Maddie & Paul
Maddie & Paul
Ceremony and reception venue:
Our ceremony was at St Lalluwy Church in Menheniot, about a 20 minute drive from our reception at Pentillie Castle.
How did you choose your venue?
My parents live in Liskeard and when we first starting thinking of locations, we knew Cornwall was the perfect place for us because it’s a home away from home. We wanted a venue that was within driving distance to my parents’ home and we fell in love with Pentillie Castle and its beautiful estate as soon as we saw it, so it was a really easy decision for us.
In 3 words, how did you picture your wedding at the beginning?
Intimate
Personal
And fancy!
Please give a brief account of your wedding planning story i.e. priorities, highs & lows, challenges etc
The thing we learnt as we got further into wedding planning is that there is something out there for all your wedding needs and even more out there that you don’t need! You can easily get sucked into this idea of doing something because ‘that’s what you need to get married’ but we started realise a lot of that ’stuff’ just didn’t feel like us. I remember we went and had a look at a couple of vintage cars because that’s what we thought we should have. They were beautiful cars, but when we sat in them, we didn’t feel like ourselves and that’s not right if you don’t feel like yourself on your wedding day! So instead, we had a friend who owned a lovely Jag drive us on the day.
We also didn’t have bridesmaids or a best man, instead we divided those roles up so that each of our closest friends had something to do on the day, one person looked after the rings, two did a speech, two were witnesses and so on.
Often the aspect that makes a wedding original to the couple is the detail/theme – tell us about the special details of the day and how you implemented them (colours, theme decorations, centre pieces, favours, photo booths, DIY etc).
We did a lot to make our wedding personal to us, from stationary, to entertainment, the design of the wedding cake and even down to the wine we had during dinner which was from the two countries we’re going on our honeymoon- Argentina and Chile!
We were really lucky to know so many talented people to draw in some favours. One of our best friends designed all the wedding stationary so we were able to be quite creative with how we wanted that to look from the invites we sent prior to the wedding through to the table plan and name cards on the table.
My Dad is very talented at wood-work and he designed a number of garden games that we had out on the lawn at Pentillie which kept everyone entertained. And my Mum has a natural flair for flowers and she and a friend did the flowers in the Church as well as in the dining room and up the staircase at Pentillie.
Finally, our favours were special to us too, we made our guests a CD mixtape of our favourite songs along with a track list that explained why these songs are special to us.
Were you inspired by anyone on social media? Pinterest/Instagram etc?
There wasn’t anyone in particular, but I did love looking on Pinterest and Instagram to get ideas and inspiration, particularly for things like flowers and cake!
What food did you choose for your day, wedding breakfast and evening buffet and why?
It’s not an easy job narrowing down the choices for your wedding breakfast because we wanted everything! In the end we stuck with things we love most, salmon gravalax (similar to smoked salmon) was one of the starter choices, and Paul’s favourite (beef roast dinner) was one of our mains. For dessert, we covered all bases and had something fruity, something for chocoholics, and of course a lemon tart that could be served with plenty of clotted cream. Evening buffet was traditional Cornish pasties and servings of our wedding cake. We still have friends today come up to us and say they’re still dreaming of those Cornish pasties.
What song did you have for your first dance and why?
The Kinks- All day and all of the night.
It’s fun, upbeat, and not too long, plus there’s a great guitar solo half way through which provides a great opportunity to drag your best friends on the dance floor to join you.
What was your favourite part of the day?
For both of us, it was walking down the aisle. I loved walking into the Church with my Dad and walking back out with Paul as my husband. Paul says that was his favourite moment too, seeing me for the first time in my dress walking towards him about to get married.
What was the most important investment for you? i.e food, photography, dress?
A couple of things, Firstly, we wanted special invitations because that’s the first thing your guests will see of your wedding so it sets the tone for the day. Secondly, I have the biggest sweet tooth, and I often bake cakes and desserts for friends, so the cake was really important to me. And thirdly, Paul loves music, the radio is always on in our house and we’re often going to gigs, so it was important to us that we got a good band.
What are your top tips for other couples?
Do it your way, don’t just get things because they seem like ‘the thing to do’!
Suppliers:
Photographer: Nina Dodd Photography
Hair: Red Hair Liskeard
Make Up: Hands and Tans
Brides Dress: Lowen Bridal
Brides Shoes: Ruby Shoo
Grooms Suit: Threadgold
Florist: St Mellion Flowers
Stationary: Agostino Carrea
Transport: Friend
Caterer: Pentillie Castle
Cake: Poshcakes
Music: Sons in the Wild
Our wedding coordinator Chrissie would be delighted to show you around Pentillie! To book your private viewing, please call 01579 350044 or email weddings@pentillie.co.uk.