Last week we made our way back to the lovely Orchid Hotel in Bournemouth for the wedding of Hazel and Lawrence. We’d only been there once before in June last year. Unfortunately then, it had been to dark and dreary for an outdoor ceremony in the hotel’s courtyard, and this time it was just as changeable. One day we’ll get there.

It didn’t really matter though as we knew we were in for a treat whether we were indoors or outdoors.

The ceremony took place in late afternoon, and as Hazel didn’t want any coverage of her bridal preps we had plenty of time to catch up with Lawrence and Best Man, Chris.

“Nice suits” I hear you say. Lawrence admits he got inspiration from Ian’s clobber from our own wedding. Any grooms looking for more relaxed three-piece suits with custom tailoring should check out A Suit That Fits - it has a 100% hit rate so far.

Lawrence and Hazel’s lovely Tiffany rings.

Things kicked off in the ceremony room where we all waited for the arrival of Hazel and her bridesmaids.

We appeared to have stumbled across the only Bournemouth Registrar who doesn’t let photographers take lots of images during the ceremony (only in dedicated moments). We still managed to get the essentials though.

Dad played the part of make-up artist for the day…

… Whilst Mum was adamant there should be confetti even if nobody else had any.

Hazel and Lawrence have something in common with us, which is that music is a big part of their lives, and felt it should be part of the wedding day too. So, for the table names there were a selection of album names.

There was:

“Five Leaves Left” - Nick Drake

“Rubber Soul” - The Beatles

“Bringing It All Back Home” - Bob Dylan

“Strange Days” - The Doors

“Still Crazy After All These Years” - Paul Simon

“Pet Sounds” - The Beach Boys

“Exile on Main St.” - The Rolling Stones

Each guest also got their own CD as a wedding favour. Lawrence explained during his speech guests could bargain with each other later to try and get the CD they wanted. It was like a CD Swap Shop!

After the cutting of the cake…

… Things kicked off in the Orchid’s beautiful reception room.

The speeches took place before the meal.

Chris wins the award for the longest Best Man’s speech, ever. I think it clocked in at nearly half an hour. A lot of thought was put into it!

All Father of the Brides should have their own tabard. Just in case.

So, by the time everyone had finished their meals it was getting pretty late. But late days means lovely light and more importantly, an empty beach.

Beach shoot done we got back in our car and took Hazel and Lawrence back to The Orchid. Weirdly, they’d booked one of our best friends to DJ. The very enthusiastic and suitably Muso, Chaka Kant. It was just a complete coincidence, but a very nice surprise.

If you’re looking for a wedding DJ who knows her ABC from her ZZ Top then Charlotte is your lady. There’s no absolute laptop playlist in sight. She will mix her little heart out all night, give you a shimmy whilst she’s doing it and even names her compilation CDs appropriately.

From what we hear everyone had a fantastic, fun-filled night!

Congratulations Hazel and Lawrence xx

In true spirit of the day we thought it was appropriate to also whip up a slideshow which you can view below!

On Friday we had a fun time shooting the wedding of Hazel and Lawrence at the Orchid Hotel in Bournemouth.

We love the fact we can make the most of the lighter evenings now so we can take some snaps by the seaside later on in the day.

This was our first time at The Orchid Hotel, and we knew it was going to be something special. Not only is it a lovely, original venue unlike anything else in Bournemouth but we had already noted Lisa and Phil had put so much time and attention into the details of the day.

When I look back on the day I can’t help but feel a little frustrated. The morning started off so glorious with lovely blue skies and fluffy clouds. We had some plans to take a trip to the beach later on in the day and we were all looking forward to an outdoors ceremony. However, by the time it came to the ceremony the weather had turned so drizzly and extremely cloudy. It was such a shame as it really was just a one-off rainy day. It was a blessing we had so much scope with our venue though and Lisa and Phil didn’t let it spoil their time at all!

I turned up at the Orchid mid-afternoon as the ceremony wasn’t until later on in the day. The suite at the Orchid is a perfect place for brides and bridesmaids to get kitted out - so fresh and colourful. Of course, I headed straight for the shoes to warm up the camera!

Both the bride and bridemaid’s bouquets were amazing! They looked like bird cages!

Time for make up and hair dos. I just love the bridal preps!

Lisa had two bridesmaids to get ready and her brother kept us up to date with whether or not the ceremony was to take place outdoors or indoors… First it was in, then it was out, then it was in, then it was….

Meanwhile, outside Ian caught up with Phil as he arrived in his silver Aston Martin! Swish!

Lisa’s bridemaids looked lovely in their vibrant purple dresses. In fact, the entire colour scheme was bright and sunny and really complemented the hotel.

It was an intimate ceremony and had a real cosy feel …

Then after some family shots we had a bit of time to make use of Hotel again before the early evening wedding breakfast.

The rain was really annoying throughout the day. Although as it only drizzled in spits and spurts we were able to get a few shots in the hotel garden.

Lisa and Phil’s reception room was so beautiful. Everything had been thought of; from the doily-esque cupcake cakes to the matching ‘bird cage’ centre pieces. The Orchid is an Eastern-inspired hotel so the name places and choice of flowers and colours worked so well.

Apparently Lisa is a bit of a shoe obsessive. So, during the speeches Phil surprised Lisa with a surprise package.

I didn’t quite catch the unpacking as I was too busy clicking, but I’m 90 per cent sure they were Jimmy Choos.

Time for more presents. A pineapple! (there was a running Del Monte joke throughout the day thanks to the light linen suits - ‘The man from Del Monte he say “yes”).

After the wedding breakfast it was time to move back to the ceremony room which had been turned over for the disco.

Indoor sparklers - brilliant!

Then we were treated to Lisa and Phil’s expertly choreographed dance. They put Ginger and Fred to shame!

Posted with thanks and congratulations to Lisa and Phil

Remember a couple of weeks ago I posted about how happy we were to hear that the lovely boutique hotel in Bournemouth - The Orchid had managed to escape closure, and that we were due to shoot there in June? Well, this weekend we wandered over there for our wedding prep with Lisa and Phil. It’s such a wonderful place and we’re so pleased we’re going to get a chance to spend the day there very soon.

Weather permitting, Lisa and Phil’s wedding ceremony will be taken place in the hotel’s courtyard, which is where we took these quick Head&Shoulders shots. There’s an indoor ceremony room too if the sun isn’t feeling particularly perky and we were blown away by how stunning the afternoon reception room and honeymoon suite is. It really does feel like you’ve whisked yourself away to the Far East and it was difficult to remember we were still in Bournemouth.

Here are a couple of shots from our Sunday Morning recce:

Emma - BB