Laura and Liam's Place Manor Wedding
Place Manor is a location that has long held a reputation of being a bit of a hidden gem for couples planning to get married in Cornwall. It sits across the water from St Mawes, on the south Cornish coast, in a sheltered bay just round the corner from St Antonys Head on the Roseland Peninsula. It may take a bit of time to get to a Place Manor wedding, but it is definitely worth it.
Laura and Liam had picked Place Manor for their marquee wedding. There was just one complication. Their whilst their reception was to be in a marquee on the lawns of Place Manor, their wedding ceremony was to be in a church across the water in St Mawes. By car, this is a 30 minute drive. This created a bit of dilemma of how to move wedding guests from A to B and then back to A on the day. But Laura had a solution. Boats. With a level of planning (and an accompanying spreadsheet to go with it), Laura put together an itinerary of the day that was absolutely flawless – but also relied on a lot of people being in the right place at the right time (including me) with a timeline that had been planned to almost military precision.
A tale of two boats - off to the St Mawes Wedding Ceremony
I started the day at Place Manor with Liam and the groomsmen. Having enjoyed the night before they were in the process of getting suited and booted for the day. The plan was for me to photograph the groom prep and also to get my marquee shots (the table settings etc) at the start of the day, before heading out to the pontoon at Place Manor to jump on a RIB that would then take me across to St Mawes to where Laura was getting ready at the Idle Rocks Hotel. Well at least that part of the day was all pretty straight forward and easy to do. I got the shots I needed to and then headed down the pontoon – where I was met by a very nice chap who said he was waiting to take me over the water.
Across we went to St Mawes. One of the things I have always enjoyed as a wedding photographer working in Cornwall is the diversity of places where I work. Cornwall is stunningly beautiful and the landscape changes constantly. Coming into St Mawes by boat felt incredibly special. It didn’t take long and I was walking up though the harbour in St Mawes and on too meet Laura at the Idle Rocks Hotel.
The Wedding Ceremony in St Mawes
Things were going well with the bridal preparation but everyone was conscious of the tight itinerary for the day. The wedding ceremony was at 1pm and everyone had to be back and ready to get on the boat back to Place Manor by 2.30pm. There really was no capacity for the ‘brides prerogative’ of being late. The views across with coast were stunning and we spotted Liam and the rest of the groomsmen coming across the water in the RIB. At least we knew that they were on time. Fortunately, Laura managed to leave to walk through St Mawes with 10 minutes to spare before the ceremony. The town was packed and it was a lovely site to see her and the bridesmaids walking through the harbour.
The wedding ceremony was dutifully delivered to the correct time frame. All good. Leaving the church we now had the tricky job of ensuring that everyone managed to get to the boat on time. Fortunately, no one managed to get distracted by the plethora of pubs in St Mawes and a very full looking boat slowly managed to pull away from its moorings and head back over to Place Manor. Meanwhile, Laura and Liam took timeout on their own separate chartered boat. Despite the day being incredibly hot (this is the Summer of 2022) there was a lovely cool breeze on the water. As we reached the other side of the bay we could see the rest of the wedding party waving and cheering from outside of the marquee. What an absolutely wonderful way for a bride and groom to make an entrance to their wedding reception.
Back at the Place Manor Wedding Reception
Canapes and drinks were served on the lawns below Place Manor. With the afternoon temperatures slowly building the shade offered by the marquee was absolutely perfect as the guests sat down for the wedding breakfast. It really was sweltering. One of the lovely things about wedding photography is hearing how people have got to where they are in their lives. Laura and Liam’s story was absolutely wonderful. The speeches given by both sides of the family really captured the love that was between the couple.
Bride and Groom photos in the fields high above Place Manor
As the wedding breakfast ended, we went off for bride and groom photos. Having photographed at Place Manor weddings before in the past, I knew that something very unique was about to happen. The bride and groom were lent a quad in order to get to the top fields above the Carrick Roads estuary. The view from here is absolutely stunning. We went zooming through the private lanes to the fields (I was in the back of a pick up), to then get the last of the evening sun. Laura had seen pictures that I had taken at a previous Place Manor wedding and she was keen to recreate them. It’s such a beautiful spot it was lovely to be back up there.
The Place Manor party really begins
A speedy descent back to the marquee and I had the last bit of the day to photograph. The first dance and the absolute chaos of the dance floor. What a wedding party. These guys absolutely went crazy. After the heat of the day you would of thought they would have tired, but somehow they did not. I took my last few photographs from the day, before loading up my van and getting ready to leave. I looked across the water from the Place Manor wedding to St Mawes. Two boat journeys, a stunning church, a marquee with one of the best views in Cornwall, a quad ride, a wedding party that was all set to party late into the night. It’s weddings like this that make being a wedding photographer in Cornwall such an absolute joy. What a day!
