Katherine and Matt had a gorgeous, fun filled and completely personal wedding at Greenacres Chiltern. The only wedding to happen at Greenacres in 2020 (thanks Covid!), you could feel the joy in the air. It was so nice to be able to shoot the getting ready for them at The Crowne Plaza, with hair and makeup provided by the lovely Sam Bushell Makeup and Lisa Murphy Hair and Makeup. I particularly loved their dried flower bouquets. That getting ready together is such a special part of the day, with a buzz of excitement and anticipation, bonding and giggles, and so many memories are made together in that time. It’s a chance to soak things in together, to reminisce and to look forward (sometimes quite emotionally) with hopes and dreams for each other. It’s so much more than putting on clothes and fiddling with hair and makeup.
Due to COVID restrictions, Katherine and Matt’s wedding was predominantly outside, and they had the most glorious weather for it under the graceful swooping canopy of trees. To create the sense of an aisle for them, their guests lined their path to the ceremony room in their bubbles, and then followed in behind them. As I was not able to enter the ceremony room itself, I captured their vows from outside, through the window. Never afraid to get creative, and do whatever I can to tell your story!
Matt and Katherine then opted to lead their loved ones further down into the forest for a personal, celebrant led outdoors woodland ceremony complete with hand fasting, and (heavily sanitised) ring warming. This enabled them to have a longer ceremony, personal vows and several readings. As guests were sent on ahead for some celebratory drinks, the forest provided the perfect backdrop for some intimate and relaxed couple portraits.
Lynn from Vegan Food Pimp had a genius solution to canapés - everyone had their own boxed portion with a full selection of all their canapés set on their tables so there was no sharing plates, and everyone could social distance. Personally, I think it’s also pretty genius because there’s nothing worse than always just missing the last of the canapes as they swing past you! Vegan Food Pimp provided the most amazing vegan wedding breakfast - most of the guests had no idea it was vegan and everyone commented on how delicious it was - I particularly enjoyed the mini platter of desserts! Katherine and Matt had The Ale Van providing drinks for everyone throughout the day and evening, and the guys were just lovely. Being outside also meant they were able to have a singer and guitarist for a set of live music, which was beautiful.
Trestle tables were spread out in a round, with upto 6 per table, and sat so that everyone faced in and could see and chat across the space - it worked really well, especially for speeches, cake cutting (a vegan woodland masterpiece created by Tiny Sarah’s Cakes, complete with figurines of Katherine, Matt and their little one Albert), and their surprise fully choreographed first dance! It was spectacular! Matt also surprised Katherine with a song he had written for her on a keyboard he had stealthily borrowed from a relative’s loft, and performed on guitar too. All in all, it was a deeply personal, emotional and pretty wonderful day.
Congratulations Katherine and Matt (and Albert too!)
C x
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