(by Ian)
The weather in the lead-up to the wedding was atrocious, but luckily it held out on the day. The wedding party hired Maunsell House in Somerset for the weekend – an English country house where you have the run of the place and you treat it like your own home, no other guests, just a huge pad to chill out in.

Holly and her friends were relaxing with champagne when I arrived at 12, jeans and t-shirts being the order of the day. She’d told everyone to be ready by 2 for the photos. I wandered around, taking some detail shots, until just after 1pm when I got the call to go up to the bride’s room where the girls were getting ready – a HUGE room with an enormous 4 poster-bed and the usual girlie prep paraphernalia. The CD was playing swing music (a love of Holly & Kelvin) and a really relaxed atmosphere. Holly was being given away by her best friend Richard, and the guys were getting themselves organised in the other rooms (Kelvin and Zoran were staying in a local pub).

At the Church there was no parking apart from the “official church car park for weddings” – so it was down the lane, into a turning, through the gate and into a field – complete with grazing cows! Cows = poo, of course, and plenty of cow pats, which gave me a great shot of a couple stepping gingerly across the grass with dress hitched up. The theme for the wedding was 40s/50s glamour, so the guys were in DJs and the girls in their posh frocks. Holly arrived by 2:45, and a few latecomers who had been enjoying the local pub received a panic phone call from one of the ushers to get them down to the Church. Holly held back in the doorway to let them in!

Outside after the ceremony Holly didn’t want confetti, so cones of lavender were out for the guests to throw. Witha tradiitonal line-up, Holly & Kerlvin walked down the ‘aisle’ and got showered – the expression on Holly’s face in the last few shots was a picture as she recieved a large quantity down the front of her dress!

Back at Maunsell House a string quartet entertained during the usual post-ceremony socialising, people chilling and drinking cocktails. The menu was planned to be good and simple – bangers and mash, great stuff!

The speeches require a special mention: They met through a joint friend when Holly was working at 3i in London – she fancied the geeky one in Accounts, which as Kelvin pointed out is like saying “I fancy the tall basketball player”! Seems their families knew each other in the East End. Little known fact about Holly – she once dated David Beckham.
Richard’s speech showed that they’re almost lifelong friends and even planned to retire to the same nursing home, bribing the staff to bring them vodka and Jack Daniels!
Zoran’s (best man) speech was in one word hilarious! Absolutely the best speech I’ve ever heard. Witty, (mostly) clean, but loads of stories about their time at Bath University. Zoran had the entire party in tears, tremendous stuff.

In the evening the swing band arrived and set up – tremendous music, and really had everyone going. These guys love dancing! They were probably the happiest group I’ve had the pleasure to photograph.
So thank you, Holly & Kelvin, for a truly fun, and special wedding.

Wedding Photography Dorset – Courtenay Photographic