Helen and Kevin's wedding was our last of 2019, taking us right up to Christmas, and our third consecutive wedding at Hazlewood Castle Hotel. An enormous amount of planning went into the couple's celebrations and at our final meeting a few weeks before they told us about everything that had gone into making their big day amazing, calling for a very long and detailed set of notes to follow to make sure we didn't miss anything important. Usually when it's a civil ceremony the bride gets ready at the venue but as Helen had planned a spectacular arrival the bridal preparations took place at a hotel a distance away where, after some difficulty getting past security, we enjoyed a lovely, calm and relaxed couple of hours with Helen and Sophie, her incredibly helpful best friend and bridesmaid. Often the bridal preparations are hectic and things run late so it was really nice that this time everything ran so perfectly and we were able to capture some special moments as Sophie helped Helen into her dress, before we left to start phase two, Kevin and his party at the venue. During this time Helen was collected and driven to the bottom of the lane by Kevin's dad and then she arrived in style in a carriage drawn by four spectacular horses wearing red plumes to match the couple's colour scheme. Before her arrival we had some fun with the lads until we spotted Kevin's dad's car arriving, signally time for the groom to make himself scarce. His strutting entrance to into the Old Dining Room for the ceremony made everyone laugh but then emotion got the better of Kevin as he saw his bride for the first time. She looked stunning! We'd talked to Kevin about how to pack photographs of everything they had planned before dinner into the daylight available on a late December wedding day but he had it all covered and we have to commend him for his organisational skills, his and Helen's cooperation and for arranging a longer than usual drinks reception to give us the best chance to get what we needed before we lost the light. There is a first time for everything and this was the first time we'd had a groom communicate with his best man by walkie talkie, and with Gavin, the two of them did an awesome job. It was really funny though when Kevin radioed Gavin to ask him to get Helen a cup of tea, as she was feeling the cold! What a fabulous day with so much to capture - the spectacular horse drawn carriage, a falconry display, a casino, the Great Hall exquisitely dressed for the wedding breakfast in a completely different style to anything we've seen before, a choreographed quick step, a live band, fireworks and a wonderful couple who really did put everything into helping us to do a great job for them. It was full on but we loved every minute and we left our last wedding of 2019 on a massive high. Thanks a million Mr and Mrs Wright for inviting us to be your Hazlewood Castle wedding photographers.
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