Your Devon and Cornwall Wedding - May/June 2020 (Issue 25)

29  REAL WEDDINGS S ophie and Travis met when he visited Australia on a working holiday visa. “It was a trip that his family thought would only last a couple of weeks,” Sophie tells us. “We both attended a cocktail tasting night through work and it was there that we got chatting. This was followed by a Facebook friend request and the rest, as they say, is history! ”The couple became engaged underneath the washing line at Travis’s parents’ house on a trip to Australia! “He assures me that he planned to propose a few months later when we were going to be in New Zealand but he lost his nerve and just asked me sooner!” Sophie tells us. “He proposed with his great grandmother’s ring and then we went ring shopping together which was romantic.” SETTING THE SCENE “We love the location where we married and it was the only venue that we both viewed,” Sophie tells us. “A key thing for us was having space for our guests to stay over and the house itself slept 36 people plus there was camping available on-site. We also wanted to be able to celebrate with everyone over a couple of days.” The couple certainly did just that, hosting a surf contest and pizza picnic beforehand, and a barbecue the day following the wedding whilst watching the England v Australia cricket match. “We hired a surf simulator and ordered lots of takeaway pizzas for our guests on the Thursday before the big day,” Sophie tells us. “It was a great ice-breaker because our wedding was the first time that our families had met.” The couple’s day followed a tropical theme with some personal touches. “Our flowers included Australian varieties and dried wheat because I grew up on a farm,” Sophie tells us. “Another nod to Australia was the sugar flowers that decorated our cake. They were made by Travis’s auntie who couldn’t travel over for the wedding. They were placed on a beautiful cake made by my sister and auntie.” Sophie made the table plan and signage herself at a craft workshop. “I laser-cut the table plan and learnt a new skill in the process!” she says. “We also had personalised glasses used as place settings and favours, and a fabulous finishing touch was our large painted ceremony backdrop that a friend made for us using the colours of our theme. It also made a good photographic backdrop for our guests later in the day and now it’s hung on our wall at home.” Sophie and Travis wanted to serve their guests something a bit different. “We both work in the wedding industry every weekend so wanted something different to the ideas we regularly see,” Sophie tells us. “We chose to start with