Authorship Code

Friday 27 June 2014

Fairground Fun & Fireworks Wedding


Planning even the most modest of weddings, as every bride knows, is a real challenge but Nick and Andrea pulled off one of the most elaborate weddings we've ever seen, and the did it almost entirely themselves.


Their transport was this gorgeous blue VW Camper van which had a very busy day. It started at their venue, which was the fabulous Newbury Manor Hotel where the boys were setting up for the day. Then took the boys off to get ready, then over to pick up the girls.


...and this is the girls arriving back at Newbury Manor Hotel for the ceremony.


Nick and Andrea had an outside ceremony with perfect weather and beautiful live acoustic guitar playing to set the mood.


After the ceremony we had a few moments to shoot some portraits around Newbury Manor Hotel before the day really gathered momentum.


It was lovely to the two of them together...


...and how perfect the weather had turned out for them.


The details throughout the day were immense. They had a "Just Married" sticker on the back of their camper van...


...and even the inside of the camper van was beautifully decorated with flowers...


...and bunting.


Nick is a drummer in his rock band and on the back of his fob watch is inscribed, "Keep in time, never miss a beat."


Nick and Andrea made a Bride and Groom Hoopla stall....


...and a Bride and Groom Coconut Shy...


...which did seem to bring out the competitive side in some of the guests...


...as well as the groom.


But Nick really got into his stride when it came to some of the inflatable games...


...including a bouncy castle.


...but when it came to sparing, Andrea was not going to be left out, so with the help of some of her guests...


She rose to the challenge in her bid to knock Nick of his perch.


Some of her other guests got really into the sparing game...


...and I have to say it was fantastic to watch.


When it was time for ice-cream, Nick's first attempt was lacking a little finesse...


...and Andrea's looked a little unstable...


...but in no time at all they were serving ice-creams like pros.


Then there was just time for this portrait of them poking their heads through a seaside comedy board actually painted by Nick.


Here's a lovely shot of Andrea enjoying seeing her guests having so much fun...just before she called up the teams for tug-of-war.


Two teams...and best of three...


Nick's team hauled for all they were worth...


...but it didn't stop Andrea helping the other side.


Their table plan naming convention was based around board games and there was just as much detail here as with the rest of their wedding.  This table, for example, was Guess Who, and each of the name tabs had photographs of the guests.


...and this table was Hungry Hippos. Nick even made their own wedding cake.


After their meal and speeches, their guests wrote them a message, fixed it to a balloon and all the balloons were released in the garden.


Whilst all their guests were together for the balloon release, we organised them into a heart shape for this "everybody" shot.  You can just see inside the top of the heart a bottle on the grass that one of the guests put there and spun it...I think he thought we were playing a different sort of game.


When it came to Nick and Andrea's First Dance as a married couple, their dance routine was amazing...


...and they certainly wow'ed their guests.


After their First Dance, Nick's band played a live set with him on drums...it was fantastic music and it really energised the evening.


At the end of their one hour set, was yet another surprise...Nick had taught Andrea to play the drums...specifically for the wedding...and she played the band's final number....


...under Nick's watchful eye.


As the band played the last chord, Andrea stood in triumph and brought the house down with applause and cheers.


Then it was all outside to see a fabulous firework display...


....to perfectly round of the evening...


...with bangs...and explosions...and oohs and ahhhs from their guests.


What a fantastic way to finish a fantastic day.


Nick and Andrea are a gorgeous, creative and talented couple...who turned their talents and energies to making sure their guests were both welcomed and entertained with hardly a pause in the schedule. Their wedding day was not only fun, and novel, and entertaining but immersed in details and full of surprises. What a day!

Congratulations Nick and Andrea, it was fantastic.

by Steve Dunster

Wednesday 25 June 2014

The Right Stuff!


Part of me wanted to back light this shot and photoshop a Hollywood explosion in the background but actually this shot, just as it is, is one of the big back stories of Kris and Kirsty's wedding day.

Kris (centre) had a Polish family (left) and his lovely bride's family were English (right) so it was only natural to have shots of them all together. The boys not only looked fantastic but were also full of fun and this sense of fun permeated the entire day and made their wedding an even more wonderful occasion because of it. 

They stood for their formal group shot but then wanted something a bit more fun (like that wasn't predictable!) When the idea was suggested that they could hold their hats like space helmets and do a spoof shot of the astronaut movie The Right Stuff, they were on it immediately. They did the swaggering slow motion walk to perfection.


Here's another example of the groom's sense of humour, one of our shots delivered to them on their wedding disk, he annotated this himself and posted on Facebook.


Kirsty looked amazing in her dress. Here's a shot of her during Bridal Prep when you can see the beautiful detail and cut of her wedding dress.


But in this shot of Kirsty entering the church you can see the full effect of her long train and above that another lace train from her waist and then her stunningly beautiful veil.


The look of pride on Kirsty's father's face was clear for all to see as he led her up the aisle to her groom. The ceremony itself was made all the more special by the most amazing choral work by the professional choir Kirsty used to sing with.


After confetti and congratulatory hugs from their guests...


...we took them into the park next to the church away from their guests for some portraits


...including this one shot through her veil...


...and this one showing the full beauty of her lace train from her waist and the wonderful lace work on her veil.


Then they were off to the Hampshire Court Hotel for the red carpet treatment and their meal...


...cutting the cake...


..and their First Dance as a married couple.


Kirsty and Kris' wedding had it all. They not only looked fantastic, got married in an amazing church with some of the best choral work I've heard...but they also had so much fun and Kris' wicked sense of humour running throughout the day turning a good day into a wonderful day.

A wonderful day...for a wonderful couple and we were delighted to be part of their day.

by Steve Dunster