Filtering by Category: Wedding dress

Josie and Rob - Anne of Cleves House

March 16, 2022  /  Rebecca King

This was my final wedding of last season, and what a lovely one it was to end on. It was such a warm and intimate occasion. Everyone was so lovely and kind and there was so much love involved.

This wedding took place at the wonderful Anne of Cleves House in Lewes. It is a beautiful medieval home that was given in a divorce settlement between King Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves, his fourth wife. It is located about five minutes walk from the brides childhood home. I met her and her family there. We took the short, but picturesque walk to the venue. which was such a lovely thing to be able to do. What made the choice of venue even more special was that it was where the brides parents had also been married.

I am always in awe of my brides, the work they put into organising their weddings, all in-between working, home life, and a lot of the time, childcare. So many brides invest so much time in making their day perfect, and a lot of them also spend time making favours or decorations to bring a more personal touch to the day. Josie went one better, as she made her own wedding dress, and her daughters bridesmaid dress. I can sew, but I cannot master making clothes, let alone a wedding dress. It was the most beautiful dress, and I have to say, I’m so impressed by her for doing it. The decorations she made were brightly coloured pom poms wreaths and bunting, and even some fabric fortune cookies. The talent obviously runs in the family as Josie’s mum made the stunning wedding cake. it was a beautiful two tier chocolate cake, covered in flowers that matched the colour scheme and the bouquets.

It was such a beautiful and sunny September day, we even got a quick twenty minutes free to walk from Anne of Cleves House to the beautiful Southover Grange Gardens, to take a few Bride and Groom photographs. As I always recommend to my couples it’s a good idea to have that quiet moment with just them and the photographer, a little moment of calm and reflection on what is a crazy busy, but magical day. I love Grange Gardens for photographs. It’s a beautiful green space, that’s full of flowers and trees and different textures. It’s a walled garden, so it feels like your away from everything. Also the beautiful 16th century Grade II listen Manor House is a lovely backdrop. I love to get the chimneys and rooftops in the background of the photographs, sometimes you have to try to avoid other newlyweds though as it is also a registry office.

This was such a wonderful wedding, it was so informal and relaxed. The children were having a blast running around the house and gardens, they were enjoying all that this lovely venue has to offer, even wearing the costumes they have out for any visitors. It was a great day, spent with lovely people to celebrate this wonderful couple.

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categories / Wedding Photography, Wedding dress, Sussex Wedding, Photography, Lewes wedding, Lewes, East Sussex wedding
tags / wedding hair, wedding veil, weddings, wedding dress, Lewes wedding, Sussex wedding, East Sussex wedding, Anne of cleves, wedding bouquet, wedding blog, Lewes

Nuleen and Sanjeev - Warren House Hotel/Shree Ghanapathy Temple

February 11, 2022  /  Rebecca King

When my beautiful dear friend asked me to photograph her wedding, I was so excited! She was apprehensive at first to ask me as it was due to take place on my birthday. I’m so glad she did as it was one of the best birthdays. I couldn’t think of anywhere else I would have rather spent my birthday, and it was one I will never forget, and I love the fact we share this special date with each other.

The day started at Warren House, a gorgeous Victorian Manor House in Kingston, it was surrounded by acres of beautiful gardens. Nuleen was getting her hair and make-up done by Le Rouge De La Vie. Her stunning wedding lehenga was hanging up. It was the most vibrant crimson red, which was decorated with beautiful gold embroidery and bead work. It was certainly the heaviest wedding outfit I had ever known. It was made by Sabyasachi Mukherjee, he is an Indian fashion designer, who has dressed many celebrities and even made the wedding lehenga of Priyanka Chopra.

Nuleen and Sanjeev are Hindu and were having a traditional ceremony, so there were many customs that were followed when she was getting ready, from the clothes, jewellery and make-up. It felt such an honour to be able to document these long lived rituals. I am of Indian heritage, but have been bought up without any knowledge of Indian traditions, so for me I found it such beautiful and interesting experience.

When Nuleen and Sanjeev were ready we went out into the pretty grounds and I took some photographs of the beautiful couple. It was so nice to be able to enjoy the surroundings and make the most of the venue. Nuleen and Sanjeev’s friends arrived and we all took the short drive to the Ghanapathy Temple. It was the most wonderful and magical ceremony to witness, from the exchange of floral garlands; the throwing of rice; to how integral fire is to the ceremony. There were so many special moments to capture and Nuleen and Sanjeev’s friends so kindly guided me and helped me photograph them all. They gave me a commentary of what was happening and even involved me in them too. It was an occasion for all the senses, the aromatic smells, the rhythm of the prayers and chants. The colours of the couples and all their guests clothes; the flowers and the beautiful decorations in the temple were so rich and vivid. I experienced such a grounded and connected feeling too, as you must remove your footwear before entering the temple. The ceremony also includes so many of the guests. It is such a group celebration, everyone is involved. It was a colourful, beautiful and truly enlightening day. It was such a privilege to be able to be a part of such a special moment, and share it with my lovely friend. I always think I am so lucky to be able to be a part of all the weddings I am able to photograph, I feel so fortunate.

After this wonderful experience it was back to the hotel another wonderful experience, the wedding feast! Life is made for adventure and new experiences and I really feel so lucky that my job enables the to do that.

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categories / Wedding dress, Wedding Photography, Indian wedding
tags / wedding hair, wedding veil, wedding dress, Hindu wedding, Lehenga, Sabyasachi, Ghanapathy Temple

Lucy and Ryan - Lewes Castle/East Sussex National

January 19, 2022  /  Rebecca King

I’m thinking back to the heady warm days of August (yes, I know it takes me ages to get around to writing these blogs). Lucy and Ryan tied the knot at the stunning venue of Lewes Castle. Lewes castle is in Lewes, unlike Leeds castle that happens to be in Kent!

Lucy and Ryan were a Covid couple, they had had their wedding day cancelled three times, but thankfully the rules were changed a few weeks before their big day, so everything could go ahead just how they wanted it to.

I was fully vaccinated by this time, so I felt a lot more at ease. I had still been wearing a mask whenever I was indoors, which is tricky because my viewfinder steams up. Luckily, Lewes Castle is an outdoor venue so I had no worries about masks during the ceremony. I would only have to wear one for the evening meal and party, which was to take place at East Sussex National Hotel in Uckfield.

Lewes Castle is a beautiful venue, it’s a late 11th century Norman castle. It has stunning panoramic views of the South Downs, and of the old town of Lewes below.

The wedding ceremony at Lewes Castle takes place under the West Tower archway, which is surrounded by roses. The guests sit in The Pleasure garden under the shade of an old lime tree. There is so much to see at the top of the castle, the only drawback of getting to the top is there are so many steps!

After Lucy and Ryan’s ceremony we took some photographs with the views of Lewes in the background. Then it was down to the Gun Garden for drinks and canapés, whilst beautiful music was played on a cello and violin. I got to steal the happy couple away, only for a few moments for some photographs around the beautiful location. They weren’t fans of having their photographs taken, but I felt it was my duty to make sure that they had at least a couple of them together, as they would surely regret it in the years to come. It’s not every day you get married at a historic castle. They wanted documentary style photographs. Documentary wedding photography will tell the story of your day, through candid, unposed images . It allows you to spend all your time with your friends and family, without any awkward posing or hours of formal group shots. Which can give you an authentic feel of the day. I did request that we did one group shot of all the guests, it’s very rare that you can get all your loved ones in one place at the same time, so its nice to have at least one photograph of them all smiling. I did have different guests asked me to take photographs of them with their loved ones, which I was more than happy to do.

After Lucy and Ryan received their photographs they did say how much they loved them, and how they had been enjoying going through them to have them printed to put in an album. I will always do my utmost to give my couples exactly what they want and more, I am glad I took them away for five minutes and gave them the photographs they didn’t know they wanted.

After a couple of hours in the sunshine in the Gun Garden with drinks, food and even a caricature artist, it was time to all get on the wedding bus and head off to East Sussex National Hotel for the food, speeches and an evening of fun and dancing.

I am taking bookings for 2022/23, our prices start from £500. All packages included edited images on a USB.

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categories / East Sussex wedding, Lewes, Lewes wedding, Photography, Sussex Wedding, Wedding dress, Wedding Photography
tags / wedding hair, wedding veil, weddings, wedding dress, Lewes wedding, lewes, Lewes Castle, East Sussex national, Castle wedding