Alice & Alfie’s brilliantly stylish summer DIY wedding inspiration at Cornish Camels - The story of when their community pulled together to show them an amazing time
A timeless vintage wedding at a fairytale festival outdoor wedding venue in Cornwall
Back in July, we had the delight of capturing one of the most joyful & community spirited weddings of our career at the quirky & quaint venue of Cornish Camels down on the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall. This summer has been a summer of firsts for us, and it was at Alice & Alfie’s colourful festival wedding that I first met a real life Camel.
THEIR STORY
Cornish Camels is a multi use venue and family farm tucked away on Goonhilly Downs, one of my favourite spots in Cornwall. It hosts music events from time to time and it was when Cornish Camels hosted the Masked Ball, an iconic moment on the calendar that these two first became girlfriend and boyfriend. When it came to choosing a wedding venue, of course they picked the place where it all began and why wouldn’t you? The setting in the middle of the golden downs is idyllic with beautiful trees standing sentinel, an ancient cob barn with a thatched roof, Cottages where people could stay on site before the wedding and a great big open feasting barn for the reception party. Oh did we mention there are Camels? Those were a huge hit.
CORNWALL WEDDING SUPPLIERS:
Photography & Super 8 video: Lyra & Moth
Venue: Cornish Camels
Makeup: Charlotte Albert
Table styling: Myrtle & Oak
Catering: The Shelfish Pig
Rings: Alice Philpott Jewellery
Nos Lowen: Skillywidden
Flowers: Blowth Flowers
A festival wedding with vintage elements
It was a bright and hot summer’s day in the far reaches of South Cornwall’s Lizard peninsula. The exact sort of day you think of when you dream of languid July afternoons, butterflies flitting about the wildflowers and long grass gently wafting in the breeze. Alice & Alfie’s friends and families had been busy at work, setting up the venue to create an incredible backdrop for their eclectic wedding. One of the many, many things we loved about Alice & Alfie’s wedding was that there was no ‘theme’ or Pinterest. It was a perfect example of just doing what you love for your wedding day and blending elements of all of your favourite things. They had friends style the tables for them and create beautiful place names & stationary as well as another friend from Blowth flowers set up all the bright & joyful florals. Another family friend was a festival flag draper (is that the profession? Forgive us if there’s a better word for it!) but they were responsible for hanging the zillions of strings of silk bunting that really set the vibe and created such a vibrant scene. Especially outside in the courtyard where all the rainbow flags billowing in the late afternoon breeze felt so surreal and reminiscent of a music festival. Alice & Alfie had so many friends and family involved on pulling together their wedding that it was a real community effort, it made the whole day and just showed what you can achieve without an enormous budget if you let people share their talents.
Speaking of talents, bride Alice is a talented jeweller herself. She made their wedding rings, imprinted with the whiskers of their beloved cat who had come to pass. It was a very emotional moment when Alfie realised that their cats whiskers were imprinted in their rings and would forever be a part of their journey together. I think I lost count on how many times I welled up with tears that day.
The Groom’s Look
Sometimes it can feel like the groom’s outfit options are a little limited when you live in Cornwall and there’s not a lot of tailors or suit shops here besides Moss Bros or Marks and Spencers to browse.
DJ & musician Alfie was not prepared to settle for anything less than iconic and found a genuine vintage Italian tuxedo via ebay and we were blown away. He had it tailored to fit him and it looked so cool and sleek, creating a real stand out groom look that matched Alice’s contemporary textured ball gown. With the hot July sun beating down on us, it brought a mediterranean vibe to Cornwall and the suit wasn’t the only vintage touch they brought to the day.
Yet another act of friends showing up for you on your wedding day, the best man Kit, kindly let Alice & Alfie borrow his sublime olive green vintage Ford for their day which would not only serve as a cute photo backdrop to be admired by all on the day, but the couple would drive it up from the ceremony space to their reception area for the party.
We were so glad that these guys booked a Super 8 wedding video with Jon because it suited their vibe so much. One quirk was that a camel hair snuck into the film gate during the wedding video and it’s something you can’t see at the time whilst you’re shooting but gave us all a surprise when the film got developped and added to the authenticity of shooting on vintage equipment. There’s definitely no instagram filter for replicating a rogue camel hair on your film!
The Bride’s Look
Charlotte Albert was the makeup artist of the morning. You’ll find her on our recommended supplier list as not only is she a gentle energy to be around on the morning of a wedding but her makeup artistry is natural & refined.
Alice chose a beautiful textured ballgown with puff sleeves that was like a modern Cinderella which blended beautifully with the fairytale landscape of the wedding venue.
An Outdoor wedding ceremony for a Cornish fairytale
The ceremony took place in the sunny courtyard between the little Cob barn and the old farmhouse.
The ceremony (A traditional hand-fasting) was performed by the groom’s godmother and they had a Dulcimer player to provide the music for the ceremony. There was a really folksy atmosphere with butterflies flitting about.
Because Jon was capturing the ceremony on Super 8 as well as second shooting, I was able to nip off to the cottage to grab this shot of the ceremony through the cottage window. It’s one of my favourite shots from the day but I definitely wouldn’t risk leaving the ceremony area if I didn’t know I had Jon there to catch anything I might miss whilst moving between spaces.
Of course fabulous sunglasses at a summer wedding are a must. One tip I can’t recommend for couples enough if they’re planning a summer wedding is to have some sunglasses that they’re happy to pair up with their wedding outfits so they’re not squinting and left uncomfortable in bright sunny conditions. It also looks extremely cool for the photographs.
Candid and natural documentary wedding photography
The hour after the ceremony is always the best bit to capture the excitement. We’re very ‘hands-off’ at this time, letting you mingle with your guests as this is when lots of the fun happens. We love documenting the hugs, the fun and the awkward-canape-eating expressions and the kids dancing to the musicians entertaining the crowd.
Their kind friends at Myrtle and Oak teamed up with Blowth flowers to style the tables. With the light shining through the big windows and a giant colourful traybake cake decorated in flowers with silk flags draped along every inch of the venue created the most magical and whimsical scenes for their celebrations. The Groom set up a proper DJ booth and with the glittery retro tassle backdrop there was some real 80’s prom vibes going on.
If you ever want a unique and retro wedding decor theme to fill a big space, hanging up a tonne of flags & sparkly tinsle is definitely a great way to create whimsy and magic.
As the late evening sun beat down, we hit up the meadows for some golden hour photographs. It was so hard to pick just a few for this blog post as we do appreciate that these things can go on and on so we’ve tried to just pick a few key moments that sum up the vibes of this beautiful summer’s day.
This is probably my favourite first dance shot that I’ve ever taken. The nostalgia… the movement, the swish! The groom’s family are members of a Cornish Nos Lowen band called Skillywidden and they provided the most incredible evenings entertainment. The energy was BIG and they got the whole room dancing. It far surpassed any Ceilidh I’ve ever seen. It was on a different level. I’d highly recommend considering a Nos Lowen at your wedding if you’re looking for a high energy alternative to a Ceilidh.
What a day. Nothing but joy from start to finish and we’ll remember it so fondly in the years to come. Alice, Alfie & their friends and family were so much fun and made us feel so welcome. We absolutely loved partying with them and documenting their memories and are so grateful for them letting us do our thing.
