Casual & Colourful Yellow & Blue Farm Wedding & Cute Animals

I (Rachael) had just finished my night shifts at the hospital and that afternoon (09/11/20), Cai suggested that we went to Leigh Woods with our dog Maude for a walk. For context, it is our favourite walk with Maude. I remember it being a Monday and thinking it was strange for Cai to suggest us to go on such a walk as he worked from home at that time. I agreed that it would be a good idea to keep me awake so I’d sleep that night.

As we were walking around, I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary (Cai, my family and anyone who knows me would describe me as an oblivious person at the best of days, never mind after finishing nights). We had our usual route that we took, but Cai wanted to take the route that takes us to the view over the Clifton suspension bridge. I begrudgingly agreed – it was much muddier that way and told Cai that he’d have to be the one to wash Maude afterwards haha.

As we got to the edge where you can see over the bridge Cai pleaded that it would be nice to have a photo of me and Maude looking at the bridge with our backs to him. I’m not keen on photos of myself so declined, he stopped pleading when a couple of runners came by. The runners then left, and he started pleading again, I gave in. As I stood with my back to Cai, he went down on his knees with the ring.

I turned around to see if he’d finished and for a split second, I thought he’d gone to hide as he wasn’t directly in my field of vision, only to look down and see him down on his knee with the biggest eyes and the most beautiful ring that I’d ever seen. I don’t remember what Cai said exactly – neither does he – but I said (a very enthusiastic) YES.

Our vision was simple. We just wanted a simple, colourful, and rustic wedding that replicated us as a couple.

We didn’t want to spend all our money on our wedding day but also didn’t want to cut corners. We did much of the decorations ourselves which saved us a lot and made it personal.

The ceremony was held at my small church. It was intimate and beautiful, decorated with wildflowers everywhere. The music came solely from the organ that my childhood piano teacher played. My sister sang a beautiful Welsh song with my best friend accompanying, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. My mother-in-law read a beautiful German poem – it meant that Cai’s German family had such a special moment in the ceremony.

The venue was easy. We knew we wanted to have the wedding back home in Wales where both of our families live and where we grew up and met. We searched for a rustic barn-type wedding as that was our vision and found Caerhyn quickly. We viewed the venue and knew straight away it was the place for us.

It had accommodation too for around 10 people which was a bonus as Cai’s family was coming from Germany and it meant they could stay there. Caerhyn was exactly what we wanted, beautiful, rustic, within our budget and had its own bar(!!).

Cai (surprisingly) knew exactly what he wanted to wear, which was a brown tweed suit, we just needed to find the shop that sold it within our budget. We finally found the place in Bristol (where we live). What is challenging with Cai, is that he is 6 foot 4 inches with long legs. Luckily to us, the people at Haig and Harrison did a fantastic job and found the perfect one for him that fitted him and his groomsmen.

My dress came from Laura May Bridal in Cardiff. I brought my mum and my sister along with me and we went to two bridal shops, the second shop was Laura May. I tried on numerous dresses and started to feel overwhelmed because I liked all of them but never had THE feeling. My stylist and family were so helpful and encouraging and they brought me a dress down on the hanger that I did not like at first, but I made a commitment to try all dresses that were brought to me.

I am so glad I did as it was MY dress. I had THE feeling and we all cried. It was the complete opposite of what I thought I wanted.

Our photographer was Mary W-Thomas who understood our vision from the get-go. She listened to our request, we wanted casual photos which included all the guests – involving our need to include the alpacas from my family’s farm and our dog Maude. When we were searching on the big world wide web for a photographer, we found Mary and fell in love with her photography, the lighting, and the vibe – it was perfect for us.

We aren’t confident in front of the lens, but Mary made us feel comfortable – in fact, CONFIDENT- and that was all we ever wanted and more. We look back at the photos constantly and we love them more each time.

We did most of the décor ourselves, we used wood from a fallen tree on my family farm. We got our friends to drink drinks that had pretty bottles so we could use them as centrepieces with lights and candles. We decided to use the alpaca names as table numbers and included a picture of each alpaca on the table. It was so important for our wedding to be personal to us.

We even had a board with photos of family members that have sadly died that could not be there e.g. grandparents. One of my favourite décor ideas was that we had a board of each guests name attached to it and they’d have to replace their name with a polaroid picture of themselves – we now have a photo of each guest in polaroid form.

We kept it small and went to Cornwall where we spent the week exploring various parts of Cornwall with our dog Maude – it was perfect.

Two memorable moments for me were seeing Cai’s reaction as I walked down the aisle, we always joked leading up to it that I would be disappointed if he did not cry when he saw me. However, I did not expect him to actually cry, and I love that Mary the photographer caught it beautifully. And secondly, the speeches. Cai did a stunning job with his even though he’s not much of a public speaker, his last sentence will always stay with me;

“She lights up every room that she is in, and for the rest of my life I get to be in that room always.” But my dad also deserves credit here, he spent the week up to the wedding trying to write his – he’s also not a public speaker – and he’d always end up crying and not being able to finish the speech.

He finally wrote the final version and was so nervous leading up to it – he drank two corona beers by 10am to calm himself down and he still cried, but so did all the guests. It was the perfect amount of tears and laughter with my dad, and all the speeches in fact. However, the best man did roast me a few too many times for my liking haha.

Stay true to yourself and keep to budget, if you feel you could do it yourself, do it, it makes it even more special.

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Casual & Colourful Yellow & Blue Farm Wedding & Cute Animals

The Proposal

The Proposal

The Proposal

The Proposal

Our vision was simple. We just wanted a simple, colourful, and rustic wedding that replicated us as a couple.

The Vision

We didn’t want to spend all our money on our wedding day but also didn’t want to cut corners. We did much of the decorations ourselves which saved us a lot and made it personal.

Budget

The Ceremony & Music

The venue was easy. We knew we wanted to have the wedding back home in Wales where both of our families live and where we grew up and met. We searched for a rustic barn-type wedding as that was our vision and found Caerhyn quickly. We viewed the venue and knew straight away it was the place for us.

The Venue

It had accommodation too for around 10 people which was a bonus as Cai’s family was coming from Germany and it meant they could stay there. Caerhyn was exactly what we wanted, beautiful, rustic, within our budget and had its own bar(!!).

The Venue

Your Outfits

Your Outfits

I am so glad I did as it was MY dress. I had THE feeling and we all cried. It was the complete opposite of what I thought I wanted.

Your Outfits

Your Photographer & Filmmaker

We aren’t confident in front of the lens, but Mary made us feel comfortable – in fact, CONFIDENT- and that was all we ever wanted and more. We look back at the photos constantly and we love them more each time.

Your Photographer & Filmmaker

The Styling & Decor

The Styling & Decor

We kept it small and went to Cornwall where we spent the week exploring various parts of Cornwall with our dog Maude – it was perfect.

The Honeymoon

Memorable Moments

Memorable Moments

Memorable Moments

Stay true to yourself and keep to budget, if you feel you could do it yourself, do it, it makes it even more special.

Advice For Other Couples

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