What a treat we have for you today!  A lovely post from TNWC Real Bride Myfanwy who’s sharing all the details of her beautiful autumn wedding to her mister Tom – don’t miss the tractor wedding ‘car’ and Arthur the dachshund in his very smart suit!

Don’t forget you can catch up with all the posts from our brides under the TNWC Real Brides category, and we are looking for 2014-15 brides who’d like to be guest bloggers so if you’re interested full details can be found here.

Over to Myfanwy…

Married! What an adventure it was! August to October 5th was a whirlwind! We had planned no days off and to shut the shop 5 days before the wedding, that plan went to pot! Tom’s stag do and birthday was 2 weeks before the big day, the summer had been so busy that when he came home from the weekend we agreed to close the shop, we had so many final details to organise and were so tired that you have to live to fight another day.

On the Tuesday before the wedding my father came down to cut the grass in the field – this is when it got real and started coming together. The tipi went up on the Thursday, it was so exciting! We all watched from the lounge window with cups of tea – it went up fairly quickly!

My sister was given the task of writing the table plan on our old window frame that we’d replaced with mirror.

In the mean time both mums, myself and my sister set about assembling 90 pom poms! Tom and I had already been to the ceremony venue and set 60o or so paper decorations there held by giant knitting needles to brighten the venue. We had also scattered fabric autumn leafs.

Friday was an early start, moving chairs to the ceremony venue and beginning the proper set up in the tipi – cue massive selection of vintage tablecloths and deliberation of which should go where! Then hours of hanging paper pom poms having moved them all from the house in the pouring rain.

The bar arrived, the toilets, the caterer, all the places were set: napkins, mini jugs and embroidered hearts, origami flowers…oh and paper planes that we picked up in a charity shop!

I had made some small floral decorations in tea cups that we hung about, the great thing about tipis is there’s lots of hanging space!

We’d foraged lots of fresh and dried hydrangea flowers that we put in glass demijons as table centres. It’s safe to say the tables were full, especially with the wooden trunks we’d cut from a washed up tree at the beach. We placed homemade pickles and chutneys that Tom’s mum made, some local Anglesey sea salt, lovely wines, Cornish cider from our holiday, the menu and some tea lights in vintage glasses I found in the charity shops.

By 5pm it was ready, the tipi looked more amazing than we could have ever imagined!

We had rented a converted chapel just down the road called ‘Capel Cariad’ translated to Chapel of Love (next door to a pub… handy!) so we popped off to get the key and take a look around. It was beautiful and proved amazing in our photographs. Because of its name it was full of love heart ornaments and there on the bookcase lay a ceramic card that Tom had made with the word ‘Cariad’ (love) on it! Instantly it was obvious we were meant to stay here!

We had a lovely meal with friends and family at Tom’s family home before we went off to the pub with a few friends. I left with the ladies back to our chapel at about half 10, I was just so tired. I did sit up talking for ages though…

I slept really well, as did Arthur who snored all night! My sister woke me bright and early at 7am with a tea! Hair and make-up arrived early and soon the morning disappeared. Next thing I knew was I was in my dress and having photos taken!

Our friend LLynfel works for Land Rover and had offered to drive us to the tractor in one of their lovely Range Rovers. After he’d taken my mum and sister in law it was time for my sister and I to go. The car had different ideas and refused to start! After 10 mins of trying to jump start it from the photographers car we were late and I had to squeeze into the photographers car!

The car that never was!

Luckily it wasn’t raining, in fact it was glorious sunshine, so my sister and I met the tractor and my father a mile from the venue and continued our journey. The tractor sparkled and the relatively slow journey gave us time to relax and calm after the initial panic!

The tractor recently made it into the ‘Tractor and Machinery’ magazine as unusual wedding transport too!

Tom had spent the morning making final preparations in the tipi, lighting the fires and moving the wedding cakes in. I love looking at those photos!

My father walked me down the aisle to Elbow One Day Like This played on a harp (Tom cried… but then he cried when the lady played it for us at her house too! What a sweetie!)

I have to share the reading my sister wrote and read as Arthur our dachshund ( we all cried!!):

I am known, I am loved (The dialogue of Arthur)

I was known as Arthur Picked-On,
you are always Mum and Dad,
I am known to be over-emotional
and today, I am ever so glad.

I have donned my finest tweed,
my best coat, my fancy togs,
I am known for my fashion sense
I’m the envy of many dogs.

The day that you guys brought me home
a small and wrinkly pup,
everybody had to agree
your relationship was on the up.

For that day you committed
to 17 years or more
of me demanding to sleep,
on the sofa, by fire, by the door.

That winter we moved to the harbour,
a place to lay my bed.
Soon the scent of lemon cake
called me from the potters shed.

In the summer I am known as shop dog,
I make sure the floor is licked on,
but still neither Gloster nor Griffiths,
I was feeling a little picked-on.

Finally! There were plans to be made,
so I sat on this and chewed on that
But I query, as I have a tail,
why didn’t I get a hat?

So here stands Dad in his suit so smart,
and Mum’s in a dress that’s cost her-
today I know, I am loved,
and will be known as
Arthur Gloster.

Married! We walked out to snow storm of confetti (finally Tom was rewarded for all is hard work punching all those paper hearts!)

We left by tractor! Obviously!

The reception was great! Lots of laughing! All our guests loved the favours – all napkins and mini jugs where taken home. The napkin rings doubled as tie cuffs or bracelets – who’d have known! And squash stacking championships…

Having seen another real brides wedding bake off idea, we couldn’t resist. It was great fun and highly competitive! The best man and his girl friend won and despite rumours I can confirm it was not a fix!

The food was a amazing and so much of it – we had a platter of meats and cheeses, pickles and breads followed by lobs-caws with rosemary dumplings followed by a trio of desserts. Then wood fired pizza and cake in the evening – we didn’t need to eat for days afterwards!

Tom’s mum made the most beautiful cake for us (I asked for the same colour as our fridge and also so it looked almost ceramic!) – it was perfect! Qe had Arthur and his wife on top of the cake and it was cut…with an axe!

We danced all night, our first dance was to Toploader Dancing in the Moonlight (not terribly traditional!). We had a fire-pit inside the tipi and also one outside. The sparklers proved popular as did the Polaroid camera. The bar was drunk dry (I said it would be!).

The day goes so quickly, it’s impossible to see it all or even begin to explain to someone how amazing it really is! You are left with so many memories and literally everyday you’ll recall something that makes you smile. Our photographs are so amazing and we are so lucky to be left with so many to recall the day by, we’ll never get bored looking at them. After it all you are of course left with a husband as well!!

Two last things to share…

Arthur in his suit!

And our friend Dave Thurlow took this beauty!!

Images: (1) Illustration by Izzy Burton; (2 + 3) Jones & Jones Photography; (4 + 5) Brides own pictures; (6) Jones & Jones Photography; (7) Brides own picture; (8 – 10) Jones & Jones Photography; (11) Brides own picture; (12 – 18) Jones & Jones Photography; (19) Brides own picture; (20 – 22) Jones & Jones Photography; (23) friends picture; (24) Jones & Jones Photography; (25) friends picture; (26 – 29) Jones & Jones Photography; (30) friend David Thurlow