Alice & Marshall | Wedding in Northampton.
Alice & Marshall, got married in a field in Northamptonshire, on a beautiful, hot & sunny day in June. Technically, they got married in a church and the reception and everything afterwards was in the field, at Home Farm near Daventry, but you know what I mean. You may be wondering what I was doing, straying from my usual patch in Leeds, or out in the wilds of Yorkshire. Well, this story starts many, many years ago…
This was a special wedding for me. They’re all special, but Simon, with the role of Father of the Bride, is an old Uni friend. I’m not going to say how long that was ago, or how long I’ve known Simon, so lets say significantly more than 20 years ago. We shared a house and partied together in the days when being Father of any brides was about the furthest thing from our minds!
So that brings us to the morning and the Bridal Prep…
Getting the Bride Ready
Alice, her mum & dad, sisters and the bridesmaids got ready at home. I love the relaxed chaos of getting ready for the day at home. You get all of the normal wedding chaos, but there’s the underlying calming influence of being in familiar surroundings while the chaos happens.
It was great to see Simon & Claire again as well as meeting some of their family – We managed to get a lot of the catching up done the night before at the rehearsal, but it’s been that long since we that in between the photographs, there was bits of catching up time in the morning too.
This was a fun bridal prep. Lots of laughing. Some tears. Family & just general excitement for the day ahead.
The Ceremony
All of the guests and Marshall met up first at The Red Lion, just over the road from St Helen’s church in Thornby. I’d have shared the church website, but it’s such a perfect, small village church that they don’t have a website yet.
The ceremony was made even more special by not only having the church’s own Vicar, but having Vicars in the family too. There was definitely a high Vicar to civilian ratio at this point of the day. One of the advantages of this was that the readings were pro level!
I managed to get a shot of the bell ringing team today too – it doesn’t happen that often & I love a church where you can see the bell ringers – Campanologists rarely get the recognition they deserve, so today, they made it to the blog post!
Once the formalities of the ceremony were completed, we did some group photos in the grounds of the church & then the guests headed off to Home Farm for the afternoon. Before Alice & Marshall headed that way though, they had another stop to make…back to the Red Lion for a swift pint…
The Afternoon
As I mentioned, Alice & Marshall were blessed with glorious weather. It meant that the afternoon was spent in shirtsleeves, playing lawn games and drinking in the atmosphere. The kids played football and posed for a fantastic group shot on the hay bales. The adults had a few drinks and caught up with each other and maybe took in some of the stunning views of the Northamptonshire countryside that we were treated to from Home Farm’s little hilltop.
As the sun started to dip a little, everyone headed into the marquee for the speeches…
The Evening & The Rest…
One of my favourite parts of the day is when all of the formalities are done. The speeches are over. Ties have been loosened. Sleeves rolled up. Those really expensive heels are under the chair and have made way for your dancing shoes. Alice & Marshalls day was no exception. They cut cakes & had first dances. The guys from the stag do had an award ceremony. Thankfully it was in the far corner of the field, away from the children…and all other civilization. I photographed it, but I don’t think I’m ready to talk about it yet. People enjoyed the early evening and the Ice Cream van.
Marshall, Alice & I went off and did some portraits in the low, warm sunlight.
Then, everyone hit the dancefloor. There were tequila shots. Cigars were had. A child was thrown in the air (Don’t worry, they were caught too).
What an end to the day.
