Last year I photographed the wedding of Ray & Danni at Hampton Court Palace. I had such a great time with them, despite the weather, and only having a few hours with them on the day. Since then, we’ve stayed in touch, and I was absolutely thrilled when Ray contacted me at the end of 2015 to say that he wanted to hire me as a wedding present for his nephew’s wedding – what an amazingly kind and generous gesture. I was also happy because I had got to know some of the family and friends and I would be shooting them again.
I was available for their wedding date and loved the fact that Lyndsey & Roy’s wedding would be at a new venue for me. The absolutely stunning WOTTON HOUSE. It is extremely local to me, and the architecture and layout of the whole location are just beautiful. You’ll see the ceremony room from the images below – apparently an old library. To me it’s the perfect choice if you’re looking for a stunning ‘church-style’ interior, but you don’t want, or need, to marry in a church. My new wide-angle lens shows you it in all its glory.
At the start of March I had my pre-wedding meeting with Roy & Lyndsey at the venue (bridal prep was to take place at the venue, in one of their large rooms, so it was all contained in one location) and I fell in love with it immediately! Couldn’t wait to shoot there. They both mentioned that they really loved my previous Black & White shots so I made sure that I edited more than usual into Black & White for them, as requested.
This was my first wedding of the season and as the rest of March had been wet to say the least, we were slightly apprehensive about what we would be dealt on the day. I arrived to blue skies, a wee chill in the air, and a lovely quality of light. Unfortunately the clouds came over just after the ceremony, and the rain fell during the couple/group shots, but we wont dwell on that as it didn’t matter one bit. Sure, it changed the sky in the photos, but it didn’t change the smiles!
It was a Bridal Prep to 1st Dance day for me and it all went well. Lyndsey was incredibly relaxed in the morning (or if she wasn’t, it didn’t show), Roy was also relaxed, and having laughs with his best man and son (ring-bearer!) – Ceremony was perfect, couple shots were natural and fun, and group shots, despite having to be taken inside, went well. Then it was a case of shooting in a reportage style throughout the rest of the day. It was perfect.
I left about 30 minutes after 1st dance, content that I’d captured a lot of smiles and laughter, and got another new, and stunning, venue under the belt!