Sisters Denise & Sue couldn’t think of a better to way to celebrate their marriages than to have a double Wedding at the Oldest Church in Europe (Greenstead in Ongar) followed by a fantastic reception at the beautiful Parklands, Quendon Park!
The day was full on from start to finish, with 2 bride and grooms, 2 best men, 7 bridesmaids, 1 flower girl, 3 paige boys and an usher!
We met with the two brides-to-be at Sue & Malcom’s beautiful farm house where both the girls and guys were getting ready! The boys had been banished to one of the outer buildings, which meant that Mark could spend time photographing them whilst I stayed inside with the girls! It was a challenging morning for me, running between the two girls getting dressed and 2 sets of portraits, but thanks to our planning meeting in advance, we had allocated plenty of time and took some lovely shots!
The church was beautiful but also tiny inside, so the couples decided on a smaller amount of guests to the day with a large evening guest list. After an intimate ceremony, the couples exited the church to a beautiful sunny afternoon and Mark and I took a couple each for the confetti, whilst they were standing together to share the moment! I think Mark and I got covered in as much confetti as they did, and we got some great natural shots!
A big surprise for the kids was the arrival of a huge stretch limousine, to which we heard shreaks of excitement!! The limo transported the bridal party(s) to Parklands, Quendon Park and Mark took this fun one inside of the kids. I also really like this close in one of the two couples looking upwards to Mark taking the full group shot from the Parklands upstairs window and the shot of the two couples walking together towards the back of the house!
Mark usually handles the couple shots, whilst I focus on the reportage, but on this occasion we split up again and I photographed Sue & Malcolm in a variety of places around the gardens, whilst mark took Denise & Rob. This wedding really did demand two photographers and I really enjoyed the opportunity to take Sue & Malcolm’s wedding photographs. We both shot in a variety of places and I’m pleased to say, our different styles are evident, giving the couples different shots from each other, which we felt was really important!
We then stayed on to cover the speeches and the first dances. Both the couples were really nervous about being the centre of attention on the dancefloor, so we kept our distance and took some lovely natural and romantic shots using the ambient light from the disco and the smoke from the smoke machine. We took a fair few shots, but these are some of my favourites from this part of the day, including a lovely one of the four of them at the end of their dances.
The day was fun, full on and probably one of our favourites this year! The proofing took us a couple of days and another couple to go through the proofing areas for each couple, but during the whole process I found myself smiling and laughing as I remembered back through the day! Two really great couples and a beautiful venue – what a fantastic day!!
