Louise and Mark – a real wedding at the Knowle

Man it’s a hot one.  Like seven inches from the midday sun….

Saturday was the hottest day of the year so far.  Which made it by far the hottest wedding of the year so far.  Even better, Louise and Mark were getting married in the garden at the Knowle in Higham.  So welcome to a glorious outdoor summer wedding!  And it’s “only” May….

Lists are always a good idea on a wedding day.  Especially when you cover everything.  I men, how else would you remember to panic just after the photographer arrives?

But of course there was no real panic at all.  Everything was ready.  From the tiara…

…to the amazing beaded dress…

Meanwhile the guys were all ready.  Chilling in the heat.  And of course wearing shades.  And um, matching socks….

And all the groomsmen had individual cufflinks to reflect their own personal characters.  I’ll let you figure out what this one is (and who had the Mr Greedy cufflinks…)

Now there are lots of things to remember on your wedding day as you walk down the aisle.  Don’t hurry, don’t trip, keep your head up, keep your flowers down….so it can hardly help when right before you walk to meet your soon to be husband, your photographer says “hey, tell you what, can you make sure you walk through that patch of shade?”.  Fortunately Louise was inch perfect.

And of course Mark was there waiting for her.

(Seriously – the sky looked like that…)

Actually, wedding photography on a hot summer’s day can be a little tricky.  Deep shadows, blinding whites, hot sun, squinty eyes, sunburned bridesmaids….  They all mean you need to pick your spots for pictures pretty carefully.

Like this spot which was, err, balanced on top of a wall…..

And of course the trees always provide a little gentle shade for informal groups.

Now here’s a tip (actually 2 tips) for speeches on a hot day.

1. Do your speeches before the meal.  Then everybody (including the best man) can enjoy the meal.  It also keeps them short!
2. Do them outside.  So much more fun.  especially if people are wearing mirror shades.

But the biggest surprise of the day was the cake.  Wow, what a cake.  What do you do when the bride and groom met late one night at a burger van?  Exactly…

There was lots (and lots) more partying.  But Mark and Louise asked me to stay right until the end to capture their late night getaway.

The great news is that their honeymoon has been unaffected by the BA strike to Mark and Louise will be away for a while!  Loads more pictures when they return.  But in the meantime I know they will be checking the site so you can leave messages for them below.

You may also like:

1. Mark and Louise
2. All the pictures from a wedding at the Knowle Higham
3. Andrea and Mark get married at the Knowle
4. Wedding cake in the shape of a burger van
5. Louise and Anthony – on the beach at dawn