Anna and Sammy both live and work in Barcelona but their wedding was held at Anna’s family home in the beautiful village of Brancaster, right on the North Norfolk coast. The wedding ceremony was in Brancaster church just a short walk from the house although on the way back they took advantage of a wonderful vintage van courtesy of Sammy’s family business. Time was a little tight with a late wedding ceremony but I’m pleased to say Sammy’s excellent planning paid off and everything ran like clockwork. Without further ado, here are some of the highlights of their fabulous day.
Both Lena (who’s from Belgium) and Mark are extremely ‘nautical’ people who have been sailing for years (Mark is also a sailing instructor). Given that the church where they were getting married at Irstead is right on the river and the reception was also a short cruise away down the Broads from the church it seemed obvious that both Lena and Mark (and most of their guests) should make the trip to and from the church by boat – definitely a first for me. The reception was held in a marquee at Mark’s parent’s house a short walk from the river and we were treated to the most incredible evening sunset across the Norfolk Broads. The long grasses in the meadow backlit by the evening sunshine made for some wonderful pictures.
A few weeks ago I headed down south of Norwich towards Thetford for Joseph and Lara’s wedding where the ceremony was scheduled for 7:30pm in the evening.
The weather on the day before had been fabulous (I was out shooting Lara and Grant’s wedding picnic the day before) but Sunday morning was horrible and cold with lots of dark grey clouds. Not a great start for an outdoor ceremony and reception! The Gods however must have been smiling on Joseph and Lara as by mid afternoon the clouds had begun to lift and the sun came out and it was a beautiful and warm evening when we arrived at the house to begin photographing some of the preparations for the wedding. The ceremony itself was incredibly moving with one of Joseph’s oldest friend conducting and Joseph and Lara reading personal and handwritten vows to each other – there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
A few weeks ago I made the short trip down to Mulbarton just south of Norwich to photograph the wedding of Jessica and Grant who were married at Mulbarton church and then had their reception in the local infants school!
I must admit I was slightly apprehensive at the thought of a wedding reception taking place at an infants school (images of adults sitting on tiny chairs and trying to squeeze their knees under desks that were too low sprang to mind). The reality of it however was fabulous. A huge marquee had been erected on the school playing field (which thankfully wasn’t needed as the weather was beautiful) and lots of straw bales had been put out for guests to sit on. The wedding breakfast was incredibly informal and consisted of a traditional picnic in the sunshine accompanied by much fun and laughter.
Well what a year 2014 proved to be – lots of fabulous weddings, plenty of great lifestyle shoots and some commercial work thrown in for good measure. I’ve got plenty of weddings from last year still to blog but I thought I’d kick off the new year with some interesting statistics that were sent to me by The Wedding Secret.
After a sharp decline in weddings from 2004 to 2009 the threatened end to couples tying the knot never materialised and since 2009 the annual number of weddings in the UK has risen back to levels seen at the start of the millennium (although still way down on levels seen in the 1970s). As 2012 is the most recent year that statistics are available for it will be interesting to see how things have changed since then (gut feeling is that 2013 might have seen a slight drop but 2014 will have pushed much higher).
Other stats are not that surprising – Saturday is still the most common day to get married with Friday being the second most popular. July and August are the two most popular months for weddings with June and September closely following.
From a geographical standpoint it’s interesting to note that East Anglia has more than the average number of weddings per 1,000 population only beaten by Scotland, the South East and South West.
Hope you found that interesting – more weddings coming soon!
Wedding Photography Park Farm Hotel
I’ve got a bit behind with my blogging recently so am having a bit of a blog-fest to try & catch up with things. Today is the turn of Chloe and Matthew who were married at Yaxham church and then travelled to Park Farm hotel for their reception.
There’s not many couples who can say that their wedding cars consisted of both a vintage Rolls Royce and a jeep that was used in the Normandy landings but Emma and Steven managed it. Steven is in the army and one of his colleagues found and then restored the jeep to its former glory and brought it along to the wedding where it was the star of the show outside the church and The Pheasant Hotel where their reception was held.
Wedding Photography Norfolk
I first got to know Aimée a couple of years ago when she came to the studio for some photography training courses that I was running at the time (along with best friend and bridesmaid Kirsty). As we chatted she revealed that she was engaged to Jonathan (AKA Woody) and was looking for a wedding photographer – how convenient! After Aimée put in a good word for me with Jonathan, the booking was made and I’ve been looking forward to it ever since.
Bridal preparations and the reception were at The Barn, Woodlands Farm (a new venue for me with some stunning gardens) whilst the ceremony was at Ingworth church just up the road from where Aimée and Jonathan live. Aimée’s mum’s a florist and did a fabulous job with the flowers (www.bloomingoccasions.co.uk) and not to be outdone Dad did sterling work putting up about three miles of fairly lights in the barn.
I first got to know Aimeé a couple of years ago when she signed up for some photography training courses that I was running at the time (along with bridesmaid Kirsty). As we chatted she revealed that she was engaged to Jonathan (AKA Woody) and was possibly in the market for a wedding photographer – what luck! After speaking to Jonathan, the booking was made and I’ve been looking forward to it ever since.
Both Aimeé and Jon are incredibly relaxed and chilled and the most important thing for them about their wedding day was that they enjoyed it. Aimeé and the families put a huge amount of effort into the preparations and decorations (Aimeé’s Mum who is a florist did all the flowers and Dad deserves a special mention for stringing up about two miles of fairy lights into the roof of the barn at Woodlands Farm). The day started with bridal preparations at Woodlands Farm and then it was a round trip to Ingworth church, just up the road from where Aimeé and Jonathan live for the wedding ceremony before dancing the night away back at Woodlands Farm.
Here is a very quick preview slideshow of their day :
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-C0yTEpWR8&fmt=18
This was certainly one of the more unusual wedding venues that I’ve worked at – a privately-owned, semi-restored mill on the outskirts of Sea Palling on the Norfolk coast. The mill is owned by Julie’s brothers and for weeks leading up to the wedding Julie’s family had been strimming, mowing and digging to cut pathways and clearings for the marquee and bouncy castle in preparation (Christian’s family live in America so it was a bit of a stretch for them to come and land a hand!). To add the finishing touches a bar was set up in the mill, lanterns and fairy lights were hung in the trees, straw bales were brought in for seating and a ‘honeymoon tent’ erected to create a really unique and beautiful venue. The fact that we had some beautiful cornfields and wonderful Norfolk skies was the icing on the cake.
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