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A wet and windy handfasting farm Wedding

When Clare and Andrew, well Clare really, settled on a Handfasting Farm Wedding and started to do her research they booked a farmers field (Plusterwine Farm) overlooking the Severn Estuary in Gloucestershire. With the venue and style of the wedding firmly identified the next task was to find the perfect photographer to capture their day.

They started by typing in Outdoor Weddings into Google and saw a blog of one of my previous farm weddings.  Clare said

“When I saw Tony’s shoot on a blog his style really caught my eye. I loved how he’d photographed these great clouds in the background on one particular shoot and how he really captured the mood of the day. I thought ” we’re having this guy! ”  

For Clare, the photographs were really important and, in her words, she understood that once the food was eaten, the music played, the tables danced on and the guests have gone home all that’s left are the photos and she wanted them to be spectacular.

The Proposal

Andy works in Afghanistan and his head office is in Dubai. He arranged for Clare to fly out & meet him for a weekend.  Andy’s mum gave Clare a present for Andy to take with her – she said it was sweets and things….. Clare had no idea that her beautiful engagement ring was in the box!!

They went for dinner one night by the fountains under the Al Burj and as Clare was looking over the menu she noticed Andy was on the floor (on one knee). Thinking he’d lost something and was looking for it a look of total surprise came over her when he asked her to marry him.  A rather rude word followed – a little too loudly and she burst into tears and shrieked YES!!! There was an embarrassing round of applause from the other guests. Clare’s words: Ahhhh…. The boy did well!!

The pre-wedding shoot was a sign of things to come and in hindsight acted as a great practice shoot for the dreadful weather we had on the wedding day.

Clare wanted to get married outdoors & loved the sentiment of a Handfasting Farm Wedding ceremony – Andy was just happy (or henpecked??) to go with whatever. They both felt it was really personal writing their own vows and I don’t think there was a dry eye in the place when they read them out.  (I found focussing the camera pretty hard at this point in the ceremony)

I’ve photographed a wedding at Plusterwine Farm before so knew the venue and the spectacular backdrop across the Severn Estuary and down to the suspension bridge, which is just breathtaking – well… it would’ve been, had it not been chucking it down with rain ALL day!!

The Handfasting Farm Wedding

Once Clare and Andy returned from honeymoon (in the brighter and warmer Maldives) I visited them at their home to present their photographs and to select the images for their beautiful Queensberry Wedding Album.  I also posed a few questions about their big day and have included some of the responses below:

How/Why did you choose your photographer
Saw Tony’s shoot on a blog when I was googling ” outdoor weddings” for ideas – his style really caught my eye. I loved how he’d photographed these great clouds in the background on one particular shoot & how he really captured the mood of the day.I thought ” we’re having this guy”.
For me – the photos are so important, once the food is eaten, the music’s been played, the tables danced on, the guests go home (hangovers subside..!) what’s left are the photos & I wanted them to be spectacular. I wasn’t disappointed.

How was your experience with your photographer?
Great – Tony is so easy to get along with. We said we wanted more candid shots rather than lots of formal groups & that’s what we had.
I also liked the pre wedding shoot – it’s a really good idea. Really helps to get the nerves out of the way before the big day.

 

Who was your dress by? And your accessories and shoes?
My dress was by Monsoon & was under £100 which pleased me greatly! – I went on holiday before the wedding & expanded somewhat due to all the lovely wine & food consumed – so I exchanged it for a bigger size & still felt great on the day!!
I bought myself a Pandora necklace, earrings & bracelet that cost more than the dress – but in fairness I’ve worn the jewellery almost every day since.
My Wellies are from Joules & I wear them for walking the dog now so I think they were a good purchase!

And the suit and bridesmaids dresses?
Andy sorted his suit all by himself – I was really surprised at how nice it was, he has good taste. He looked really handsome on the day. He bought it online (whilst in Afghan !) from a company called Victor Valentine. He just sent his measurements & it was made as requested. Not bad really – he only tried it on 3 days before the wedding!! I didn’t have bridesmaids – I had my two sons Ben & Charlie to walk me down the isle. They wore chino shorts & a blue shirt from Next, blue waistcoat from John Lewis & a spotty bow tie from Debenhams. I let them chose their own trainers – I thought they’d get more wear out of them than a pair of stuffy shoes they’d just throw in the wardrobe afterward! Charlie my eldest wore his minion socks too…

Did you have a theme or colour scheme you were working towards?
I wanted it to be a sort of wedding/festival combo with sunflowers (my fav) being the main theme & hay bales to make it rustic. Then I found the bunting I liked that was bright & spotty so I asked the florist to try & keep to the colours in that. I wanted the tables to look as if the Women’s Institute had just come in & plonked loads of wild flowers in jam jars. Mum spent hours decorating the jars – literally hundreds of them. They were all amazing, beads, ribbons, string, material…. They looked great!

What were your special moments or highlights of the day?

I’ll always remember pulling up in the camper van…. The wind was howling, the rain was torrential & yet there were 150 of our friends all stood braving the elements in plastic rain ponchos waiting to celebrate our wedding!! That was just the start of my happy tears that day.

  

What sort of flowers did you have and who provided them?

Sally’s Florist in Bream did a great job.
We had a huge arch to decorate with sunflowers & the poles in the marquee.

 

What did you have as entertainment?

My friend’s band Skinflint – they were brilliant as always.

 

What advice would you give any other couples about planning your big day?

If you’d asked me that question when we were sending out the invites – I’d have said ” run away to Vegas & avoid all the hassle!” It was really stressful deciding who to include (& we had a big number to start with!)

I thought not having a seating plan was great for us – no stressing about who doesn’t get on with who & we didn’t have to draw up one of those tedious diagrams. Same for menu choices…. There wasn’t one!! BBQ buffet… Help yourselves. Tah dah!

Clare’s words:

“Anthony Ball Photography’s style really caught my eye. I loved how he’d photographed these great clouds in the background on one particular shoot & how he really captured the mood of the day. I thought ” we’re having this guy”.
For me – the photos are so important, once the food is eaten, the music’s been played, the tables danced on, the guests go home (hangovers subside..!) what’s left are the photos & I wanted them to be spectacular. I wasn’t disappointed.