Gray Manor weddings with Alex and Jade

December weddings are not for the feint hearted, as you just can't guarantee what the weather will be like, but for this December, the weather was just great for a super wedding at Gray Manor Hotel, although a little chilly it certainly wasn't freezing!!! And the sun even came out, but we are in Wiltshire, so it's to be expected.

I started the morning with some bridal prep at Jade's Grandparents, its a lovely big house complete with elevator!!! And who would have known that Jade's Grandad liked the camera so much!! I love seeing all the hustle and bustle on bridal prep and with so many little people running around it was quite hard to capture anyone standing still...

I then headed up to All Saints Church in Durrington to capture everyone arriving and even managed a quick shot of the boys outside, Alex didn't look nervous at all!!! The church service was great and very festive, as the ceremony finished we popped outside to be greeted by the a very harsh and bright sun, this is great for everyone, less for the photographer...The problem with the sun is that it creates really hard shadows and as the sun was low it shone right in the location where we wanted to do the groups...So a quick change of plan, as it was a little chilly we went for shooting the groups inside All Saints and i think quite a few were thankful to get out of the wind...

Once the confetti and groups had finished we loaded everyone into the VW camper (So cool!!) and headed for Gary Manor Hotel near Cholderton.  This was my first wedding here and hopefully not my last!!! What a superb wedding venue, a lot of thought has gone into everything and it just looks great and also lots of gorgeous light was able to come into the venue (Photographers like light...But not harsh evil light!!)...

Gray Manor Hotel has a secret garden which lights up at night time, so there was umbrellas, mirrors and a table and lots of other super props, so we had to go down and do a few shots here, thank fully one of the ushers was available to hold my Lowell light which was perfect for lighting Alex and Jade.

Another highlight was the sparklers...So much fun...Now here is a handy hint for anyone looking into using sparklers...1. you need some where dark 2. You need sparklers and lots of them. 3. You need to be able to light them. 4. DO NOT TRY AND LIGHT ALL THE SPARKLERS AT ONCE!!! Otherwise your hand will get very hot and the glow from 50 large sparklers all igniting at the same time can be seen from space!! I do hope the burnt hand man didn't suffer too badly and it took 5 mins for everyones night vision to go back to normal, but we did get some super shots, so all worth while!!!

Alex and Jade, you have 2 gorgeous daughters and some lovely family and friends.  It was an absolute pleasure to tell the story of your day and thank you for trusting me to do what i do best.  Please enjoy this little selection and the main page can be found here.

Gray Manor Hotel - Reception