Danica & George - Vegan Countryside Wedding - Guildford

Sometimes an enquiry lands in our inbox that just puts the BIGGEST smile on our faces, and Danica & Georges first email did just that…

“We are having an almost entirely vegan wedding, and bringing two dogs! Our dog is a rescue from Cyprus called Persephone, as is my parents' dog, Persephone's best friend, and it would be wrong not to include them”

Vegan wedding? Dogs invited? Count us in!

So on the 18th of March we invited the 2023 wedding season in with a road trip from Yorkshire to Guildford, Surrey where the wedding was taking place. We stayed over the night before and woke up fresh and ready to head to the adorable village of Blackheath to meet D&G at the Church. Now, the wedding day itself was not without hiccups, mostly in the form of us getting a big old flat tire right as we pulled up to the church. Being that we were 5 hours drive away from home, and had to be at the reception venue later that day, this was less than ideal!

However the time to fix that situation would come later, because we were 10 minutes away from meeting up with our lovely couple for their ceremony in what might be the most cutest little village church we have ever seen!

The first thing worth mentioning is Danica’s INCREDIBLE wedding dress, because not only is it so unique and pretty, but she made it herself with her mum! To make it even more amazing she designed it using a mixture of curtain fabric and nettle fabric to keep it ethical and vegan friendly!

Some of the couples lovely relatives agreed to take us with them to the reception so after an impromptu drive we arrived at the grounds of Cross Farm where we were greeted by two of the most beautiful members of the wedding party…of course it was Persephone and Bambi the dogs of the day!

This whole wedding was designed to be relaxed, all about conversation with friends and family and enjoying the delicious vegan food on offer. What was really lovely to see was the lack of phones! Everyone was truly invested in catching up, having meaningful chats and sharing stories and in an age where if it isn’t on Instagram it didn’t happen…it was a lovely thing to witness! We were treated to some lovely food and chat ourselves between the speeches and were made to feel like such a part of the day!

We love a golden hour portrait session, so when the sun started to drop we all headed out into the farm grounds while the last of the days rain was falling for portraits. We took an umbrella but Danica & George decided to ditch it and just snuggle in the rain for a few photographs before we spotted the most perfect rainbow for their last few shots of the day!

Rather than a traditional first dance, the couple decided to keep it simple and danced between the tables to their chosen song, Disturbed’s “A Reason to Fight” before being joined by Persephone for the last half of the dance.

As everyone started to head off to the pub to close out the night, we waved our goodbyes and headed back to trusty old Clyde the van (our boat is called Bonnie for reference) who had undergone a quick tyre change while we were at the reception. So it was back to the motorway for us!

Thank you so much to Danica & George for trusting us with your day and letting us be a part of the most wonderful wedding we could have started the 2023 season with…and for sending us the link to the vegan Yorkshire puddings because honestly they are a game changer!

Dress - Handmade by bride & mother of the bride

Suit - Hire5 Menswear

Hair & Makeup - Makeup by Elisa

Florist - Sussex Meadow

Catering - Vegan to you

The reasons you should have black and white wedding photographs...

When you are looking at wedding photographers one of the things you might think about asking them is if you can see a full gallery. This is always a great idea and personally we are always happy to share a gallery or two with potential couples...and when looking through you'll likely see a good amount of black and white images scattered throughout the gallery.

We LOVE black and white images. As storytelling photographers sometimes an image just screams to be processed in black and white, and sometimes we will even know while we are shooting it that it will look gorgeous in monochrome!

Here are our top reasons we love to include black and white images in wedding galleries...

A snapshot in time

Wedding photography is about capturing little moments, memories, and preserving them forever. When we put an image in black and white, for us it gives a feeling of timelessness. It visually feels like a memory, something to be kept preserved.

It might be that black and white photography has that feeling because it was the origin of imagery both moving and photography, it gives us a feeling of vintage photographs and old movies. Whatever the reason, some moments really do seem more beautiful in black and white.

Showing the emotion

Raw emotion is something we see a lot of on a wedding day, whether it be tears or laughter, and emotion is often really brought to the forefront in a black and white image. You aren't distracted by the colour or patterns or the background, the focus is solely on the humanity in the image.

Enhancing the lighting

Something about certain lights, textures and contrasts just work so much better in black and white than colour. A photographer will often be heard saying that black and white can cover a multitude of sins...and this is true to an extent. So sometimes if the lighting wasn't quite right in a certain spot, or the shadows are a bit harsh, black and white can breath life into an image that would have otherwise been left out of the gallery.

The drama of it all

Honestly nothing shows off a dramatic sky or a silhouette style portrait like black and white processing does. Being able to pump up the contrast and embrace the shadows means that you get to really feel the drama in an image. Sometimes a location just feels so cinematic it needs a few black and white shots thrown in there.

Variety is the spice of life and all that

It is true though isn't it! A full day wedding gallery typically includes anywhere in the region of 500+ images and within that, having some black and white shots to break up the colour, add some emotion and spice up the gallery a little bit makes the visual of looking through the gallery so much more exciting!

Monochrome goes with everything

So not only do black and white images always look GORGEOUS printed, but think about it...black and white goes with everything! So when you are choosing some images to go up on your wall, honestly those black and white shots are a really great shout...because they will always match your home decor! Of course colour images look great too, but there is something so chic about a gallery wall of black and white photographs!

But what about that colour scheme I've worked so hard on we hear you cry!

Don't sweat it! Your full gallery won't be in black and white. Unless you would be up for that in which case we would LOVE to shoot a whole wedding in black and white!

Usually there will be more than enough shots (the majority of the gallery) to show all of the gorgeous colours in the wedding day. Where the colours are clearly the focus of the shot, they will stay in full colour, but where emotion or a cinematic feel is shown, we let black and white do the talking.

Sometimes we will include shots that are a little similar to one and other, but one will be in colour and one in black and white, like the confetti images below...Other times when we feel strongly that the black and white is the best way to display a moment there will just be the monochrome shot in the gallery.

So there you have it, our top reasons to love having black and white photographs in your wedding gallery! Keep scrolling down to see a few more of our favourite black and white images from past wedding galleries...

Roisin & Marks wedding celebration at The Arches, Halifax

Something we have really noticed over the last few years in the wedding industry is that more and more people are choosing to do 'the legal bit' in a more intimate way and then go big to celebrate later...and it is something we are absolutely here for!

This is exactly what Roisin & Mark chose to do. After having their legal town hall ceremony last year, they decided to plan a big party to celebrate with all of their friends and family almost a full year later. The Arches at Dean Clough is the perfect venue for a relaxed day with a cool vibe so it made total sense that they were planning their big celebration here.

The minimal yet industrial style of the building means that any couple who gets married there can choose how to put their stamp on the space. For R&M that meant colourful florals on the tables, board games scattered around the room, a space for live music throughout the day and plenty of gorgeous twinkly lights!

Roisin wore a beautiful vintage style wedding dress with loose sleeves and an open back and the loveliest velvet shoes! She also had a super cool floral hairpiece that really set the whole look off just perfectly. Mark went for a textured dark grey suit but kept it relaxed by opting not to wear a tie.

Not wanting a non traditional wedding was one of the things that Roisin talked about in her initial enquiry. Rather than opting to have a celebrant led ceremony with their guests present, the couple chose to have the brides father read a poem and give their own thanks to everyone who had come to celebrate. They also asked a friend to play some beautiful acoustic guitar throughout the ceremony. After that they decided to kick the party off and have a 'first dance' but with everyone in the room rather than just the two of them and honestly the energy in the room was INCREDIBLE

After few hours of board games, drinks, chatting with guests and some seriously yummy vegan food (seriously...it was delicious) we made a quick exit from the party for a few portraits around the venue. As the day had begun at 3.30pm in January it was of course already dark outside...so we grabbed a video light, a flash and ran around the car park to have some fun and get creative! It should be noted that at the initial consultation both R&M had said they were fairly sure they wouldn't want any portraits on the day...so it was music to our ears when they changed their mind!

Once back inside it was time for the band (made up of the couples family and friends) to kick off the evening party! Everyone was dancing, smiling and laughing and it was such a gorgeous way to close out the night. A quick goodbye later and it was time to leave the couple and their party to dance the night away!

Having this day as our first wedding of 2023 was such an amazing way to kick off what we hope to be an incredible year of wedding photography. The venue, styling and relaxed vibe was everything we were about but the best part was seeing everyone up on the dance floor having SO much fun after a few months off during the quiet season. It was the best reminder of just why we love what we do, and how grateful we are to be rolling into 2023 with a full season coming up!

We are 90% booked for 2023 but we do still have a few dates remaining, and our books are open for 2024, so if you are looking for authentic, relaxed, storytelling images for your own wedding...get in touch soon!