I had the absolute pleasure of shooting the wedding of Eliza and Michael on Sunday at Brookfield Barn in Sussex. I have known them both for a couple of years now as have used Eliza as a model and popped up to London to help shoot some fun content for them too.
Eliza and Michael wanted a gender neutral wedding with a fun and colourful feel and oh my, did they do it to the fullest! The venue is a stunning countryside venue next to a beautiful lake with a golf course and huge field on the other side.
Eliza wore three different outfits throughout the day to mark different points. They first had an intimate ceremony with just their parents and the wedding party. Eliza wore a gorgeous sparkly dress from Isolated Heroes with a pink belt and matching pink and turquoise heart socks with the trainers. The first ceremony we did outside before the rain started and it was so lovely as had such a different feel to the inside ceremony for friends and family. Zoe Hodd was their make up artist for the day who they met in January at the Self Love shoot I arranged in the studio. The main dress was a pastel beautiful flowing gown from Selkie. It was really stunning but not always the most practical for Eliza in their chair but we all helped get it inside the chair so they could move around safely. Then in the evening they had a black sparkly number that caught the lights and looked magical when they were dancing.
Once the legal ceremony was done there was more getting ready and arrivals of the guests and the rest of the wedding party. It was such a lovely group and they all made me feel very welcome. Eliza wanted photos that popped and captured the full vibrancy of the day so I thing we defiantly did that and it was a nice change for me as most want soft warm tones.
Even though the rain started we all kept in great spirits and were determined to not let it stop us getting the most out of the day. The wedding party wore pink dresses with cut out panels and Michael and his side wore wool suits with matching waistcoats to the dresses. They all looked super smart. The guests as well looked stunning with Shelby winning best dressed for me looking super fierce in her pastel pink tulle dress with gold hearts, matching faux fur heart shaped bag and killer pastel pink knee high boots.
It was then time for the ceremony and we all waited holding our breath for the moment Eliza appeared with their Dad walking them down the aisle.
The ceremony was so touching and personal and was such a pleasure to be a part of. The lighting however was not my friend as venues love to put people against big bright windows in a very dark room so I had to use a bit of flash to balance this and tried not to take too many photos as not to disrupt the guests from enjoying the ceremony.
We then went for a couple shoot and had a bit of fun of the golf cart. We let Michael take the wheel and we had a bit of fun in the field and took some pictures on the bridge before I delivered them back safely for speeches and the wedding breakfast. I even got a three course meal which was a real treat but I did have to have two coffees to make me wake back up after all that delicious food!
It was then time to cut the cake and get the party started! Their first dance was incredible! I tried to avoid overly taking images and causing too many flashes so that the guests were only starry eyed from the dj's lights and not my flashing. it was an incredible day full of joy, love and laughter and it wa such an honour for me to shoot such a wonderful and warm couple. I am so pleased that these two have become firm friends and we continue to work together for many years to come.
