Tom + Annabel | Wood Lane Countryside Centre

Tom and Annabel’s wedding day was centred entirely (much like themselves) around an enjoyable day with friends and family, something that is important to them both. As their photographer, I never felt short of being included in that category either. From the moment they booked me to the present day, I have had nothing but kindness, praise and pork pies (+ sweets and ice-cream, fizz and chocolate) from them. It helps that I have known them for a while and been at a couple of weddings where they have been guests too, but being on the same wavelength and sharing a special day with such kind and lovely people makes my job unique.

The day began with bridal prep over at The Maynard in Grindleford, where the girls were enjoying all of the usual morning full of makeup, hair, bubbles, laughter and love. I felt welcome from the moment I walked through the door to the large suite; they were all preparing for the big day ahead, as I usually would. I said hello and asked everyone how the evening had been and how the morning was going. All was well, and I proceeded to begin documenting what I saw in front of me as well as capturing details of the dress, shoes and flowers, including the arrival of their unique camper vans to take the whole bridal party to the church and then onto the reception venue.

After bridal prep, I dashed across the short drive to Hathersage Church to meet Tom and the chaps, who were all remarkably calm, but perhaps the calm and serenity came from the beautiful hip flasks that each of them had proudly tucked into their waistcoat pockets. It wasn’t long before Annabel, and the rest of the brides’ entourage arrived for a lovely ceremony in an absolutely gorgeous church. I love Hathersage Church for the feel of the ample space and the beautiful soft light that comes in at the top of the alter.

After the ceremony, we gathered everyone together to, of course shower the newlyweds with confetti (which always delivers some great frames in the camera) before bundling everyone into the two vintage split screen campervans. A pootle up the Hope Valley to Ladybower Reservoir for some photos was the plan, and it was nicely en-route to Wood Lane Countryside Centre, so it made sense to stop there, and it’s something that Tom and Annabel had expressed they wanted. I checked with the fisheries office well in advance that this was okay. With some of their friendly staff on standby, we were able to take a short 15 minutes to capture some group photos of the bridal party and some beautiful couples portraits with Ladybower Reservoir in the background. Tom and Annabel, both from the Hope Valley area, now have some gorgeous Ladybower Reservoir wedding photos to admire and remember their day with!

The short journey to Wood Lane Countryside Centre for the wedding reception didn’t take long, and it was straight into a few group line-up shots that Tom and Annabel wanted before letting everyone dive straight into the thoughtful activities that were available. There were loads of classic garden games like giant Connect 4, boules and skittles with cans, as well as a snacks table full of gorgeous savouries and sweets, as well as Hope Valley Ice Cream there with their little ice cream trailer serving up some of their fantastic produce. The meal was a sit-down picnic-style meal with everything from pork pies to finger sandwiches with some dainty crockery for the cup and saucers to serve tea in, all purposely bought by Tom and Annabel to have the style they wanted for their day. There were little bottles of tipples and scratch cards for the wedding favours, along with charming little wooden name places.

The evening began with Tom and Annabel cutting their scrumptious three-tiered, three cake wedding cake in front of all their guests. I love arranging the cake cut shots so that all the guests can be behind my couples watching them cut their cake. Instead of it just being photos of 2 people cutting a cake, it’s filled with the joy and on look as all their guests admire them cutting their cake on their wedding day. Then it was straight into the first dance and time to have some fun capturing everyone busting some moves on the dancefloor, and boy oh boy, were there some moves being busted. Which naturally meant I couldn’t drag myself away and had to keep capturing the epic moves that would rival scenes inside a Gatecrasher night (if you’re old enough to remember that!!).

Anyway, enough from me, watch their photo highlights video below, or you can always scroll through the images underneath. Enjoy.

Suppliers…

If you were a supplier and need to use any of the images please get in touch with me for the high-res versions.

Tom + Annabel’s wedding preview video…

Full gallery of images

If you want to see even more than just the previews below you can view the full gallery of photos from the wedding by hitting the button below. Register to view the gallery and then your bride and groom will be able to grant you access.

As a special thank you for being such awesome guests, there is a 50% off code on all prints. This is only valid for the next 2 weeks. Simply enter THANKYOU when you check out.

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