An early spring engagement in Paris led to Nina and Tom planning a late spring wedding the following year that, due to Covid-19, had to be completely changed.
'We originally had booked a larger wedding at a different venue for roughly 80 guests so we put everything on hold and had to re-evaluate what was important and whether we would want to alter our day,' says Nina.
'We decided to completely start again and wanted that new wedding planning excitement back,' she explains. 'We considered eloping at one stage and then settled on an intimate wedding with only 12 other guests. Brickhouse Vineyard seemed the perfect venue for us. Before lockdown we had previously looked at it but at the time their maximum capacity was 50 so we decided against it. When we knew we were going to have a really intimate wedding, Brickhouse was the first place that sprung to mind.'
Their 'relaxed, wild flower-inspired' celebration with a focus on blush flowers and dahlias ' Nina's favourite bloom ' saw a smattering of petal-pretty details alongside bespoke décor.
'The paper cranes were made by our florist Emma and a nice touch to our day as I am half Japanese,' says Nina, who wore a beautiful 1940s' lace wedding dress. The rustic wedding cake, adorned with gold leaf, white cranes and matching flowers, complemented Nina's handcrafted stationery and pulled the look together.
The beautifully intimate ceremony was followed by confetti in the vineyard, canapés on the terrace, a photo booth in a campervan and garden games, which all made for a laid-back and fun afternoon.
A sit-down meal featuring the likes of Devon crab, corn-fed chicken breast, cannon of lamb, Moroccan baked cauliflower and pomegranate couscous was completed with a host of desserts including chocolate and hazelnut tart, orange sorbet and lime meringue.
After dinner, a surprise wedding video compilation created by Tom's brother Charlie was played. 'He had gathered videos from missing family and friends with the help of others and made a wonderful mix of messages that we all watched together. There was barely a dry eye in the house; it all got very emotional, but it was so special as we felt everybody was with us in their own special way,' says Nina.
'We are so happy that we were able to have our wedding day,' says Nina while in the throes of looking back. 'The dream changed a little along the way but we got to celebrate our love with our families and having our beautiful photographs and wedding video has enabled us to be able to share it with our friends and other family members who weren't able to be there in person.'
'We are planning on having a party whenever we are able to celebrate with our originally invited guests,' she adds.
'Stay true to yourselves ' small personal touches go a long way,' she reminds couples of the importance of using their own characters as inspiration. 'We always said we would want people to be able to tell it was our wedding even without us being there.'
Photography Tara Statton tarastattonphotography.com
Venue Brickhouse Vineyard brickhousevineyard.co.uk
Dress Days of Grace Vintage daysofgracevintage.com
Bridesmaids' dresses ASOS asos.com
Groom's outfit Moss Bros moss.co.uk
Hair Starcuts Salon facebook.com/starcuts.starcross
Flowers Emma Hewlett Floral Design emmahewlett.co.uk
Catering Shepherd Shack Catering shepherdshackcatering.co.uk
Cake Edible Essence edibleessencecakeart.com
Entertainment John Dowling johndowlingbanjo.com
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