Our children were only four months and two years old on our wedding day. We wanted it to be a family-orientated occasion, so we decided to keep it short and simple, opting for the venue’s halfday hire offer. We chose the barn for our ceremony, the adjoining courtyard for our drinks reception and the conservatory for our wedding breakfast. Adam and I wanted our favours to be relevant to the theme but also have a purpose and not end up in the back of a drawer. We were thrilled when we came across a family-run beekeeping business called More Bees Please, from whom we bought pots of honey with wooden twizzler sticks and personalised labels. The hugely talented Calon Lân Cakes created our cake using Welshcakes. Of course, we had to purchase some of their goodies to test them before the wedding, and Sarah, the owner, was kind enough to send us some samples. We eventually decided on milk chocolate, white chocolate, and cranberry. Our cake topper was special and so personal: a peg doll family, but not just any family – ours! After sending some photos and details of our wedding outfits to CraftingBirdUK, Natalie (the proprietor) hand painted a family of peg dolls to look just like us. It was a very special buy that will hopefully be kept in our family for many years. Adam and I made a conscious decision to focus on small businesses, particularly if they were able to offer handmade or personalised items. Originally, we had planned to get married in the autumn of 2022. Despite rearranging to spring 2023, we decided to retain our autumnal colour scheme of navy and copper, adding in hints of dusky pinks through the floral arrangements. We were keen for the décor to be sympathetic to the historical surroundings we found ourselves in without being gimmicky. We worked with The Cottage Garden in Nelson for our floral arrangements. We had agreed that the flowers would be one of our ‘big ticket items’ and we were so lucky to have an ongoing dialogue with our florist, Jess, about our theme and how we wanted to portray it. Our showstopper was a 2.4-metre-high arch, which reflected my bouquet with plenty of pampas grass, roses and pheasant feathers. Poor Jess had to design and re-design this so many times to make sure the arrangements weren’t too heavy for the stand! 34
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