Anna & Mike's Natural Summer Wedding at St Dunstan's Church and Wise Wedding Venue, Kent

February 28, 2017 • Leave a Comment

In August I had a wonderful day photographing Anna and Mike's beautiful wedding at St Dunstan's Church in West Peckham and their reception at Wise Wedding Venue in Tonbridge, Kent.

Anna and her bridesmaids got ready at Birling House bed and breakfast - it was the perfect place to get ready, with a lovely big conservatory with lots of space (and natural light - my favourite!), close to their venues, and Bob, the owner ensuring they had everything they needed and that the prosecco kept flowing!

Bob's garden was the perfect location for some portraits of the bridal party! Anna's flowers were particularly stunning - the family picked flowers locally (like pick-your-own strawberries, but with flowers!) and Anna's mother put together beautiful arrangements for the bouquets and button holes. I then whizzed over to see Mike and his groomsmen who were staying at Little Fowle Oast House and take a few portraits before the ceremony. It was such an incredible building! We then all headed over to St Dunstan's Church in West Peckham for the ceremony. It is a beautiful church in picturesque surroundings on the village green, and everyone at the church was really lovely, friendly and helpful. Reverend Pat Dickin lead a wonderful ceremony and I particularly liked Anna and Mike's choice of exit music - 'Walk of Life' by Dire Straits (they later told me about the Walk of Life Project, which is amazing and you should definitely check that out!)

It was possibly the windiest day that year but we had lots of time for photographs on the green and a pint at The Swan (the guests, not me!) before everyone headed of to the reception on a fantastic vintage London bus.

We then arrived at Wise Wedding Venue for the reception. It is an incredible location with tree houses, amazing light installations by the owner, Sam, and lots of space in the countryside to have an incredible party with a campsite for those who want to stay. It fitted Anna and Mike's style perfectly, and their homemade decorations and flowers looked stunning. We stopped for a few photos in the forest before heading to the main marquee for canapés before the meal.

So much attention to detail went into everything! There was a photo challenge on the table for everyone (a list of things to capture - what a great idea!) and as wedding favours Anna and Mike had handwritten a personal note to each guest in their place card (for me too!) - such a thoughtful thing to do! Mike's Dad said a few words before we enjoyed a delicious barbecue meal from The Complete Lunch, followed by dessert, which was the stunning wedding cake, by Dairy Cottage Cake Designs. Anna's Dad, Mike, best men Jamie and Jon and Anna all gave fantastic heartfelt speeches (full of laughs as you can see from the photos!) and I managed to whisk Anna and Mike back out for a few more shots in the incredible grounds as the light started to fade and you could really see the installations.

We then headed back inside to start an evening of dancing with Anna and Mike's first dance, and John from JMF Disco making sure everyone stayed on the dance floor - there were some seriously good moves!

The evening catering was provided by Pizza Federicci - seriously good pizzas from their van that pulled up outside! The party continued with campfires and dancing late into the night. What a wonderful day filled with so much colour, laughter, fun and love!
Congratulations Anna and Mike!

Credits:

It was really lovely to work with everyone on such an incredible day! Thank you so much to everyone, and to Anna and Mike for asking me to photograph their wonderful day.

Bridal preparation venue - Birling House B&B - http://birlinghouse.com

Dress tailoring - Miss Kay Seamstress - www.misskayseamstress.co.uk

Groom preparation - Little Fowle Oast House - www.bedandbreakfast.com/england-paddock-wood-littlefowlehallhalloast-page.html

Ceremony venue - St Dunstan's Church in West Peckham - http://kmwchurches.org/west-peckham/

Reception venue - Wise Wedding Venue - www.wiseweddingvenue.co.uk

Catering - The Complete Lunch - www.thecompletelunch.co.uk

Cake - Dairy Cottage Cake Designs - www.dairycottagecakedesigns.co.uk/home

Pizza - Pizza Federicci - www.pizzafedericci.co.uk

DJ - JMF Disco - www.jmfdisco.co.uk

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Keywords: Colchester-based, Essex, Essex-based, Kent, Photographer, Wise Wedding Venue, documentary-style, festival wedding, photographer, photography, photojournalism, reportage, venue, wedding

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