EXPERT ADVICE

FAQs and expert advice about venues

Here is a selection of Q&As from Your Devon and Cornwall Wedding magazine whether it be about flowers, hair and makeup, fashion, wedding themes, health & beauty, cakes, stationery, legal advice. If you would like your question answered by our experts, please email it to editor@yourdevoncornwall.wedding

Step Back In Time

Step Back In Time

Q We want to find a quirky and unusual Cornish wedding venue – where can you suggest?
A The Expert says: Experience the era of steam travel and go back in time at this wonderful wedding venue. Built in the 1950s, the station is home to two platforms, a café and booking hall plus a variety of coaches, steam and diesel locomotives.

Exclusive hire and individual hire of the coaches are available while the Booking Hall and Signal Box make idyllic spaces for elopement or small micro weddings. Couples hosting larger parties of up to 150 guests can make the most of the station platforms, offering sheltered outdoor space for the ceremony followed by full use of a steam or diesel locomotive with a variety of accompanying coaches for an on-board celebration. Other platforms include Boscarne Junction and Colesloggett Halt and both can be used for photo opportunities.

The two branch lines that offer a 13-mile round trip meander through the heart of the Cornish countryside enjoying impressive views of the Glynn Valley; Camel Trail and the River Camel and River Fowey.

The café can be used to prep and warm food for the wedding party and Cornish pasties and cream tea boxes can be purchased to take on board (external caterers are also welcome.) The BSK Coach features a fully operating bar and provides a large open space, perfect for a drinks reception with canapés.

Private coach hire starts from £895 and is perfect for a cost-friendly, small intimate celebration. There's a variety of wedding packages available to help couples tailor-make their day including the Glynn Belle Package from £2,495; the Boscarne Belle Package from £2,995; the Cornish Belle Package from £3,995 and the Elopement Package from £800.

Santa Specials are now available to purchase in time for the festive season including Santa by Steam and Christmas Murder Mystery!

The Expert, Bodmin & Wenford Railway

Beside the seaside

Beside the seaside

Q We wanted a relaxed beach wedding this summer in Devon, can you help?
A Simon Daukes says: Arches Beach Weddings is an innovative new venue created following the transformation of the former Combe Martin museum building in North Devon. It's the sole ceremony-only seaside wedding venue in the country where couples effectively get their own private registry office set beside the sea against the stunning backdrop of Combe Martin Harbour.

The once derelict building on the Newberry promenade has been regenerated into a plush ceremony room licensed for up to 120 guests, looking out to the sea just metres away, with a private outdoor space. As well as a dressing room and toilet facilities, it also boasts an opulent bridal suite upstairs that can also be booked separately by couples if they wish to stay the night.

The venue is available in two-hour slots and can accommodate up to six weddings a day, with surround sound speakers and a variety of lighting options to create different themes.

Wedding couples and parties can book local pubs, restaurants or hotels for their reception and guest accommodation, as well as florists, photographers and other regional suppliers for their big day.

Local businesses have been invited to offer their services on the Arches website for free. Our philosophy from the start was that we wanted the venue itself to do as much as possible for the business and benefit of the village. Any local companies that want to be featured on our website only need to get in touch. We are not seeking any commission, we are sending business directly to them. We are not in competition with anyone because nobody else offers a ceremony-only service.

With the motto 'your wedding, your way', the aim at Arches Beach Weddings is to offer a large range of options to suit all budgets, from a ceremony and fish and chips on the beach to a reception with all the trimmings at a local pub, hotel or restaurant. The venue is ceremony-only with no parties, no noise and no local nuisance.

Couples can host their entire wedding for under £1,000 in a stunning location. There's currently a 25% discount for couples with an EX34 postcode. They can choose when they'd like to be married – at sunset, during the height of the summer or when the tide is in or out. We can be very flexible and would love to hear all of your suggestions, for example, we already have people talking about the couple arriving at the ceremony by boat

Simon Daukes, Arches Beach Weddings

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