Today I'm coming back to one of my favourite weddings so far this year. This particularly lovely marquee wedding in Exmoor, Somerset, was special for lots of reasons, but one of them being that I didn't just get to cover the bridal preparation, but to also photograph the groom's party before the wedding, too. Great for me - more memories to document!
The groom and his wedding party had decided to take a leisurely lunch at a local restaurant prior to heading off to church to greet the guests, so that's where I joined them for the first part of my wedding photography coverage. They'd hired a private room at a beautiful rural venue just outside Minehead and only minutes from the epically beautiful church in Selworthy, Somerset, which boasts some of the most beautiful views across the Exmoor countryside I've ever seen. What a place to be for a wedding day!
But, I'm getting ahead of myself here - so back to the boys. An 'ushers lunch' is a great way for the groom and his closest friends to enjoy some time together prior to the wedding ceremony, and it's a great idea to get the wedding photographer to cover this if possible. It's not just the groom who can benefit from seeing the emotions and excitement of the bridal prep - the bride can also experience a little of what went on prior to the wedding from the groom's perspective, too, by looking through these images after the wedding day.
After documenting the ushers' lunch, I headed over to nearby Bratton in Somerset, just outside Minehead and in an enviably gorgeous hillside location, for the bridal prep which was being held at the bride's family home. It's such a privilege to be invited in to these very private moments for the bride and her family, and it's my responsibility as a documentary wedding photographer to photograph them truthfully and sensitively - and of course with the total minimum of interference. It's always my objective that the wedding party hardly remember the photographer being there when they look back upon their wedding images.
So onto some of my favourite shots from the bride (and groom!) preparation of this lovely, lovely marquee wedding in Exmoor - and I can't wait to bring you more from this fabulous celebration in the coming weeks!
Marquee Wedding in Exmoor : Before the Ceremony
Click on any of the images below to open a lightbox , to quickly scroll through the photographs. Easy!
