I recently photographed the wedding of Jade and Dave in the charming village of Long Melford in Suffolk. Jade and David who live in the nearby village of Glemsford were married in Holy Trinity Church followed by a reception at the Bull Hotel. Both wonderful historic buildings and both fantastic for beautiful wedding photography.
Long Melford, is so called because the main street is some two and a half miles long. It’s a beautiful and busy village which has thrived since Tudor times and is unusual for a village in that it has a parish church (Holy trinity), which has dimensions much more suited to a cathedral – It’s massive. It was completed in 1484 and is one of the richest “wool churches” in East Anglia.
Long Melford also has two stately homes, Kentwell Hall and Melford Hall which, like Holy Trinity church were both built from the proceeds of the wool trade in the Middle Ages.
The Bull Hotel is also an historic building having been built in 1450, it’s a timber house and you become are aware of its history as soon as you walk into the entrance hall. Its massive moulded oak beams dominate the reception area and the original part of the building. During the coaching era the Bull Hotel was the principal Posting House of the town and a stopping place of the London, Bury St Edmunds, and Norwich coaches.
I started the day by Photographing Jade at her home in Glemsford, She spent the morning there being pampered and having her hair and makeup done along with her two delightful bridesmaids, Samantha and Belinda.
I then went off to the church where I met up with Dave, his Best Man Adam and his groomsmen Samuel, Daniel and Paul, to take some photographs before the wedding ceremony. They were all a great bunch of lads, up for a laugh and very cool about having their photograph taken. As a photographer I love it when people are relaxed and natural whilst in front of the camera.
Jade arrived at the church in a very cool ‘old’ Volkswagon Camper Van, together with her dad and she looked absolutely fantastic – stunning in fact, in her wedding dress. After a short discussion with the vicar and her bridesmaids outside, her dad escorted her in to the church for the start of the wedding ceremony.
Following the wedding ceremony, the bride and groom mingled with guests and posed for photographs outside the church. We had just about got all of the formal photo’s completed before it started to rain at which point we all headed off to the Bull Hotel where they held the wedding reception.
The day of the wedding was a strange mix of sunshine and showers, either brilliant sunshine or else pouring rain. I’m pleased to say though that we managed to avoid the rain and stayed pretty dry all day.
Jade and David were a dream to work with and throughout the day we got some beautiful shots. I particularly like the natural light portraits taken of Jade and David standing in front of the huge church doors and the shots taken using video light on the stairs in the Bull Hotel
I have produced a selection of photographs from the day below, please feel free to leave comments.
If you are planning an Essex wedding or a Suffolk wedding and would like to discuss your wedding photography then please contact me.
I hope you enjoyed the photo’s now see the video!
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