Cheshire wedding via Italy

Made for each other.

Katie and James had a beau­ti­ful wed­ding day in Cheshire with an Ital­ian theme. From Katie’s Jimmy Choos to the lux­ury of Sand­hole Oak Barn, and then glo­ri­ous dia­monds, lace and orchids, this wed­ding is a dream.

I fell in love with the pho­tos instantly when they landed in my inbox last week, cour­tesy of the fab­u­lous Cheshire wed­ding pho­tog­ra­pher Chris Han­ley. There’s every­thing you’d ever want from your wed­ding pho­tos in here: con­tem­po­rary chic and fash­ion­able ele­gance, ten­der emo­tional looks and dra­matic skies.

Sil­ver hearts set the scene for the wed­ding day, or il giorno di nozze as they say in Italy

The wed­ding bou­quets ready to go (look at the pic­ture on the wall!)

Flow­ers were sup­plied by Green Earth Flow­ers of Poyn­ton. Chris told me, “Laura the florist is one of the best I know” (and he knows his flowers!)

The vin­tage wed­ding dress mag­a­zine page was inside Katie’s mum’s wed­ding album box

Mir­ror, mir­ror, on the wall… Katie is beautiful

Katie’s dress was from Cheshire’s Time­less Bride. I could gaze at this beau­ti­ful pic­ture for ages…

Time­less Bride is a top Cheshire bridal bou­tique, with its flag­ship store in Poynton.

Bling! James gave Katie a dia­mond bracelet for a wed­ding day gift

James works as a bespoke jew­eller, mak­ing wed­ding rings for his father’s busi­ness on King Street in Man­ches­ter. The bracelet was a gift for Katie. Chris told me, “we placed it on ice to pho­to­graph it because we thought the dia­monds were so hot we cooled them down.”

The wed­ding Choos.

Dra­matic image of Katie at Sand­hole Oak Barn

The strong and con­tem­po­rary struc­ture of Sand­hole Oak Barn pro­vides ample oppor­tu­nity for some of the most amaz­ing wed­ding pho­tos I’ve seen, from the reflec­tion in the mir­ror under Katie’s Jimmy Choos to the strong lines in this pho­to­graph of Katie where the lace of the gown looks ethe­real… it’s just… wow.

I love James’s excited wed­ding day text to Katie (pictured!)

Chris said, “Katie was ready early and was get­ting very warm, I dragged the con­ser­va­tory sofa onto the lawn for her to cool off”

Katie hides her grin with a balloon!

Time for some wed­ding day champers

James has a quiet moment to chill before the wedding

James wears a slate grey pin­stripe suit with blue tie and orchid buttonhole

The brides­maids are pretty as a pic­ture — love the blue against the brick background

This pic­ture melts some­thing inside me! The lit­tle boy is James’s nephew

The wed­ding cer­e­mony at Sand­hole Oak Barn

Sign­ing the register

How gor­geous is this?!!!

I love the feel­ing of delighted tri­umph radi­at­ing from Katie!

Con­fetti cones and petals

I love this image with Katie’s veil wrapped around! Beauty runs in the fam­ily, then.

James and the boys out­side the wed­ding venue

The grooms­men and brides­maids have a great time! (The shoe in the crotch and the pro­tec­tive hand made me laugh!)

The ele­gance of this image is captivating

One of my favourite pho­tos of James and Katie

This is the first photo that really shows off Katie’s dress — and isn’t it stun­ning. The del­i­cate lace falls so softly and the shape of the gown is unusual, beau­ti­fully fem­i­nine and suits Katie like a dream.

Katie keeps a close eye on James’s lit­tle nephew

The wed­ding menu and orchids

The wed­ding theme was Italy, as the cou­ple were head­ing that way for their hon­ey­moon. Tables were named after cities and villages.

The food was olives and bread and olive oil, moz­zarella and parma ham and toma­toes, beef fil­let with marsala and mush­rooms, a trio of desserts and bis­cot­tis and cof­fee — yum. (Don’t rush off starv­ing though, there are more gor­geous pic­tures yet!)

The wed­ding break­fast was a lux­u­ri­ous event

Katie only has eyes for James. What cake?

The first dance

I adore stormy skies — Katie and James shine against the dra­matic skyscape

Thanks as ever to Chris Han­ley for sub­mit­ting such a gor­geous, gor­geous, gor­geous wed­ding and I hope you’ve enjoyed read­ing it as much as I did. Con­grat­u­la­tions James and Katie!

I’m hold­ing just a few more pho­tos back for later in the week… I’ll be writ­ing a lit­tle more about Sand­hole Oak Barn and I have just a cou­ple more of Chris’s amaz­ing pic­tures which will have you falling for this lovely venue the same way I did.

In the mean­time, check out Chris Hanley’s wed­ding pho­tog­ra­phy blog and his main web­site for more inspi­ra­tion and beauty. www.ChrisHanleyPhotography.com