“You are so friendly and relaxed it felt like you were one of the guests. The photos are stylish and full of personality. We cannot say enough how grateful we are that you were our photographer!”

Malvern College Wedding Photos | Worcestershire | UK

Mary and Chris met at Aberystwyth University in 2005.  Living in the same halls in the 1st Year both friendship groups overlapped. Noticing they happened to have some history lectures together they soon became friends, spending waaaaaaaay too much time chatting on MSN (this was in 2005 remember folks) instead of studying. A cool 12 years later Chris proposed in Kew Gardens. Working in TV production meant weekends off together were rare, so they headed to one of their favourite places in London:

We’d packed a picnic and found a nice bench in the sunshine near the Pagoda. Talking about a wedding we had recently attended I didn’t really notice that Chris wasn’t eating very much. Next thing I knew, he had pulled a ring box out of his backpack and was down on one knee. So taken aback, my first words were “What? No!” Sheer disbelief that it was happening! I can’t remember anything he said but I do remember that during the proposal, an old lady walked into view, stopped mid-stride as she clocked what was happening, and watched us get engaged! She was the first person who knew I said yes. Chris then popped a small bottle of bubbly and I cried and laughed for a solid 15 minutes.

I grew up in Malvern but we didn’t particularly plan to get married there. We looked at few venues in the area and soon realised that finding a civil ceremony venue that could hold our number of guests was pretty tricky. Malvern College was perfect. It meant we could both get married and have the reception there. Plus it was big enough to hold all our guests, with lovely spaces outside to have drinks, canapes and other entertainment. The buildings and grounds are spectacular and looked brilliant in the sunshine with the Malvern Hills in the background. The events team made us feel at ease and we knew we could rely on them to help us organise our dream day.

Malvern College Wedding Inspiration

Music was key so we wanted to include as much variety as we could. My Uncle Julian sang, my dad’s choir performed and we had a string quartet for the ceremony. Colour-wise we started with one idea that we thought was in keeping with a summery wedding- grey, green, and white. In the end we ended up going with navy blue! The bridesmaid dresses were navy. Chris’ suit was blue. The groomsmen wore blue paisley ties. Our cake was a navy and white marvel! In terms of the décor, we used various clear, blue and green bottles filled with flowers as the table centerpieces. Being big gin fans, each centerpiece included a gin bottle as well. We then had additional bottles dotted around the venue.

All the flowers were white lisianthus and gypsophila. Eucalyptus was also used in the arrangements to add a bit of variation, colour, and scent. Bridesmaids had gypsophila bouquets and I had a white peony bouquet. One thing that was very important to us was to avoid any long periods of waiting about. There was music, drinks and canapes, and outdoor games. We were incredibly lucky with the weather so people were able to chat and catch up in the sunshine.

Chris is a big fan of stationary so that was an important part of the wedding.  Chris’ colleague designed our wedding invitations and did an incredible job! We wanted a concertina style invitation and they came out amazing! My Uncle Wade painted some watercolours of the venue and we used one on the front of the invitation and another on the order of the day cards. Place card holders were corks, a nod to Chris’ job, and table names were postcards of places that we had been to and were special to us. Of course, the top table was Aberystwyth, where we met.

Tell us about your wedding dress.

I wanted a very simple dress, no fuss, no frills, no bells and whistles. A dress that I was comfortable in and could dance in the night away in! My dress came from a little store in Staines called Encore. I removed the bow on the belt and instead added a little bit of sparkle to the centre as I am a bit of a magpie! It was so comfy and the fabric was beautiful. Shame I’ll only wear it once! Chris wore a gorgeous blue three-piece suit from M&S, with alterations from a tailor in Staines. His black oxford shoes were from Cheaney on Jermyn Street. Chris wore a Barbaris wool tie from TM Lewin, and blue enamel World map cufflinks from Charles Tyrwhitt (a birthday present from Mary the previous day).

The Bridesmaids’ dresses and shoes were from Monsoon. I was keen to find dresses that were comfortable and that they would wear again. We had originally thought about a grey, white and green colour scheme but it turns out we couldn’t find dresses in grey or green! We saw the dresses on a shopping trip in Reading and we all loved them. The girls tried them on and they both looked so lovely so we knew we had found the ones. The colour scheme went out the window! Both girls wore silver open-toed high heeled shoes, to compliment the subtle silver beading on the dresses.

Advice for those planning a wedding.

Enjoy it! Relax and enjoy the day with your loved ones, you have been planning this day for a long time! If something does go wrong or not entirely to plan then it’s ok because you are marrying the love of your life. That is ultimately what you will remember. Plus, a shot of port with my dad before I left the house helped settle the nerves. Having been a bit stressed out about making a speech, my advice would be to not worry about it! The pressure is off for the groom; in a room full of our friends and family, there was no reason to fear a few fluffed lines!

One great piece of advice we were given is to take time out together during the wedding and find a quite spot to sit for 5/10 minutes and reflect on the day as it is quite the whirlwind! It was so nice to just sit together and chat about the day before being interrupted by my slightly tipsy mum 🙂 And remember, it is your day. Yes, you want everyone to be happy and have a good time, but ultimately it is your day and a reflection of you as a couple so do what you want!  Unknown to Chris I had secretly arranged for the string quartet to play the Jurassic Park theme as we walked back down the aisle after the ceremony. The look on his face was brilliant when he realised what they were playing.

What did you want from your wedding photography?

We did not want staged photos! We wanted candid shots where people didn’t even know they were being snapped. It was important to us that we had someone who “got us” us as a couple and who could capture all those magic moments and emotion of the day. And that’s exactly what you did and we couldn’t be happier with the results. Jonny you are so friendly and relaxed it felt like you were one of the guests, rather than the wedding photographer. Your photos are stylish and full of personality. We can’t say enough how grateful we are that you were our photographer!

SHOUT OUT TO THE MALVERN COLLEGE WEDDING SUPPLIERS

Make up artists: Hidden Beauty by Joanne Burton

Florists: P & M Flowers – wholesale florist based in Worcester

Rings: Jade Jewellers in Hatton Garden. Chris bought the engagement ring from Hatton Garden so we headed back there to look at wedding rings. We went into Jade after visiting a couple of other shops and got chatting to Yvonne. She was so knowledgeable and helpful that we bought the rings there and then. We both picked court rings, Chris’ is rose gold and mine is platinum to fit with my engagement ring.

Cake: Tilly Flo’s Cakes. I used to work with Jess many years ago and knew she was an incredible cake maker. I didn’t want anyone else to make ours and I’m so glad she was available. She made us an amazing Victoria sponge, decorated in blue and white icing, silver leaf and macarons (my fave!) Jess also made a Captain America themed birthday cake for our nephew Alex who turned 5 on the day. Cue one happy nephew!

Catering Company: The catering was all taken care of by the College and they did a brilliant job. We had a number of dietary requirements but nothing was an issue and everything tasted amazing! We hired a bar for the reception from The Watering Hole. Ross and his team were brilliant and the rustic style of the bar fitted with our day perfectly.

Entertainment: DJ – DJ Adie (Jam Productions) and Malvern Male Voice Choir

Cars/Transport: We didn’t have any special cars or transport. Dad just tied a bit of ribbon around his car and drove me up, after we had had a shot of port.

If you like the look of my Malvern College wedding photos I’d love to hear from you.

Head to the contact page to book a call or to fill in my contact form and check my availability.