Oli and Yooni's romantic and rustic wedding celebration was held in the beautiful barn at Nancarrow on Wednesday 10 July 2024...
…. And what an incredible day it was!
Oli contacted us in the October before his and Yooni’s big day, explaining that he and his Korean born wife had just observed their legal marriage in a simple ceremony in Seoul, and they were now in the process of arranging their big, family wedding celebration at Nancarrow in Cornwall for the following July - and could we chat?
Which we did - most enthusiastically! - and happily they decided to book our services. Early in 2024, we started the planning process, which I was particularly looking forward to, because a really interesting and exciting aspect about this ceremony was that we would be bringing some of Yooni’s heritage into the ceremony. The first of which was the entrance by the couple’s mothers and the tradition of each lighting a candle before the entrance of the bride - and for which the couple very kindly sent me a You Tube video to see how this was done in Korea! We also discussed some words which I would speak in Korean, as well as adding some elements such as the tradition of thanking both sets of parents and bowing to them just before the ceremony closes. I can honestly say it was a joy to create something which (in my experience) was so very unique - and what an honour, too!
On sending the first draft, Oli replied with “We love our ceremony, thank you so much for putting it together!” And he very kindly went on to record and send voice notes of all the pronunciations I would need to speak the opening and closing words of the ceremony. Now I won’t lie, as much as I had happily offered to do this, and despite being a reasonably capable speaker of a few other languages, Korean is not one of them! And I was feeling a tad nervous about this! But there really was no need, Oli’s guide was clear and helpful, and I actually felt reasonably confident on the day - and was looking forward to attempting to communicate in a language that was completely new to me!
The day of the ceremony arrived, and as always, arriving at Nancarrow is such a delight, the team there are always the perfect hosts and everything runs like a dream. I had a chance to quickly look around the ceremony space to check everything was in place and spotted the lovely ceremony transcripts that Yooni had created, which was such wonderful attention to detail, ensuring no word of the carefully crafted story would be missed by non-English speaking guests.
There was much excitement meeting all of the wedding party, and while Oli was feeling some anticipatory-style nerves, Yooni, by contrast, was relaxed and radiant! The ceremony opened with Paula and Young Sun arriving first, and lighting their respective candles before taking their places. We then welcomed the bridesmaids and groomsmen who stylishly entered the ceremony in pairs, before Yooni made her grand entrance accompanied by her father Young Bok. This was a very proud moment for Dad indeed!
With everyone in place, it came to me to welcome everyone, greeting Yooni’s Korean friends and family in their native language - and all went surprisingly well! And it warmed my heart to even receive a little round of applause from these guests! We went on to secure promises of commitment from the guests - before sharing the beautifully romantic story of Oli and Yooni first meeting in Shanghai one Christmas, a fun first date, and travels to Fuji, Tokyo, Seoul - and the rather less glamorous Yorkshire Dales! And like so many couples in recent times, there were memories of the Covid lockdowns, and a post-pandemic holiday which took them to Italy and the Pont de Principe where Oli proposed.
And without a doubt, one of the key themes throughout the ceremony was the wonderful romance that had rather unexpectedly transpired between the couple: in one another Oli and Yooni really had discovered ‘their person’. This was a relationship that was so natural and happy, made only stronger by the challenges of many relocations, job hunts and lengthy visa applications!
I was delighted that they had opted to write and read their own vows for one another - something which I imagined was slightly out of their comfort zones, but brought such personality and authenticity to the ceremony, especially as neither had shared the content of these with the other in advance. I am always happy to offer guidance with this part (Oli and Yooni needed very little!) as I appreciate it can seem a daunting task, but it often really is the highlight of the day. So it was a true pleasure listening to their worlds of commitment to one another, which were written and delivered from the heart, and reminded me what a privilege it is to be a wedding celebrant!
Oli and Yooni enjoyed a little break before returning to London to start the next chapter of their lives together, and it was so very kind of them to write this review:
Lisa was incredible from the moment we started working with her right up until our wedding day! When planning a wedding, you realise you’ve never before thought about the intricacies of a ceremony, the order in which things should happen, or the crucial timings. Lisa provided us with ideas and guidance for all of this and more, as well as always answering all questions we had, and provided a clear step by step process for putting our ceremony and story together. Without Lisa we wouldn’t have had been able to put together the ceremony we now look back on with such incredible fondness.
Throughout our wedding day, a number of our guests came and asked us whether Lisa was a family friend, and were surprised when we explained that she wasn’t! Our guests enjoyed our ceremony just as much as we did, and that is very much down to Lisa’s wonderful guidance, planning, writing, and expert delivery on the day! Thank you so much, Lisa!”
My absolute pleasure!
I should also add that graphic designer Yooni so enjoyed designing all of their wedding stationery, she has since launched her own bespoke wedding stationery and signage design business! And because her work is truly beautiful - I wanted to signpost her website to you - https://www.iamyooni.com/ - please do stop by and review some of her work, and if you’d like Yooni to quote for your own stationery, I know she’d be delighted to hear from you!
Thank you again to Oli and Yooni for booking us to look after your most important day, and to photographer Mark Shaw and to Nancarrow, we love working with you both!
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