Simon and Sarah - The Kings Arms Hotel
May 26, 2012 at 10:02 PM
Back at The Kings Arms Hotel in Christchurch Dorset again today; one of my favourite venues, and also because I love Christchurch. It was Simon and Sarah's wedding and it's a hot and sunny day, not a cloud in the sky.
Preparation is in one of the hotel suites and all is relaxed. Strawberries and champagne are out and hair is being designed by Carly. All the girls are loving her work - looking really nice. Sarah was so relaxed that even though we had moved to the bridal suite, the registrars arrive to see Sarah and it's only 20 minutes till the ceremony and she's not in her dress yet! But it didn't take long and the ceremony room was just down the hall so I had time to prep after a few dress shots.
The ceremony entrance was well rehearsed and the bridesmaids are looking lovely in pink with the maid of honour in a stunning red rose colour dress and matching shoes. Sarah looks lovely in her white dress. Normally it's the girls that have tears in their eyes at this moment, but Simon can't help but shed some tears at the sight of his gorgeous bride.
We went over the road to the balling green area for the drinks reception and group photos and spent some time around the pavilion for some solo photos. I had photographed Gary and Julia's wedding the week before so I was looking for some different angles and locations to make the photos different from the week before so used some of the tree's around which worked out really nicely.
The reception was very emotional. Simon and Sarah were very kind in including me with their menu plans and so I enjoyed a lovely meal in the evening function room. An older Australian gentleman walked in and was enquiring who's wedding it was. Two of their guests were at the bar and said "we can go and get them to see you" but he didn't want to cause a scene. He said he was just an Uncle. And so I thought that was a bit odd, but also that if he's Simon or Sarah's Uncle, then surely they would want to see him? So I went upstairs and had a very quiet word to Sarah about the situation. Sarah sent one of her bridesmaids downstairs to see who it was as Sarah suspected who it might be and she and her bridesmaid had visited the Uncle when they touredAustralia. Sarah's mum went downstairs a few minutes later and then came back up with him and nearly the whole room erupted with tears and cries. No one had seen Sarah's Uncle for almost 20 years. I'm not sure of the situation but I asked Sarah if I did a good thing and she was very glad I mentioned he was here. Very touching moment.
After the speeches we had some more time to do some additional solo photos. Simon and Sarah wanted to have photos by the other Castle ruins, which made for a brilliant backdrop as you can imagine and which made things very different from the week before and because I love doing extra solo shots between 6:30pm and 8pm the light was superb.
