I travelled down to Dorset today, along the A404 past Stonehenge, caravans and top boxes everywhere with memories of family holidays from years ago. The venue for today’s wedding was the farm venue of Axnoller House, near Beaminster in Dorset. Axnoller Farm is an amazing wedding location – the original farm house has been extended and added to, there is some beautifully designed accommodation and a large marquee at the back, all overlooking some beautiful Dorset countryside. The wedding party had arrived a few days before the celebrations and it was more like a short holiday than a wedding day. It was a pleasure to see Charlotte again, she had been a bridesmaid at 3 (!) previous weddings that I had photographed. Clearly she knew a thing or two about weddings and today’s celebrations were terrific and well organised.
I broke a habit of many years just before the wedding – I checked the weather forecast on my phone. I stopped doing this a long time ago because I realised that from a photographic point of view, the weather matters little. Because the wedding goes on, the photography has to as well, regardless of whether there’s downpours, six foot snowdrifts or burning sunshine. I discovered a few years into my career that there’s no point in worrying about that ahead of time, I’d just deal with whatever the day brought. Seeing a complete row of little lightning strikes and grey clouds on the days weather forecast that morning did worry me – I feel so sorry for couples whose summer weddings are spent indoors.
I am very pleased to say that although the sky turned biblically black in the morning and it rained a little bit, the afternoon was bright and breezy and the weather forecast turned out to be completely wrong :) It was a fantastic day, friends and family turned it into a great party, Joe and Charlotte were brilliant and really enjoyed the celebrations.
I’m posting some favourite wedding photographs that stood out to me and the complete gallery will go up for the bride and groom in a couple of weeks. Thanks again C&J, hope the hangovers went quickly :)
The farm house at Axnoller.
The morning of the wedding.
I loved the setting for the ceremony, in a courtyard underneath a lovely canopy.
Off to see Charlotte and the ladies for some pre-ceremony photography.
Meanwhile upstairs, a semi naked non-Welshman prepares…
I’d love to know what Charlotte just said to her dad :)
The story of the ceremony.
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Some favourite images of the bride and groom.
Friends, family, canapês, maybe the odd drink or two and a beautifully picturesque setting, what more could you ask for?
Joe showing off the new bling
What’s better than getting stitched up by a best man? Getting stitched up by two best men, that’s what.
A little horse. That’s what you get after making speeches. (Geddit? Oh I am wasted here..)
When your kids reach waist height, accidents can happen. Dads everywhere will understand.
No point in having to visit the bar too often…
Ladies are so much better at multitasking – looking after the baby and fighting with cakes. Brilliant.
