Amber and David's Wedding at Penshurst Place

Off to Kent this time for Amber and David's wedding at Penshurst Place, one of the most beautiful wedding venues I have been to. The wedding flowers came from a fantastic florist called Eden, which is just around the corner from me, so I had agreed to bring all the flowers with me on the morning of the wedding. I hadn't appreciated quite the volume that needed to be picked up and I made the journey to Kent looking like a mobile Chelsea Flower Show.

Amber got ready at the Tonbridge Wells Spa Hotel, which is a very impressive wedding venue in it's own right. Amber did her own makeup and had her hair done by The Hair Fairy - she looked stunning! You can find out more about The Hair Fairy on her website: www.thehairfairyhomehairdressing.co.uk

Then we all went off to Penshurst Place for the wedding ceremony in the Baron's Hall. It would be very hard to overstate what a fantastic venue this is, everything about it, the buildings, grounds, service and organisation are all wonderful and personal - that's not to detract from anywhere else, but if you want a stately home wedding in Kent then Penshurst Place should be high on your places to visit list.

Although the weather in the morning was lovely, it was pretty obvious that things were going to change in the afternoon, so we had a brief tour of the gardens for some romantic shots before moving on to the reception.

 

 

 

Rather than having their reception at Penshurst Place, they decided to have it in a huge marquee at David's Dad's house. The weather decided to give the marquee what must have been it's toughest ever test, it absolutely bucketed down just after everyone arrived and the rain seemed to go on and on. Amazingly not a drop of water got in, which is a great credit to Compass Marquees: www.compass-marquees.co.uk

The catering, including a hog roast, was provided by Super Event based in Heathfield, East Sussex, one of the most well known and highly regarded caterers in the south east. Despite the weather doing it's best to make things as difficult as possible the team from Super Event were brilliant and the food and service were fantastic. you can find out more about Super Event on their website: www.superevent.co.uk

As you can see, moving a bride around in the rain is something of a logistical nightmare:

 

Amber and David had a fantastic day and and are great fun to be around, even the rain managed to add to a real community atmosphere in the marquee. 

If you are interested in having your wedding at Penshurst Place you can find more details and contact information on their website: www.weddingsatpenshurstplace.com/index.html

www.mickhouse.co.uk
01323 639404
info@mickhouse.co.uk

Easbourne Wedding Fair 2011

Well this was a busy weekend with a two day wedding fair at the Winter Gardens in Eastbourne.  Normally I wouldn't bother blogging about something like this - I have enough trouble keeping up with other things, but this was quite exceptional.  I don't have a photo of the Winter Gardens to go with this, so here is one of Eastbourne Pier at sunrise instead:

This was the first ever wedding fair to have a live wedding in the middle of it - yes, a proper real wedding with registrars, not a pretend wedding.  How on earth the team at the One Stop Wedding Shop managed to organise a two day event with over 100 exhibitors and  arrange the venue license (it's also a brand new, never used before, wedding venue) and all the planning associated with a wedding is beyond me, but they pulled it off handsomely!

I didn't get a chance to see the wedding itself, although everyone who attended the wedding fair was invited (hard to keep them out under the circumstances), but I did go to see the fashion after much persuading.  I've seen dozens of wedding fashion shows and in general they are all pretty much the same, some better than others (which is a mild understatement), but this was more like a dance show where the performers happened to be dressed in wedding attire, it was fantastic!  

There are a few photographers in the UK that I keep a close eye on because I like their work so much, but there is also one videographer called Leo Ferenc who I did a wedding with a couple of years ago and was so impressed by what he does that I have been watching him ever since.  We haven't done a wedding together in between, but he was exhibiting at the show and we managed to spend a bit of time catching up which was great.

The real treat was meeting a couple who came in to see me just because they like reading this blog.  We're not talking autographs or anything (although signed copies may be available next time) but it really was rather flattering - so thank you! 

The biggest thank you has to go to everyone at the One Stop Wedding Shop for putting on such a great event.  You can find out more on their website:  www.onestopweddingshop.co.uk

You might also want to take a look at Leo's work on his website:  www.perfect-day-studios.co.uk  If nothing else you must turn your volume up and watch this one - Kiss!

www.mickhouse.co.uk
01323 639404
info@mickhouse.co.uk

Kelly and Paul's Wedding at the English Wine Centre, Alfriston

Two local Sussex weddings in a row is quite unusual for me, one weekend at Pelham House in Lewes, the following weekend just down the road for Kelly and Paul's wedding at the English Wine Centre in Alfriston. Kelly got ready at her Mum and Dad's with lots of family and friends round to help out.

It's just a ten minute drive from Eastbourne to the English Wine Centre and as Kelly arrived I noticed her Dad reflected in the car window:

The wedding ceremony takes place in an old renovated barn. The renovation hasn't been over done so it still feels nicely rustic without giving you the feeling that a goat could wander in at any moment and start nibbling at the floral arrangements. After the ceremony we all went out into the gardens for the drinks reception in the sunshine - the weather was perfect!

There is a large marquee attached to the back of the barn which is the location for the wedding breakfast. Kelly and Paul had decorated it using lots of blue ribbons and it looked stunning. Speaking of stunning, I didn't hear the comment during the speeches that produced this expression, but I'm glad that I got the photograph of it:

We went back out into the gardens later on for some nice romantic shots. At one point it looked like were were in for a beautiful sunset, which would have been fabulous, but at the last minute a heavy mist came off the Downs and put an end to it - even so, we did very well and there are some great spots for Bride and Groom photographs.

Kelly and Paul had a wonderful day and the weather was truly amazing for them. You can find out more about weddings at the English Wine Centre on their website: www.englishwine.co.uk

www.mickhouse.co.uk
01323 639404
info@mickhouse.co.uk

Karen and Pete's Wedding at Pelham House, Lewes, East Sussex

Some of you may recall a previous blog about Pelham House where I first mentioned Karen (painted wedding glasses) and Pete (the dark art of printing). Well their wedding came round all too quickly (everything seems to have done this year) and it certainly lived up to expectations! 

Karen, having confiscated the wedding rings from the best man for safe keeping, got ready at Pelham House. Normally at this point I would say something like "assisted by her bridesmaids" but this wasn't quite the case. The bridesmaids actually kept us hugely entertained by trying to figure out how to walk down the aisle, attempts at which started badly and soon degenerated into a sort of march of the animals, with Anna in particular doing a very good impression of a mutant Chernobyl chicken desperately trying to escape the clutches of a ravenous Russian peasant - you may have guessed by now that this wedding was about having fun! 

Karen has a moment of quiet reflection, while just out of camera beside her the Eastbourne Players continue working on their production of Animal Farm. Actually the enigmatic, Mona Lisa look is Karen desperately trying not to laugh. 

Meanwhile Pete is relaxing with his groomsmen in the bar downstairs waiting for the wedding ceremony to begin, probably the safest place under the circumstances. 

In the end the bridesmaids just about managed to get things together and opted for a stately sprint down ths aisle, with much giggling and bouquet waving, followed much more serenely by a very happy looking Karen - it was all pretty cool actually! 

After a lovely wedding ceremony we all moved out onto the terrace for drinks and canapes in the sunshine, with a few quick romantic shots before going back in for the wedding breakfast. 

 

 

Karen and Pete had arranged for a harpist to provide background music during the meal. Have you ever looked at a harp, I mean really looked? It's not just a million strings to get to grips with, there are pedals as well, lots of them. How on earth did someone get around to inventing something that looks like an ornate industrial vegetable slicer and then decide to play it? I'm very glad they did because they are lovely, but was going on in their head? 

Speaking of what was going on, I don't know what was happening here either, but it went on for quite a while and they seemed to be enjoying themselves, which is all that really matters. 

As the evening wore on the boys and I decided to go out for a Reservoir Dogs photo. I always like to hype the guys up a bit for this shot so they look like they own the street, otherwise there can be a tendency for them to come down the road in a little huddle that's more reminiscent of Reservoir Poodles or possibly Dew Pond Field Mice. So we take a gaggle of extrovert sportsmen, fill them with beer, steroid their ego's and tell them to go for it. They did... Lewes police station put out a "Closed" sign, people ran for cover, birds scattered in alarm, the sky darkened. I really should have pointed out that they owned the road apart from my bit though... 

Rather than doing a speciality first dance or simply settling for the traditional hug and shuffle, Karen and Pete decided to combine the two. We do the hug and shuffle during the verses and (something along the lines of) the pogo during the chorus. Like everything about them it's pretty off the wall, but it didn't just work, it was brilliant - try it! 

About 10pm we wandered down to the bottom of the gardens at Pelham House for the Chinese Lanterns. Although I have photographed these before, this was the first time I had got involved in trying to light them. I don't know if this was a dodgy batch, but it was a nighmare despite being a completely still night. You hold a lighter under a wax patch for serveral minutes until your thumb catches fire. The flame coming from your thumb then starts to melt the patch which drips hot wax onto the back of your hand. If you are very lucky the patch will eventually start to burn, at which point you give the lantern to someone else, dash back up to the house and run your burning hand under the cold tap. Most lanterns only reached the dripping hot wax stage. Eventually we did get some going and very romantic they looked too.

Karen and Pete had a fantastic, fun packed day and as always Pelham House was the perfect wedding venue. You can find out more about Pelham House on their website: www.pelhamhouse.com.

Wedding Photographers in Sussex

01323 639404

Remembrance Day

Today is Remembrance Day, so here is a photograph of the War Memorial in Eastbourne taken at sunrise a few weeks ago.

Please don't forget to wear your poppy and observe the two minutes silence at 1100, it's not a lot to ask.

www.mickhouse.com

01323 639404