LAURA AND JAMES – SPIXWORTH HALL COTTAGES WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY

LAURA AND JAMES – SPIXWORTH HALL COTTAGES WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY

“Dear Andy,

Wow…. what I can say we love them thanks so much – they are incredible.

You were amazing thank you SOOOOOO much!

Thanks again – these are brilliant and you really helped make our day special.

Laura and James”

Laura and James’ wedding day at Spixworth Hall Cottages was my first opportunity to work at this very special rural Norfolk venue.  Conducting a recce to Spixworth Hall Cottages on the Thursday prior to the wedding, I was immediately struck by the beautifully rustic, but immediately homely, nature of the accommodation and wonderful barn and the stunning setting among, for Norfolk, surprisingly rolling countryside.  Chatting to Laura during the recce, hearing about her plans to ride her horse during the wedding day and seeing the stunning work that they were undertaking to personalise the venue for their big day I was hugely excited when I left home on their wedding day – I just knew this was going to be an incredible wedding day to capture.

The morning was spent with Laura, family and bridesmaids getting ready at Spixworth Hall Cottages prior to heading off to their beautiful wedding ceremony at the Roman Catholic church in Costessey, Norwich.  The morning was a lot of fun, the highlight probably Laura unwrapping presents and card from James (including a bloody lovely camera!) and hitting the right spot with some lovely heartfelt words leaving Laura just a little emotional.

It was then off to church.  James enjoys his rugby and I knew immediately that this would mean a lot of great mate-ship among the groomsmen and almost certainly a few beers to be sunk – I wasn’t disappointed on either count and it was great to immediately settle into relaxed, candid photography of James and his mates greeting guests at the church.

Laura’s arrival at church was preceded by the arrival of the bridesmaids – their arrival announced first by the sounds of their tunes pumping from the open-windowed red Jaguar as it drove up alongside the church with beaming faces bobbing inside.  The tone for the day had been set, my favourite kind of day – relaxed, fun, happy and packed with personalities!

After the beautiful ceremony it was back to Spixworth Hall Cottages and an afternoon of fun and games punctuated by extremely heavy downpours.  Thankfully we did immediately get a chance to grab some photographs of the absolutely stunning Laura riding side-saddle on her wonderful horse with James alongside.  Unquestionably some of my favourite wedding photographs to date and a moment that will live long in my memory.  I absolutely love it when couples are able to bring their passions to their wedding days and the inclusion of a horse ride and time spent with their beautiful dog Flo really made this occasion feel complete for me – this ‘is’ James and Laura and their images will mean all the more to them in the coming years as they look back on their day.

I’m going to leave it to the images to complete the story of an incredible wedding day.  Brilliant speeches, a walk in waste deep soaking wet corn, an epic evening party and fish and chips…..the list could go on.  Just a superb day in superb company.  I’m so eager to return to Spixworth Hall Cottages for further wedding days – some venues calm the pulse on arrival and attract couples with their own unique vision for their wedding day and where they’re encouraged to express themselves completely using a largely blank but very beautiful canvass.   Spixworth Hall Cottages is one such venue, another real Norfolk gem.