To celebrate our 10th year anniversary of weddings here at Rosedew Farm we decided to invite back Menna & Simon who were the first ever couple to tie the knot at our venue and reminisce on their 10th year celebrations of being husband and wife. Take a look at these questions that we asked Menna about her special day and an insight into how the day went…

1. How did you & your husband meet? Who proposed and where?

Simon and I had known each other for a while through work. Though having gone our separate way it was about 10 years later that the planets aligned and we got together. Simon proposed to me whilst we were bobbing on our surfboards in the sea at Llangennith while camping at Hillend our favourite Gower campsite.

2. What were your first planning steps ? Why did you pick Rosedew?

We always knew a hotel wedding wasn’t right for us and preferred the idea of a laid back rustic affair. We used to run past the cottages as they were being renovated and one day got chatting to Gaynor who happened to mention the plan was to renovate the Great Barn (as it’s now known). I couldn’t stop thinking about it and persuaded Gaynor to let us use the barn for our wedding and just asked that the roof didn’t leak. We were so overwhelmed with the effort by Gaynor and family to convert the working barn into a beautiful rustic venue fit to impress. Once we knew we had the most amazing venue everything else fell into place.

3. Were you happy with the outcome?

We were thrilled with the outcome. It was so much more than we had expected. The barn itself had been transformed and allowed us a beautiful yet blank canvas to host our rustic, laid back wedding. The outdoor space was decorated with flowers and corn and the guests ate picnic style canapés on bails of hay. We had family and guest pictures with the cows as a backdrop decorated with a make shift photo booth my dad made with vintage lace curtains I found in a charity shop. A calf was born on our wedding day and named Simon! A close friend of mine baked the most amazing cup cakes, Simon’s mum made heart shaped welsh cakes and some guests baked cakes to add to the desert table, all polished off with Joes Ice cream (a firm family favourite). Friends drove us both to the church in a VW Beetle and Bay Window Campervan. The mum of a friend did the flowers which were all over the venue. My aunty and I made bunting and another scoured the charity shops for vintage china and cake stands for the cake table. I think most of my planning time went in to hand stitching individual lavender filled hearts as favours! My dad made an easel for the table plans and photos as well as quirky signposts for around the venue. Our mums were delegated the job of making the name places as I nearly forgot about them - they seemed to enjoy themselves! Our families were all able to gather the day before to get the finishing touches completed, mostly organised by my sister who got everything in order (I think I firmly had my head in the clouds much to her dismay!) . It was a proper joint effort – not to mention the amazing support from Gaynor and Co for the things we forgot!

4. What is your favourite memory from your day?

So many amazing memories, it’s hard to pick. Obviously the moment we said ‘I do ‘ is up there. The speeches were amazing, so full of love and lots of laughter – these are firmly etched into my memory. I loved the photos in the field, I’m not sure our guests loved the fact that we’d invited them in to a field full of cows for photos, but we loved it! There is a great picture of Simon laughing, after he stepped in a cow pat! After our photos, the cows decided they were going to have their lunch so knocked over said photo backdrop and ate the bales of hay!

Our first dance was special. It was our song, ‘I’m yours’ by Jason Mraz. My sister sang it accompanied by some of the guys from my band (who played that night) on the Ukulele and drums. We also played an Iron Maiden number as a surprise for Simon. We partied hard that night and because the floors weren’t sealed yet we all were a bit of a dusty mess. Black suits were grey but it’s just another memory that makes us smile! Of course, now the barn is the finished and perfect venue. I feel like we were lucky to get the work in progress as it adds to the charm for us.

We also loved waking up at beautiful Rosedew the day after to a beautiful sunny day and getting to relive all the funny bits with our family and friends with a BBQ at the cow shed – with those who weren’t too hungover to make it, that is! We forgot to cut our wedding cake so did this the next day also!

5. Is there anything you wish you had done differently?

When I look back to our wedding, it just makes me smile, we talk about it often and laugh about the funny memories.

If I had to do one thing differently, we would have got married at 7am so we would have had even more time to enjoy the day. It goes so quickly and I don’t think you ever feel you get to speak to each of your guests as much as you’d like, or each other! The best thing with Rosedew is you can really make a weekend of it. It’s so nice to see your guests the next day.

I should probably say, I should have been more organised as the lead up days were quite hectic but honestly, that was half the fun!

6. 10 Years on whats your story?

10 years on and we have 3 beautiful children. Dewi 8, Rhodri 5 and Mabli 2. We are pretty much the same people who just get less sleep!! Life has had its ups and downs but we’re so lucky to have our beautiful family and have happiness and health on our side. We look forward to seeing what the next 10 years will bring!

We are so grateful to Gaynor, Rhodri and the Davies family who have remained part of our lives. We’ve always come back to Rosedew during important life events. When our eldest was born we moved in to a lodge for month while our house was being extended. We held the celebration of my dads life there and planted an oak he grew from seed by the lodges. We come back for family photos, to meet friends, for a break!! Our children have enjoyed summers of swimming in the family pool and we probably walked past every day during lockdown.

This time at Rosedew it’s really special. Celebrating 10 years where it all began, with the people who helped make it happen and captured by Aga, our amazing photographer.