Anna & Liam’s St Mawes Riverside Elopement Wedding at Hotel Tresanton with a private Boat ride on the Carrick Roads, Cornwall

A Hotel Tresanton Wedding in May

Digital & Film

Coverage - 4 hrs | Captured by Sarah | Format: Digital & 35mm film mixed | Time of year: May | Guests: Private Elopement | Florist: 3 Acre | Venue: Tresanton, st Mawes | Boat Hire: Blue River Table

Back in May, I had the exceptional joy of photographing the achingly beautiful elopement wedding of Anna & Liam. Avid film photographers, it’s always an honour (and oh so slightly terrifying) when a fellow creative books and yet every time, it yields some of my favourite work as it ends up being a collaboration. I love working to a brief or a vision and for Anna & Liam, having their day shot partly on 35mm film was extremely important to them. Whittling down a small selection of digital and film images for this post was hard and there’s so many more I would love to share but I don’t want to overload this already laden blog post so I’ll restrict myself this time.

This was my first time shooting at the beautiful Hotel Tresanton in St Mawes and I absolutely loved it. What a gorgeous hotel venue situated looking over the water with a terrace where if you’re having a larger wedding you can dine alfresco, or as in the case of Liam and Anna, get married overlooking the sea.

St Mawes is one of my favourite little villages to capture weddings and elopements in Cornwall. There’s a few spots you can marry there and a few different boat services for couples looking to take a boat ride up the Carrick Rhodes. I adore boats, having grown up by the ocean and will always take an opportunity to be on (or in) the water so when Anna and Liam told me that they wanted to incorporate a cruise with Blue River Table into their wedding plans, I was so excited. As it happened, I had been on the boat Tethra a few years back for a wedding at nearby Place House and as it had been a few years, I was filled with all new ideas for capturing natural portraits whilst letting the couple enjoy their cruise.

Emily of 3 Acre blooms is one of my favourite local florists - everything home grown and expertly arranged, I love her dainty not-to-heavy bouquets. Anna had requested an all white bouquet which really stood out against the aquamarine blues of St Mawes harbour. I adored her silky white poet sleeve gown, a perfect billow for the Cornish breeze and Liam’s sage green suit complimented the white washed colour scheme of the village.

The couple got ready together in room 1 at the hotel. A gorgeous room with its own balcony overlooking the sea - it was really intimate and sweet, capturing them getting ready together and together was how they walked into their ceremony down on the terrace also.

The Tresanton hotel has some really quirky details that I adore and this mosaic guy is one of them. I’m sure there’s a story behind him and if I’m ever lucky enough to shoot another wedding here, I’ll have to ask.

After their ceremony, they had cake and canapes on the terrace and the sun broke through the cloud spilling down onto the Cornish Riviera. It was dreamy. We watched boats cruise by, the St Mawes ferry do it’s little shuttle over and back to Falmouth and shared Oysters - I had to pinch myself that this was my job. If you have to ask me what my dream elopement is, it’s basically this. Oh, and perhaps doing this but also on the Isles of Scilly. Absolutely spoiled rotten.

After a little walk around some of the villages cute cottages and view points, we head down to the harbour to meet their cruise rental - The Blue River table. You can also hire them for dinners and afternoon teas, something I very much intend on doing one day for a fancy birthday meal perhaps as their food looks divine. I can’t think of a more perfect way to sip champagne and take in views of the yachts and schooners as they pass us by and admire all the eccentric manor houses that overlook the river.

This was a real pinch me sort of day. The weather played ball and anyone who knows me, knows I love a dramatic cloud. I even got to drive home via the King Harry Ferry which is always a novelty and really was the cherry on the cake of an extremely perfect day.

Anna and Liam were just the sweetest humans and these will always be some of my favourite images to have captured during an elopement. Cornwall and its rivers and surrounding coast really is such a great spot for eloping in the UK and our mild climate means that even in the off season, you can soak up the ethereal rugged coastline. I’m going to manifest more St Mawes weddings and elopements, especially ones that involve boat rides and hanging out with the best people.

Until next time,

-Sarah