What a wonderful sunny day we had with Caryl and Tom just down the road at Rhosygilwen Mansion – easily the hottest day of the year, and the warmth of this wedding was not just in the weather.
We started amidst extreme calmness with Caryl’s family near Fishguard.
If like me you gasped at first sight of the unique gorgeousness of this gown, wait till I tell you the whole story! The lace for the dress was given to Caryl as a gift from her future mother-in-law and Caryl designed the dress herself. Then due to a combination of issues, she ended up having to change dress-maker and having only ONE WEEK to get this made!! From start to finish, including all that amazing embroidery. Caryl arrived in Wales just 36 hours before the wedding having left her unfinished dress behind in London for a family member to transport. I won’t go into the personal circumstances of this superwoman of a dressmaker which made her achievement all the more extraordinary, but get made it did! I think as far as last minute stress goes, this probably can’t be topped, yet now that the drama was over the atmosphere was immensely peaceful.
Tom and the boys were equally chilled out as they got ready in the mansion house at Rhosygilwen, our favourite wedding venue around here. It’s not uncommon these days for the Groom to choose two Best Men, but this is not even the whole Best Man Team, as you’ll see later!
Look at that sunlight!!! Lovely! Only matched by the warmth of all the smiles. 🙂
Caryl is a harpist and musician so lots of music featured in the day, both from a Celtic duo, and during the ceremony from Simon – one of the ushers – who played beautiful piano. I’m a pianist myself and feel it’s an instrument not heard enough at weddings!
Then it was back into the sunshine, where we had the best time ever going round the grounds with Caryl and Tom. We love it when the couple really care about their photos together and Caryl and Tom wanted to make the most of the superb grounds at Rhosygilwen so made sure they allowed time for a good exploration of the gardens, orchard and arboretum. There are so many hidden pathways and gateways and gorgeous trees that we could probably have spent twice as long! It would be a fab place for a pre-wedding shoot or Take Two session when there would be no time contraints at all!
We rejoined the guests to find the children cooling off in time-honoured fashion; and even when dinner was served the children just couldn’t stay indoors – and who could blame them!
The ‘sharing starter’ is a fabulous idea just coming into vogue – great if you have to seat people who don’t know each other together as it gets everyone interacting round the table at the beginning of the meal – and everyone can eat as much or a little as they want so perfect if you’re like me and always full after the starter!
Aha – here’s the third member of the Best Man Team – skyping in from Africa!!!
I love it when brides give their own speech, and Caryl didn’t even wait her turn here but was forced to ‘correct’ some of Tom’s anecdotes!! They are a brilliant duo. 🙂
Thank you so much you two for the privilege of sharing your gorgeous day!!
All the photos from the day are now available to view and purchase on the Clients page of our Wedding Photography web site with a discount for any prints or products ordered in the first ten days.
