The Wedding of Kirsty and Mike at The Guildhall and Custom House, Poole

Kirsty and I have known each other for around eight years now since we both worked on a fair few photography magazines together. I wrote the articles and she corrected my punctuation and improved the flow of my copy. During those days of flatplanning and late-night freelancing we bonded over a passion for sticky buns, chai tea, sparkly shoes and even later night jiving. So, for this wedding Ian and I doubled up as guests - rejoicing in the wedding of two of our good friends and seeing if it’s possible to shoot a full-blown day and enjoy some Bucks Fizz and Pimms along the way too.

Things kicked off we me meeting up with Kirsty, her mum and her Chief Bridesmaid, Jenny at Robin James hair salon on Poole Quay.

When I got there Jenny was busy prepping her after-dinner speech

and we both helped (or not) with feedback on hair positions.

With hair dos complete we made our way over to the beautiful Hotel Du Vin at the other end of Poole Quay to continue the bridal preps. Albeit for a quick jog back to the hairdressers after the Christian Louboutin’s were left on the cash desk!

The shoes were scolded by being hung up on taps.

The shoe fiasco continued when Kirsty got a very delicate heel stuck in a drain out on Hotel Du Vin’s terrace! It was a really close call that this bride didn’t have to walk down the aisle with a foot-long metal grate attached to her foot. I’m pleased to say after that, the shoes played nicely.

Whilst waiting for everyone to finish off their preps we snuck in some sneaky bridal portraits in the hotel lobby.

and Jenny got in on the action too.

Then we all made our way to the Guildhall with a short walk through Old Town.

A string quartet played both before the ceremony and during the drinks reception on the Quay.

The happy couple!

After some group shots on the sweeping Guildhall stairs everyone made their way to the Custom House.

Whilst we took a little detour for some more shots of Kirsty and Mike at Hotel Du Vin.

Mike’s Dad put this fantastic crate together which later doubled up as a flip-flop container so any weary heeled girls could rest their feet.

Kirsty and Mike did a great job on the simple but very pretty table plan. Oh, and check out the bouquets!

After a mouth-watering three-course meal it was time for the speeches.

And time for Jenny to share all the goss on Kirsty. She did a fantastic job.

The boys didn’t do too bad either.

By that time the rest of the evening guests had arrived ready to join us on a cruise around Poole Harbour on the Dorset Queen.

It wasn’t the sunniest of evenings but with a full bar on board everyone enjoyed themselves cruising to Studland and around the main islands including Brownsea.

Back on land we headed back to the Custom House to pose in the silly seaside cut-out, scoff on calorific doughnuts…

do a bit of gerning…

and watch the First Dance.

Many seaside buckets o’ love and congratulations to Mr and Mrs Spence! - E&I xx