“You have made my day! Thank you so much for sending over the photos. I am already seeing the impact of drink over the day. You were honestly amazing all day, thank you so much.”
I do love an English Village Wedding. The wedding of Jess & Ryan was my first full wedding of 2021. It was also first full wedding following the covid pandemic and its subsequent lockdowns. Originally planned for much earlier in the year and at a completely different venue the lockdowns threw a spanner in the works and forced a change of plans. In hindsight I reckon it all worked out for the best. I’m sure Jess & Ryan would agree. The revised date of early July 2021 meant their wedding could take place without restrictions on numbers of guests. Prior to the wedding, guests had been limited to a maximum of 30. Another advantage, it was now a summer wedding rather than an early spring wedding. This meant the weather was much better!
One thing that didn’t change was the ceremony taking place at St Andrews Church in the village of Great Cransley, Northamptonshire. The reception however, would now take place just a short walk from the church at Great Cransley Village Hall. I feel it’s always a good idea to try and limit the amount of travel wedding guests have to do. Travelling between venues can eat into valuable time with friends and family. Not to mention can add unnecessary stress worrying about getting stuck in traffic.
So the whole day took place in the Northamptonshire village of Great Cransley. I started the day photographing Jess and her bridesmaids at Jess’s parents house in the village. It was great to see Jess’s bridesmaids Jade and Alice who I’d previously photographed at their own weddings. You can see Jade & Lee’s wedding here. And Alice & Adam’s wedding here! I was also able to get a few photos and Ryan and his groomsmen getting ready. He was just a short walk up the road at his and Jess’s home.
I’d photographed a few small micro weddings leading up to Jess & Ryan’s big day and loved photographing smaller intimate groups of people. However, I was super excited at the prospect of photographing a wedding with more than just 30 people again. I could feel there was a great sense of anticipation at the time that people really wanted to let their hair down and have a good time. I can well and truly confirm that everyone did let their hair down and have a good time. As the quote from Jess at the top of the blog alludes to, there was plenty of alcohol flowing on the day.
Following the ceremony family and friends walked from the church to the village hall. I enjoyed capturing plenty of photos of people enjoying the drinks. I photographed tray after tray of shots delivered and served by The Little Tipple. A mobile bar converted from an old horse box. It made for some great photos. One thing I should probably mention at this stage is that we were deep into the delayed Euro 2020 football tournament at the time of the wedding. The day of the wedding was a big game for England. A quarter final match against Ukraine. I was pleasantly surprised that very few people mentioned the game and those who were interested decided to watch the game after the wedding. This excitement all added to the day.
Some great speeches followed the drinks reception. It’s one of my favourite parts of the day to photograph. Particularly when you get such great reactions to the speeches being given. More shots were drank. And then a few more.
One of things I was keen to with the full bridal party was a couple of group photos in the village. During my walks from bridal prep to groom prep, back to bridal prep and then the walk to the church I had spotted some great backdrops for photos. I may have needed to twist a few arms to get the full group to take a walk to the bus stop and then to stand in the middle of a road for a few minutes, but I reckon everyone will agree it was worth it. I felt it was also important to capture a few portraits of Jess & Ryan with the village as the backdrop. Hope you agree it was worth the walk too!
Rather than me rambling on take a little look through some of my favourite photos from the day below.
If you’re planning your own English Village Wedding then I’d love to hear from you. Very limited dates available for 2022 and key dates in 2023 are filling up. Get in touch via my contact page here.
