Play.Eat.Laugh.Sleep..Pickwell: Paul, Jen and a beach inspired wedding

Friday, 31 August 2012

Paul, Jen and a beach inspired wedding

This year the Pickwell wedding family has grown. We now have the lovely Holly Kennedy on board. Holly has worked with me for the last 2 years and we have been so impressed by her organisational skills and creative flair that we knew she was ready to start running her own weddings.

This was a wedding Holly ran earlier this year...over to you Holly.

At the end of May we had our second wedding of the year; giving the lovely bluebells one last chance to be photographed! And now we have had these fantastic photo's sent through from Matt Fryer we couldn't help but share them with you...

Jen and Paul grew up locally and fell in love here, so for them Pickwell provided the perfect backdrop to their wedding weekend. And a fantastic weekend it was!

Jen had 4 of her closest friends to help her down the aisle and even after an early start of 7am, the girls had a lovely relaxing morning being pampered by Jo Kift (make up) and Sandy from Charleys (on hair).

One of the great aspects for a bride getting ready at Pickwell is the enormous bedroom on the east wing of the house in the apartment called 'Affinity'.

From this beautiful stone-mullion window, you have the ability to see all the guests arriving (and very cool they were too!) and of course, the Groom looking nervous and waiting for the ceremony.

I love these pictures of the girls doing just this!

Then came the time for Malcolm to walk his little girl across the cobbles...

The atmospheric sounds of Siona and her harp enhanced the magic of our historic Italian Garden.

After the ceremony guests enjoyed glasses of Pimms and croquet on the lawn, before being seated to enjoy a fantastic 3 course dinner from the wonderful Lee and Kristina Timmins and team.

The guests were treated to a Mediterranean Salad, followed by a main course of west country chicken roulade, pancetta and sage, and accompanied with hand-tied vegetables and roast potatoes.
For the vegetarians, they enjoyed a delicious vegetable en-croute, hand-tie vegetables and roast potatoes.
All washed down with a lovely glass of wine!

Jen spent hours of dedication creating beautiful personal touches to bring all aspects of the wedding together, like fresh flower heads at everyone’s place setting and one of our talented and recommended florists, Kelly from Off Shore Blooms once again created a stunning top table garland, along with all the bouquets, button holes and a rose arbour garland for the ceremony.

After the ceremony Jen and Paul were whisked away by Matt Fryer who took these stunning beach shots on our very own (or we like to think it is our own!) Putsborough Beach…

The band got the evening in full swing with the help of Jen and Paul's friends and family who had supplied song requests, which were covered throughout the night!

After such a wonderful day the only way to top it all off was some hot bacon sandwiches cooked by the lovely Mothers in the snug on the Sunday.

I truly love weddings, and felt very privileged to be involved in Jen and Paul's wedding. Every aspect of the day really reflected their personalities, their creativity and their relationship.

All the best for the future Mr and Mrs Shanes!!!

P.S Thank you Matt Fryer for your stunning photographs, and allowing us to share them!

Holly x

1 comment:

Unknown4 October 2012 at 05:40
It was my pleasure Holly, always a pleasure to work with you guys.
Huge huge congratulations to Paul and Jen, it was a fantastic day.
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Our Story

Many people have asked what the story is, how did the Bakers and Elliotts come to be at Pickwell?

Are you sitting comfortably?

Tracey and Susannah became friends at 6th form college. Steve and Tracey lived in the same village in Sussex. Steve's dad was the vicar and Tracey's dad was Steve's scout leader. Even more wierd, Susannah's dad (also a church minister) and Steve's dad were friends, but Steve and Sus never met.

One summer Tracey took Susannah along to a youth summer camp. Steve was one of the leaders (read : heightened attraction) and a little later Steve and Sus got together. During their 6 on/off years they met Richard, a blue eyed boy from Guildford.

At a club night run by Steve, somehow through the dark and crowded room, Tracey and Richard bumped into eachother (if you have seen the shapes they pull on the dancefloor you would know how easily this happened)..

In the year 2000 they all got married. Tracey and Susannah were eachother's bridesmaids. They have remained firm friends ever since.

When Steve and Susannah came across Pickwell Manor, they knew they couldn't manage such a project on their own. They asked the Elliotts if they would give up their house, their jobs and their community to come and live and work with them and own the project together. They knew there weren't many people they could ask to do such a thing knowing they would still love each other by the end. So they all left everything in Sussex and came to Devon.

They moved on the same day in August 2008. It has been a crazy, wonderful, scary, emotional and beautiful experience so far. All of them would say they feel very ALIVE!

Since they moved they have run 51 successful and wonderful weddings (with more to come), many, many holidays, built or totally refurbished 6 apartments from scratch, updated carpets, painted white throughout, put in quite a few kitchens and bathrooms (including 2 baths on concrete plinths), changed much of the furniture, converted a laundry and have started to convert the chapel. Every year they also have a bonfire gathering in October, an Easter Eggstravaganza fundraising event, and anything else that is not-for-profit that they can fit in. Tracey has completed a dissertation and gone back to nursing for 2 days a week, Steve has started up a new company in London, Richard has mastered a lot of the running of the house as well as training as a coach, specialising in stress management, Sus has taken on the interiors and Tracey and Susannah have learnt weddings in at the deep end! All with 4 young Pickwellians by their sides.

"Our passion is for making life count. Our values lie in
friendship, celebration, valuing others, and social justice. We see Pickwell as a reflection of these things but also a place for rest, recouperation, laughter and conversation. We want to support charities and social enterprises to fufil their dreams and make a difference."

"We love Devon, we love the community here, we love seeing our children grow with nature and discovering the great outdoors. We have to pinch ourselves sometimes when we think about our life here, it is amazing".