Lauren & Matts Wedding Planning Blog ~ part 5

A final blog post from Lauren, before this beautiful couple hold their September wedding at Coombe Trenchard.

Counting down the days to wedded bliss

With now less than 5 weeks to go everything is beginning to fall into place and is feeling so real! We have counted down the weekends we have left and each one is jam packed with something meaning we have no time left to do anything more, so we just have to have complete trust in our planning so far and hope that it will all come together perfectly on the day – with a huge hand from Sarah, who we know will make sure every detail is accommodated (she’s been amazing for this!).

We are also spending time over the next few weeks wearing in shoes, practicing our first dance, and hand making all the last little bits for the day.

The 'wedding planning room' at home has spanned so far out I had to have a sit down and sort out last week to remember all the things we have got! It was so exciting going through things knowing the next time they are unpacked will be the night before the wedding.

We have had nearly all the final appointments with our suppliers, and have settled the final balances with most of them too, which has been such a huge relief as we know now that anything we have extra can go towards the honeymoon - Yippee!

We have booked with Kuoni, and cannot wait for our amazing trip - 3 nights in Bangkok and then off to enjoy the beaches of Thailand for a week!

Our honeymoon will follow on straight after the wedding which will be fantastic as we carry the motion of the day on into the most amazing holiday of our lives!

After our wedding and honeymoon it will be back to reality with no planning left to do – which will feel really strange! I actually don’t know how I will get on not having something to make every week or contacting people to arrange appointments - although from the amazing people we have met throughout our planning, I am pretty sure I will be in touch with them afterwards.

For example, Kimberly at Changing Faces has been brilliant - Mum and I had our trial for makeup and hair last week and it was just lovely being pampered and trying out different styles and choices. I didn’t really have a specific idea of what I wanted which I thought might make it difficult but I think if you choose a supplier who really knows their stuff, and takes the time to understand you, they can guide you easily. This is exactly what Kimberly did and I was so happy with the results. And it was so special sharing this time with my mum as well, who also looked beautiful!

Neither Matt nor I can wait now for everything that we have planned to come together. The countdown is well and truly on, and I will be sure to write a blog with lots of pictures from the day - our wedding day at Coombe Trenchard (!!) - only next time I'll be signing off as Mrs Lauren West!

A Beginning of Lauren & Matt's Coombe Trenchard Wedding Journey

Hello! My name is Lauren, my partner is Matthew and we are getting married at Coombe Trenchard in September 2018. We have been together over 6 ½ years and engaged since 1st May 2017. We met in our hometown of Teignmouth in Devon, where my parents owned a coffee house and we worked together (our love grew, as did my addiction to skinny lattes). We moved to Bristol 2 years ago and now live together in our first house with our two girls Lula and Eva ... our cats not children!

I’m a little quick of the mark, or as Matt would say impatient. As soon as we got home from St Ives (where Matt proposed) we started looking for venues. Our whole focus was around getting married in a Church, for us this was something we both felt was important. I downloaded the Bridebook app (UK's no.1 wedding planning app and website, searched for venues with churches within walking distances and contacted four of them. 

We called Anne at Lewtrenchard, the lady who oversees the local church for Vicar Tim, and after a quick and friendly response from Emily at Coombe Trenchard, booked to go and see our first church and venue (which actually turned out to be our one and only church and venue!)

Obviously it rained, as it always does for us, but we pulled up to the sweetest church and the sun came out from behind the clouds.  It was stunning: the fields close by were full of flowers and the trees loaded with leaves. We walked into the tiny church and were instantly in love: it's small and humble interior with beautiful wood carving and stain glass windows were just how we imagined our Church.

We then made our way to Coombe Trenchard and as we pulled into the grounds the most beautiful peacock was walking in front of our car. We were instantly welcomed by the lovely Sarah and had goosebumps as we were taken on a tour around this stunning venue. Sitting in snuggly chairs with a china cup of tea and homemade biscuits, it was safe to say at that point looking out at Dartmoor with the blossom blowing by and the sun shining we had both already decided that Coombe Trenchard was our choice!

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Fiona Walsh Photography

We provisionally booked the date with Sarah there and then, but returned a few weekends later with our parents, who were all in awe of how beautiful Coombe Trenchard is. The six of us where guided round the venue and as our parents took it in for the first time, Matt and I could already start to see our day form ahead of us!

So nearly three months on to being engaged, we are delighted to have Coombe Trenchard for our special day and now have only just over a year until we will be one of the select few couples to get married with Sarah and Emily. The save the dates have already gone out and we are looking forward to our third visit in September to meet Thirst Choice our caterers!

Which I will share with you next time …

Lauren x

May blog from Nikki, our 'Real Wedding Blogger'

Gosh I can’t believe its May already! People are always telling me that even though we’re not getting married till next year the time will fly by … and they’re not wrong!.

I’m happy to say though that we have got so much done since my last blog post and since we booked Coombe Trenchard back in January. 

As I mentioned before I was conscious that because we were getting married on a bank holiday that in order to secure the suppliers we really wanted that we should get things organised quickly … especially as we were moving house as well this year.

So since we last spoke we have booked our photographer, our catering, entertainment, florist and cake designer. 

One of the most fun parts so far has been picking out entertainment! Me and Ant met at a festival so music was always going to be an important part of the day. We got a recommendation from a fellow wedding stationer for a band down in Plymouth so headed down there in February to see them at a gig. We were planning on seeing a few other bands before making a decision but they totally blew us away! They were absolutely perfect for our wedding with lots of Indie / Rock classics which I know are going to have at least me and Ant up dancing … if perhaps not some of the older guests! But our feeling is this is our wedding and we just can’t stand the thought of music we hate being played just so we cater to everyone.

The other exciting thing was sending out our Save the Dates! As a wedding stationer designing something for myself turned out to be pretty nerve wracking … although also massive fun! I sort of treated it as though it was a brief from a bespoke client and tried to encapsulate our characters and liked in the style of the stationery.

We decided fairly early on of a colour scheme of Navy, Blush, Dark Pink and Ivory – with hints of dark green foliage. I also find it best to not just pick one or two colours for a colour scheme as it can start to look a bit too ‘matchy’ and quite dated – so a range of colours which blend well together was always the aim. We’re both love Navy ( our new lounge is being painted this colour! ) but I also love florals and ferns so wanted to include a botanical element.

We also want the wedding to be fun and light hearted and really wanted to incorporate some of our geekier side so the wording of the Save the Date cards relates to how we met and our love of Star Wars and Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy – and I couldn’t help myself but include some very small Stormtrooper helmets in with the floral motifs on the pink envelope liner!

Sending out the Save the Dates I was really nervous but everyone seemed to like them – even though not everyone got the geeky references! I’ve already started to think about the design of the invitations so that will keep me occupied for a while!

In the meantime we’ve just moved house in to a bit of a renovation project so I’m really glad that we have all the big things booked for the wedding and we can relax and concentrate on the house for a few months and look forward to our Engagement Shoot with our photographer Clare Kinchin later in May.

Nikki x