Your South Wales Wedding - November/December 2024 (Issue 100)

Charlie and Adam first started talking on a dating app. “We enjoyed our first date freezing outside of a restaurant at the end of the second COVID lockdown in April 2021,” says Charlie. “I was attracted to Adam’s aloof east London vibe and his love for houseplants.” Adam popped the question in December 2022 on the Isle of Skye. “We decided to drive down to Coral Beach on the north of the island,” shares the bride. “It was a beautiful crisp sunny day with a blue sky and sun shining off the white coral beach. Adam came out of the sea after a swim in his full winter wetsuit gear (hood and gloves included) and spontaneously proposed on the beach. It was definitely a surprise; I think for both of us!” SETTING THE SCENE “Adam and I share a love for the Pembrokeshire coast, both of us having holidayed there every year as children,” explains Charlie. “We’d visited Druidston Haven and Nolton Haven together on a few occasions and noticed the sunflower meadows at Nolton Coast Weddings, and upon finding out that they were starting to host weddings there, it was the obvious choice of location for our wedding.” For their flowers, the couple hired Flowers by Emma Powell and TogetherNess Weddings. “Ness and Emma did a spectacular job on the floristry,” recalls Charlie. “Because we were having the wedding mostly outside and in a tipi with a fairly basic and simple set up, we needed lots of flowers and foliage to brighten and excite the setting. We got married under an arch of flowers with the sea behind us. The flowers were positioned in milk churns and on barrels around the wedding area and a highlight was the incredible floral and foliage clouds that hung from the ceiling of the tipi above the guests as they dined. We wanted summer foliage and scented herbs combined with the flowers to give a fresh, wild and naturally gathered look. We used seasonal country garden flowers and blooms found growing wild in the British Isles, including sunflowers, sweet peas, cornflowers and delphiniums. Nestled within the blooms were soft and gentle foliage in a variety of summer greens and silvers.” The couple chose to name their tables after beaches in Pembrokeshire. “We had to arrange the guests on three long tables for the wedding breakfast due to the shape of the tipi,” reveals the bride. “TogetherNess Weddings, our wedding planner, drew up a beautiful table plan on an easel by the tipi entrance. To decorate the rest of the space, we had hay bales, a firepit and old milk churns, keeping some of the farm ambiance, and the bar was operated out of an American Airstream trailer. “We chose a three-tiered wedding cake made by award-winning cake designer, Rhwbeth Melys,” adds Charlie. “We went with a Victoria sponge base, a carrot mid-tier, and finally lemon and poppyseed for the top layer.” Charlie and Adam hired Strawberry Shortcake to provide the food for the day. “We hired them after TogetherNess Weddings recommended them, and they did not disappoint,” says Charlie. “We had so many compliments from guests about the incredible food, with many saying it’s the best food they’ve ever had at a wedding! Scott from Strawberry Shortcake was easy to speak to over the phone in advance, and we decided to go for an extensive canapé reception and skip the starter for the wedding breakfast because of my love for canapés. The wedding breakfast itself was served banquet style, which worked brilliantly, with large centre plates of meats and Ottolenghi-style salads, everyone able to help themselves to as much as they like, and as Scott promised us, nobody was going hungry that day! The whole Strawberry Shortcake team were so efficient, friendly and professional.” 33 REAL WEDDINGS

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTA0NTE=