A Beautiful, Relaxed Wedding in Cornwall

Thank you to Keith Riley Pho­tog­ra­phy for mak­ing my day with these amaz­ing images. Con­grat­u­la­tions and huge thanks to Claire and Ryan — the most inspir­ing and gor­geous cou­ple imag­in­able! — for shar­ing their wed­ding report (which you’ll find halfway down this page).

I absolutely love this wed­ding, from the styling of the mar­quee (the palest pink roses; del­i­cate touches and fab­u­lous sta­tionery and details) to the beach scenes and the most beau­ti­ful bride… I know you will too. Enjoy! Claire xxx

A beau­ti­ful wed­ding in Corn­wall — Claire and Ryan

Wed­ding venue:

St Caran­toc church, Cran­tock and Corn­wall mar­quee venue, Cran­tock

Wed­ding pho­tog­ra­pher: Keith Riley Photography

How would you describe your wed­ding style?

Our wed­ding style was inti­mate, relaxed, ele­gant and tra­di­tional with a con­tem­po­rary twist. We wanted a really per­sonal wed­ding which we achieved through a small guest list (55) and hand­made details such as the laven­der heart favours which we made by hand in the months before the wed­ding and the tra­di­tional wed­ding cake which was baked and dec­o­rated by Claire and her mother.

A lit­tle about the wed­ding ceremony:

We had a tra­di­tional Church of Eng­land ser­vice in the vil­lage church. We had an awe­some rev­erend in Steve Robin­son who is a per­fect reflec­tion of Cornwall’s relaxed and ultra-friendly style. He instantly made us feel at home and really joined in the singing dur­ing the ceremony.

Which read­ings did you choose?

1 Corinthi­ans 13 4–13 and Shake­speare son­net 116

Tell us a lit­tle about your wed­ding venue styling and details:

The church is so beau­ti­ful it required very lit­tle, we wanted the tra­di­tional flower arch over the main door­way and flower teardrops as a wel­come to the guests at the lych­gate. Apart from that we just had two pedestals of flow­ers at the front of the aisle and some scented can­dles in the win­dow sills.

The tra­di­tional mar­quee (with a pole) was an absolute blank can­vas. We wanted a clean fresh and mod­ern feel for the wed­ding so opted for white with splashes of very pale pink. The mar­quee allowed the scenery to be the focus and star of the venue util­is­ing the out­side space and the huge pic­ture windows.

Invi­ta­tions and wed­ding recep­tion stationery:

We had a more infor­mal style of invi­ta­tion and sta­tionery called win­ter flour­ish by Amer­i­can sta­tionery com­pany minted.com in petal pink.

Wed­ding music and entertainment:

Cer­e­mony was tra­di­tional organ music, we had canon in d for the pro­ces­sional and the trum­pet vol­un­tary by Clarke for the reces­sional. We had three hymns, How Great Thou Art, Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer and Lord Of All Hope­ful­ness (all good belters!)

Recep­tion: we had gar­den games dur­ing the cham­pagne and canapé recep­tion with live sax­o­phone music and then a live band (Maslu) for danc­ing after din­ner. Their style of music is soul and funk from the six­ties onwards.

What did you wear?

Ryan had a Baum­ler suit in light grey, with a shirt and tie from Pink.

Claire had a dress by Aus­tralian design­ers Ella, designed for out­door wed­dings — it was light and fluid and per­fect for the beach set­ting. Shoes were ivory courts from Har­riet Wilde and a bespoke head­piece from Tantrums and Tiaras. Ear­rings were a gift from her par­ents and were dia­mond teardrops in white gold.

Mem­o­rable wed­ding day moments:

Walk­ing to the sand dunes after the cer­e­mony in the blaz­ing sun after months of rain and see­ing Cran­tock beach in all its beauty. This was 45 min­utes of one on one time where we got to talk about the day so far and our expe­ri­ences of the cer­e­mony. This was a spe­cial place for us as it is near Claire’s par­ents house mean­ing we have spent many happy days at the beach and it was where Ryan pro­posed the pre­vi­ous Octo­ber. The nat­ural envi­ron­ment is breath­tak­ing. There were very few peo­ple about even though it was the end of July so it felt very per­sonal and inti­mate. Our pho­tog­ra­phers had vis­ited the place with us before and had great ideas of where to get the best shots but they did not direct us and just allowed us to enjoy the moment with­out feel­ing like we were on a photo shoot.

Wed­ding day advice:

Claire: relax and let go of the lit­tle things you may be wor­ried about like the weather or the flow­ers. All that mat­ters is the peo­ple who are there to cel­e­brate with you.

Ryan: take the time to slow down and enjoy the expe­ri­ence as it goes by so quick.

Rec­om­mended wed­ding suppliers:

• Keith Riley photography
• Absolute can­vas marquees
• The Round Kitchen caterers
• Joanna Bren­ton wed­ding flowers
• Mark Mullin and his band Maslu