Jenny & Chris’s Wedding Day
As a busy Hampshire wedding photographer, I always love returning to capture wedding photography at Audleys Wood Hotel. Jenny and Chris chose the perfect venue for their Spring wedding.
Audleys Wood Hotel is a magnificent Victorian mansion set in beautiful grounds and woodland in the heart of Hampshire. Built in 1880, historically rich Audleys Wood has maintained all of its period charm and stands today as a truly romantic setting for a wedding. But I’m getting ahead of myself! I’ll get back to all the reasons why I love being an Audleys Wood Hotel wedding photographer in a minute. Let’s start at the beginning of Jenny and Chris’s day.
I first met Jenny and Chris when I captured a gorgeous family photoshoot for them and their children James and Emmeline at Devils Punch Bowl in the Surrey Hills last autumn. So, seeing them again felt like catching up with friends.
On the day, I headed to Audleys Wood Hotel to meet up with Jenny and her bridal party, who were getting ready in the hotels spacious ‘getting ready’ room. It adjoins to the bridal suite and has large windows that flooded the space with natural light. Us Hampshire & Surrey wedding photographers are total geeks when it comes to getting excited about light!
Jenny’s bridal party consisted of her, and bridesmaids Anna and Claire as well as daughter Emmeline who made a very sweet flower girl. Jenny’s chief bridesmaid Paula was sadly unwell on the day and unable to attend, but joined the girls on Facetime. Despite this disappointment, the girls made the best of it and there was a little bubbly to start the celebrations early.
Experienced Audleys Wood Hotel wedding photographer
Jenny looked amazing in a beautiful lace detailed dress with a plunging neckline and a gorgeous lace open back. It fanned out into a traditional A-line skirt giving Jenny a fairy-tale silhouette in all of my images. Before heading off to the church for the ceremony, I captured a moving father seeing the bride moment.
The bridesmaids wore elegant light blue dresses and Emmeline looked like a ‘mini me’ of her mum in white. The image of Emmeline gazing at her mum getting ready was one of my favourites of the day.
The wedding ceremony was held in Grade II listed St Leonards Church in the pretty village of Oakley. I got there before the ceremony to catch up with Chris and got a couple of images of him with his best man. Chris and his grooms party looked very smart in grey three-piece suits with light blue ties. I also got some images of the guests excitedly arriving and introduced myself to the vicar.
The ceremony was lovely. There was a sweet moment as the registers were being signed, when I captured a look between Jenny and Chris, I love taking candid images as they occur during the day. It was my favourite image of the day. Here, take a look!
Storytelling Hampshire wedding photography
After the wedding ceremony there was a baptism for James and Emmeline. It was something different at a wedding but perfectly fitted with the day, which was always going to be as much about them as it was about Jenny and Chris.
Everybody then headed outside to the sunshine where there was a fun confetti moment outside the church. I captured it as well as getting some great portrait images of Jenny and Chris stood by the church’s ancient walls, and some images of the bridal party stood by the church’s pretty porch.
Everybody then headed to Audleys Wood Hotel for the reception. On arrival, there was a drinks and canapes reception held in Audleys Wood’s sumptuously furnished wood panelled bar.
Jenny’s midwifery colleagues surprised her with an arch line up, with them waving their midwifery Pinard horns as Jenny and Chris walked through amidst lots of laughter and smiles all round. This was then followed up with a big group photo with all the midwives.
As guests were happily catered for, I quickly whisked Jenny and Chris outside for a mini photoshoot around the grounds of Audleys Wood’s stunning gardens. Which brings me to another reason why I love capturing Audleys Wood wedding photography, and that is that the gardens give me endless beautiful backdrops for romantic images.
We then headed to a luxury marquee in the garden pavilion for the reception. It looked amazing all dressed in white drapes adorned with fairy lights. Tables were dressed in crisp white linen with candles and floral arrangements. Guests had already been seated and rapturously applauded Jenny and Chris’s arrival.
A sumptuous wedding breakfast prepared by Audleys Wood’s in-house team of chefs was enjoyed by everybody, after which there were some very well received speeches. After the meal, there was the cutting of an elegant three-tiered wedding cake for Jenny and Chris, plus two individual christening cakes for James and Emmeline.
Creative and Natural Hampshire and Surrey wedding photography
Evening celebrations started with a romantic first dance for Jenny and Chris to live musical accompaniment from the band The Falkners. A fantastic trio, who went on to pack the dancefloor with their renditions of well-known folk, rock and pop songs. There was a fun photo mirror provided by The Fancy Mirror Booth Company and some tasty evening snacks provided by Audley Woods in-house chefs. Jenny, Chris and their guests had everything they needed for a fun evening celebration and I had fun capturing some great dance floor images.
Before taking my leave, I quickly whisked Jenny and Chris outside for a couple of images of them stood outside Audleys Wood’s iconic conservatory porch, which had been lit up after dark. It was such a romantic image and the perfect one to close the story of their day.
A gorgeous family friendly full of love and laughter. Congratulations to Jenny and Chris for getting married and thank you for choosing me to tell the story of your day. I hope my images will enable you to relive it again and again for many years to come.
I’ll leave the last words to Jenny and Chris. Here’s what they had to say about me.
“Oh, my goodness, what can we say about the photos, they are amazing!!!! Everything we wanted and more, absolutely fabulous!!! You have really captured the fun and excitement of the day. Thank you so much. It’s been so lovely going through the photos and remembering the day. We could not be happier that we chose you as our photographer, you put us totally at ease and the photos are so natural. We LOVE them!!!
If, you would like further information on my wedding photography collections, feel free to get in touch.
