Hannah and Stuart had told me they wanted their wedding to be relaxed and laid-back, and the reception venue, Rotherwick Village Hall was the perfect informal location, filled to the brim with cottage-garden flowers in old jam jars – the work of the wonderfully vivacious florist Sue Pritchard at Lavender Hill. The place names were lavender hearts made by Hannah’s mum with the help of her ‘sewing ladies’. The hall really did look perfect with so much loving attention to every detail.
The day had started at Hannah’s parents’ house, which was a hive of activity! It was great to meet the lovely Alison Dunwell who did Hannah’s make-up. Hannah’s dress was Nadia by Maggie Sottero, a gorgeous A-line gown with lace appliqués floating delicately over a full tulle skirt. She wore a Benita lace sleeveless jacket over the top which she took off for the evening so it became a strapless gown – I thought she had changed into another dress!
After the marriage service at the local church I spent some time photographing the couple in the garden of Hannah’s family home, and later at the reception, we took a few minutes to grab some more portraits in the evening light as dusk fell. Then it was party time – the ice-cream van arrived and the dancing began! They started with a barn-dance and then transformed the hall with smoke and lasers. They chose not to have a have a DJ, instead they had spent many evenings choosing their favourite songs which Stuart then mixed to create the final playlist.
This wedding was every bit as relaxed and fun as it looks – a wonderful day and thank you so much to Hannah and Stuart for having me along!
From Hannah:
“We’ve just arrived back from honeymoon and I can’t believe that just over two weeks ago we were having our amazing wedding day. I just wanted to drop you a note to say thanks so much, it was fantastic to have you as our wedding photographer. You made us feel really at ease and we felt that the way you worked matched our vision of the day – relaxed, informal, unobtrusive and just going with the flow.
I look at the photos almost every night – I LOVE the field and garden shots of Stu and I 🙂 They are so romantic and natural, the colours are just beautiful. They are just such fantastic photos – it will be hard to choose ones for the album! Thanks again :)”
