This cute couple had an eco-friendly, rustic wedding at a working cider farm in the Devonshire countryside…
How they met
“We met in a bar in Bath one evening,” remembers Lucy. “I asked him what he did for a living, and he said he was a ski instructor. I was suitably impressed, though a little confused as to why a ski instructor would be hanging about in the West Country in the middle of the ski season! It turns out that although it was technically true (he is fully qualified), he actually works in Bath as a town planner!”
The proposal
“We were skiing in Austria and had been to see a night time ski show,” recalls Lucy. “We were on top of a mountain, the stars were out, the fireworks had just finished, it was the most romantic setting. However, I noticed that Rich was acting strangely, like he was nervous and couldn’t clear his throat properly. He then produced a ring out of his coat pocket and asked me to marry him.
“Unfortunately, though, because he had his skis on he couldn’t get down on one knee, and I couldn’t get my layers of gloves off for him to put the ring on my finger, so before I said ‘yes’ I made him ski the 6km down to the bottom of the mountain so he could take off his skis, get on one knee, and do it properly!”
The bride’s outfit
“The whole experience was perfect. It was the second bridal shop I’d been to and they closed the whole shop for me, so that my mum, my sister and I had free reign to try on any dresses I liked. I was very lucky because all the samples I tried on were pretty much my size, so all of them looked amazing. Each time I tried one on it was ‘the one’, until the final dress I tried. It was an ivory Maggie Sottero gown and as soon as I looked in the mirror I knew that I wouldn’t love another dress like this one!” beams Lucy.
As an added bonus, Lucy was told her dress was in the sale, reduced from £950 down to just £350! Amazing!
The bridesmaids
Lucy bought her four fabulous bridesmaid dresses from Warehouse. “We had a great day out shopping before the wedding and they all agreed on a dress that they liked,” says Lucy. Our bride then treated her girls to jewellery from Oliver Bonas (silver apple pendants, in keeping with the cider theme) and wellie boots!
The ceremony
The ceremony included two readings – the first was from Lucy’s favourite book, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, and the second was a beautiful, funny poem by Edward Monkton called The Lovely Other Dinosaur.
“We chose our own music for the signing of the register. We had One Day Like This by Elbow (one of our favourite songs after seeing them perform it at Glastonbury) and then Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong. We exited the ceremony to Pencil Full of Lead by Paolo Nutini, which the guests loved because it’s very upbeat and jolly!” smiles Lucy.
The flowers
The blooms were provided by Gemma Welton of Gem’s Flowers. In keeping with their country theme, Lucy wanted her bouquet to be full of wildflowers, which included gypsophila, pale lemon freesias, and blue cornflowers to match the bridesmaids.
The theme
“We had a cider festival-themed eco-wedding! The barn where we had our ceremony and reception was a traditional cider barn with a fully working cider press (which served as our altar). The farm makes their own cider and we got through several barrels over the weekend! Even our wedding toast was cider –
it was a sparkling pink cider called ‘Devonshire Blush’ by Ashridge Cider. Our table names were also our favourite ciders, while the place names were apples with name tags pinned to them,” explains Lucy.
The details
All of the couple’s decorations were either borrowed or homemade, with friends and family all lending a hand, to make the day unique.
“Both our mums spent weeks making bunting out of old fabric – they did such a good job,” recalls Lucy. “Rich’s cousin also very kindly made our wedding cake and it was definitely the yummiest cake ever!”
The honeymoon
“We spent two amazing weeks in Thailand using monetary donations from our guests,” remembers Lucy. “The first four days were in Bangkok, which was crazy and very chaotic, followed by 10 days in the coastal town of Ao Nang.”
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