests around the marquee and had an Irish dresser full of empty gin bottles for our table plan. They asked family members to help them wooden signs were made to direct their guests.

For the flowers they chose the very talented Caroline from Fleurtations, the flowers were seasonal with lots of foliage, tied with a grey ribbon to match the usher’s suits.

"Tom proposed to me at Polzeath beach, so it only seemed fitting to get married somewhere in the area, and we knew exactly where the perfect venue would be. We were worried that the venue would be too small for our guests, but Pencarrow has recently put in a marquee which can fit up to 300 guests, so it was ideal.

Glamp in a luxury Yurt

There is also an option to camp which really appealed to us, we spent the night in a luxury Yurt, and our guests were in Belle Tents! The next day we had our close family and friends back to the venue to have a Hog Roast and catch up on all of the gossip from the day before. Nico and her team at Pencarrow are very accommodating and the marquee area is stunning."

Laura Buffery Photography was recommended to Claire and Tom by a friend who had been to a couple of wedding’s the year before who chose Laura

Laura Buffery Photography

"Laura was so lovely, her calm and cheerful manner made everyone feel relaxed throughout the day. She was very unintrusive and blended into the background. We were so pleased with the photographs. We didn’t think there was much need to have a photographer, but we are so happy we went with Laura. She captured the day so well, and we now have memories we will always be able to look back on."

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Planning Remotely

Claire thought it would be difficult finding suppliers for their day whilst living in Bristol, but with the help from the internet, eeek! and relying heavily on their friends and family who live in Cornwall the day came together perfectly!

The Dress

In her head, Claire had a specific style and designer in mind, but when she tried the dress on it did nothing for her

"I was completely stuck on what to go for so I tried every style! I was about to give up hope when we visited a bridal boutique near my parents, The Bridal Way Warlingham. The assistants in there were fantastic. We sat down I told them what I liked and disliked in a dress, and the first dress I tried on was perfect.

Claire chose a Mori Lee dress, with lots of sparkle on the top, and soft tulle at the bottom so she could dance the night away. She paired it with some amazing Emmy shoes, but the weather was awful so swapped the shoes for wellies after the ceremony!

Favourite part of the wedding

"I think my favourite part of our day was walking down the aisle as Mr and Mrs. We had the fabulous InTune choir singing us out of the church to Steve Wonder’s Sign, Sealed, Delivered. All of our guests were smiling and singing along, and the sunshine came out for us."

Top Tip for brides

I know everyone says it, but really do enjoy every minute of it. Everything goes by so quickly, you feel like you’ve just woken up and its already over. I would also recommend being as organized as possible. We had a good bridal team/family around us, so everything was done a couple days before. It meant that we could enjoy the days running up to the wedding with our friends and family, instead of running around. The groom and ushers did have jobs for the morning of the wedding and I’m pretty sure the stress levels were running high!

Top Tips for grooms

Have a contingency plan. Things could go wrong, for us it was raining on the day, make sure you have a backup plan to make sure everything runs smoothly.

• Photographer: Laura Buffery Photography
• Venue: Pencarrow
• Wedding Makeup: Charlotte Albert Makeup
• Wedding Hair: Hair and Beauty
• Wedding Flowers: Fleurtations
• Wedding Transport: Honey Bugs