What Does a Winter Wedding Look Like at The Polhawn Fort?
Incase you are wandering, you can still have an incredible Cornish Wedding at the Polhawn Fort in the winter months!
Emma and Paul certainly did!
Yes the sky isn’t as bright as it is in summer (actually an overcast day really helps with photography) and the temperature outside is a little colder (great excuse to style your dress with a leather jacket like Emma) and it might even rain (which it actually does, just as often in the summer in the UK and I’m well up for making the most of and getting soaked on the beach in the rain - just for the memories)
When you get married at Polhawn Fort, it really doesn’t matter what time of year, or day of the week (this was a wonderful Tuesday wedding) it is.
The venue is perfect for an indoor or outdoor wedding and provides such a cosy and quirky atmosphere for an epic wedding day like Emma and Paul’s!
What a relaxed, laidback and fun day that this Tuesday wedding in February was! Filled with love, confetti, beach hangs, dogs (they are welcome at Polhawn Fort too) inappropriate innuendos, random dance moves at random times of the day including on the Polhawn Fort bridge and lots of heavy metal on the dance floor.
Check out the Photos from Emma and Paul’s wedding below and keep scrolling beyond the photos for my little chat with Emma about their rocking day at Polhawn Fort. SPOILER ALERT - Emma offers some awesome advice for couples who are wedding planning …
Tell us your story of how you met and got to this awesome stage in your lives?
Paul is a Paramedic, and I worked in A&E in Leeds when we met, so he brought the patients in and I cared for them afterwards. I liked Paul instantly and had an idea that he might like me too because he kept making inappropriate sexual innuendoes towards me! We were friends for a few weeks before Paul tried to tell me he was moving to Bristol and I told him I couldn’t allow that because I liked him. The rest is history! We moved to Plymouth once I qualified as a Nurse and we live a very happy life by the sea.
What was your favourite part or parts of the day?
Obviously the ceremony was the most exciting bit, and I loved the confetti (Paul wasn’t so keen), but really our favourite part was towards the end of the night when the DJ started playing the heavy metal music! Moshing, headbanging and air guitarring in a wedding dress ain’t as easy as you’d think! Also dancing to “Smack My Bitch Up” with Paul’s mum and auntie was pretty funny... or seeing my Grandad and auntie slow dancing to Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters!” Ah so many favourites.
Your favourite story/s from the day - The one/s that you will tell when you are really really old?
Three words…. Spit on it!
*NOTE These are the three words Emma shouted out during the ceremony when the ring was a little tight. Of course this has become the quote of the day!
What made you choose Polhawn Fort as your wedding venue?
Have you seen it? We knew we would get married there as soon as we stood on the drawbridge looking out over the sea back in May.
What made you choose the details and theme/styling for your wedding?
We didn’t really have a theme, except that we wanted it to feel like us. We had a vague Yorkshire vs Devon thing going on as I’m from Bradford and Paul’s from Plymouth so we had the Yorkshire and Devon flags. We also had Yorkshire puddings and Devon pasties for canapés, which went down a storm! We went for a bit of a nautical theme as well, since we were by the sea, so fish and chips in the evening and seaside decorations. Mainly though we wanted it to feel fun and intimate so we had lots of games to play and our food was a family style feast. I think we nailed it!
What advice do you have for couples planning their wedding?
Don’t sweat the small stuff! There were things I was worried about right up until the day of the wedding that ultimately didn’t matter. Our table numbers had to be changed at the very last minute because the pack we had didn’t have a number 2, but did have two number 3s! We rolled with it and had a table 3ish and the world didn’t end. Also we’d say go with the flow; we’d planned lots of “fun activities” in case there was a lull such as a quiz about us and sparklers on the roof terrace. In the end we didn’t do any of those things because the party was flowing and nobody was any the wiser.
I love food, music and entertainment They are the some of the best things about weddings! - What food did you have, was it yummy and what did you have to entertain yourselves and your guests?
We had Yorkshire puddings and Devon pasties as canapés! Our meal was brilliant because we had roast turkey from Milkshed Catering and we had to nominate a person on each table to carve and serve it. It was great seeing various uncles dressed in a chefs hat and apron serving everyone! We had fish and chips from Ahoy! Fish and Chip van for the evening and they were amazing too- I loved smelling salt and vinegar on the dance floor!
I walked down the aisle to Kiss Me by Sixpence None the Richer and I had so many butterflies in my stomach when I heard the first few bars being played! Our first dance song was Happy Bus by Mad Dog McRea as it’s one of our favourite songs and we love going to see them live. We had a right laugh jumping around to it and got our guests up to join us half way through which was awesome! Duncan from Urban Disco also made sure to play us My Girl by George Ezra towards the end of the night so we could have a little slow dance together as an unofficial “second dance”.
Our friends Paul and Claire Tippett did a really lovely acoustic set for us between the meal and the DJ and it was amazing hearing them singing some of our favourite songs. We really appreciated such a special gift from them. (Paul is part of Your New Favourite Band who are available for weddings wink wink).
We had a few games dotted around for the guests and they gave us a right laugh- our flower girl Maisie actually made £15 from the basketball game where she wore a basket on her head and people threw balls in it! She was charging people £1 if they missed the basket and she cleaned up since the alcohol was flowing!
A Shout Out to your wedding suppliers…
All of our suppliers were bloody amazing! April Wagner Hair and Gem Ryder MUA kept me sane in the morning and were complete angels for making me feel beautiful. I was especially impressed with my hair as it stayed in perfectly despite all my headbanging!
Our flowers by Hannah Burnett Florist were stunning and I’m having part of my bouquet preserved so I can look at it forever. She also provided flowers for the cake, which was made by Celebration Cakes by Kelly. The cake was actually to die for and the guests were raving about it all night.
We had Milkshed Catering and Ahoy! Fish and Chips for food, all of which was so yum I could eat it all again. We also to hire a pop up bar from The Inn Box and it worked out really well. They had everything you could wish for and took the time to ask us if we wanted anything specific for the day.
Similarly we had Duncan from Urban Disco as our DJ and we had a consultation with him a few days before the wedding to go over our music choices. He also made sure he played any specific music that we wanted, and avoided anything we didn’t want (no One Direction, no cheesy boy bands!). We loved that all our suppliers had a personal touch and made sure we were always happy.
What were you looking for in your photographer, Why on earth did you choose Jamie Webb as your photographer and what was it like working with Jamie on the day?
We loved that Jamie had a natural, candid style to photography rather than a forced, posed style. We were much more interested in pictures of my Grandad dancing to Johnny Cash than posed formal pictures of the bride and groom with various members of family. We met him for a tea at the Flower Cafe on the Barbican and we knew he was the one when he bought me a dinosaur hot chocolate and egged me on to finish the entire thing!
On the day he was a total superstar keeping us calm, guiding us through the day as we had no idea what to expect. Our guests loved him and he even managed to appease my camera shy Grandma who kept telling him to go away. Jamie very much felt like another of our guests and it was an absolute pleasure to have him as part of our day.
Is there anything else that you would like to add?
I think we’re still stuck in our little bubble at the moment; we keep reliving the day and we haven’t stopped smiling yet. It was the perfect day from the drinking games, the ping pong balls, the tears, the inappropriate sexual innuendos at the alter and the baby pics of us dotted around. I wish we could do it all over again!
Jamie, thank you so so much you were an absolute angel and you went above and beyond to ensure we had the best day possible. We love you!
Ah you two! What incredible words. This feedback has made my day! I had an absolute blast with you and thank you again for treating me as a guest and a friend! x
Fancy seeing some other amazing weddings at the Polhawn Fort?
Here’s a link to Laura and Paul’s wedding
Here’s a link to Angela and Martin’s wedding
Fancy a cup of tea and a chat about your wedding photography at the Polhawn Fort?
Hit the Let’s have tea button below (the teas on me!)
Katy and Matt had a super fun and relaxed DIY wedding on Dartmoor. With VW Beetles, speeches that made people ugly cry, a broken bridesmaids dress, a Magician, live music, a homemade bar, Ice cream and pizza vans, a totally dreamy moment where it was raining as the sun came down and we got amazing photos, sticky buns on the dancefloor (yep! haha) and an absolute banger of a party!