Play.Eat.Laugh.Sleep..Pickwell: A Vintage Spring Wedding -Fran and Christian. Part 1.

Tuesday, 30 April 2013

A Vintage Spring Wedding -Fran and Christian. Part 1.

Our first wedding of 2013!

The dress hanging in the bedroom gave the theme away, even if I had not known it before.

Its lace bodice and train were absolutely gorgeous

and set the tone for the whole way the weekend was themed.

From Fran's shoes,

to the chair sashes,

the home-made bunting

and the home-made table plan (made by Fran's talented mum, Maria).

These sweet little bags were sourced through Ebay but were customised by Maria with hand sewn lace.

The children (niece and nephew, Megan and Harri) helped to fill them with mints for the day.

The Card box fitted perfectly with the theme and here again the lace bringing a softness.

The wedding cake was made by the amazing Claire (Christian's sister) and look, even that has a lace design around the top two tiers (and the spring theme round the bottom one).

Claire hand-made every single aspect of these flowers, even down to the tiny balls of the grape hyacinth.

It wasn't just Claire who helped make this wedding so wonderful..this is the Bride's Dad, Paul.

Claire's husband and son found a novel way to hang the bunting in the higher places (*please note for future weddings..we do have a ladder!)

and everyone joined in on the marquee outside.

Paul (Fran's brother-in-law) used his v neat handwriting to create this board explaining what was happening at each stage of the day.

Fran is so organised. This was her list which I took a sneaky pic of...It has all the details of who was allocated what for the breakfast packs in each apartment. Future Brides take note!

They put these lovely jams and conserves (from a local company Brendon Hill Crafts) in the breakfast packs.

The card case and the table plan were displayed beautifully.

Opposite our Cherub Settle, was this gorgeous scene..

'Sit awhile and give a smile'!

I love these novelty props...

The resulting pictures can be seen in part 2 of this blog.

Part 2 -The Wedding 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".