Yesterday I was lucky enough to be the Rebecca and Simon’s wedding photographer at the Elvetham Hotel in Hampshire. What a way to end the summer wedding season! An absolutely stunning venue with some lovely grounds and we had the weather to do it justice. Add to that a fantastic couple and it was an absolute winner right from the start.
My day started in Twickenham in South West London, at the Amyand Chapel. The stunning Rebecca kept her groom waiting and just as people were starting to wonder whether she was having second thoughts, she arrived in a fantastic old Ford. The ceremony was done and dusted within an hour or so and it was then on to Hampshire and the magnificent Elvetham.
I put my foot down and am a bit embarrassed to say that the old Ford beat me there by some margin, although I saved face a little bit by getting there before the camper van that was transporting the bridesmaids…. As wedding venues go, this is one of the, if not the best I’ve shot at. Everywhere you walk, you get the feeling of a fantastic venue and the grounds are vast and pretty immense at that. The newlyweds even had their own personal drinks waiter following them around, how good is that?
I really liked this wedding. Wedding photographers love details and there was a lot of thought that had gone into the details here which helped tell part of the story. Both Rebecca and Simon are in the police force and indeed, that’s where they met. Rebecca also became Mrs Hill yesterday. Simon loves his motorbikes. This will all become apparent in the pictures you’ll see below, but I really liked the table names and the top one just chose itself really, excellent way of thinking. There was also the nice touch of Simon having his dad as his best man, a top man he was as well.
At the start of the meal, the men were all instructed to open their gifts, where a challenge would then start. The first person to complete the task won the prize of a drinks token to use at the bar. The wrapping was discarded and a whole host of men with their pride at stake worked furiously at trying to put together the lego motorbike (See, Simon really does love his motorbikes). Around three minutes later, we had a winner, and judging by the mess some people had made of their efforts, they should be hanging their heads in shame today…..
Speeches had a bit of everything, then it was down to the cake cutting and the first dance. As I left, Simon was up with the band doing his thing on bass guitar. You’d be forgiven for feeling a bit feminine in his company. Here we have a bloke who loves motorbikes, is a great musician, has a beautiful wife, and he’s got a skinhead.
I departed Hampshire for the trip back to Surrey absolutely exhausted. Great day, great couple. Here’s a few from the day, feel free to comment below and there will also be some on my Facebook page should you want to pop along and tag yourselves etc (and don’t forget to ‘like’ the page while you’re there, it helps make me look popular…..