This genius groom and bride had a beautiful wedding and made sure they set aside time just for them, to let it all sink in. Between their church ceremony and reception in Oxford, they took an idyllic boat ride down the river – and the photos are sublime! Gwen is stunning in a dress by Sincerity Bridal, and Alex’s custom made suit from Moss is elegant as can be. They’re an adorable pair, especially when you see the pics with their puppy, and we LOVE every moment of their wedding. All of the wonderful images are by London wedding photographer Hannah Larkin, who is the first of Gwen & Alex’s suppliers to get a glowing review and recommendation from the happy pair!
Wedding photographer’s website
Hannah Larkin https://hannahlarkinphotography.com/
Wedding photographer review
Hannah was the perfect choice for our wedding photographer. As well as being super talented, she gets to know you as individuals and is an all round wonderful human. She is kind, warm and funny but also a true professional. We appreciated the opportunity for her to get to know us in the engagement photos included in our package and found she made good suggestions to meet what we wanted in terms of formal and candid shots and how we might cater for our venue choices and different group/ family dynamics. We had great feedback about her from our guests and seemed to magically be everywhere at once, organised, approachable and assertive yet discreet. We absolutely love our photographs (even the kissing ones, we didn’t think we were those people!) and hope to use Hannah for family events in the future. She was adaptable on the day, noted and focused on key guests and captured everyone well including children and our puppy! As for our couple shots – we can’t recommend her enough. It is also worth noting she saved Gwen from a mishap including a taxi door and her veil, all with absolute calm! Thank you Hannah!
Your best wedding moment or memory
There are too many to mention as it really was the best day! One memorable moment was our bubble tunnel (instead of confetti) just after we came out of church – we’ve never seen so many bubbles. The guests (old as well as young!) loved the bubble guns and continued using them at the reception. This moment was extra magical as it rained hard all day but the sunshine came out just as we exited as newlyweds. Hannah also suggested we capture all our group shots while the sun was out, which was a great change of plan and we are really pleased we did this.
Tell us anything you did differently – we love hearing about NEW traditions (or none at all!)
We took the option to take a boat to the venue, just as a couple with our photographer. As well as some lovely photos we also had a moment to just take a breath, soak it in and say “We did it, we got married!” before joining our guests for the reception party (we sent them by vintage bus).
Boat – Oxford River Cruises
Bus – Nostalgia Travel
We had lots of speeches! Father of Bride, Alex, Gwen, Maid of Honour (sister, with a bit from my nephew) and Best Man. They were all great and different and the timings worked well as we did them before a later wedding breakfast.
We had our puppy join us for a bit, with the brilliant Martin from @doggytopiauk as a “Dog Wedding Chaperone” (who knew such a thing existed?!) looking after him for the weekend but popping him in for photos and enthusiastic links, in his “Best Boy” bowtie.
Instead of a florist we used dried flower bouquets/button holes/hairpins from Hidden Botanics. As they are dried, they’ve made beautiful keepsakes. For the rest of the flowers we brought houseplants and a range of lovely pots matching our theme – we kept these and gave some as presents. They looked really good on the tables and we have been able to enjoy them since, not just for one day.
This might not be news to you but did you know you can get personalised Love hearts from Swizzels?! We had a tradition between us about giving each other love hearts so what a great find for favours.
Venue name + review
Wedding – Our Lady and St Edmund’s Church, Abingdon (a family church where Gwen was christened)
Reception – The Perch, Oxford.
Absolutely brilliant wedding venue. Particularly with Emily Clark as an event coordinator, who was amazing from start to finish. We had in person meetings, food and wine tastings and she was there on the big day too – she is one of the most organised people we’ve ever encountered and also friendly, unflappable and accommodating.
The Perch itself was already a favourite pub due to it’s great location by the riverside in Port Meadow, the consistently great service and the delicious food. For weddings they have a private marquee in the garden, which is already decorated well with beautiful fairy lights and quirky details. They let you make it your own – we had bunting and photos, a neon light, games including a football table and a sweet station. As well as decor, we were able to make choices about layout, timings and what to stock the bar with. The whole vibe was very relaxed but high standard and the wedding feast was a real highlight! We had many comments on the great food and drink. Service was really good and the whole set up felt slick. We weren’t even disappointed by the rain as it was a party in the marquee and everyone spilled out into the garden with umbrellas anyway. 5 stars for The Perch!
Tell us a little about your outfits – both of you!
Alex – a custom made suit from Moss.
We loved the colour and having the lining embroidered with our names and wedding date. The Best Man and adult usher also had suits made and BM said he might wear it when he gets married as they all fit so well. Alex had a special kingfisher tie to match our theme. Younger ushers had suits in a matching colour from Next.
Gwen left it quite late to try on dresses not realising how early some brides look but then fell in love with the first dress she tried on at Proposals, Witney. It was gorgeous dress from Sincerity Bridal with sequins all over. Gwen also had a full length veil which was a favourite item on the day (a surprise after previously having no opinion on veils!). Gwen’s shoes were white vans embroidered with the date, flowers and “Mrs Mack”. Bridesmaid dresses (adult and child) were from In One Clothing, London and were multiway so they could style them differently but all in a beautiful teal colour. The fabric was great and Gwen got a “emergency spare ” which she can’t wait to wear! Younger bridesmaids and flower girl also rocked Vans – theirs were sparkly!
Dress or suit shop name + review
Moss, Oxford
Great service and really loved the suits. Good range of options and fitting service was good and flexible with appointments. The suits were made quickly and they communicated with the groom well.
Proposals, Witney.
Cannot recommend them enough. Warm, friendly, professional service who were great at listening and making recommendations but also giving space and time to find the perfect dress. They helped arrange alterations and presented the dress and veil beautifully for pickup the day before the wedding.
Florist name + review
Dried flowers, buttonholes and hair pins from Hidden Botanics.
These were a great choice. It was easy to choose online and they arrived in good condition, with the added bonus of being able to sort these well ahead of the day since they last. They are now lovely keepsakes.
Cake maker name + review
The Cake Shop, Oxford
It was a last minute decision to have a cake and we are so glad we did! Super service with the tasting and customisation and they directly communicated with the venue so it was seamless. Our cake topper was us in our wedding outfits sat on a bench with Pickles our puppy and Pippin our hamster. This was one of our favourite details!
Stationery maker’s name + review
Homemade – we included watercolour illustrations by Gwen. We did order some special stamps for invitations (birds) from The Royal Mail, which were were pleased with!
Any crafty projects or homemade styling touches?
- Invitations, including a map
- Bunting
- Signage including the seating plan
- Photo strings
- We put together individual activity packs for each child guest
Wedding readings?
As well as traditional church readings we had an extract from The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
First dance song? Playlist recommendations?
Home by Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros Followed by a band The Junos https://thejunos.co.uk/ which were absolutely brilliant and gave us an eclectic mix including 90s dance hits to keep the dance floor jumping! We had lots of positive feedback from our guests about the band. Before the evening music we had instrumental versions of songs in the background.
Hair + makeup name + review
Rachel Walsmley @rachelwhairandmakeup
Rachel was wonderful! My make up and hair made me feel absolutely at my best and most beautiful on the day and look great in the photos. Rachel was warm, friendly, professional and catered for all the wishes of bride, mother of the bride and four bridesmaids. The timing and organisation was carefully considered and the bride’s trial was a great opportunity to get to know each other and try things out. Highly recommend.
Tiny weddings, big personalities. When you look back on your wedding in years to come, it’s the characters that will shine through your images. The laughter and the love, the small, tender moments and the ones so overwhelming you remember them as if they were yesterday.
Lina & Rob’s wedding was on one of the hottest days of summer. They chose York Place – specialists in documentary wedding photography and film – to capture their wedding in the heart of Oxford.
Lina’s boho backless wedding dress is absolutely beautiful, and Rob’s suit’s lovely with a dash of sunny yellow for his tie. The couple are stunning; their wedding guests look the part in yellow shades (Grandad and the kids rocking the same, cool summer wedding look)!
This little quote from the team behind York Place Studios puts it perfectly: “Capturing this beautiful setting alongside the funny, heartwarming, sweet and tender moments between such a lovely group was a pure pleasure and it was fantastic to see the young and young-at-heart all celebrating together“.
Regular readers of the blog will know well that I’m a fan of documentary photography: wedding images as natural and authentic as it gets. York Place are masters of their craft, and explain perfectly how weddings of all sizes have one wonderful thing in common:
“No matter how big or small, formal or relaxed, weddings for us are always all about the people who attend them. The people themselves, their relationships and their personalities are always unique, always new and exciting to celebrate and capture but our approach and the way we see the world through a lens do not differ. Colours, expressions, life, humour and love still permeate through our images and the people in front of us, and we’re always seeking out the smallest whispers of moments and intimate of connections to reveal them.”
So this Voco Oxford wedding is as magical as any. The day rolls by in glorious sunshine with Lina and Rob surrounded by their closest family and friends. Boats sail down the Thames as the couple say their vows. There’s quite a moment with the cake. It’s all captured beautifully in a series of moments that connect through the people who shared their day, and in the inimitable style of top London photographers York Place Studios.
Confetti from Adamapple.co.uk
A wonderful, nature-filled wedding in the countryside with some lovely decor and styling. Lauren and Nathan look fabulous and this is everything an English country wedding should be! Images are by lovely Oxfordshire wedding photographer Jodie Cooling, who gets a wonderful review from the happy couple!
Wedding photographer’s website
Jodie Cooling https://www.jodiecoolingphotography.com/
Wedding photographer review
Jodie photographed our wedding in June 2023 and we could not be happier with the results! Jodie (and Holly who assisted) captured the day beautifully and were happy to get involved in photographs in fields with horses, rowing boats and more! The photographs perfectly depict the happiness and joy we felt throughout the day and we feel very lucky to have such wonderful photos to look back on in the years to come. We received some sneak peaks that we could share the day after our wedding which were wonderful to be able to share with family who couldn’t make the day, and the rest of our photos we received only a few weeks later, edited perfectly showing the story of our day. Jodie had some fantastic suggestions and ideas on confetti shots and locations creating some of our favourite photographs of the day. We couldn’t have wished for anything more. Thank you Jodie x
Your best moment or memory
Lauren: The best moment for us both was when I arrived and the music began to start walking down our aisle. For me it was the realisation that all our friends and family had joined together to help us celebrate and knowing we were moments away from being stood together again and sharing how much we wanted to share the rest of our lives together.
Nathan: It’s hard to pin down one specific moment but after much consideration it would be seeing Lauren in her dress for the first time. We had spent the previous day apart and I stood nervously under the oak arbour on the island we would say our vows and the second I saw her everything melted away like it was just the two of us.
Tell us anything you did differently – we love hearing about NEW traditions (or none at all!)
We knew that we didn’t want a traditional church wedding, however we did want some form of ceremony. My husband knew of handfasting which is an ancient wedding custom where different coloured individual ribbons are placed over the couples joined hands by the celebrant. we where lucky enough to have a family member Duncan step up and provide a beautiful ceremony, and our mothers laid the ribbons over our hands. The ends of the ribbons are then tied into a knot to represent commitment to each other. This was such a special, symbolic moment and something many of our guests had never heard of before.
Wedding venue:
We are very lucky that this venue is actually our home. We had known since a family wedding the previous year that we would like to offer the area as a wedding venue as it gave us so much freedom to have any style and quirks we would like without the restrictions of many already set up venues. Once we had chosen the space where we would like to conduct the ceremony (island accessed by a wooden bridge) and reception (grass area at the end of the lake) we had the freedom to build our dream wedding, in our case using 2 tipis, decorated by family with bunting and various flowers and greenery all sourced locally from family gardens and hedgerows! The outside space extended into an orchard again decorated with bunting as well as hay bale seating, hammocks and fire pits for keeping warm into the evening (and for some marshmallow roasting!).
Tell us a little about your outfits – both of you!
Nathan: I knew from the beginning that tradition tails were not going to be my style at all so Myself and my grooms men wore a simple sage tweed 3 piece brought from Next with forest green ties to match in with the bridesmaids and our outdoor natural aesthetic.
Lauren: I wore a fitted column dress from Wed2b with a short laced train and off the shoulder, 3/4 lace sleeves. It turned out to be a very warm day so I was glad the dress was lightweight!
Florist name + review
Sam the flowerman based in Banbury. These guys were great as they created my bridal bouquet, bridesmaids bouquets, button holes and an extra bouquet for my late grandfather. The flowers in the tipi and around the venue were all kindly created by my mum and other family members and friends. The flower wicket baskets were a personal favourite as well as the wild flower bouquets in the wooden boat from my mother in law sourced from wild wood based in Farnborough. We later received a wonderful gift from DJCreations of some of our wedding flowers in resin which a great unexpected gift and keepsake from the day.
Stationery maker’s name + review
Our save the dates and wedding invites were made and printed on canva. We chose not to have menus but the name places were kindly written in calligraphy by a friend.
Any crafty projects or homemade styling touches?
Quite a few! We investing in a Cricut a year before our wedding which I would recommend to anyone getting married soon! We created various signs including for our guest book and for a tea and coffee station. We chose to give homemade favours of wildflower seeds pouches made by my lovely sister Hannah. We chose to name our table after flowers which were beautifully painted onto plaques by DJCreations and were the perfect finishing touch to our tables. The arch under which we held the ceremony was made by Nathans brother and elegantly decorated by my talented sister in law.
Wedding readings?
We had 2 readings at our wedding, one by my Uncle Dave was from Corinthians and one by Elizabeth which was a prayer to Freyja (Norse)
First dance song? Playlist recommendations?
Jordan David – Next thing you know
Wedding planner name + review
We didn’t hire a wedding planner, instead planning ourselves with help from family.
Hair + makeup name + review
Luckily my sister Hannah is a hairdresser and my sister in law Elizabeth is very good at make up!
The most amazing late summer wedding for Sophie and AJ in Oxfordshire. They’re such a gorgeous couple, and their day combines stunning styling touches with pops of vibrant colour. Joyful vibes, fabulous florals and an incredible cake… all captured beautifully by Hannah Hall Photography. This wedding is the perfect start to our blogging week and we hope you love it too!
Wedding photographer’s website
We chose Lake District-based wedding photographer Hannah Hall Photography
Wedding photographer review
Hannah was fantastic, from our first meeting with her she helped and guided us, with her wedding expertise. Hannah answered all my silly questions too. On the day she was so helpful, making sure we got all the pictures we needed and that the day ran smoothly! The photos are everything we hoped for, fun and full of love!
Your best moment or memory
The confetti for me, I just thought omg we Did it!
Tell us anything you did differently – we love hearing about NEW traditions (or none at all!)
We snuck off with Hannah and had a hand fasting ceremony performed. It was so special, under a big tree with the wind blowing like crazy.
Videographer name + review
Patrick Taylor / Taylor Made Videography
Venue name + review
The great Barn, Aynho. Gorgeous venue In the countryside. Helpful staff on the planning stage but on the day we felt a little let down, with a new wedding coordinator who had no clue what we wanted. I would recommend, but ask for the same person throughout.
Tell us a little about your outfits – both of you!
Bride wore Lillian west dress, forever sole shoes and carat London sustainable diamond jewellery. Groom wore – Mark Darcy and his grandfathers pocket watch.
Dress or suit shop name + review
Silver six pence in Towcester. Those girls are geniuses! They helped me find a dress so quickly with zero stress. Highly recommend.
Florist name + review
Annie Johnson, grooms sister.
Cake maker name + review
Cakes by kit. Everything we ever hoped for. A beautiful 4 tier dream cake with pink and gold accents covered in fresh flowers.
Stationery maker’s name + review
Handmade by Bride and groom.
Any crafty projects or homemade styling touches?
We made a Homemade archway and homemade giant photo frame with pictures of us as babies.
Wedding readings?
We read our own vows and both siblings did a reading. They both tweaked them to be personal, they were perfect.
First dance song? Playlist recommendations?
Brand new, by you me at six. We went old school with the playlist lots of songs everyone knew, to get them dancing! Think blink 182, teenage dirtbag. Signature moments DJs are legends!
Hair + makeup name + review
Natalie Marie wood. Natalie was brilliant, made me and my bridesmaids look and feel fantastic!
I’m wondering this morning if any other weddings could ever rival the joy and celebration of an Indian wedding. There’s just so much going on, so much happiness and laughter. Today our blog is all about Guppi and Gan’s wedding weekend, which has me grinning from ear to ear at all the amaaazing moments. They chose award winning documentary wedding photographers York Place Studios to capture both days, and we invite you to grab a cuppa and scroll slowly… because this is a wedding with so much going on, all captured thoughtfully and beautifully.
The gorgeous pair had a traditional Hindu wedding at the Shri Venkateswara (Balaji) Temple in the West Midlands – an incredible place, inspired by and modelled on a temple in Tirupathi, South India. The wedding photography really does tell the story of the day in a way that ‘standard’ wedding pictures often don’t. This is the beauty of authentic documentary wedding photography, and York Place are one of the very, very best in the UK.
The following day, the guys changed into black tie for a breathtaking civil ceremony at Blenheim Palace in Oxford, with Guppi in a stunning Indian dress which sparkles in the sunshine.
Don’t miss the little flower girl trying (successfully!) to steal the show – she’s adorable! All of those emotional connections with loved ones are so very precious, it’s wonderful to see them all captured here. This is what weddings are all about, and I’ve LOVED scrolling through all the images from Guppi and Gan’s Indian wedding weekend.
For us that’s what weddings are all about: photographing people just being people, making memories not just photographs and trying to capture an essence of who our couples are in our candid, inimitable style. ~ Dom & Liam, London wedding photographers York Place Studios
