What a scorcher of a summer it has been. And the weather didn’t look like it was about to cool down prior to Vickie and Mark’s August wedding at Lydiard Park in Swindon.
Their wedding had been in my diary for a number of months. So long, in fact, that we’d been able to have a consultation at Lydiard Park the prior Summer where they were able to show me where every part of their day was to take place. I find these meetings really useful as, not only do I get to familiarise myself with the venue, I also get to learn more about the couple.
On the morning of their wedding, I arrived early enough to grab a coffee and scope out the venue, including the walled garden where we were planning to do some of the group photos. After such a dry, hot spell the grass was looking rather worse for wear but there were still pockets of greenery and flowers to be found.
The first port of call on my agenda was to check in with Vickie and document some of her morning preparations before catching up with Mark once he arrived. It was then on to the Church to photograph the guests arriving before Vickie and her bridal party made their entrance.
After visiting ahead of time, I knew that this particular church had box pews - that is, each row of pews had a door at the end. It was something I was eager to keep an eye on to ensure the doors were closed so that I had a clear view up the aisle when Vickie arrived. As it turned out, the Vicar also requested that I position myself in one of these boxed pews and remain there during the ceremony.
With Mark waiting nervously at the front, Vickie made her entrance, proceeded by her bridesmaids and escorted by her son. Vows were recited, hymns were sung, rings were exchanged and we were soon heading off for the signing of the register.
Before too long we were outside for the confetti throw after which I gathered the couple, their parents and the wedding party for the formal photos in the Walled Garden. Everything then seemed to go by in a bit of whirl of drinks, magic tricks and group photos before everyone took their seats for the wedding breakfast.
One thing that really stood out to me about this wedding was all of the personal touches Vickie and Mark had chosen to include. From their newspaper-inspired orders of service to their table names which were each a different breed of cow. Something else that I loved was the fact that Vickie had wrapped a vast number of books that she had personally read over the last few years and left them scattered across the reception tables for anyone to pick up and unwrap - I spied a few of my favourites in amongst them!
Before I end this blog post, I wanted to specifically mention that, during our venue visit last year, Vickie and Mark had mentioned how important a particular tree in the park was to them. They told me how they had spent hours talking underneath this specific tree on one of their earliest dates. We’d made a plan to to head over to this tree just before sunset. Even though we didn’t have the greatest “golden hour” for the time of year, I still encouraged them to join me on a wander down to the lake to visit the tree and grab some couples portraits. I’m so glad we did it. They got to have 30 minutes alone together to enjoy the fact that they had just said “I do” and we were able to capture some beautiful portraits as the sun set - some of my favourite photos of the year!
Below you will find a small selection of my favourite photos from the day. To view the full gallery, please contact Vickie and Mark.
Suppliers:
Venue: Lydiard Park
Hair and Make-up: Gemma McNeill
Flowers: Flutter Florals
Cake: The West Country Cheese Co.
Dress: Belle of the Ball Bridals
Suits: Gary Andrew
DJ: Disco Superstars
Magician: Jack of Magic