We first met up with Jo and Chris one cloudy, wintery day in the Purbecks where we clambered through muddy fields to capture some images for their Save The Date card. Little did we know that day that almost a year later we’d be making our way over to an equally freezing Gloucestershire to photograph their special day at Bibury Court Hotel in The Cotswolds.

We had no doubt we were in for a treat as we made our way up for Jo and Chris’ wedding day. They’d looked super glamorous as they trudged their way in their Hunter Wellies through Dorset’s muddy fields, and Chris had already proven he had excellent taste in suit jackets when we met up with them for their wedding prep.

It was cold on their wedding day. We’d stayed about 20 minutes out of Bibury in Colesbourne (we thoroughly recommend the Colesbourne Inn if you’re heading out that way – it was a truly excellent place to stay) and our car doors had completely frozen shut before we made our way over to Bibury Court Hotel in the morning. It was a winter wonderland!

Jo, Chris and the guests pretty much had the full run of the hotel for their wedding day so we were nice and cosy inside for the best part of it. The fire roared away throughout the ceremony and the reception making for a toasty and romantic setting. The registrar did try to wed Jo to the Best Man at one point, but luckily realised the error of his ways soon enough. Phew!

Continues in Part Two

Carrying on from Part One..

The guests stayed inside in the warm at Bibury Court Hotel as Jo and Chris braced the outdoors for some portraits in the hotel grounds. Meanwhile, inside everyone was getting toasty and being treated to some excellent music in the conservatory.

The ceremony room had been turned around for the wedding breakfast with lots of lovely table settings and a magical wintery Table Plan Tree! The tables were named after whiskey brands.. I’m no whiskey connoisseur so Monkey Shoulder had me baffled for a while without the prompting of a bottle. But it’s now definitely my favourite whiskey.

Thanks so much to Jo and Chris who sorted out an amazing cream tea for us – it was scrumptious!

We were definitely grateful of the sugar rush from those cakes once the evening got going – the dancefloor was buzzing! It was an absolute delight working along to the tunes of The Reach Arounds. They blew us away with their thrashed-up mash-ups (Human League vs Spandau Ballet, anyone?). By far the best wedding band we’ve seen.

And speaking of “Best Of’s” a huge shout out should go to the guy in blue who entertained the crowds with his adrenalin-fuelled hoedown to the wig out at the end of Paradise City. It was unbelievably frantic and we still think about this often!

Posted with thanks and congratulations to Jo and Chris x

Back in the summer we met Trudy and Scott for the first time as they asked us to do an Engagement Shoot for them. The idea was to get some nice little piccies they could use for Invitations and Save The Date cards. They were truly great sports that day, hiking their way around Durdle Door and travelled all the way from Essex to see us.

It was only fair we shared the hellish Motorway travel experience. So, on a nippy and changeable Autumn weekend we made our way up to Epping for their wedding at Gaynes Park.

We arrived early so we could have a good scout around the venue before things kicked off. Gaynes Park has the cutest, tiny Gatekeeper’s Cottage which can be used for bridal preps and as a honeymoon suite. It was here I met up with Trudy. She wanted some time to chill in the morning and visit the hairdressers in peace and quiet, so we started things off once the flowers had arrived and it was time to dress.

The ceremony took place in the Orangery just a stone’s throw from the cottage. We absolutely loved the fact the guests were seated facing inwards, rather than in standard rows. This was mostly for the practical reason the room is really wide, but the aisle is short. It gave everyone a chance to see the happy couple clearly, making a large ceremony group feel a lot more intimate (and Ian got some nice side shots as opposed to being stuck at the back). More venues should do this if they can!

Trudy and Scott had made so much effort putting together their table decorations and we were absolutely honoured to see they’d put their Engagement Photos to good use and used them instead of table names.

Continues in Part Two

Continuing on from Part One

We cannot put into words what a thoughtful couple Trudy and Scott are. As we were a long way from home they’d not only seated us as guests and treated us to a slap-up meal but they’d made little place names for us too – like proper guests!

Scott even told everyone the backstory to the Engagement photos on each table during his speech and then we were presented with the biggest box of cupcakes! Amazing! We were so grateful for those on the way home and I’m ashamed to say (apart from one, which I gave to a friend who popped round for tea) we ate the entire box. Ooops!

It got dark really early, so after dinner we popped out for a bit of light-scribing with torches and to play with some sparklers. Then, it was time for the first dance and evening do at Gaynes Park’s Mill Barn.

Kudos to this wedding party for not only being the first group we’ve seen form a trailing Conga-line, but also for pulling this off with gusto as the second song of the night. The DJ said it couldn’t be done but they proved otherwise. I was also introduced to the strange, but ever-so-photogenic ways of the Cha Cha Slide. It’s a bit like Black Lace’s “Superman“, no?

A big shout out to Shoot Boutique too – without doubt the finest evening photo booth we’ve ever seen.

Thank you so much for all the fun, laughter, food and cakes, Trudy and Scott. And for letting us be part of your day x