All photos by Cornish Wedding Photography
Well damn, blogging this all out it feels like it took ages to get to the reception! And it was only half the day gone… Well, we did pack a lot of good stuff into one day, and entering the reception venue (which we hadn’t seen done up–hence the surprised faces!) was really just like starting the second half of a football game. (Not sure if I mean American or English football there, you can decide…) It was pretty darn incredible how Alex’s family and friends managed to turn the town’s sailing club, Gallants, into a wedding-tent-ish venue–just with white fabric, green & purple ribbons, and a net on the ceiling filled with balloons.
When guests arrived at Gallants, they were greeted with mini Cornish pasties (pronounced paa-sties, not pay-sties), glass of cava, and scrabble tiles to play with on the tables. The buffet was downstairs stock full of Italian meats, quiches, salads of all sorts, stuffed peppers, olives, mushroom pate—and a cake of cheeses. I could eat that stuff every day if they’d let me. The speeches started after dinner and many of us cried–with laughter, mostly–as Alex’s dad and both of our Best Men kept it going.
We also had two very special performances by a family friend, Barbara Hunt, and our sister-in-law, Erica (not from America). Barbara sung two of her own songs, ‘Amazing Grace’ and ‘King of my Heart;’ the latter of which she changed to ‘Queen of my Heart’ just for us. Erica sang our requests: ‘At Last’ by Etta James and ‘Shut Up and Kiss Me’ by Mary Chapin Carpenter. Damn, our jaws were on the floor with ‘At Last’–I know it’s a typical wedding song, but Erica blew it out of the water!! ‘Shut Up and Kiss Me’ was equally amazing and, you know, I had to get up and dance with her a little bit too. Alex’s brother, Tom, was also the MC for the night and aided in the DJing here and there.
We went back downstairs to cut the cake while they re-set the dining space into the dance floor. Funny British tradition I didn’t know about was that the Brits only cut the cake. They don’t feed each other or anything like that. Well, Alex didn’t know this either, so here we were planning to do this cute Jamaican ’kissing bird’ tradition–and no one really took notice! Ah well, the fruit cake was incredible….
Our first dance was magical. I can’t lie: I had no idea what it was going to be like–and it was a hell of a lot more powerful that I had imagined. We danced to ‘Heavenly Day’ by Patty Griffin. About 3/4 of the way through the song, we motioned for all to join us, and damn those people were on their feet! (I also might have strongly encouraged all to take part during our thank you speech!)
Conga lines formed and we danced the night away. That last one is actually the very last photo of the night; afterwards John motioned us over to show us that memory card #2 of 2-of-2 cameras was now full. We told him he could go home then…
And for all those who have stuck through this crazy amount of recapping for our UK shindig, let me know if there is anything you want to hear more about, and now I give you a list of our vendors for those lovelies here in the UK (and the US for that matter):
Outfits: Jenny Yoo (dress) from The English Department, altered at Luella’s Boudoir; Gresham Blake (Alex’s suit), Hawes & Curtis (Alex’s shirts); Top Man (Paul’s suit), Tie Rack (Ties & Cufflinks)
Shoes: Hobbs (Alex), Lotus (Erica)
Rings: Jesse Danger, an SYE Approved Vendor!
Jewelry: Art Wark (Erica’s necklace), Cry of the Gulls (Alex’s necklace & Erica’s engagement ring), Beth Cyr Weddings (Alex’s engagement ring)
Food: The Fowey Hotel (Afternoon Tea), Bellamama Deli (Pasties, Buffet, Cake of Cheeses) in Lostwithiel, Cornwall
Venues: The Fowey Hotel, Fowey Gallants Sailing Club
Scrabble Tiles: XO Supplies
Invitations: Baumbirdy
Flowers: Country Flowers (purchased loose, asssembled by a family friend)
and last but not at least, Photography: Cornish Wedding Photography by John Walmsley
See the whole wedding:
Awesome.
All of your photos are so touching! it looks like you had so much fun – really & truly! and i love the touch of mentioning all your vendors ;)
What a beautiful day! I have loved following your entries. A surprising number of my friends have recently bemoaned the paucity of LGBTQ-friendly wedding resources. I’ve sent them all to this blog, and your story, which should be entered as Exhibit A for the case that queer couples deserve to celebrate their commitment.
Monica: Thanks darling!
Nicole Marie: It was really & truly a blast–let me know if there’s anything else you want to here about in detail for the wedding (i.e. like vendor stuff :)
Hannah: Thank you for your comments throughout the recapping and for following along! I am stoked that you’ve found SYE (and passed it on) and so connected with our story. Alex and I have been very aware in our wedding planning (and daily life for that matter) that for many of our friends and family we are their Exhibit A, and I’m stoked we’ve fit that bill for you as well! As a bi-national couple with rights in one country and not the other, I think we are even more aware of how simple it can really be to have a state recognized system for LGBTQ couples and how incredible an opportunity it is to celebrate your love and commitment!
[...] Wedding Programs 18 JunErica Bio | PostsPhoto by Cornish Wedding PhotographyWith the recapping complete, I thought I’d back-track a bit to give a little detail on a few of our last minute wedding [...]