An outdoor ceremony followed by a blowout celebration at Alpheton Hall Barns
I started off the day with Hayley getting ready at The Crown in Stoke By Nayland which actually happens to be one of my absolute favourite places to eat. Hayley had a few friends and family members with her along with her parents which always leads to beautiful moments. We don't really have many couple's 'first look' photo things over here in the UK - they're a bit of an americanism, but it generally just happens by default even if unplanned whenever a father sees their beautiful daughter suddenly transformed into a bride. Rarely without tears. Disappointingly difficult to capture though, us blokes tend to be brief with our emotions, particularly when there's a photographer watching.
A short ride in a fancy car (plus one taxi) took us to our venue for the day. This was actually my first visit to Alpheton Hall Barns. I'd been wanting to shoot there for quite a while having seen it on social media and heard about it from other wedding photographers I know. It was kind of portrayed to me as being on almost legendary status amongst Suffolk Wedding venues and I really wanted in. My wife and I had our wedding reception back in 2015 over at Preston Priory Barn not too far away so we're both huge fans of barn weddings. Generally I'm just a huge fan of old buildings tbh so anything that's dripping in rustic charm gets my vote and AHB dates back something ridiculous like the 10th century. Alpheton also has the added bonus of a nice little woodland area for outdoor ceremonies which I'm also a huge fan of.
Huge thank you to the wonderful celebrant who upon realising I was planning on attempting to remain as hidden - as possible as per my usual approach - physically dragged me across to the front table so that my camera could see better and then made a point of moving to the side and ushering me across to the middle for the ring exchange and the first kiss. The result is some pretty uniquely intimate photos that are fairly unusual to see in Suffolk wedding ceremonies given it's generally considered to be a photography faux-pas to get too close whilst the ceremony's happening. I doubt I'll manage shots like that again and I really regret not stopping to get her name.
Sidenote: hats off to the guy in the shades for what has to be the most serious commitment to confetti throwing I've ever seen. The sheer aggression in is face is utterly magnificent.
Fast forward to everyones favourite bit - the after party. My gosh do these people know how to have a good time. Live bands in my books are a big tick. Nothing quite matches the energy and atmosphere that a great band can create. They're generally much more expensive but if you can afford it, they're worth every penny.
Finally a quick walk around the grounds at sunset led to these beautiful images. Suffolk might be boring and flat but it really does sunsets quite magnificently. Probably something about just the right amount of clouds I imagine. Nic, one of the owner-operators at Alpheton kindly allowed us to go for a good wander, including round the back of their own house and into a huge open meadow where we could see the sun settling down a bit better.
I've been fortunate enough to have four more weddings booked over at Alpheton at the moment so I'm really looking forward to going back and trying out a few ideas that I was playing around with the first time.
