The award for best groom goes to…

(There isn’t really an award. But there should be!) David is bril­liant. His wed­ding to Sarah is a real Alice in Won­der­land affair… it’s dif­fer­ent and full of per­son­al­ity, and I love it!

An orig­i­nal wed­ding with cre­ative pho­tos, cer­tainly… but in black and white you’re miss­ing something!

This unusual wed­ding, with pho­tographs by Cum­brian wed­ding pho­tog­ra­pher Chris Freer, has a fan­tas­tic com­bi­na­tion of very for­mal, posed images and an alter­na­tive, fun side which Lewis Car­roll would have loved!

Bride Sarah and her brides­maids pose on the ornate four poster bed before the ceremony

I love the way Sarah’s wed­ding dress prac­ti­cally glows in this pho­to­graph, taken with the brides­maids before the wed­ding. Sarah’s my ideal fairy­tale princess in her wed­ding gown, and the gothic, dark styling of the room, with the ornately carved four poster bed, seem per­fect for a tra­di­tional fairy tale.

The wed­ding cer­e­mony and what a burst of amaz­ing colour!

Now our fairy­tale bride meets her groom — and the world breaks into colour! Sarah and David look like such a great cou­ple. The lux­u­ri­ous antique style sur­round­ings of the Grade II listed Ennerdale Coun­try House Hotel near White­haven in Cum­bria are made for this bride and groom!

Time for a por­trait pho­tog­ra­phy ses­sion in the grounds of the Hotel!

The pho­tographs taken out­side the venue are a mix­ture of fun and for­mal — or as for­mal as you can get in a royal pur­ple suit… which just makes them too fab­u­lous for words!

This for­mal wed­ding pho­to­graph works per­fectly for David and Sarah

The bride and groom look great together. Sarah’s gown is exquis­itely ele­gant in pure white with a beau­ti­fully embroi­dered bodice, and her teardrop bou­quet with white roses and calla lilies is gor­geous. David fin­ishes off his amaz­ing out­fit (Did I men­tion the pur­ple suit? Did I need to?!) with a top hat and cane, which I love. His tie matches the brides­maids’ dresses.

From for­mal to fun — I love the con­trast in these wed­ding pictures

The bride and groom let their hair down in this first image by the foun­tain. It’s almost a stage set, with the grooms­men and brides­maids chat­ting behind the scenes! And I love Sarah’s pic­ture with the brides­maids — she brings a sense of calm and sophis­ti­ca­tion to the pho­tos — a real Eng­lish rose.

And it’s off with the hat! Some more great pic­tures of the bride and groom

Some more posed pic­tures, still with a sense of fun! The detail­ing on Sarah’s wed­ding dress is beau­ti­ful. I love the curv­ing crys­tal pat­tern on the bodice of the dress, and the sim­ple but very ele­gant flow of the gown in this sec­ond photograph.

Let the fun and games begin!

I’ve saved my favourite pic­ture for last, although I must say it’s the over­all feel of this wed­ding that makes it so spe­cial; the con­tra­dic­tion of the very for­mal pho­tog­ra­phy, and the indi­vid­u­al­ity of the bride and groom, work so very well.

But this last image of the chess game brings me right back to Alice in Won­der­land. It’s been a great wed­ding to write about, with some won­der­ful quirks and a glo­ri­ous venue. The out­door chess set is just the per­fect fin­ish. David, Sarah — I wish you many very happy years together.

Thanks once again to Chris Freer for shar­ing this wed­ding with us. See more of Chris’s wed­ding pho­tog­ra­phy at www.freerimages.co.uk and his most recent wed­dings on his blog. Chris is based in Cock­er­mouth and trav­els through­out Cum­bria and the Lake Dis­trict for weddings.