Nia & Kerry got married in Ty Horeb chapel at The Cawdor, Llandeilo on the 29th of December 2014 ~ a date that held a lot of significance to them because it would have been Nia’s grandparents’ 80th wedding aniversary, Nia & Kerry had a photo of them on their wedding day on the top table.
The wedding was photographed beautifully by Cwtch creator Maria Farrelly . We asked Nia & Kerry some questions about their big day.
What was your budget? We thought we could keep the budget under £15000 by doing a lot of things ourselves, but we soon realised we didn’t have the time to do everything, and things wouldn’t look half as good, so we left it to the professionals, therefore the budget did creep up!
How would you describe your wedding theme? We wouldn’t really say we had a theme as such. We both really like traditional classic styles which we tried to incorporate into the day. We have also done some travelling over the past few years so we wanted to include aspects of this in the day. We wanted lots of candles, so we decorated the ceremony venue (which is an old chapel) with hurricane vases, candelabras, fairy lights around the upstairs gallery and classic swags on aisle chairs. Outside we had a red carpet and rope barriers to remind us of our Hollywood trip! All male guests were asked to wear black tie. In the reception we had tall candelabras on tables decorated with deep red and ivory roses, deep red table runners and huge LOVE light letters surrounding our wedding cake! Our table names were our recent holiday destinations! In the lounge area we had floating candles with underwater flowers on the tables, Lindt chocolate trees and a huge wooden heart filled with Ferrero Rocher made to our colour theme. We added a sweet table for the evening filled with red/white/cream and silver sweets! 
What was your favourite part of your wedding? It’s difficult to pick out one part as we loved the whole day! Everything went as planned, the weather was a perfect crisp winters day, the harpist and singer were fabulous, watching everyone have such a good time was lovely, it was truly amazing! Maybe if we really had to choose one part, it would be the actual ceremony as it was full of emotion, and more special to us being an actual wedding and not a civil ceremony. 
Tell us about your Wedding Dress/Suit
Nia – Wedding dress shopping was not something I was looking forward to! I’m really not a dress person, but there was no doubt in my mind that I would wear a dress on my big day! My first visit to a bridal shop was an unplanned one, and Kerry was with me. Kerry basically dragged me in for a look! I found a dress I liked, Kerry forced me to try it on, and to be honest I would have been happy to buy it there and then so I didn’t have to do any more shopping, but I wanted my mother to see the dress first! I made an appointment to go back, this time taking my mother, sister and aunt with me, but no Kerry! Looking through the gowns again, I saw others that I liked, as well as the one I initially tried on! The original dress, again was lovely, but then I tried on the Justin Alexander, and there was no comparison! I knew it was definitely the one! And what was even better, Kerry hadn’t seen it! 
Kerry- Kerry does not do dresses! Kerry wanted a nice fitted ivory suit. Finding this proved almost impossible! We searched the whole of Wales, and found nothing suitable! We decided to try Dyfed Menswear to ask if they could suggest a tailor. Emma was more than helpful, and solved our problem! Kerry was able to choose a style of suit she liked, choose the colour, lining, buttons etc. and they then sent the information to their suppliers in Germany who were able to make the suit for us. 
Who did you pick as your bridesmaids &/or best man and why? There was no choice to be made for the best man – it was going to be Kerry’s son Ashley. I didn’t want any bridesmaids, however we wanted our 3 little nephews – Daniel, Gruffydd and Owain as page boys. They all looked so handsome and did a great job, even Ashley with his speech!! 
Why did you choose your venue? Choosing the venue was one of the easiest decisions we made. We absolutely love The Cawdor , the food is always amazing, and the traditional décor and wooden floors are what we love. When we first met with Mary and Georgina, with us being a same sex couple some people are still not comfortable with it, but they were so relaxed, and made us feel at ease straight away. The Cawdor also have an old chapel as their ceremony venue, which is just beautiful. From start to finish Mary and her staff were amazing. The Cawdor will always have a special place in our heart
s. 
How did the proposal happen? It was a lovely September evening and Kerry told me she had arranged to take me out for a meal – to a surprise location! We arrived at Dryslwyn castle! I wasn’t best pleased to learn that it was a picnic! Kerry knew I loved the place, and thankfully had packed appropriate shoes in the boot! We got to the top, and Kerry took me to the grand hall to set out the picnic! For some reason, Kerry didn’t eat much! After food I climbed up to look at the view through the old windows, and was aware that Kerry had climbed up behind to do the same. Kerry called my name, and when I turned round she was on one knee!
Any DIY stories/tutorials you’d like to share? Kerry is a specialist wedding cake decorator. It was therefore obvious she would design our cake. It was an 8 tier cake, a tier for every year we have been together. This cake took over our whole kitchen! The only problem was, when we came to transport it, it was an inch too tall to get into the van! As this was the night before the wedding, it was too late to organise other transport! So Kerry took off the top tier, we transported it up, and she put it back together, redecorating it at the venue! My contribution to the cake was arranging a personalised cake topper to be made as a surprise! Kerry also made individual cupcakes for each guest, and we also made a donation to the Breast Unit in Llanelli as part of the favors. 
What was your first dance & why? Our first dance was to ‘Cant take my eyes off you’ by Muse. We absolutely love Muse and their version of this song is awesome. We knew we wanted to do a dance that was a little different, which worked very well with their version. The last song of the night was a recording of Kerry singing ‘How long will I love’ you by Ellie Goulding. Anyone who knows Kerry, will confirm that she is always singing, so they organised her hen do at a recording studio! Kerry recorded this song for me as a surprise to end our perfect day! 
In hindsight, was there anything you would have done differently? We wouldn’t change a single thing about the day! However if we had to do it all again we would definitely hire a videographer. 
Do you have any advice for future couples? It’s your day, don’t get caught up trying to please everybody else! It’s all about you! Also don’t forget your budget! It’s so easy to get carried away with the added extras, set a limit and stick to it!
What’s the best piece of marriage advice you received? A good friend told us that whenever we feel upset with each other, to touch our wedding rings close our eyes and remember our perfect day! We thought this was sweet, and it’s worked so far!
What was your favourite thing about planning a wedding? In all honesty we loved the whole planning of it! It felt so amazing on the day to see all the hard work come together.
What was your least favourite thing about planning a wedding? The guest list! It was so difficult keeping the numbers down, and there is always someone you upset! 
The Suppliers
Photographer: Maria Farrelly
Nia’s Dress: Emma Phillips Bridal Studio
Wedding Planner: Nia & Kerry
Ceremony Venue: Ty Horeb, The Cawdor Hotel , Llandeilo
Reception Venue: The Cawdor Hotel , Llandeilo
Nia’s Headpiece: Belle Amour tiaras
Nia’s Jewellery: Burgess Jewellers
Nia & Kerry’s Shoes: Nia – Vince Camuto , Kerry – Dolcetto
Kerry’s Outfit: Dyfed Menswear
Cake: Kerry Jones
Flowers: Blodau Blodwen
Hair: Missy Lane Carmarthen
Make Up: Jody Amner Make-up Artist
Band: Coverland
Stationery: Louise Kelly designs
Any Reception Decor/Props: RSVP , Cwtch LOVE lights , A sweet sweet display
Wedding Rings: Dot Jewellery Rhossili
Harpist: Georgina Cornock
Singer: Joy Cornock-Evans
Piper: Tony Beauchamp
Magician: Dorian
Caricaturist: Mark B
Cake topper: Truly Madly Deeply
