Katie + Ben | Preston Court

BEST WEDDING YET!! I can honestly hands down say that Katie + Ben’s wedding at Preston Court is my favourite one to date to have been a part of; between the energy from Katie + Ben and their guests through to the gorgeous venue that is Preston Court it had me loving every second. So I met Katie + Ben on a Zoom call and it was clear how much planning had gone into the day and it gave me such an insight into what made them both tick. We all hit it off straight away on the call and I came away from that meeting absolutely buzzing to photograph their day, fast forward and it was soon time to be making the 250-mile journey down to Kent; that bit wasn’t so much fun in a car who’s air con wasn’t working great while the UK was having a blazing hot Summer!

I joined Katie + Ben for their morning prep at Roseyard, a great venue in itself, which had been hired out for everyone to be in one place to get ready and only a short journey to Preston Court. One of my favourite things about Roseyard was the great big open rooms and huge windows letting in tons of that beautiful natural daylight, making for some beautiful prep photos. As always, plenty going on, from the chaps playing ping pong outside to the girls cracking open the Bolly. When Katie walked into the room in her dress it was lovely to see Katie’s dad’s reaction, then mum and then the bridesmaids as each joined us, so much emotion already happening (and that’s before Ben and the chaps started).

We took the short drive to Preston Court to join the rest of the wedding guests at St Mildred’s Church which is right on the same site as Preston Court. On what felt like the hottest day of the year, with temperatures hitting the mid 30’s, it was no surprise to see pretty much everyone with some sort of fan in this packed-out church; Katie + Ben had a lot of their nearest and dearest with them. The ceremony was lovely with some friends singing a duet while Katie + Ben signed the register. After an impressive confetti lineup, the lovely couple nipped for a short ride in the classic car while guests enjoyed drinks on the garden lawn before everyone cheered to an entrance from the newlyweds. Wanting to mix things up a little the guys had decided to go straight into cutting their cake on the lawn, so I suggested we put all the guests behind them in front of the house and have them cut the cake in front of their guests. A photo I love getting at each wedding (but usually later in the day) as it means you don’t get a boring photo cutting a cake up against a wall or other non-descript place, instead you get a photo of you cutting the cake and ALL of your guests in the background cheering you on.

After a few hugs and chats, we whizzed through their lineup photos with family and friends before spending a very short amount of time making some couples portraits – something Katie + Ben were very keen on was not having loads of time doing this and being away from their guests; perfect, as that is exactly my style to minimise the time they’re away from their people! After entering the Kentish Barn to a huge uproar as their guests cheered them in while waving handkerchiefs we went straight into the speeches which then interspersed each course of the meal and certainly kept everyone entertained. Some serious emotion was on show during the speeches and as you all know that’s something I love to see at weddings and this one certainly did not disappoint on the emotional front! After the mains we had an extremely talented singer to entertain everyone and boy did she do that, quite literally lifting the roof and tripping the sound limiter with her voice alone (impressive!) and getting everyone else involved in singing and dancing.

Now Ben is an avid ice cream aficionado by all accounts, it’s certainly a staple part of his diet (a man after my own heart) so it was no surprise to see the ice cream van parked up ready to serve the guests with some delicious soft ice cream! Which naturally made for a great part of the day to document as well, I especially loved the part where we got Katie into the ice cream van to serve Ben – I love the cute photos we got of these guys doing this. Then we had the final speech of the day from the best man and also the opening of the carousel. I mean, is it even a decent wedding venue if it doesn’t have its own CAROUSEL!! In my element photographing this and I think everyone else was in their element enjoying time on it too!

After all the excitement of the carousel, it was time for even more excitement back inside the Kentish Barn for the first dance and then the Hora Dance, traditional Jewish dancing with Katie + Ben being hoisted into the air on chairs while friends and family danced around them. This has to be the best dancefloor I have seen with so much going on and so so so much fun to document too, all accompanied by an absolutely amazing band! Needless to say, I loved Katie + Ben’s wedding (same time and place in 10 years’ time to do it all again for an anniversary maybe guys?!) and I would absolutely love to be back at Preston Court to Photograph a wedding. Anyway enough from me, have a watch of their photo highlights video below or you can always scroll through the images underneath. Enjoy.