Staffordshire Wedding – Laurie and Sid
Consall Hall Gardens is a remarkable venue. Amazingly, its grounds extend for 70 acres and contain six lakes. It’s a bit of a hidden gem lying in the Staffordshire Moorlands countryside, just a stone’s throw from the Peak District, and it was enormously satisfying to photograph Laurie and Sid’s wedding here.
The ceremony was outdoors, and the weather just about held up, with merely a few spots of rain as the bride was arriving. Unusually for me, the bride and groom requested a lengthy session of group and posed photographs, which was a huge amount of fun (even for a documentary photographer like myself!) as we were driven by Justin, the venue manager, around the site on a golf buggy. So there’s a rare chance to see some posed imagery from me here on the blog.
As with most of my weddings, the day began for me at the bride’s family home for wedding preparations.
It’s often the case that putting on and fastening a wedding dress can take a long while on the day itself, but Laurie took it all in her stride.
… and we’re just about there now…
The ceremony took place in a courtyard surrounding a small pond.
While the guests were eating their sausages, we were driven around the site to our pre-arranged locations for posed photographs.
The food at Consall Hall is superb, and after dinner the evening’s events got underway with the speeches:
As well as the familiar cutting-the-cake ritual, the families were invited to light an oil lamp, a Sri Lankan tradition, I believe.
Laurie and Sid can be seen here showing off their considerable talent for latin dancing during the first dance.
Finally, I’d like to thank the bride, groom and their families for the warm welcome that I was given, and also to Justin and the staff at Consall Hall Gardens for being so helpful and accommodating.