Laura first met Elliot when she moved from Melbourne to London to start work for the same company as him, and friendship blossomed into love. After Elliot's proposal in their garden on a summer's evening, the couple were faced with a big decision concerning where to marry. "Melbourne, London or Cornwall?" says Laura. "We finally landed on Cornwall as Elliot grew up in Polperro and I knew my family would love an excuse for a trip to Europe! It was absolutely perfect for what we knew would be a massive three-day party!"
"We love putting on themed gatherings so we knew our wedding had to reflect this," she says. "We are both massive Wes Anderson fans and decided on a mixture of 'Moonrise Kingdom' meets 'The Grand Budapest Hotel'."
Taking the films' style as the inspiration for their wedding, the couple also wanted native Australian flowers to feature in homage to Laura's roots. "As the wedding evolved over the 22 months we were engaged, we landed on an autumnal/native Aussie colour palette," she explains.
Their non-traditional wedding began with their outfits, with Laura choosing whimsical separates and Elliot donning a custom-made ensemble. "It took a little while for him to fall in love with the idea of a green suit, but it looked amazing," recalls Laura.
A focus on floristry beautifully combined the couple's heritage with eucalyptus, kangaroo paw, craspedia and banksia paired with local Cornish blooms. "At the very last minute I asked our florist to add some giant protea, which blew all the guests away!" adds Laura.
Their "lovely, funny and very inclusive ceremony" included a request for their guests to sing a 'hymn' in the form of Beyonce's 'Love on Top'. "The sing-along quickly caught on and we had the whole wedding party and guests singing one of our favourite songs to end the ceremony. It was so much fun!" reminisces Elliot.
After the ceremony, guests were greeted with a grazing table, alongside a Campari bar and a bathtub full of craft beer from one of their favourite London breweries, Belleville. Foodies Laura and Elliot also wanted the gastronomy to take centre stage, and they carefully planned a menu to suit. Starting with sharing boards 'from the sea' including gin and beetroot cured salmon, smoked mackerel p�te and hand-picked Dartmouth crab, 'from the land' mains of slow-cooked beef cheek, roast rump of lamb and roasted potatoes were then served alongside a selection of vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free dishes.
The evening featured a packed dance floor, pasty supper and after-party in the hot tubs, followed the next day by coffee and pastries in the courtyard courtesy of a coffee van. "We dragged the furniture outside and had reggae songs as the soundtrack - the perfect way to reminisce about the night before and round the weekend off," comments Elliot.
"Depending on how long your engagement is, don't buy too much stuff at the beginning," warns Laura to other busily planning couples. "We were engaged for almost two years and I got so excited at the beginning that I started buying things that we didn't end up using because our theme changed over the 22 months!"
Photography Toby Lowe Photography tobylowephotography.co.uk
Venue Kilminorth Cottages kilminorthcottages.co.uk
Celebrants Cornish Celebrants cornishcelebrants.co.uk
Catering Radius 7 radius7.co.uk
Dress Kate Halfpenny halfpennylondon.com
Bridesmaids' dresses Witchery witchery.com.au
Groom's outfit Moss Bros Bespoke moss.co.uk
Groomsmen's outfits ASOS asos.com
Hair & make-up LJP Bridal ljpbridal.co.uk
Flowers Gorse & Thorn gorseandthorn.com
Cake Konra'di Cakes konradicakes.co.uk
Coffee van The Hatch thehatchcoffee.co.uk
Entertainment Sons in the Wild sonsinthewild.co.uk
Photo booth Flicksbox flicksbox.co.uk
Copyright Wed magazine 2019
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