Breathtakingly Beautiful Mount Snowdon Wedding Adventure

Due to COVID-19, Sean and Denice had a rollercoaster when it came to wedding planning. Their day was postponed and changed from their original wedding vision. So they stripped everything back and chose to have a smaller wedding in the Spring. They had a register office ceremony followed by a gorgeous back garden reception.

Wait for it though, they only went off to Mount Snowdon for their wedding portraits afterwards! Gasp.

Yes, that’s right, they went on a mini-adventure, suited and booted in their wedding finest for some spectacular shots with their photographer. The results are breathtaking and all the more, I now want to head off to Wales and see the stunning scenery for myself.

So dive on in and read all about their very special day and post-wedding adventure below. With thanks to Gemma Randall Photography for sharing these fantastic images at Mount Snowdon.

Snowdon Wedding

The Proposal

2016 was our best year. We share many adventures, travelled everywhere around the world, made lots of amazing memories that we will treasure forever.

December 2016 – Our last destination that year was Italy. Sean surprised me with a birthday getaway in the beautiful city of Rome. I half expected that this birthday was going to be extra special as Sean throughout that trip treated me like a queen (his poor bank account).

We toured around Rome, visited Vatican City, ate lots of pizza and gelatos as normal tourists do. Then on the eve of my birthday, we visited this beautiful church in Rome, high up on the hill overlooking the beautiful city at night. It was peaceful, we were alone just in each other’s arms looking at the view in front of us.

Sean spoke to me so quietly hands shaking, probably very nervous about what he has was about to do. He turned me around to face him with his hand on my face. He was so sweet, passionate, emotional a nervous wreck, telling me repeatedly how much he loves me and how happy he is.

My heart dropped as I finally understood what was happening. My emotions were all over the place. I was shocked, had butterflies in my belly and became shy as I hated attention or PDA. Luckily, we were somewhere private. He grabbed a box out from his pocket, opened it and there it was a ring.

I will never forget the words he spoke ‘Denice I love you with all my heart always, will you marry me?’ of course I said ‘YES!’ a hundred times yes. With his shaking hands, he put the ring on my shaking finger and there we were standing on the top of Rome finally engaged and more in love.

The Vision

Like many other couples throughout the pandemic, our vision for our wedding shifted and changed constantly. I (Denice) am a nurse, so working throughout the pandemic was a challenge in itself, let alone planning a wedding alongside.

We were devastated to postpone our original wedding, ended up changing venues but then by the start of 2021, we just wanted to be married as our bond of over 10 years was growing stronger and stronger.

Our vision was clearer more than ever, and we knew what we wanted to do. Throughout the planning, photography was always something important to us. We wanted our photographer to capture our true selves.

One of the first things we did was book Gemma. She was so supportive throughout all of our decisions, and without her adventurous style and ‘can-do’ attitude to everything, the second part of our wedding would never have happened.

As a couple, Sean and I are HUGE travellers, and one of our favourite places in the world is Wales. Gemma knew this and suggested “let’s do something crazy. Hear me out… Why don’t we travel to Wales and do your wedding portraits up a mountain?!”

We didn’t even have to think about it, the answer was HECK YES!

The Venue

Our chosen venue for our intimate wedding was Aylesbury Registry office, followed by a family gathering at Sean’s parent’s house. The weather was absolutely breathtaking and we couldn’t have asked for a better day, surrounded by great food, drink and company.

Our second venue was something a little different but spectacular. Mount Snowdon and the scenery of North Wales! I guess you could say this venue is unique, exclusive (except the occasional hiker) and one that we will never forget!

Your Outfits

For our registry office wedding, I wore a midi dress from ASOS which was strapless and came across my shoulders, a delicate headpiece, all paired with a gorgeous pair of jewelled shoes. ASOS’ bridal range is so perfect for brides opting for a smaller wedding! I didn’t want to wear my original wedding dress as I felt it was ‘too much’, so wanted to save that for our Wales shoot.

I am Filipino, and when visiting family out there a couple of years ago, I chose my wedding dress from Bride House Philippines. My dress was bespoke and I got to choose the material, colour and design of the dress. They accept clients abroad and communicated via email and zoom calls. They were honestly incredible.

Covered in delicate floral lace and an off-the-shoulder style, the dress was so comfortable and easy to move in (probably best considering we were going to hike up a mountain..).

Your Photographer & Filmmaker

Our chosen photographer was always going to be Gemma from Gemma Randall Photography. We’re fortunate enough to have Gemma as a dear friend of ours, so it only felt right that she capture our big day.

Gemma was incredible throughout our journey, which was SO up and down, but we always knew she would bring reassurance and happiness. Her style of candid, and natural moments is exactly what we want, as we can be right goofballs in front of the camera – and that’s who we are and what we wanted capturing!

To share this experience with her, and have her travel to Wales and stay with us for 3 days for practically our mini-moon was SO much fun. We are so grateful to Gemma and will never forget our day thanks to her and her truly incredible photographs. She is beyond talented and an utter joy to be around.

The Styling & Decor

The styling for our garden reception focused mainly under a giant tipi which Sean’s parents already have installed in their garden. We had ivory balloons, banners and a delicate 2-tiered cake from Iced Delights Cakes which we still cut and got ‘that’ wedding photo!

We also had a small wooden box engraved for us to mark the occasion and hold the wedding rings.

Our flowers were from Danni at Floral Arch. We took inspiration from a styled shoot that Gemma and Danni worked on, and the colour palette was stunning! Muted pinks, orchids, white roses and texture were a few of the elements bursting out of this bouquet. We looked after the bouquet as best we could and took it to Wales for our photos too and they lasted for days!

The Honeymoon

Before Covid the plan for our honeymoon was to go traveling in East Asia for a month. I am originally from the Philippines and I would have loved to see my family back home who could not celebrate our wedding with us in England.

Afterwards, we were going to go visit some of our favourite tropical islands that we have visited before, sit by the beach with a Pina colada. Our next destination would have been Japan. This was our main goal as we have both dreamed of visiting Japan ever since we have been together. This was Sean’s dream destination as the tropical islands were mine.

However, Covid happened. All our plans got postponed but we still dream of making these plans a reality when we can travel again.

After our wedding, we spent our mini honeymoon in North Wales. This was our favourite place to visit nearer to home. The views the nature always takes our breath away no matter how many times we visit.

Memorable Moments

For me, the most memorable moment will have to be the day Sean proposed to me in Rome and finally the day I got to marry him. We have waited so long to get married, being together for over 11 years with a 4-year+ engagement, our dream wedding was no longer the priority.

Planning a wedding during the pandemic was extremely stressful as nothing was a certainty. It felt amazing, exhilarating just to let go. We prioritised what was most important which was ‘US’ as a couple and our love. Our dream now was just simple, to be married and call one another husband and wife.

Making memorable memories was important to us. We were extremely lucky to have a friend and photographer who was willing to follow us in our adventures. We never got to have our dream wedding, but we are extremely lucky to be able to have such an epic breathtaking dream photoshoot up Mount Snowdon in Wales.

Something we will treasure for the rest of our lives.

Advice For Other Couples

My advice is…

To prioritise what is most important to you as a couple and do what makes both of you happy.
If you are planning a wedding during the pandemic try not to include wedding dates on personalised items unless it is important to you and that you are completely sure it will not get postponed. Learn from me. I had to change my dream wedding date at least 3 times and in each other them I had personalised items made, and all of them I never got to use as the dates did not match.