Natalie & Matt – Rushton Hall Orangery Wedding

For their wedding Natalie & Matt chose the brand new Northamptonshire Wedding venue of the Rushton Hall Orangery.  In fact it was so new that at the time of booking the Orangery hadn’t even been built!  They just had artist’s impressions and plans of what the space was going to look like. Rushton Hall itself has been a long established wedding venue and a spectacular one at that.  Grand Halls, stunning grounds and the most incredible food were all things that were going for the venue.  The one thing that let the venue down was the area named the Pavilion, but affectionately known by photographers as the ‘Scout Hut’. Mainly because from the outside (and maybe even from the inside) it looked like it should be filled with teenagers and their woggles!

So the new multi-million pound Orangery was built and Natalie & Matt’s wedding was one of the very first weddings to be held there.  It was so new you could smell the fresh paint!  Its a dream for photographers, full of light and unfussy decor.  It was certainly a perfect venue for Natalie & Matt’s wedding.

I’d know Natalie for a number of years and was very excited when she and Matt asked me to photograph their wedding day.  It was also great to be able to recommend so many other wedding suppliers which she used on the day and to work alongside the likes of Craig from Amazingdayz videography, Aimee Garner make-up artist, Rebecca at Florae Foray, and Mansfield Avenue band.

The day started with me joining Natalie and her bridesmaids at Rushton Hall, in the grand historic part of the building.  Once hair and make-up was complete the wedding ceremony itself took place at the church in Rushton Village, just a quick drive away (I think I probably walked it, as its so close!). Following the tradition church ceremony guests headed over to the grounds of Rushton Hall near to the brand new Orangery for drinks and canapés. The wedding breakfast and speeches took place in the stunning new building where its filled with the most beautiful natural light. And later in the evening the band entertained wedding guest well into the night.

As I often do with weddings during the summer and early autumn, I did a couple of different portrait sessions during the day.  This enables me to capture different parts of the venue as well as using different types of light during the day.  In the early afternoon, almost straight after the marriage ceremony, we took some photos of the newly weds at the entrance of the Rushton Hall grounds. And then later in the day as the evening light gives us the most beautiful golden colours we headed around the gardens of Rushton Hall and down to the lakeside for some beautifully romantic portraits.

From Natalie…
“Our wedding was traditional, luxurious and romantic, and our colour scheme was a blend of dusky lilacs, greys and metallic tones.

Our wedding flowers were supplied by the wonderful Becky of Florae Foray, who helped create the theme and style of the flowers. We wanted elegant, luxurious floral displays with an English country garden feel in keeping with the setting of the Rushton Hall Orangery, making use of mint/grey foliage with primarily ivory, blush and dusky pinks, with hints of mauve blooms to coordinate with the Bridesmaid dresses.

The whole day was very romantic, my husband made me feel very special and I couldn’t have asked for anything more. The most magical moment for me was listening to my husband’s speech, where he summarized perfectly our relationship and our support system that got us to where we are today.

It was very emotional when I met my Dad in the courtyard of the hotel, ready to go in the car to the church. It was tears all round from then on! Outside of the church, the realisation of what was about to happen hit me. I was overcome with emotion and couldn’t bring myself to walk in in front of all of our family and friends. A very nerve wracking time!

We chose Rushton Hall as it is a beautiful, Grade I Listed Country House hotel less than 30 minutes from our home. It offers over 45 bedrooms, enabling our guests to stay over and not have to travel at the end of the night. They completed their brand new Orangery in the summer of 2017, so we were one of the very first wedding receptions to be held there. This appealed to us as we wanted our day to be unique, and we had been to many weddings in other popular venues across the county.

My dress had everything I didn’t know I was looking for! I must have tried on over 50 dresses, but I kept coming back to this same one by Justin Alexander bought from Courtyard Bridal Boutique. The taupe underlay really brought out the detailed ivory lace. I also loved the pearl and sequin details which glistened in the light. The fit was also perfect. It was very structured to support me in all the right places (fit and flare design), but it still felt princess-like with a skirt and train.”