An elegant intimate wedding in Devon
Many weddings have been postponed due to Covid but this particular couple were especially thankful that their small wedding was able to go ahead in August this year. The reason being that their wedding day was set to happen on the couple’s tenth anniversary and it was incredibly important to the two of them that they were able to marry on such a special day, and milestone, for their relationship. Luckily, the couple didn’t have to downscale their wedding in order for it to be able to go ahead this year, as they had always planned for it to be a small and intimate day with just sixteen family members sharing in the occasion.
The wedding took place at Boringdon Golf Park in Plymouth, Devon. It was only my second time at this venue and it was a delight to return to such a beautiful place. The venue offers stunning panoramic views across Plymouth Sound and Dartmoor giving a memorable backdrop for a wedding day. Both times I have photographed at this stunning venue have been in August and the weather was so so hot - maybe it’s always sunny at Boringdon, maybe it’s me but on both occasions I’ve been lucky to photograph clear skies brushed with warm reds, oranges, and pinks - a photographer’s dream.
Unfortunately Covid has had quite an impact on Boringdon Park with lots and lots of postponements, making this particular wedding their first of 2020! I’m sure it was a special day for the venue as they were finally able to open their doors to host a wedding. I know the feeling myself, coming back into the wedding industry after such a long and uncertain time. The venue was equipped with hand sanitising stations, and everybody attending the ceremony was required to fill out a track and trace form. It was a little unfortunate that during the ceremony everyone, aside from the bride, groom, registrars and children were required to wear a face covering, something which the registrars insisted upon only two days before the date of the wedding. It seemed odd that the wedding guests were required to wear a face covering in the ceremony room but didn’t need to wear one at any other point in the wedding (the rules and regulations during this pandemic haven’t always made a great deal of sense have they?) It all came as quite a shock and made the couple consider postponing, but at that point they had already paid everything off and felt like it was too late to push the wedding back. The bride in particular was concerned that a face covering would impact the photo of her father walking her down the aisle, which was a photo that she had planned to have framed. Now that Casey has seen all of her wedding photos, she’s decided that the face coverings did spoil that photo of her and her father walking down the aisle and she won’t go ahead and frame it. But in the grand scheme of things it wasn’t a huge sacrifice to make in order for the wedding to be able to go ahead on such a special day, the couple’s tenth anniversary. Casey and I both agree that the face coverings during the ceremony added a bit of context to the images and accurately documents a period of time that will be historical in years to come.
In that moment when Casey walked down the aisle, I don’t think any of us were focused on face masks. Our attention was whisked away by two things - the beautiful bride, and the emotional groom. Oh I do love it when a couple see each other for the first time on their wedding day. Casey really didn’t expect her husband-to-be to cry when he saw her and that moment resonated with everyone in the room. It was also lovely to see the couple’s son and daughter walking down the aisle before their mum. Their son looking like a stylish secret agent, holding the wedding rings in his ring security briefcase. Their daughter wearing a similar dress to her mum, smiling sweetly at her family as she made her way to the front of the room.
“As soon as the door opened and I saw Dan I literally took no notice of any of guests the whole time we were in that room. It wasn't until I looked back at the photos I realised everyone had masks. I think if we're told about the masks before we had to give final payments for everything I probably would have postponed but I'm so glad we didn't!!”
After the ceremony we all moved outside for the group photos. Group photos are completely optional but I’ve not yet done a wedding where the couple haven’t wanted some posed pictures with their guests and I can’t blame them. For me and my family we aren’t able to get together as often as we’d like and when those days are possible a group photo is something we all cherish; so I know how important this part of the day can be for everyone involved. In order to make everything run as smoothly as possible I always make sure I’m prepared for the group photos. On the lead up the wedding day I make sure I get a list from the bride and groom detailing all their must have group photos and I offer suggestions which help to make the photo list flow nicely, avoiding having guests in and out, and in and out, like the hokey cokey.
Next it was time to ride in the golf buggies and although I’ve done quite a few weddings at golf clubs in the past, this was actually my first time driving one myself. We drove up to a lovely spot on the golf course for some extra special photos with the couple’s two children and then some photos of just the bride and groom alone. I knew in advance that the bride and groom are not big fans of having their photo taken, however they both were amazing and I was so pleased to hear from Casey the following day letting me know how comfortable they both felt with me. It’s funny because it wasn’t until the day of the wedding that we all realised the groom and I were actually in the same year at school together. Dan doesn’t do social media and we hadn’t met on the lead up to the wedding day, so it was a complete surprise to both of us and lovely to have a quick chat about school together too.
When we returned back to the wedding guests, the couple headed inside for their wedding breakfast and I set off home. I spent just three hours photographing the day in total and in that time I was able to capture a small selection of photos in the morning, the ceremony, group photos and some special photos of just the newly weds. They’ve received 268 individual photos and a black and white copy of each photo making a total of 536 photos altogether. They have all of their photos in high resolution on a private online gallery, a USB stick and two extra copies on personalised disks just for good measure. This may have been a small wedding but the elegant decor, wedding stationary, LED LOVE letters and personal touches made it feel like the big occasion it really was. It was such a beautiful, elegant and special day that I am so honoured to have been a part of for this lovely couple.
Wedding dress and shoes from Chi Chi London
Flowers from Groovy Ruby Artificial Wedding Flowers
Daughter’s dress from Matalan
Daughter’s shoes and headband from Monsoon
Son’s suit from Monsoon
Groom’s suit, shoes and son’s shoes from Next
Son’s glasses and security case from Etsy
LED LOVE letters and candy cart from Ever Our Events
Chair Covers from My Special Day Wedding Planning and Events
