Hello,
I’m Hannah, a wedding and portrait photographer based in St Albans, near London. I read a lot of wedding blogs, mention micro pigs at least once a week (in the hope that one will turn up with a bow around its neck on my birthday) and prefer to drink through straws.
Further work can be found on my Wedding Site or for everything non-wedding my Personal/Portrait Website.
Want to know more? E-mail me, I love to chat!
I know it’s wrong to play favourites, but, sometimes a wedding is just exactly how I’d want my own wedding and Nicola and James’ wedding at South Farm in Cambridgeshire was one of those. So, here are some sneak peeks of their big day. Very excited to share the rest in the near future!
Lucy and Richard’s wedding was an intimate affair at Lower Grange Farm in Kent. The venue is beautiful! The barn had sun light streaming through the doors and little fairy lights twisted around the beams. The glowy, golden light from behind Lucy is just perfect and the whole room felt so airy and summery.
I love that so many of the weddings I cover have handmade details and this one was full of them! Lucy works in environmental services so the whole wedding was very Eco-friendly. The bouquets, boutonnieres and table flowers were all made by a friend who picked then from her garden! Their cake table featured some lovely homemade cakes, with the little log cake stands made by friends too, and as a card maker, Lucy made all of the paper items herself. There was also a lot of speculation about whether Lucy would be in a dress as she’s a trousers kind of girl, but, I think you’ll agree, she looks just beautiful and right at home in such a lovely dress!
I kind of don’t want to spoil the surprise when you scroll down but – they had an ice cream van!! They kept a lot of their plans a secret – no one knew about the ice cream van (apart from me and the coordinators), so, it was just a perfect moment when all the kids saw it pull up. I admit I have developed a bit of a penchant for photos of kids eating ice cream…!
Melissa and Phil were married at Woolhanger Manor in Exmoor – the views were just incredible (making the terrifying drive completely worthwhile) from this little spot and the venue itself is beautiful, with massive gorgeous windows and I fell in love with their candle-lined aisle. Their ceremony was one of the smiliest I’ve ever seen – Melissa sprung a bit of a surprise on Phil when one of her friends read a Valentine’s card from him as her reading – there was so much laughter and it was adorable. You can just tell Phil and Melissa are so happy together because the giggles just kept coming!
It was then off to The Fox & Hounds Country Hotel in Chulmleigh, where Melissa and Phil had some gorgeous decorations – photos of their guests were strung across the ceilings and more photos of the couples sat behind the head table. I just loved their cheese “cake” with mini bunting. When it came to the dancing, Melissa’s gorgeous dress became this incredibly mesmerising swirl of petticoats! There were some amazing moves on the dancefloor and a great band.
It’s always a joy to discover a lovely venue in my home county of Hertfordshire and Ponsbourne Park was a real surprise, just off the reception is the most beautiful room surrounded by big windows and a gorgeous view over the grounds. Even on a grey November day, the sun shone brightly through the windows and I was blown away by how beautiful the room looked with the flower lined aisle. And of course, both Amy and Tom looked wonderful – Tom was sporting one of the best groom’s shoes/socks ensembles I’ve ever seen!
Amy and Tom are music lovers and this was reflected in the little details scattered throughout the wedding (and something I very much appreciated). During the drinks reception there was a record player and a box of records for people to choose and this theme carried through to their wedding breakfast – where the tables were named after different record labels and sported a record from said label as a table number. Tom’s brother and best man also brought his love into his speech, with a sing along, printed on little cards for all the guests. There was also a Polaroid guest book which, as a photographer, I loved of course! As you can see, it was a day absolutely full of fun, laughter and smiles – just such a joy to be around such happy people!
Firstly, I just want to say – I love that Hannah shares my name – it means that for the last eight-or- so months there’s been a big “Hannah Wedding” on my wall planner. A girl can dream, right? Hint hint.
Hannah and Oscar’s wedding was the perfect way to kick off a new year of weddings – they were married in Notley Tythe Barn, near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire which is a beautiful barn that they had covered in fairy lights and gorgeous bunting. The happy couple both looked wonderful, oh and those bridesmaid dresses were just beautiful (they even had pockets – everyone loves dresses with pockets, right?)! More importantly, though, they were a joy to be around – not just Hannah and Oscar (who I already knew were great to be around after we met in the summer), but, the bridal party, their friends, their family…Hannah’s Mum wrote to me after the wedding say I felt like part of the family and I was so thrilled because I really felt like they’d welcomed me in with open arms.
As part of my job I often get to crawl over the front seats of the wedding car to get some shots of the couple in the back of the car – I always love feeling how squidgy those seats are and looking at how cosy the back look. So when the gents from Allerston Taylor & Regency Carriages offered to drive me up the hill to a less muddy location for some couple shots, I was very excited – I got to ride in the bridesmaids car and it was like driving on a sofa. I’m currently car shopping, so, that may have added to my excitement…!
Hannah and Oscar had added a lot of lovely little touches to their day – being in February (although, we did see some lovely sun, albeit, paired with icy cold winds) there were lots of rainy day games, such as Jenga and Hungry, Hungry Hippos, which were just a joy to watch the guests play. They also had printed up little badges with pictures of themselves as children on them and the guests had to wear the face of the person they’d met first – I thought that was just a lovely touch. Really, I just cannot express how much I loved this wedding! On with the photos…
I met Polly and Jon shortly before they moved abroad and they were just a joy to meet. Based on our meeting they recommended me to Sarah and Andy, whose wedding you may remember over here. Two marquee weddings with very different feels!
Polly described the wedding to me at the time as a “haunted forest banquet” (well, I’m sure it wasn’t those words exactly, but…) and I was intrigued. Their ceremony was held in a lovely village church, St Margaret’s, just down the road from her parents house and then the reception was a marquee in their garden. After a walk up a lit pathway, you arrived in the marquee, which had four rooms, the bar area was just stunning, with bare trees sprouting through the floor, lit from below and housing the guests names on hanging tags. Each table was named after a film with a number in the title. Very clever! The second room was where the wedding breakfast took place, lined with lights and tables covered in wild flowers, by Florist in the Florist. The third room (which I hadn’t even realised was there! Was revealed in the evening for the dancing – white and pink lanterns hung from the ceiling and it was like a magical solar system. To continue the film theme, during the signing of the register at the church, one of the couples friends played a number of film themes on the keyboard, when their guests sat down for the wedding breakfast there was a quiz to name the films the songs were from. I loved this idea – mainly because I was doing the quiz myself in my head and I reckon I’d have won…!
As you can see from the number of shoe photos included in this post, Polly chose some incredibly high, sparkly, Jimmy Choo’s, I loved the little bit of modern, sexy styling, under her beautiful, classic dress. Speaking of looking gorgeous, Kylie McMichael provided her hair and make-up skills for the big day and she was a joy!
Polly and Jon’s story is just lovely – I love hearing how people meet. Polly and Jon’s parents were friends, so, the two knew each other as children and went in holiday together (I was sent a link to their wedding site and thought it was just adorable that they had photos of themselves together as children), they met up together again as adults and, well, the rest is history…
Nina and Jon were married at St Andrews Church in Alfriston, Sussex and the reception took place in the Alfriston Memorial Hall just next door. Alfriston is such a beautiful little village – it’s straight off a postcard, the church is on top of a hill overlooking a green, which was full of interested spectators on the gorgeous summers day the two tied the knot and the Memorial Hall was just full of sunlight.
I think we can all agree Nina is absolutely stunning and looks like a Hollywood starlet! I also love the ivory bridesmaids dresses – so elegant! Of course, I knew it would be a beautiful day as I was recommended to the couple by the wonderful Helen and Tom. One of my favourite moments of the day had to be the bouquet toss – Nina stood at the top of a hill for the throw and one of her friends went sliding down the hill in the wrestle for victory! Many giggles followed. In fact, it was a lovely day full of laughter (and a few tears).
Kate and Joe were married at Holy Trinity Church, a beautiful country church in Drewsteignton and then back to Joe’s parents house for the reception. When I say the wedding was in their garden it doesn’t really conjure up the image of the massive amount of land, barns, multiple properties, etc. that actually reside there. When we arrived from the church there was a path lined with those little brown bags with tea lights in them (do they have a proper name?) with their initials cut into them. I admit I wasn’t so sure my little Ka was actually going to maintain its precarious position in the very steep carpark, especially when the coach that they had hired to ferry guests backwards and forwards to their hotels got stuck up there and a tractor had to pull it down the hill! But, good old Ka (apologies for the car talk – said car recently met an untimely death and I am feeling nostalgic about it!).
There was then a beautiful spread of cream tea in the marquee (complete with homemade jams and Devonshire clotted cream) and later a hog roast style buffet (Kate is veggie so she had also taken care of us veggies!) and then into the barn, with bare wood beams and pictures of family on the walls for the dancing. It really was an idyllic setting, you could party into the night with no one hearing you and the view was incredible…!
For the ceremony Kate wore the most beautiful gold sparkly heels and then for the reception, which was rather grassy for heels, she changed to some hot pink flats with hearts – serious shoe love going on for this wedding! In fact, I was pretty much in love with all of the styling – Kate’s tea length dress; beautiful flower garland and bright red lips! Not to mention the mismatched bridesmaid dresses, I’m a big fan of bridesmaids stamping their own personality on their individual outfits! Speaking of the girls – Kate’s family and bridal party stayed at Coombe Hall the night before, it was a really lovely estate and after seeing it, it’s definitely the way I’ll go if I get married far from home – they had run of the properties and they felt like wonderful wedding houses!
Above is a little insight into my Valentine’s Day. My boyfriend always outdoes himself with sweet and thoughtful gifts. Tulips are my favourites and then later a The Simpsons-tastic card (I may have been a nightmare wandering around saying, “I choo-choo-choose you” like Ralph most of the day) and some homemade popcorn. The boyfriend unpacked it from his bag saying, “I think this belongs on Pinterest Fails,” but, I thought it was perfect – white chocolate popcorn with peanut M&M’s, Smarties and Love Hearts. I hope you all had a great one and that there are a few more rings on fingers out there!
Anyway, that was not the purpose of this post! I think we can all agree, blogging is not my strong point, which is such a shame as I think blogs are the best place to get an idea of a photographer’s work and personality. So, over the weekend I got to work resizing images and there are going to be a lot of blog posts coming your way! I want all my couples beautiful days to get an airing on the blog and inspire you guys! Just be warned – there’s going to be a whirlwind of different seasons coming your way and a whole lot of pretty. Enjoy!
You may remember Lauren and Paul from their gorgeous summer evening engagement shoot over here. I have to say I was very excited about the wedding after our shoot – having already met with the couple, as well as Lauren’s Mum, I knew I’d be surrounded by lovely people and I wasn’t wrong! Plus, I had heard much about Lauren’s dress hunt and I just knew she’d look incredible in Jenny Packham. When I arrived at Lauren’s parents house, they had returned from the hairdressers and Lauren was sporting an incredible 1920s hair do, so, I was in paradise! How incredibly glamorous and elegant does she look? And Paul in his kilt looks super fetching too. I also have to mention the flowers because I just think they’re the perfect for a winter wedding – the beautiful muted colours and the way they look almost frost-kissed, just incredible. They were made by the fab Blush Floral Design.
The ceremony was in the beautiful St Mary’s Church in Horsell and the reception was held at the Stag on the River in Eashing, with its low ceilings and warm lights, it was the perfect location for a cosy winter wedding. I just know they partied in style into the night because I saw some incredible moves on the dance floor before I left.
Lauren and Paul were a holiday romance that came good – they both met on stag and hen dos, had a holiday romance which became a long distance relationship, until Paul moved to Surrey to join Lauren. Lauren tells it better over in the feature of their engagement shoot on Whimsical Wonderland Weddings. As a little nod to this, the loos were full of photos from their own hen and stag parties, strung along the ceiling. It’s such a lovely story and they really are perfect together. Congratulations Lauren and Paul!
