A Garden wedding
When Carly told me her wedding was going to be in her mum’s garden, I was very excited. I love a good garden wedding. Somehow it makes for a much more intimate and relaxed wedding day and suits my style of photography to a tee. Carly and Carl both got ready at her mum’s home. Carly in the main house and Carl across the drive in the stable block/flat. My second shooter Lizzie, stayed with Carl in the morning, whilst I captured all the busy bridal prep, and then we sort of met in the middle to share photos and take more pictures by the pond.
The Dress
Let me prepare you right now for the dress. It was absolutely gorgeous, and a little unusual for a wedding dress, which I loved! It was a peachy pink colour with lots of ruffles and just looked amazing on Carly! I love photographing a less traditional wedding dress, and this one was perfect.
The church next door
Carly and Carl didn’t have to walk very far to the church. In fact it was situated adjacent to the house. Its presence looming majestically over the garden. We could see it from the window where Carly was getting ready. And there was a beautiful moment where I was taking some bridal portraits at the top of the stairs, and she looked out, saw the church and got a bit emotional. I hope the photo will bring back that moment for her and she’ll remember how happy and excited she felt just before walking round the corner and into the church to meet Carl.
Carly’s mum read one of my favourite poems (The Cloths of Heaven by W.B.Yeats) which is also Carly’s mum’s favourite poem, and Carly has words from the poem tattooed on the back of her neck. She also got a gift of the poem framed from her Aunty, so it clearly means a lot. The words are beautiful (I’ll copy them to the end of this post)
A great party
Garden parties are the best right?! This one especially so, as there was a threat of rain all day, and apparently it was pouring it down just 10 minutes down the road, but the sun gods were smiling on us and the rain somehow passed over, leaving us with nothing but sunshine. It was lovely.
Carl’s dad’s band played lots of sixties songs in the evening (I loved them and had a good old boogie!) and before I left I took Carly and Carl over the field for some sunset shots. The pair raced down the hill (I think at least one of them is rather competitive ;-)) and I left them partying into the small hours.
A beautiful day for a beautiful couple, who are quite clearly made for each other.
Credit where credit is due:
Flowers: Bride’s mum Christine | Makeup: Paige White | Hair: Danny Richardson | Dress: Watters | Music: Lee James Pianist & Carl’s dad’s band | Catering: Hensons Catering | 2nd shooter: Lizzie
The Cloths of Heaven
Had I the heaven’s embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light;
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
W. B. Yeats
