Cornish Tipi Holidays

Wedding Day

Wedding

Reception

Mike and I&nbsp;met working on a dive boat in Cairns, Australia. &nbsp;Mike left England to start a new career as a dive instructor and travel the world. I arrived in Australia with no plans but to travel and dive on the Great Barrier Reef, but upon arriving in Cairns, I&nbsp;realized that without a job, diving is expensive!&nbsp;After delivering many resumes, I&nbsp;found a job on Reef Experience as a marine biologist and snorkel guide. The first day of my new job fell the day after the staff Christmas party. There was a slew of new people and new faces, as the crew trudged and stumbled on to the boat, but one face stood out. Possibly because he was a handsome Englishman who would grow to become the love of my&nbsp;life. Or possibly because he had a giant red star painted on his face from the night before that he was completely unaware of. It certainly wasn't love at first site, but he definitely made an impression!&nbsp;

After a few months of working together, a playful friendship based on a love for breakfast foods and marine life began to evolve into something more. We started dating March 2013 and had the most amazing time&nbsp;together in Cairns. We explored waterfalls and rain forests, went scuba diving on reefs and shipwrecks, befriended wallabys&nbsp;&nbsp;and evaded bird attacks. When both our visas were set to expire in November, we decided to jump into the unknown together and move to Thailand to continue our journey as world traveling dive instructors.&nbsp;

 

Thailand was an awesome adventure as well. After a couple months of travel, we&nbsp;worked on Koh Tao for a very fun, but sometimes challenging 8 months, as we learned to live together in a new country. I&nbsp;desperately miss the amazing food and beautiful scenery above and below the water, but I&nbsp;do not miss working 40+&nbsp;days straight and shooing giant centipedes out of the shower. After nearly a year in Thailand, I&nbsp;had been away from home for 2 years, and Mike had not been back to England in 3 so it was time to go home and meet our respective families.&nbsp;

 

I&nbsp;was blown away by Newquay, Mike's hometown. Who knew England had such beautiful beaches!&nbsp;I&nbsp;was introduced to Cornish pasties, Rattler cider and Mike's wonderful family. Then it was off to Florida to teach Mike about alligators and tailgating and American football.&nbsp;

 

The next stop on our dive instructor&nbsp;adventure was Mahahual, Mexico. Now, if you ever want to test a relationship, move to a remote town in Mexico, work for a very small dive shop together, and live in a studio apartment with almost no furniture and absolutely no air conditioning. Bonus points if you have very few friends and almost no social life. Needless to say our relationship was pushed to the test, but after 6 months, we made it out of Mexico together. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't all bad. Beachfront ceviche and margaritas can make up for a lot.&nbsp;

 

After Mexico, we decided we wanted to live somewhere a little more ON&nbsp;the beaten path and both found jobs in the Cayman Islands. We've lived in Grand Cayman now for 4 years and love our lives here. We work for different dive shops (a necessity after Mexico) and spend our time off in hammocks under palm trees or exploring our beautiful island home.&nbsp;

 

In May 2019, just before my birthday, Mike completely blindsided me with a beautiful ring at our favorite secret beach spot. It's hard to say where in the world we'll be in another 6 years, but I&nbsp;know it will be an amazing adventure together and I&nbsp;can't wait to start a new chapter of our lives as husband and wife.&nbsp;

How We Met...

The Venue

We will be getting married on the&nbsp;grounds of Cornish Tipi Holidays, set in an English woodland beside a beautiful lake. We'll exchange our vows beside the lake and then stroll through the woods to our reception space where we'll start with cocktail hour and lawn games, then indulge in a BBQ dinner,&nbsp;drinks and dancing.&nbsp;We are, of course,&nbsp;hoping for clear skies and sunshine, but if the weather does not cooperate, you might want to come prepared for rain. The ceremony and reception will be held under cover, although the walk between ceremony and reception spaces has the potential to get soggy.&nbsp;As the venue is outside, we suggest avoiding those sky-high stilettos. Best to stick with flats or wedges!

Transportation

We will be providing shuttles from our&nbsp;hotel at 2pm.&nbsp;&nbsp;Shuttles will leave the venue at different intervals throughout the night. Times will be updated once our transportation bookings are confirmed.&nbsp;

Our Story

Our Wedding

Details

Getting There

Getting to Newquay

For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of visiting Newquay yet, it is located on the southwest coast of England in Cornwall. It's a beautiful coastal town with stunning cliffs and beautiful beaches and is a very popular English surf spot (but bring your wetsuits!)&nbsp;Newquay is located about 250 miles southwest of London, about a 4 hour drive. Of course you can always rent a car, but Newquay is also accessed by train and there is a nearby regional&nbsp;airport.&nbsp;Trains leave from London &nbsp;every few hours and the journey takes about 6 hours and requires one train change in Par.&nbsp;If you'd like to fly, most of the direct flights are operated by a company called Flybe and leave a few times a day from London Heathrow and take a little over an hour. If you're flying from the states, I've found you get some very strange results if you try to search flights from the US&nbsp; straight&nbsp;to Newquay. It appears to much cheaper and more direct to book a flight from the US&nbsp;to London and then a separate flight from London to Newquay on Flybe.

Guest Accommodation

Staying in Newquay

Newquay has a great selection of places to stay in a multitude of styles and price ranges, from cliff-top hotels to quaint B&Bs.&nbsp; The Great Western HotelThe wedding party will be staying at the Great Western. This hotel is located on top of a cliff&nbsp;overlooking Great Western beach in central Newquay.&nbsp; Best Western Hotel BristolLocated just down the street from the Great Western is the Hotel Bristol which is also cliff top and sits above Tolcarne Beach.&nbsp; The Headland Hotel and Spa If you're looking for somewhere really fabulous, definitely check out the Headland. It is an impressive hotel overlooking Fistral Beach, which is the largest beach in Newquay There are a ton of other great&nbsp;options in the area. At the moment we don't have hotel room blocks, but if that changes, we will update that here!&nbsp;

Wedding Day Transportation

On our wedding day we will be providing transportation to the venue from our hotel. Minibuses will be leaving the hotel at 2pm for anyone that would like a like a ride. The venue is about 35 minutes from central Newquay so anyone that is staying in town or lives locally is welcome to a ride if you'd like to let loose and not worry about driving home down narrow country roads. Please don't drink and drive! Buses will be returning to the hotel at different intervals throughout the night and I&nbsp;will update these details as we make solid plans with the transportation company.

Travel and Accommodation

Mike and I&nbsp;met working on a dive boat in Cairns, Australia. &nbsp;Mike left England to start a new career as a dive instructor and travel the world. I arrived in Australia with no plans but to travel and dive on the Great Barrier Reef, but upon arriving in Cairns, I&nbsp;realized that without a job, diving is expensive!&nbsp;After delivering many resumes, I&nbsp;found a job on Reef Experience as a marine biologist and snorkel guide. The first day of my new job fell the day after the staff Christmas party. There was a slew of new people and new faces, as the crew trudged and stumbled on to the boat, but one face stood out. Possibly because he was a handsome Englishman who would grow to become the love of my&nbsp;life. Or possibly because he had a giant red star painted on his face from the night before that he was completely unaware of. It certainly wasn't love at first site, but he definitely made an impression!&nbsp;After a few months of working together, a playful friendship based on a love for breakfast foods and marine life began to evolve into something more. We started dating March 2013 and had the most amazing time&nbsp;together in Cairns. We explored waterfalls and rain forests, went scuba diving on reefs and shipwrecks, befriended wallabys&nbsp;&nbsp;and evaded bird attacks. When both our visas were set to expire in November, we decided to jump into the unknown together and move to Thailand to continue our journey as world traveling dive instructors.&nbsp;Thailand was an awesome adventure as well. After a couple months of travel, we&nbsp;worked on Koh Tao for a very fun, but sometimes challenging 8 months, as we learned to live together in a new country. I&nbsp;desperately miss the amazing food and beautiful scenery above and below the water, but I&nbsp;do not miss working 40+&nbsp;days straight and shooing giant centipedes out of the shower. After nearly a year in Thailand, I&nbsp;had been away from home for 2 years, and Mike had not been back to England in 3 so it was time to go home and meet our respective families.&nbsp;I&nbsp;was blown away by Newquay, Mike's hometown. Who knew England had such beautiful beaches!&nbsp;I&nbsp;was introduced to Cornish pasties, Rattler cider and Mike's wonderful family. Then it was off to Florida to teach Mike about alligators and tailgating and American football.&nbsp;The next stop on our dive instructor&nbsp;adventure was Mahahual, Mexico. Now, if you ever want to test a relationship, move to a remote town in Mexico, work for a very small dive shop together, and live in a studio apartment with almost no furniture and absolutely no air conditioning. Bonus points if you have very few friends and almost no social life. Needless to say our relationship was pushed to the test, but after 6 months, we made it out of Mexico together. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't all bad. Beachfront ceviche and margaritas can make up for a lot.&nbsp;After Mexico, we decided we wanted to live somewhere a little more ON&nbsp;the beaten path and both found jobs in the Cayman Islands. We've lived in Grand Cayman now for 4 years and love our lives here. We work for different dive shops (a necessity after Mexico) and spend our time off in hammocks under palm trees or exploring our beautiful island home.&nbsp;In May 2019, just before my birthday, Mike completely blindsided me with a beautiful ring at our favorite secret beach spot. It's hard to say where in the world we'll be in another 6 years, but I&nbsp;know it will be an amazing adventure together and I&nbsp;can't wait to start a new chapter of our lives as husband and wife.&nbsp;

Amanda & Mike

Amanda & Mike

Photos