robyn & matt

so this wedding was a little bit special for me...

i've actually known the beautiful bride robyn since we were about 12/13 years old. we went through school, college, lost touch a bit as we went separate ways as you do, then recently we got back in touch which was lovely. but then who would have known only a year after i would be asked to shoot one of the biggest days of her life, what a treat :)

robyn and matt together make sense.
the wedding day was the first time i'd had the pleasure of meeting him, a slightly nervous but grinning groom standing joking with his mates and on first impressions he seemed like a lovely guy,  but the moment robyn joined him at the top of the aisle i had a bit of an "ohhhh" moment. i totally got it and immediately liked him even more, because when you see them together they just work. and that sense of stuff 'just working' shone through the entire wedding.

i've truthfully never been to a wedding so chilled out and relaxed, it was great. not that a lot of hard work didn't go into it, the personal touches were one of my favourite parts, and there were lots!
the first thing i noticed, after getting excited about the bunting and croquet set up on the lawn, (love it) was laying eyes on the amazing retro pick n mix table, where (shockingly) not the sweets, but the gorgeous signs made for them and the quirky guestbook figures were the first thing to catch my attention. i then found out robyn had done all these entirely by herself! along with the cupcake list, which i must just add were the most incredible little cupcakes i'd ever tasted and even better, were home made by some of her best friends which i thought was a lovely touch.

so what happened...
i met robyn, her mum, and chief bridesmaid sarah at a salon to take some cheeky snaps of them getting their hair done. this involved mostly me standing agog at the gorgeous headpiece robyn had picked up at a vintage bridal fair, that thing is seriously beautiful.
then on we went to the garden house hotel in stamford, a stunning little quirky venue full of "oldy worldy" english country charm, but without being old fashioned. i especially loved the walled lawns, hidden little benches and flowerbeds, it was like getting married in the secret garden!

even getting ready was relaxed, no dramas - just giggles (and cookies). the bridesmaids got changed into their gorgeous frocks whilst robyn's mum did her make-up, beautifully i might add! she then laced her into an incredible embellished and beautifully delicate looking wedding dress, which was accompanied by not one but two pairs of gorgeous shoes *swoon* and a stunning vintage ring given to her by her grandmother. after a quick word with the registrar and some reassuring looks from dad, we went downstairs to the ceremony room.

robyn walked down the aisle to 'such great heights' by iron and wine, and the whole ceremony matched the song perfectly - sweet, pretty and adorable.
after the i do's came the register signing which ended up being one of my favourite parts of the day, as it showed their personalities perfectly. for those of you that don't know, you can't actually take photographs of the real register (being a legal document and all) so the registrar sets you up with a replica one to pretend to sign for photos, and the response to this from the two of them was brilliant; whilst awkwardly holding the pen aloft and staring at a blank page... "haha what are we meant to do with this??" and to be honest i never really know either! so all there was to do was laugh and take some pretty pictures of the moment :)

what followed the post ceremony pimms was the nicest group shots i've ever had the pleasure of doing. the whole shoot flowed easily and ended up being a lot of fun with everyone getting involved and having a good time, from the lovely family pics to the ridiculous groomsmen shoot (you'll see..) the whole thing was a pleasure and a delight, what an absolutely lovely group of people.

the wedding dinner was a "casual buffet", but the food certainly couldn't be described as casual because it was absolutely delicious! and all leading up to an incredible red velvet chocolate wedding cake home made and beautifully decorated with pretty little icing daisies by matt's mum, who also i might add made them a perfectly painted hanging wooden heart, which was based on the invitation designs that i absolutely adored.
the speeches were everything you would want; touching and sincere from robyn's dad, cute from matt, and hilarious from the best man, which included some rather questionable props unfortunately which could not be shown! but it's fair to say the afternoon went perfectly.
the evening seemed to fly by, helped i'm sure by many drinks, an alarming amount of sugar and a lot of laughs. everyone seemed to be having the time of their lives, myself included! matt and robyn pulled some serious shapes on the dancefloor, and friends and family weren't far behind, providing me and my camera with a lot of entertainment way into the night...

i make a movie of all the wedding photos for each of my couples set to the music of their day, and a little experiment i like to carry out is to show it to someone unrelated to the day first, as i always like to see a "strangers" reaction and insight into the photos before i hand it over to the bride and groom. on this particular occasion i played robyn and matts dvd to my better half the night before, and he said something when the dvd was over that really stuck with me...

"i don't even know them and you can tell they're perfect for each other"

and he's right, robyn and matt are besotted with each other, and it doesn't take any fancy camera work to show it.

xx



*full photoset coming soon to the fb site

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karen & liam

so its easter sunday and i'm off to my first humanist wedding! karen and liam's big day was held at the rockingham forest hotel in corby northants, and the minute i walked in through the double doors to the bar area the whole place was buzzing. outside was also packed as it was an absolute scorcher of a day and you could tell straight off this was going to be very much a celebration!

since getting together almost a year and a half ago karen and liam have taken on each others families completely and have an impressive 6 kids and a grandchild between them! it was clear throughout the ceremony and the whole day that they were already a very cemented family, and this was making it official.
i'd never been to a humanist wedding before so was really interested to see what it was like, but from the minute karen and the bridesmaids came down the isle (to the gorgeous feels like home by edwina hayes) all beautifully coordinated in black and ivory, i got the feeling it was going to be a really lovely relaxed service and it was. the emphasis was very much on the joining of the two families and everyone seemed really involved, from their little grandson mckenzie helping out with the rings, to one of their daughters chelsea reading an amazing poem she'd written for them, which had more than a few laughing and welling up.

after coming out of the ceremony to "we go together" from grease i then got another feeling the family photos outside were going to be more than good laugh, and i was right with that too! bit of madness getting everyone together but it ended up in some great natural photos of everybody, as well as some really genuine shots of bride and groom.
after the official pics i milled around taking photos of all the guests in the bar who were eating drinking and having an amazing time- and all before the reception had even started! everyone was so friendly and happy, including a few who were very eager to pose for shots! i really did have a lot of fun. they also had a magician there which i thought was a great idea and he really did have some people baffled, myself included, however other peoples reactions were definitely my favourite part of the tricks! i was only there for the ceremony that day as karen and liam had hired a photobooth for the evening (which produced some very memorable shots!) so when the guests started to pile into the main hall i snuck off to reception to collect my bags...
i then discovered one of my favourite parts about karen and liam's wedding, when i was waiting at the desk all i could hear above everything else was them and their guests laughing and joking despite the fact i was literally at the complete opposite end of the hotel, brilliant :)

xx