Married by the river, mini golf and a Rolling Stones connection - very rock n roll!
"Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste I've been around for a long, long year. Stole many a man's soul and faith and I was 'round when Jesus Christ had his moment of doubt and pain. Made damn sure that Pilate washed his hands and sealed his fate"
Those are the opening lines from 'Sympathy for the Devil' by the Rolling Stones, a random way you to start a wedding blog perhaps?!
Welllllll.....I'm not losing it, time for a musical history lesson
Back in 1968 the band had just finished recording Beggars Banquet and needed shots for the album cover, cue a trip up the M1 to Derbyshire to the (at the time) ruined Swarkestone Pavilion.
20 years later The Landmark Trust bought the ruins and renovated it to its former glory and leaping forward to the present day, it's where Fabienne got married on the morning of her wedding to Chris!!
Thus endeth the history lesson
A wedding is one of the most significant chapters in every couples history book and I do feel like a story-teller.
Every good story, of course, has a beginning, middle and end, and with a wedding you have lots of little 'side plots' and colour being added as you go through the day, driving the narrative forwards
At Swarkestone Pavilion it acts as a look out so you can peek as your guests pull off the main road, drive past you and head down the dusty road to Cuttlebrook Farm by the River Trent
There are horses and sheep peacefully grazing in the field below and you feel hidden away as the groom and guests arriving create their own parallel storyline
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Oh don't you dare look back
Just keep your eyes on me
I said you're holding back
She said shut up and dance with me
This woman is my destiny
She said oh oh oh
Shut up and dance with me
Derbyshire Wedding Photo-journalism
With the Bride & Groom now only about 1/4 mile apart I was able to shuttle up and down the lane to visually tell the two sides of the story, documenting both the main characters
Candid, unposed, documentary wedding photographer
Funnily enough, Cuttlebrook Farm is where a little brook called (you're ahead of me here) The Cuttlebrook flows into The Trent. In the image above you can see the bridal party making their way across the brook on a little footbridge, a simplify delightful way to make your entrance
The ceremony was conducted by the Groom's Step-Mum, with readings, flower girls, the Bridesmaid and Best Man all being close family members, the ultimate in togetherness
A wedding like this is totally chilled with no venue host or wedding coordinator to hustle things along, it's very DIY. To the extent that after the ceremony, everyone grabbed a bench or a chair to carry them over to the tipi, ready for food later on
The rest of the day comprised a 9 hole mini golf, yummy food from Heidi (a food van, not a person!), music, dancing and some bridal flossing, all by the river bank with swans gracefully swimming by
I hope that if you've looked through all these images they give you a really good feel for Fabienne & Chris's wedding day
If you're planning your own wedding and this approach to photography is for you then please get in touch!!
#CountryWedding #Tipiwedding #RealWeddings #DerbyshireWedding