One of the many reasons I was drawn to writing about Cornwall is its combination of natural and man-made beauty. The architecture of some of the fishing villages that cling to the harbour-side, all around Cornwall’s coastline, has the potential to rival the stunning coastline itself, which encompasses rocky coves, jagged cliff edges and stretches of sandy beach that are a surfer’s paradise. Moving inland, Cornwall offers everything from rivers and waterfalls, to acres of woodland, sweeping farmland, moors and abandoned mines, all of which evoke different emotions. In A Summer Wedding for the Cornish Midwife, Anna wants a ceremony that celebrates her fiancé Brae’s Cornish heritage, but let’s just say they get more than they bargained for!
If, like Anna, you’re planning a wedding, or just want to know more about everything that Cornwall has to offer as a wedding destination, then this is definitely the blog post for you. The hardest thing about writing this was narrowing down the choices, but I’ve tried to incorporate a range of venues that encompass all that’s best about Cornwall’s coastal and inland wedding ceremonies and I’d definitely be RSVP’ing a big ‘yes please!’ to a wedding at any of these beautiful locations.
Beach wedding
What could be more iconic than a wedding on a private beach in beautiful Newquay, where your wedding guests are treated to views of the Atlantic Ocean and can watch the surf break on golden sands that would out-do any Caribbean wedding destination? You could even go one step further with the surfer theme and travel to and from the venue is a vintage VW campervan.
Lusty Glaze beach is a secluded cove in Newquay that was crowned Britain’s best beach by the Sunday Times and, in my opinion, has the perfect name for a couple who are madly in love, or even just in lust!
Intimate and Cornish countryside wedding
Move inland to Liskeard, just outside the rugged eastern edge of Bodmin Moor you’ll find The Green – a five star wedding village – in a secluded spot in the midst of woodland, orchards and a river valley. 
The Green can offer a range of options for your big day, from barn weddings to elopements, but my favourite has to be the intimate cottage wedding, for just three to six guests.
What could be more meaningful than exchanging vows with only the most important people in your world to witness the ceremony? It sounds like the perfect venue for a novel too and I might just have to treat myself to a little research trip there some time soon.
Alternative wedding
If you’re interested in pagan ceremonies, magic or Arthurian legend, then a wedding at St Nectan’s Glen in Tintagel could be for you. Described as a place of mystical, spiritual and natural beauty, couples at St Nectan’s Glen can get married in front of a natural waterfall, immersing themselves and their guests in nature.
The venue also offers the traditional handfasting ceremony, an ancient method used by couples to make a promise to one another to uphold the marriage contract, which involves the binding together of the couple’s hands with ribbon or cord to signify an unbreakable union.
Harbour-side wedding
Described as one of Cornwall’s most iconic locations, Charlestown Harbour is a beautiful, privately-owned, Georgian harbour and UNESCO World Heritage site, located on Cornwall’s wild and stunning south coast.
Couples have the choice of two venues for their ceremonies, The Round House, with its incredible views of St Austell Bay, for intimate weddings of up to eight guests, or the Norwegian tall ship, Kajsamoor, built in 1939 and used in TV series such as Poldark, which can accommodate up to fifty guests. The Longstore restaurant, overlooking the harbour, offers the ideal spot for you and your guests to hold the reception and watch the sun set over the harbour as you toast the end of a perfect day
Poldark wedding
Talking of Poldark, if you’re a fan, then a wedding in one of the beautiful former industrial buildings dotted across Cornwall’s landscape could be for you. There’s everything on offer from forts, to tin mines and partially ruined buildings that evoke the spirit of Cornwall’s rich history.
The Stack, a beautiful former engine house, in the remote hamlet of Trelion, set high in the beautiful Fal Valley in mid-Cornwall, amongst a backdrop of countryside described as Tolkeinesque, is one such venue.
Offering generous gardens and a woodland glade, The Stack can accommodate up to forty guests, six of whom can stay overnight, perfect if you want to spend the first night of your honeymoon with the in-laws!
Church wedding
I couldn’t end the post without choosing a church venue. In the Cornish Midwife series, the church in Port Agnes, St Judes, plays a central role in several of the storylines and when a much younger vicar takes over the parish in book five of the series, it’s a total game-changer for one of our midwives. For my chosen church venue, we’re back in magical Tintagel and this time the magic is all about the beautiful setting of St Materiana’s church, perched high on the cliffs overlooking the Cornish Atlantic coast where Port Agnes came to life in my imagination. Being able to sea the sea from the churchyard doesn’t just make for beautiful wedding photos, in book four of the series, for midwife Toni, it becomes her go-to place when times get tougher than she ever imagined. If you’re looking for a church with something to stand out from the crowd for your wedding, then St Materiana’s definitely has what it takes.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this quick tour around some of the beautiful wedding venues that Cornwall has to offer, but there are so many more, from manor houses, to tipi weddings and vineyards, which I just didn’t have room to include. However, you can read more about all of them in the guide to ceremonies in Cornwall. 
If you fancy coming along to the fictional wedding of the year too, then when not check out A Summer Wedding for the Cornish Midwife and discover exactly where Anna’s path to her big day takes her!
A Summer Wedding for the Cornish Midwife is out now!
