There’s always that slightly nervous glance out of the window on the morning of a wedding when you wake up to rain but thankfully, by the time I arrived at Eastington Park for Sophie and Aaron’s wedding, the rain had cleared and we were ready for a very full day of celebrations.
I started the day upstairs with Sophie and the girls as everyone got ready together. Hair and make-up were well underway, so I spent some time capturing all those little moments that make up a wedding morning... the chatting, laughing, finishing touches and general excitement as everything suddenly starts to feel very real.
When Aaron and his groomsmen arrived, I headed downstairs to capture some footage of them too, along with guests beginning to arrive for the day.
One thing I particularly loved about Eastington Park was that wedding guests were able to check into their rooms from midday rather than having to wait until the usual 3pm check-in. It sounds like such a small detail, but it makes such a difference on a wedding day. Guests could arrive, drop their bags, get themselves sorted and then properly relax and enjoy the celebrations beginning at 2pm without disappearing halfway through the afternoon to check in.
Two Emotional Reveals
Back upstairs, it was time for the final preparations.
There were a few selfies, the finishing touches and then Sophie got into her dress ready for one of my favourite moments of the morning, the reveal with her dad.
And it was an emotional one.
Once everyone had recovered from that, we headed downstairs where Nan was waiting at the bottom for another reveal… which, unsurprisingly, brought another round of emotions!
It’s these moments that I love capturing on film. They happen so quickly on the day, but being able to watch the reactions back afterwards means they don’t just disappear into the whirlwind of everything else that happened.
Possibly the Quickest Wedding Ceremony Ever?
Then it was time to get married.
Sophie and Aaron had decided they didn’t want a long ceremony. They wanted the essential legal bits, a quick exchange of rings and then to get on with celebrating with everyone they loved.
And they absolutely committed to that plan.
From the registrar asking everyone to stand for Sophie’s entrance to the first kiss and moving on to signing the register…
7 minutes and 45 seconds.
That might be a personal record!
But that’s one of the brilliant things about weddings – there really isn’t a rule saying your ceremony needs to last a particular amount of time. If the important part for you is getting married and then spending as much of the day as possible celebrating with your guests, you can absolutely keep things short and sweet.
Confetti, Canapés and a Few Minutes Together
With the official bit complete, everyone headed outside for confetti before settling into drinks, canapés and plenty of mingling.
We gave everyone around half an hour to relax before gathering people together for the group photographs, followed by another half hour of drinks and catching up before everyone began making their way inside for the wedding breakfast.
While the guests were getting seated, we stole Sophie and Aaron away for a few minutes.
Not really for filming, although, obviously, I did film them!
Wedding days go ridiculously quickly, and couples can quite easily reach the evening and realise they’ve barely had a proper conversation with each other since the ceremony.
So rather than directing them constantly, I stepped back and captured a few clips from a distance while they simply walked, talked and had a few minutes together.
Sometimes the best thing I can do for your wedding film is give you a little space to forget I’m there.
The Table Captains Understood the Assignment
Then came the wedding breakfast and I have to mention the table captains.
If you haven’t encountered this particular wedding trend yet, each table gets its own captain and, depending on the competitiveness of your friends and family, things can escalate rather quickly.
Sophie and Aaron’s guests took the responsibility very seriously.
There were football-style chants about the couple. Chants about the food. Chants about table numbers.
Honestly, if there was something in the room capable of having a chant written about it, somebody probably gave it one.
All in pursuit of the very important honour of being crowned the loudest table of the afternoon.
It went down an absolute storm and brought so much energy into the room.
Speeches, First Dance and Bacon Rolls
Speeches followed, bringing exactly the right mixture of emotion and laughter, before we moved fairly quickly into the cake cutting and first dance.
Sophie and Aaron chose Over and Over Again by Nathan Sykes for their first dance before everyone joined them and the evening celebrations properly got underway.
From there, the party continued late into the evening.
Guests spent the night dancing, chatting and capturing plenty of their own photographs on the selfie pod, before the arrival of a very welcome evening snack – bacon rolls, followed, naturally, by a slice of wedding cake.
Because if there’s ever an occasion where having a bacon roll and cake for supper is completely acceptable, it’s a wedding.
And after a day that began with rain, included two emotional reveals, possibly one of the fastest wedding ceremonies I’ve ever filmed and an afternoon of increasingly enthusiastic football-style chanting, it was a pretty perfect way to finish Sophie and Aaron’s day at Eastington Park.