The Photography & Videography
We circled
Jason Mark Harris right at the beginning of our search for a photographer, falling in love with his style and approach to documenting couple’s big days. After countless hours of reviewing other photographers work, we knew he was the man for the job and booked him in as soon as we could.
Through our research for a photographer, we came to realise the value of having a wedding film, and asked Jason for recommendations for a film maker. Luckily Jason’s wife,
Sarah, was available and after watching her work we knew instantly that there would be a synergy and great working relationship between the two.
Part of our package included a pre-wedding shoot, so we decided to go to Iceland earlier in the year (as featured on RMW
here), so we both felt instantly at ease with their presence on the big day. An example of Jason’s attention to detail was spotting Scot had forgotten to take the tack stitching out from his jacket. It’s the little things like this that put you at ease and make you feel your photographer has got it covered and you’ll be in good hands for the rest of the day!
The Venue
We stayed at
Old Park Hall, a grand Georgian house that has been transformed by owners Daisy & James into a boutique bolthole bursting with character, and is just five minutes away from
River Cottage. We hired the whole house for a couple of days, enjoying the amazing views across the valley and tasty range of breakfast options freshly prepared by Daisy.
We decided at the beginning of the wedding planning that the venue should be somewhere that
reflects both our West Country roots. Whilst researching wedding venues in Devon we stumbled across
River Cottage, the famous farmhouse made famous by chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. We soon discovered that the there was more to River Cottage than the kitchen where Hugh does his cookery show from. In fact it’s part of a larger complex including a cookery school, a converted barn, a large yurt, and a series of outdoor spaces including a walled garden. We were sold by the idyllic setting at the bottom of a secluded valley and the variety of spaces available to use. Of the different packages available to choose from, we chose to hire the whole farm for the entire day so guests could feel at home and wander freely exploring all River Cottage has to offer.
The Outfits
It took us a while to decide on what to wear, but knew at the start of our search that we wanted to show our individuality and not wear anything completely matching. My suit jacket, trousers and shirt were from
Reiss. Scott’s suit jacket, trousers and shirt were from
Hugo Boss.
Rather than flower button holes, we made reference to our country roots with feathered pins that use old recycled gun cartridges from
Feathers & Fluff. I wanted to change my look a bit for the evening, and managed to source a Kimono from TOPMAN in the
CHARLIE CASELY-HAYFORD X Collecttion.
The Decor
We didn’t impose a dress code, but did provide ideas and cues in our choice of stationery using tropical and botanical references to reflect our love of travel. We fell in love with the laid back country charm of River Cottage, and didn’t want to mask or cover that up in any way, so decided to focus our time on the smaller details that would add a touch of our personalities and interests to the overall look and feel.
For the tables we decided on a naked approach, with gin bottles as vases containing either giant cheese plant leaves or eucalyptus stems from
Flowerbx. We both love trying out new gins, so sourcing the boLles wasn’t an issue! For the place names we bought a bag of large slate pieces from our local builders merchant, washed them, and then wrote each of our guests names. We made a more rustic version of the peg board table plans we had seen on wedding blogs, created using small wooden letters available at local craft shops glued to a black painted plywood sheet. To
add a touch of glamour, we painted our names in left over metallic paint from the place names!
The Ceremony
The ceremony was held in the walled garden in front of the farmhouse, and by August was in full bloom. The wedding organisers at River Cottage have all weather plans if uninvited rain clouds turn up, but luckily the rain held-off (it had been one of the weLest weeks that year prior to the big day!). We walked together though the walled garden to Magical Cloudz ‘Downtown’, arriving at the front of the farmhouse where our guests were seated on rustic benches laden with fur throws. Ring bearing duty was bestowed upon our liLle pug called Ruby. She has been in our lives for 12 years, so we saw it as only fitting for her to have the opportunity to have a starring role in the big day.
{Watch The Film}