James & Klaudia's super cool wedding at The Walled Garden, Beeston.

What happens when you mix Slovakian gypsy culture with English James Bond style cool? You get one of the best weddings I have shot this year. A wedding full of style, culture and character, exactly the kind of wedding I love to shoot. I met James and Klaudia at a wedding fair in Nottingham in September and it was one of those meetings when we all just clicked within moments. It was clear that they both loved my photography and I knew that theirs was a wedding that I very much wanted to shoot, so I was super happy when they returned to my stand 5 minutes later to confirm the booking.

I actually had a ticket to watch Arsenal v Manchester Utd that day and I was in two minds whether to go to the wedding fair or go to the football, but work always wins out in the end. Arsenal won 3-1 too so happy days all around.

James and Klaudia where married at The Walled Garden, Beeston https://www.walledgardennottingham.co.uk/in March this year. A fantastic wedding venue, its one that I know but I had not shot there before so I was very much looking forward to this one. The Walled garden is set in 135 acres of land on the outskirts of Nottingham and was built in 1837. The beautiful walled garden is a gorgeous showcase for weddings that take place in a permanent marquee and can host weddings of up to 200 guests. With so much space and great scenery I knew there would be lots of great opportunities for beautiful photography.

Groom Preparation.

 

The day started a bit differently for me as it was groom preparation and not bridal preparation. James and the boys where looking super sharp, it was all black tie suits and Rolex watches. They really could have all been extras in a James Bond movie.

I just had time for some quick portraits of James before the limo arrived.

Whats not to like about drinking responsibly in the back of a limo with your best pals, makes for great photo opportunities too.

Once I had these images in the bag it was time to get to The walled Garden to catch up with the gorgeous Klaudia for bridal portraits.

Bridal Portraits.

Klaudia's arrival at The Walled Garden was equally stylish and I managed to get some portraits in the limo and some more once she had made her final preparations.

 

Klaudia is from Slovakian gypsy heritage and I must say her family had so much character about them, they where just great to shoot portraits of. Most reminded me of extras from a Scorsese film.

The Ceremony.

The guests in the marquee where starting to liven up prior to the ceremony and the drinks where flowing. The atmosphere was made perfect by the beautiful singing voice of Libby The Wedding Singer https://www.libbyweddingsinger.com/

If anyone reading this is looking for the perfect singer to provide a beautiful soundtrack to your day Libby is the one to go to, very impressive.

Klaudia just about managed to dodge the rain on teh short walk to the ceremony which was just lovely, Ill let my photos speak for themselves here.

Lots of love and congratulations shown after the ceremony, I love shooting images such as these.

Group Photos.

With the weather not looking great I knew I had to act sharpish to get the all important family photos in the bag. Fortunately James's family consisted of James, mum and dad, so that took all of 3o seconds to shoot, phew, more family photos of that size please.

 

Bride and Groom portraits.

With so many great spots for beautiful photography at The Walled Garden I was looking forward to spending time time with James and Klaudia. I took this opportunity to find out what they both wanted their wedding to reflect and what they where both looking forward to most on the day. Classy and relaxed was the vibe they wanted from their wedding and they certainly achieved that, and they where both most looking forward to a big announcement they would make during the speeches, but more of that later.

Anyway first up lets get the confetti out and then produce some beautiful bride and groom portraits.

I do love producing images that have a bit of a dramatic and atmospheric feel to them and with the light fading I decided to use my portable flash unit that always delivers the kind of dramatic images that I love.

Speeches.

I love shooting during the speeches, it gives me a great opportunity to take my focus onto the guests. Rally add to the story of the day and produce a fab collection images of friends and family really enjoying the day. James did a superb job of delivering soem of his speech in Slovakian. No idea what he said but it went down really well. It was then time for the moment that both James and Klaudia where both looking forward to most from the day. On all the tables was an envelope that the guests where asked to open which revealed a 3 month scan from Klaudia. So the big news was that Klaudia was pregnant, what a way to announce it. It was then time to reveal the sex of the baby to the crowd, its a girl!! Congratulations to you both, this reminded me very much of Naomi and Stuart's wedding last year when they both announce that Naomi was pregnant.

https://www.masseyphotography.co.uk/alternative-wedding-photography/

I love this image and its a favourite for both James and Klaudia, lovely shot.

The Snooker Room.

With a bit of downtime before cake cutting and first dance James wanted to do soem photos in the nearby snooker room. I had some ideas about how to shoot this but I have to say the image I produced in there has to be one of my all time favourite images, and its obviously one of James's favourite images from the day too. I am very proud of a lot of the wedding photos that I take and I strive at every wedding to produce at least one incredible image that I know that nobody else can take, but really this one is on another level, sorry if I sound a bit big headed, but come on, who would not love an image like this framed really large in their room. Looks like another still from a Scorsese film.

This will be all over my marketing material in the autumn.

Cake Cutting and First Dance.

With snooker shots done and dusted it was time for cake cutting and first dance. The beautiful cake was provided by Cakezilla (great name) https://www.bakezillasbespokecakes.co.uk/

And then straight into the first dance.

To finish off the night for me we shot sparklers and then again one of my favourite images to produce. Backlighting with the flash unit to produce beautiful silhouette images.

And to finally finish I presented James and Klaudia with one of my totally unique and original polaroid frames.

I got the photos out to James and Klaudia within 3 weeks and the feedback I received was amazing so of course I just have to share it here.

"We chose Paul because when we first met him at a wedding convention, his passion really shone through and made him stand out from the other photographers.

On the day we were quite frankly amazed at his work ethic and passion to ensure he made the best memories for us. It’s not very often that you pay for a service and are surprised when not given the minimum in return but more than expected.

A true professional, gentleman and passionate photographer who deserves five stars."

Thanks so much that really does mean a lot to me.

 

So that was The Walled Garden, what a great venue and what a fab couple, I loved this wedding and I cannot wait to shoot here again. If you are planning a wedding at the beautiful venue please do get in touch I would love to find out mote about your day and of course I would love to shoot it for you.

https://www.masseyphotography.co.uk/contact-us/

Jame and Klaudias dream team.

Venue - The Walled Garden, Beeston. https://www.walledgardennottingham.co.uk/

Cake - Bakezilla https://www.bakezillasbespokecakes.co.uk/

Singer - Libby The Wedding Singer https://www.libbyweddingsinger.com/