What do you look for in a wedding? Sophisticated, relaxed vibe, classic look, laughter, emotion, fireworks and black-ties, this sunny wedding at Blake Hall in Essex has it all! Before I’d even began my journey into the countryside for Emily and Tom’s Blake Hall Wedding Photographer in Essex I was excited for their day. I always have this extra excitement bursting out from within when I know I’ll recognise many of the faces in attendance. On this occasion, I had not only previously met Emily and Tom as guests at multiple weddings of their friends but I knew I’d have the opportunity to catch up with previous couples and guests. Happy faces are infectious, yet when you can relate and recognise those same faces it’s even more rewarding. Documenting a wedding is often an incredibly exhausting task, especially for 12 or more hours on a day when temperatures are in excess of 30C. Yet the added buzz from the visual emotions, laughter and familiar faces keep the endorphins running hour after hour – just don’t speak to me the next day! ;-)
If attempted, I’d fail to describe Emily and Tom’s superb wedding in Essex with as much gusto as it deserves, so rather than try, I’ll allow Emily to take it from here…
A few words from the bride, Emily…
(or scroll down to see a highlights selection of their wedding photos)
Before becoming engaged, did you have any preconceived ideas of what your wedding would be like? And if so, how did this change once you started planning?
Before becoming engaged I’d always wanted to get married abroad. I’d dreamed of walking down an aisle on the beach, barefoot, with the most amazing views behind us. But after being a guest at a few abroad we slowly come to the conclusion it wasn’t for us. I’m very hands-on and like to make and do things myself, so trying to lug our whole wedding on an aeroplane just wasn’t the best idea for us. We got engaged and after talking it through we decided we would prefer a wedding as local as possible, no more than an hour away so we could have all our close friends and family with us, and as I said I could get crafty and take everything with me in the boot of a car…or 3!!
How and why did you choose your venue(s)?
So we began looking for our dream venue no more than an hour from our home in Essex. It was hard going because after our engagement we had an abundance of weddings, mostly in Essex. We didn’t want to have a wedding that we had been to with our friends the previous year. Most were at beautiful stately home type venues, so we decided to look for more rural places. Barns began to take our fancy.
We looked at a few, but Blake Hall was our favourite. We loved the outside area and the barn where the ceremony took place. Neither my husband nor I had been to a wedding in a venue like Blake Hall so it was perfect. The little cottage where the bride and bridesmaids stayed the night before really did sell it for me in particular, it was just beautiful, I could see myself living in that little cottage! So we booked our wedding, bank holiday weekend, 25th August 2019 – one of the hottest days that year. And yes we did make the men wear black tie ;)
When planning our wedding we were adamant we wanted it to be fun but classy. Neither of us wanted to look back in years to come and think OMG why did I do that with my hair or pick that colour, we wanted it to be timeless. Also, we didn’t ever want our guests standing around bored or not knowing where to go or what comes next etc. So we made sure we covered all areas of the day. But as much as we wanted our guests to be happy, we told each other to not worry about them, or anything that happens on the big day and just enjoy it ourselves. I think you can so easily get wrapped up in worrying about if that person would enjoy that music or if this person would be happy sitting there. But you can’t please everyone so we set out to make sure that most of all WE were happy.
What one thing most surprised you on the day of your wedding?
I think I surprised myself by being so calm! The whole build-up, the day itself, was just a breeze. I fully expected to be a nervous wreck, but we planned everything and made sure all things were buttoned up so there was nothing to worry about on the day. Yes, a few things went wrong, but what can you do? If you get upset it would ruin your day, and its too late to change it or anything so you do really just have to shrug it off and enjoy it. Because what I noticed after when talking to my guests, things that had gone wrong, like missing flowers or something not quite how you’d asked it to be, the guests really didn’t notice at all.
If you could do it all over again, which one thing wouldn’t you change, and if anything, what one thing would you change?
We wouldn’t change a thing about our day. It really was the most perfect day ever! Hot, but perfect.
A complete supplier list can be found in the footer of this post.
With help from…
Venue: Blake Hall
Videographer: Henry ward
MUA: Bridesmaids & MOB – Chalemagne Smithies
MUA: Bride – Boe Wright
Catering Team: Dave Smith – Waters Edge Catering
Piano & DJ: DJ Mitesh, Saxophonist Philip, Bongos Ollie
Other Entertainment: Singer Steve Conway and Pianist Cornel Oprea
Cake: Pink Face Cakes – Vicki Neal
Wedding Rings: Colebys Billericay
Dress Designer: Riki Dalal
Shoe Designer: Valentino
