My first wedding of 2020!
2020 was due to be my busiest year yet but I’m sure it comes as no surprise to you that it’s actually ended up being my quietest year. Luckily, I did have a few small weddings booked in for this year and they should all be able to go ahead as planned (weddings that were always planned to be intimate days and haven’t been downsized due to Covid).
This was one of those weddings and it ended up being my first wedding of the year!! I have to admit I was quite nervous about this one as it had been months and months since I’d last photographed a wedding day. I worried about forgetting something, I triple checked EVERYTHING before setting off. I worried about being rusty and not doing as good a job. I worried about my face mask steaming up my glasses and not being able to see what I was doing. But it’s okay to worry as it just confirms how much I care about giving the best service I possibly can to my clients and (spoiler alert) it all turned out perfectly in the end.
Amongst the worries, there was also a lot of excitement bubbling up within me - to be back at work, doing the job I love so much, it was amazing! Plus, I’d photographed a wedding at this venue back in 2015 and I’d been desperately wanting to return here for another wedding. The venue was Pengenna Manor an 800 year old private house, set in over 300 acres of beautiful Cornish countryside. Pengenna Manor is completely private, tucked away in a peaceful spot in Wadebridge. The venue has come a long way since I was last there in 2015 - they have since lovingly converted a former cow shed and a former manor stable into two atmospheric, rustic spaces, licensed for marriage ceremonies. Rustic wedding venues are my absolute favourite and I was so excited to return to Pengenna and see how the place has transformed. It’s safe to say that my second time at Pengenna Manor did not disappoint - it’s a venue I’m sure I will always love returning to and a venue that I highly recommend!
My first wedding since Covid was a little different, of course it was. The venue had various hand sanitising stations dotted around the place, the bride’s hair and make up artist (K & L Hair & Make-up) wore a mask at all times as with her job it is impossible to keep a social distance. Myself and the Videographer (Dove Films) wore our face masks for the entirety of the ceremony and also popped our mask on at any stage when we needed to get in a little closer. But aside from the sanitising stations and wedding suppliers with masks, it really did feel like a normal, happy wedding day. The Bride, Groom and their two beautiful daughters brought along only three guests to their intimate Cornish wedding. The couple travelled down from Nottinghamshire, to Cornwall (their favourite place in the UK) to tie the knot after 2982 days of being together. Some of their loved ones back home watched the ceremony live via a video call and a larger wedding reception will be taking place back home next year.
Mr & Mrs Wade brought lots of unique little details to their day, making the wedding personalised and full of sentiment. Special hangers for the dresses, a little message on the bride’s shoes and my favourite detail was the pun ‘wade for each other’ which was used on the ring box and the cake topper. These are just a few unique touches that they included in their day. What stood out to me the most though was the beautiful relationship that they both share with their daughters who both played a huge part in the day. I just loved how sassy both of the girls were - the eldest made sure to check with mum in the morning ‘are you sure you want to marry dad mum? It’s not too late to change your mind.’ And the youngest rocked photo time with a heavy metal pose - they both brought a lot of fun and laughter to the day and when it came to mum and dad’s first dance, the girls enjoyed getting involved and dancing with their parents.
I stayed with the happy couple for five hours in total and in that time I managed to capture the bride and groom in the morning, the ceremony, first dance, group photos, cake cut, lawn games and some special photos of just the newly weds. They’ve received 455 individual photos and a black and white copy of each photo making a total of 910 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. It’s been amazing to be able to do my job again and an honour to have been a part of Mr and Mrs Wade’s special day. I wish them both every happiness for their future as husband and wife. Although I only spent five hours with them it was so clear to me that these two truly are wade for each other.
