This was one of those beautiful autumnal weekends where the air is warm and the light has a gorgeous glow. A wonderful backdrop for Ali and Dave's wedding.
Dave and Ali, brought something of a cool London vibe to Pickwell, which I loved. From their choices of drinks (Aperol spritzers), the music, Shoreditch market finds, to the number of men with beards. It gave me my London 'fix' for September!
After spending Thursday night at Pickwell with close family, they were fresh and ready to go for the grand set up on Friday morning. Here Ali and her mum, Pat, are putting out their gold candle sticks. Ali had trawled many a London market bargaining and bartering for old delightful candlesticks for months.
The bridesmaids, help put the cake together.
Nice work girls!!
Ali went to a flower market in London and brought lots of fab plants that looked wonderful around the house and in the garden.
I loved the lanterns that they put in the central tree of the Italian garden. They had little lights in them, that looked amazing when switched on at night (as you will see later).
The main floral theme of the wedding was an abundance of 'Babies Breath'. Simple, yet very elegant and romantic.
This is one of Ali's lovely plants, a little orange tree that looked very at home in the hallway.
The wedding morning arrived. The girls were preened and beautified with the help of the brilliant Claire Mathers of 'Creative Wedding Hair' . She always makes such a lovely atmosphere on the wedding morning, as well as doing wonderful things with hair!
Whilst the girls were getting ready, the boys met in the Italian garden with trunks in hand, ready to head to the beach for a dip and a spot of beach football.
Once they came back, the rest of the morning was spent playing a cross between football and tennis!
Then the lovely Matt Bee arrived, who serenaded the guests all day.
The scene was set for the wedding to begin, the jars of 'Babies Breath' looked so lovely, thank you Kelly from 'Offshore Blooms'...
...And so did those lanterns.
As Ali and the bridesmaids had got ready in our apartment 'Constance', they were able to go out and have photo's on our new roof decking area. Didn't they look gorgeous!
Ahhh, gorgeous Mum and Dad too!!
Claire made her final touches and here she is....Ta da!
Getting ready in Constance meant that Ali did a long lovely walk from the west wing entrance, whilst Matt played her in.
It all made such a lovely scene.
Celebratory confetti as they came down the aisle, woohoo!!
Drinks on the terrace in the sunshine, a view of the sea and wonderful tunes...what could be better!
I snuck upstairs during the speeches to open the window ready for the photographer to do a group photo and got this rather lovely picture of David giving his speech.
The ballroom was ready for dinner and looked amazing. There was something about the design that was simply beautiful.
These were my favourites of Ali's candlestick finds!
Before the meal began, One of Dave's best men Joe treated everyone to something special!! He has been learning to play the banjo for the last 8 months and had written Dave and Ali a song. Too embarrassed to play it live, he made them a video of his song. It was absolutely brilliant!! Dave what great friends you have, I laughed till my stomach hurt!!
And now to their delicious menu....
Fresh local crab and avocado tower or....
Filo of goats cheese with a leaf salad and a tomato and pesto dressing, gosh, don't they look good! Sadly I missed photographing the west country chicken in a bacon, spring onion and cream cheese sauce. Needless to say, there were empty plates and smiling faces.
I did take a snap of the 'Eton Mess' on its way out though, yum!
Evening was upon us. Fridays hard work of putting up a number of fairy light strings paid off, with this wonderful sight. Not to mention those gorgeous lanterns glowing in the evening light, a glorious sight during coffee on the terrace.
Everywhere was a glow with twinkling lights or candles.
The first dance showed off the back of Ali's amazing dress.
Then they danced the night away with a really fantastic band 'The Somebodys'.
Congratulations Mr and Mrs French, we loved having your wedding at Pickwell Manor and getting to know you both. It was such a celebration of friendship, lovely food, music, fun, laughter, Aperol Spritzers and of course love. You sure know how to put on a good party! We wish you every happiness in your wonderful journey through life together! Come back and see us soon!
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