Intimate weddings, a celebration.

It’s strange how things change over time. Weddings used to be small community events. Family and friends from the village. A chance to come together and celebrate in both the good times and bad. Intimate weddings in Cornwall would have been common place and a regular occurrence. Overtime things changed though, weddings grew and became bigger events. A bigger celebration and a choice for friends and family overseas to reunite. Basically the wedding party became more of a reunion. This resulted in not only bigger wedding venues, but also many more elements to the day. Now it is worth saying, I like big weddings. Many of the weddings that I photograph are large events that can be up to 200 people or more (it’s like going to a festival). But I also photograph a lot of intimate weddings and elopements. Intimate weddings and elopements are something that I hold very dear to my heart. Because, sometimes, with a very large wedding, things get lost in translation. The wedding ceremony still holds all that is important about the day. But as the scale of the day increases you can lose intimacy.

From intimate to large – how wedding sizes have grown.

There are so many people who want to escape down here for an intimate wedding in Cornwall (and why wouldn’t you choose to do this, Cornwall is the perfect place for an intimate weddings). The thing is, over the last five years I have seen the overall size of weddings increase. There has been a trend towards people wanting to bring more and more people together. Tie that into the increase in multi-day weddings and you can see that what was once a small wedding ceremony and a meal with friends has now become a lavish affair. I’ve seen over the years, as each wedding gets larger, the next wedding of family and friends follow suit. It’s not a case of keeping up with each other. They just have just becomes the new normal.

Intimate Weddings in Cornwall my Prediction.

But we are in interesting times at the moment and I’m going to make a prediction.  Weddings are going to get smaller and we are going to see a refocus on the intimacy of a wedding that just revolves around family and close friends. Now, just to reiterate, I am not to say that an intimate wedding in Cornwall is the only way to preserve that intimacy in the wedding day. But with a large wedding, it is often difficult for the wedding not to turn into, well I’ve already said it already, a massive festival.

Intimate weddings, a change of priorities.

So why do I think that we will see a move to more intimate weddings in Cornwall? There are a few reasons. There is still a desire for people to travel to a romantic location to get married – big tick here for Cornwall. Don’t get me wrong, Devon is superb (my wife is a Devon girl and we got married in a  wonderful field with views of Dartmoor), but Cornwall just feels that tiny bit more magical. Speaking to couples recently, so many of them just want to escape on their own, or are looking to take close family and friends away with them. I think we can all relate why this is. 2020 has been a troubling time with a lot of uncertainty. Whilst people also have an uncertainty about the future, they are also hyper aware about the present and the commitments that they want to make. Triumph in adversity. Understanding what the real priorities are in life and what really matters to them. If you are going to make a life long commitment to another human being, I would say now is the moment to do it. Because, you are never going to be more aware of who you are and what really matters to you.

Cornwall the perfect romantic location for an intimate wedding.

I think one of the things that has come out of the current global situation is an introspection. A rebalance as to what is important on a wedding day. If you are planning an intimate wedding in Cornwall, you know what your day will be.  Firstly, there is the place. Golden beaches, wild etherial cliffs, hidden valleys and rolling moors. It feels intimate and magical because it is intimate magical. Secondly there are so many intimate wedding venues in Cornwall. These intimate wedding venues all provide bespoke intimate weddings. You can therefore tailor your day to how you would like it. Thirdly, the wedding industry in Cornwall is packed full of suppliers who love intimate weddings and know just how to make your day right for you.

Intimate wedding or big festival wedding?

So there is a choice a big festival wedding or a small intimate wedding in Cornwall. Both will feel right for different reasons for different people. But I’m predicting a trend that we will see more intimate weddings in Cornwall over the next couple of years. Am I right? Time will tell.

Stay safe and well

Toby