Will + Jess' Wedding at Easton Grange

A passionate family celebration at a luxurious country retreat

Will & Jess planned an incredible day at the exclusive Easton Grange in the heart of the Suffolk countryside. One of those rare breeds of wedding venues where everything you turn your head to is carefully curated to look incredible. This was actually my first time working here, but I’ve been desperate to for ages. It’s literally within walking distance of my house and all the photos I’d seen from other photographers looked incredible. Every time I drove past I got a little pang of “ohh it looks pretty”, and it really lived up to my expectations. Plus the staff were wonderful and the food was absolutely incredible which are two of my biggest ticks right off the bat. Special thanks to the nice lady who snuck me out an extremely generous selection of desserts.

I usually turn up to weddings fairly early, even if they're right on my doorstep so that if anything goes wrong there's plenty of extra buffer time to eat into before I'm actually late. Thanks to Easton Grange being literally within walking distance I felt pretty safe but turned up a little over an hour early anyway and spent the extra time exploring. I was actually quite surprised how large the grounds were. There's the main gardens behind the venue itself which is more than big enough but just over the bride which crosses a small river, there's a meadow and a woodland area beyond that, plus another meadow to the other side through a gate.

Having thoroughly explored the venue and grounds (and taken a few photos of everything beautifully set up) I headed over to join Jess and her girls in the process of getting ready. Rather helpfully Easton Grange has an on-site bridal suite so that couples don't have to worry about finding somewhere with the right facilities or space to accommodate everyone. Even more helpfully (as this often seems to be a bit of an afterthought at some venues) Easton Grange's suite is one of the biggest I've come across, has loads of natural light, and fantastic facilities including a built in salon area which I have no doubt goes down an absolute treat with the hair and make up artists.

Once everyone was ready, Jess cranked up the music and everyone gathered round for a last minute dance which was a really lovely moment of friendship and sisterhood which I'd not seen before and a genuine delight to witness. Then it was a very short walk across the entrance hall to the main ceremony room. Easton Grange is blessed with incredible light which can be a real hit an miss affair for Suffolk wedding venues. There's a lot of ceremony rooms out there which look nice on the face of it but have a tendency to blast horrible harsh orange light on people's faces. It's also a really lovely example of a clean slate which looks amazing with little to no added decor. Quick side-note: that floral arrangement at the front you can see below was 100% DIY. The wooden frame was built by Will's father and the flowers arranged by Jess's mother & bridesmaids the previous day. In fact, they actually did all the flower arrangements for the wedding themselves.

One particularly nice touch for the ceremony was that whilst the register was being signed, Will & Jess' young nephew played the piano rather than the usual phone connected to a speaker system affair that I'd come to expect. It was a really nice way to bring more family touches into the day.

After the ceremony, we went outside for the traditional confetti throw - Will & Jess had bought dried petals to use.

After a good catch up and a few group photos, we moved through to the other large barn for afternoon tea served by the team at Easton Grange. This is another room which looks incredible with little to no decoration but has enough 'blank slate' charm about it that you could really go to town if you wanted to without ruining it.

As the light was starting to fade, once everyone had finished eating we headed out to the meadow behind Easton Grange for a short walk. This gave Will & Jess a bit of space to enjoy each other's company, but also get a few photos of just the two of them. I generally try to do couple's portraits around sunset because the light's at its best then, plus everyone's relaxed that little bit more so I find it results in better photos with less effort. Because I'm documentary led in my approach however, I do portraits without posing and without prompts, so we literally just go for a walk and I mostly scuttle about and hide in bushes to make things as unobtrusive as possible.

Today wasn't the day for an absolute belter of a sunset which is a pity - I go a bit weak at the knees for a gorgeous red sky and scattered clouds which thankfully Suffolk seems to do quite well. We had to settle for overcast cloud on this occasion where it just got progressively darker, but thankfully that didn't mean we couldn't get a handful of really nice portraits anyway. Moments are more important than sunsets any day.

Time for more cake. A two tier masterpiece adorned with daisies made by The Pudding Pantry. Then the first dance by The Smooth Criminals. I don’t mean to knock DJ’s or those who book them but honestly, I really feel like you can’t beat a live band. It always adds so much more energy to the dance floor and I really enjoy hearing different bands’ takes on that classics. When you attend one or two weddings a week over the summer months you quickly realise that a lot of the playlists are very similar. 😂

This lot really knew how to throw a party - heels were swapped for trainers and the dance floor was absolutely packed all night. I was also quite amused to see a number of props from the photo-booth make their way over to the dance floor.

I thoroughly enjoyed the creative details in this wedding and it was a joy to see so much passionate involvement from both friends and family. It’s abundantly clear that these two are really well loved. Easton Grange is also an absolute stunner and immediately made it to my list of favourites, particularly from a lighting perspective. Sometimes you really have to work quite hard to make photos look good but this place was an absolute dream. Given it’s also right on my doorstep, I’m keen to go back again soon.

Suppliers;

Venue & catering: Easton Grange

Hair stylist: Amy Best

Makeup: Makeup By Carli

Flowers: DIY

Cake: The Pudding Pantry

Band: The Smooth Criminals

Photo Booth: Family friend