Your Devon and Cornwall Wedding - January/February 2021 (Issue 29)

39  REAL WEDDINGS A lexandra and Simon met when they both decided to try speed dating. “Simon was very easy to talk to and had a cheeky smile and lovely dark hair!” Alexandra tells us. “ We just hit it off right from the start.” The couple became engaged during a trip to Paris where Simon had planned a surprise proposal. “I love city breaks and we had a packed itinerary planned,” Alexandra explains. “We had talked about getting married but I didn’t expect Simon to propose whilst we were away. He had planned to ask me to marry him at the top of the Eiffel Tower but after doing a bit of research, he felt that it wouldn’t be the best place because it’s so crowded! He asked me after dinner on our first night in our hotel room and presented me with a ring that we’d both looked at from a contemporary jeweller in Exeter. We did sip champagne at the top of the Eiffel Tower the following day - even though Simon is scared of heights!” SETTING THE SCENE Alexandra had always wanted to enjoy an outdoor wedding. “We went to see The Boatshed at Larkbeare House and fell in love with the location right next to the River Exe,” she tells us. “Simon owns Terry's Cafe on Sidwell Street in Exeter and, after having to change our original reception venue because they couldn't hold functions at the time we wanted to get married because of the Covid-19 restrictions, we decided to host it there. This made our wedding feel very personal and intimate although we had to rearrange many of our plans with only six weeks to go!” Simon surprised Alexandra by arranging a Mercedes to pick her, her mum and her maid-of-honour up from her mum's house where they all got ready and drive them to the ceremony. "It also took Simon and me as a newly married couple from the register office to the cafe," Alexandra says. The couple decided on a Paris theme as a nod to the city where they became engaged and styled their wedding with rustic touches in a dusky pink colour palette. "Our tables were named after famous landmarks in Paris, after all, we had to reflect the city where we got engaged!" Alexandra says. "I hand- wrote our table plan on one of Simon's cafe boards and our place names were created with eucalyptus motifs complementing the summer foliage in my bridal bouquet. This, and our maid-of-honour's bouquet, contained soft apricot