Last week I photographed Suzanne and Michael’s lovely Christmassy wedding in Redland church, just around the corner from where I used to live so it was a bit of a trip up memory lane. Beforehand, I drove over to Old Down Manor (www.olddownmanor.co.uk), where Suzanne was getting ready, to capture some of the preparations and catch up with Suzanne and the girls. It was a pretty wet day so I had the wipers going full tilt in the car and was hoping the roads would not be flooded. Fortunately, Old Down Manor is up on a hill above the Estuary (with amazing, sweeping views towards Wales) so there was no risk of a flood there! Inside the Manor, there was a lot of excitment upstairs – especially from Suzanne’s gorgeous two flower girls Darcey and Lucy.
Over at the church, guests were brollying themselves to the door and chatting away inside – which looked very atmospheric with all the Christmas decorations. I wasn’t able to take many shots during the service due to the church rules but I did the best I could shooting up the aisle and from the balcony. Its actually really nice to see a wedding service from above as you can see the whole congregation.
It was too wet afterwards to do any photographs outside the church so we headed back to Old Down Manor for the drinks reception, along with some very festive mulled wine, warm mince pies and also a magician – a great idea for winter weddings as its really fun for guests and works well inside. For anyone looking for reception entertainment have a look at Darren’s website (www.darrencampbellmagic.co.uk).
After dusk, I took Suzanne and Michael off for a few photographs using the beautiful staircase and their technicolour bar. Couples often ask me what do you do when it’s dark and/or raining. In fact, I love winter weddings because you can be so creative and use the different types of light – just scroll through the images later on in the day to see what I mean.
Here are a few of my favourite images:
