Sunshine Filled Devon Wedding By Michael Marker Photography

Happy Friday everyone, hasn’t that come around super fast this week, honestly I don’t know where the week has gone! I hope it has been a good one for you? To end the week in style I have this super chic and elegant Devon wedding which has been sent into me by Michael Marker Photography. It’s a gorgeous summer wedding, full of pretty pastels, THE most stunning Sassi Holford dress, a fab photo booth, ice cream, a walk across the beach and lots and lots of summer sun! Gorgeous!

‘The day was full of fun, sunshine, smiles, food, family and friends – without a doubt the best day of our lives!’

Ruth and Andy were married on 8th June at St Werburgh’s church, Wembury, with the reception at Langdon Court hotel. ‘I (Ruth) was born in Wembury and lived there until I was 11. The church has great memories for both myself and my family, and it will always be home! The church is also incredibly picturesque…it certainly has a view (with just a short walk down the hill to the ebach)! Andy also went to university in Plymouth, so it was great to return for him also. We had 80 guests in total – no additional people were invited in the evening as we wanted to keep it personal. We got engaged on the 15th September 2011. We enjoyed planning the wedding, so did it slowly from this date.’

How they met
Andy and I met in our local pub after Andy returned from uni. We have now been together now for 9 years.

The proposal
The proposal (if I do say so myself) was incredibly romantic. We had gone away on holiday for 2 weeks roaming through Anadalucia in southern Spain. We went out for a romantic dinner and on the walk back through the old town, Andy ushered me through to this picturesque balcony overlooking a secluded square in Vejer De La Frontera. He said he wanted to give me a gift for when we went to Seville the following day. I opened it, and it was an engraved padlock with both our names on it. He said that there was a bridge in Seville where you padlock your hearts onto the bridge and throw the key into the river, so that the heart can never be broken. He then got down on one knee and asked whether I wanted to go on the next whirlwind adventure with him and be my wife….I of course accepted, and the next day we went to Seville and padlocked our names onto the bridge.

How did you allocate your budget?
We worked out what was important to us – that was the photos (as a lasting memory) and a great location. We then apportioned our budget to ensure that we could get a photographer that really captured the essence of the day – this was the most important thing to us!

Why did you choose your photographer?
I spent a lot of time looking for a photographer – however as soon as I saw Michael’s photos, I fell in love. His relaxed approach really captured every emotion, without it being staged. As soon as we met Michael, we knew he would be great. We wanted someone to blend in and capture moments without being too obtrusive. We also didn’t want to disappear for 2 hours on our own photo shoot! Michael made us feel relaxed and even our guests commented on how much fun he was!

The dress
My dress was called Paola by Sassi Holford’s Signature collection, which I purchased it from the Pantilles Bride in Tunbridge Wells. I also wore a Sassi Holford waterfall veil. My shoes were from Next.

The suit and bridesmaids
The bridesmaids were all different shapes and sizes, so I wanted them all to feel comfortable and look wonderful – without having to be uniform. I choose the material and they all picked their own dessy dresses.
The Groom’s and the Usher’s suits were rented from Jack Bunneys formal hire. They were great as they tailored all of the suits to fit the wedding party – which was great as my brother is 6 ft 7!

Theme or colour scheme
If found it quiet difficult to pick a colour scheme and I knew I didn’t want everything to match perfectly. So rather than choosing one colour, we decided to go for a pastels palette.

Decoration and personal touches
• I did design at university and I knew I wanted to have a personal stamp to our day. I had designed our Save the Dates and Invitations and carried that theme through to our table plan and table names. These were all pub names – as this is where Andy and I met.
• My mum and I made the favours, which were raspberry jam (my favourite), Seville orange marmalade (as this is where we got engaged) and Rat–a-toue relish (a play on Andy’s nick name).
• My bridesmaid, Emily, made all of the props for the photo booth – which was real fun! We linked a camera to a photo printer, and as the evening went on….the photos, well (you can imagine). It was great fun looking back at the camera at all of the photos that had been taken.
• We made everything to the personal messages on the straws to the table games for the guests to play and interact with!

Food
Where to start with this – Food is a HUGE part of both our lives, and we really wanted it to be a gourmet day.
When we came out of the church we had a vintage ice cream bicycle – serving yummy ice creams and sorbets. It was perfect as it was such a warm day.
We had a gorgeous selection of canapés and then allowed everyone to choose their 3 course wedding breakfast – the choice ranged from Sea bass (caught locally) to Devonshire Lamb – which was beautiful.
In the afternoon my mum made an amazing selection of sweet treats – cakes, sweets and little nibbles! It kept everyone going to the evening buffet, which was a Mediterranean spread of cured meats, cheese, olives and dips!

Entertainment
We had an ice cream bicycle when we excited the church and an amazing Jazz band when we all met back at the venue – they really set the mood for a chilled out afternoon in the sun.
After the wedding breakfast we set up a homemade photo booth and we had a classic old school disco in the evening – everyone loves a bit of cheese at a wedding!

Flowers
We had a selection of hydrangeas, bud roses, vintage roses, herbs and foliage.

Special moments
There were so many – however, my favourite was entering the church and seeing Andy at the end – the look on his face will never leave me!

Biggest surprise
The vintage Aston Martin that Andy drove me away in from the church in!!!!! Also, the weather – we couldn’t have had a more perfect day!

Advice for other couples
• It is your day – not anyone else’s. Do what makes you both happy, as you don’t want to look back and regret anything!
• Take in every moment and enjoy it and if you can, escape for 5 minutes together to gather your thoughts and take it all in!!! It’s such a whirlwind!
• Finally, just have fun! Don’t worry about anything! You being relaxed, will create a relaxed atmosphere…and everyone will have fun!