Evie & Kit’s Wiltshire Marquee Wedding
A garden ceremony at home, ridiculous amounts of confetti, a vintage Mercedes and one very memorable country band
Now this was a wedding.
Evie and Kit got married at The Rectory in Wiltshire, which also happens to be Evie’s parents’ home.
So from the start it felt incredibly personal.
A ceremony in the garden led by Evie’s dad, a marquee full of friends and family, a vintage Mercedes, around 125 guests and later on a truly amazing performance from the Queer Cxntry band
There was quite a lot going on.
Perfect.
What struck me most looking back through the photographs is how everything belongs together.
The ribbons.
The flowers.
The marquee.
Kit’s suits
Evie’s incredible dress and then the second one which matched her cape.
The vintage car.
The colourful guests.
The drag performers.
Even the fairy lights later on.
Nothing feels like it was added because somebody decided a wedding was supposed to have it.
It all feels like Evie and Kit.
And that gives the whole day a proper personality.
A wedding at home
There’s something different about photographing a wedding at a family home.
It already has memories before the wedding starts.
This wasn’t a venue they had hired for twelve hours. It was Evie’s parents’ house, surrounded by the garden, trees and all the little familiar places that had been there long before a marquee suddenly appeared on the lawn.
Kit is an artist, and you could see that eye for detail throughout the day.
But what I really liked was that it never felt overly styled.
It was beautiful without feeling precious.
Colour everywhere, lovely details, but still completely relaxed.
People could actually use the space rather than being terrified of knocking something over.
Always a bonus.
A ceremony led by Dad
Evie’s dad, Dai, conducted the ceremony.
No pressure there then.
That immediately made the ceremony much more personal.
It wasn’t someone standing at the front who had met them twice.
It was Evie’s dad, speaking to his daughter and Kit, surrounded by a garden full of people who knew them properly.
That gave the ceremony some real emotional weight.
And for me, those are the moments you don’t interfere with.
You watch.
You listen.
And you make sure you’re ready.
But that made the ceremony feel even more special.
It was emotional, funny and very personal.
And for me, that’s the easy bit.
I don’t need to create emotion when it’s already there.
I just need to be ready for it.
And the song choices were just brilliant! Not your typical hymns at all, which got everyone up and singing as loudly as they could.
Then came the confetti
And quite a lot of it.
This is why confetti photographs are so good.
You can organise everybody.
After that, you basically lose control.
Someone throws early.
Someone keeps hold of theirs until three seconds too late.
Someone inevitably aims directly at the couple’s face.
And right in the middle of it you get genuine laughter.
Look at the people around Evie and Kit in these photographs.
Everybody is involved.
Hands in the air.
Laughing.
Shouting.
Throwing confetti.
It’s not just a photograph of two people with guests as scenery.
It’s everybody celebrating with them.
That really sums up this wedding.
Quick portraits, then back to the wedding
Evie and Kit had said before the day that they didn’t want loads of photography.
They wanted everyone to feel happy, not worn out from standing around.
Music to my ears.
So we kept the couple photographs simple.
A short walk.
A little direction when needed.
Then let them be themselves.
Probably no more than 5 mins with just them, being them.
Done.
Back to the party.
A wedding built around people
This was one of those days where the guests mattered almost as much to the visual story as Evie and Kit.
And I mean that in the best possible way.
This photograph tells you quite a lot about the day.
Relaxed.
Colourful.
A little bit chaotic.
Exactly the sort of thing I like.
The drinks reception felt more like a massive garden party than a formal wedding reception.
People were everywhere.
Chatting.
Drinking.
Sitting by the pool.
Catching up.
Doing all the things people actually do when you leave them alone.
The garden party bit
Once the ceremony was finished, the whole place loosened up.
People wandered around the gardens.
Drinks appeared.
Some ended up by the swimming pool.
Others found somewhere to sit and catch up.
It felt much more like a huge garden party than a wedding being moved from one scheduled event to another.
And that's probably another reason the photographs feel so alive.
Everyone had space just to be themselves.
Dinner in the marquee
By the evening everyone moved into the marquee.
Long tables.
Candles.
Colour.
Loads of people.
And that lovely point where the daylight starts dropping and the whole marquee begins to glow.
Then came the cake which was cut with the finesse that only a bayonet could slice!!!
And, judging by the photograph, subtlety was not part of the plan.
Good.
Then the evening went somewhere else entirely
This is where things got properly interesting.
Evie and Kit’s friends were playing.
The Queer Cxntry Band https://www.queercxntry.com
This was not your standard wedding band.
And thank goodness for that.
Once they started, the dance floor was packed.
The bit where everybody forgot I existed
This is probably my favourite time of any wedding.
Nobody needs me anymore.
Nobody is asking what photograph comes next.
Nobody is worrying about a timeline.
They’re just having a party.
And because this wedding had been so people-led all day, the evening felt like the natural conclusion.
Everybody who had been laughing, hugging, throwing confetti and sitting around the garden earlier was now squeezed onto the dance floor together.
I’ll sometimes slow the shutter down a bit here too.
A little movement.
A little blur.
Something that actually feels like a party rather than a perfectly frozen photograph of one.
A wedding that felt completely theirs
That’s what stood out most about Evie and Kit’s day.
It was beautiful.
It was emotional.
It was colourful.
It was a little bit mad.
And the couple themselves never seemed to be separate from all of that.
They weren't spending the day being moved from one photographic setup to another.
They were in the middle of it.
With their people.
Which is exactly where they should have been.
There was a family home.
A garden ceremony.
A marquee.
A vintage car.
A huge amount of confetti.
And drag queens singing country music.
Which is quite a combination.
And that’s exactly why I loved photographing it.
Natural.
Real.
Loads of personality.
And absolutely no need to make the day into one long photoshoot.
And I make no apologies for the amount of photos in this post. 99% of the photos are just natural and raw and 1% someone knew I was there.
Planning a marquee wedding in Wiltshire?
If you’re planning a marquee wedding in Wiltshire, a wedding at home, or something slightly less conventional, this is exactly the sort of day I love photographing.
You don’t need to spend your wedding constantly posing for photographs.
We’ll get the family pictures.
We’ll disappear for a few minutes for some lovely photographs of the two of you.
And then I’ll get out of your way and photograph the bits you couldn’t possibly plan.
The laughter.
The people.
The ridiculous moments.
The emotional ones.
And, apparently, the occasional drag queen playing country music.
Natural, real and a little bit raw.
That’s the good stuff.
