Beckie and Mike are getting married in just over a month with a church ceremony in Bournemouth followed by a reception and party at the Sandbanks Hotel in Poole. We met up last weekend for our wedding prep to talk through their times and to meet Mike for the first time.

With a handy couple of steps down to the beach from their hotel we took a few tester photos to show them it’s not very scary having portraits taken. Despite telling us how nervous they were they got into the swing of it after about….ooh.. ten seconds!

Here’s what we came up with …

We met up with Carly, Nick and their very cute Cocker Spaniel puppy, Archie on a blustery afternoon to go through the timings of their wedding. They’re getting married soon at Cafe Shore in Sandbanks, Poole and it gave us a good chance to take some test shots on the beach over the road.

Archie stole the show a little bit. The amount of people that stopped us mid-shoot to have a play with him was crazy. Here’s what we snapped up in between nearly being blown away and potential dognapping incidents…

We’re looking forward to your day, Carly and Nick!

I’ve always wondered what it might be like to hire a whole village for a wedding day. Rosie and Steve did a pretty good job at taking over Studland for their day with four different locations in total, dotted around the very pretty area on the Isle of Purbeck.

I don’t think we’ve ever had to get up so early for a wedding that’s so close to our home before. Nor do I remember previously ever having to research ferry times as part of our wedding preps. But we didn’t have that far to go once we disembarked the chain ferry, and it gave us time to fuel up on apricot croissants as we made our way over the water.

Rosie and I used to work together in my days working in magazine publishing. She used to sit on the desk opposite me. She was always at work on time and I was always fashionably late (blame the bus!) so she got pretty used to seeing me with Sleepy Head.

These days, you’ll be pleased to know I’m generally a pretty good timekeeper. And rather than waste the first half an hour of work making tea and staring out of the window  I warm up with a constructive Shoe Jolly. Then I’m good to go…

Rosie had complete run of Studland Bay House for her bridal preps. It felt very grand ringing the doorbell of such a huge door. This place is fit for sleeping twelve people! I can honestly say, I’ve never had so much space for prep photography; huge bedrooms and acres of garden.

Whilst sat on the Sandbanks Ferry Ian asked me: “Umm… you know when you do bridal preps.. do you ever get offered anything? Tea or breakfast?”. “Not really,” I said. “It depends on each wedding. Sometimes I get offered tea, but never really any food.” Within about five minutes there I was being handed over a bacon bap (I’m just pointing this out on the blog so Ian is reassured I don’t get this treatment all the time. Apparently, Grooms are rubbish at offering tea ).

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Following on from the morning wedding preps in Part One. We piled into the bridal car for the short drive from Studland Bay House to St Nicholas Church.

It’s such a pretty church and very small and cosy. Rosie and Steve absolutely packed it with guests on the balcony as well as the aisles. At the request of the vicar we weren’t allowed to shoot throughout the ceremony, only during Rosie’s entrance, a couple during the exchange of rings, the signing of the register and the exit but we got all the essentials!

Then with the help of the excellent Toastmaster, David Pretty, all of the guests were ushered to make the walk from St Nicholas Church, past the Bankes Arms to the very impressive grounds of Harry Warren House.

Harry Warren House has the most spectacular garden and a gorgeous view of Studland Beach, Poole, Bournemouth and even the Isle of Wight! All of the guests were greeted as they made their way down the path and every one of them “wowed” at the panorama. And most of them hadn’t even twigged there was a gigantic Tipi tent hiding behind the house!

Guests sipped their Pimms and enjoyed the gardens, listening to a laid-back set from the Geoff Lai Special.

Once again we completely struck it lucky with the weather. Either side of this Saturday it was pretty gloomy. It’s quite an exposed spot up above the sea. Just to be on the safe-side a whole load of umbrellas were shipped along. They made good sun parasols!

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