Polly and Sam met seven years ago during a weekend away in Weston-Super-Mare. “Sam is a farmer at T W Hawkins and Sons and has farmed on his family farm all his life,” Polly tells us. “I work for my family business D C Merrett & Co Ltd which has a workshop that fixes agricultural machines. Sam’s tractor was always in our workshop but we got to know each other when we went away which was organised by the National Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs. We enjoyed a fun weekend together which led to dates back home where we discovered that we only lived 15 minutes apart. Since then we have become inseparable!” Sam’s family own a house in Croyde, North Devon which is where the couple would often visit on holiday. “We booked a trip for April 2021 with our two dogs, Ginny and Bailey and Sam proposed as we watched the sunset at Baggy Point which is a popular walk with beautiful views, ” Polly tells us. “Sam said he was originally planning to propose in Santorini where we had a holiday booked in May 2020 but due to the pandemic, this wasn’t able to go ahead. My family had been asking him when he would pop the question so I thought it might happen but even when he did ask me, it was still a big surprise!” SETTING THE SCENE The couple loved the idea of an outdoor wedding which was a bit risky because of the Great British weather. “We had a small marquee to provide cover in case it rained but we were very lucky, it was cold leading up to our wedding day but on the day itself, the sun was shining with blue skies,” Polly says. Polly and Sam wanted their wedding to look rustic to reflect their farming backgrounds. “Sam is mainly a pig farmer and farms around 1600 pigs a month, so this made us choose a piggie theme,” Polly explains. “We decided on wooden cut-outs of pigs as place names and our tables were named after breeds of British pigs. Our table was called Large White which is the breed of pig that Sam farms. Our table plan was displayed in white frames placed inside apple crates and we gave our guests Percy Pig sweets on each table.” The couple also “Our ceremony was the best part of the day, it was so beautiful to be able to have it outside and for the sun to be shining. Also, the evening was great fun with guests throwing plenty of drunken moves on the dancefloor!” − Polly and Sam REAL WEDDINGS 35
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