We had the pleasure of being the wedding photographer for Katie and Lee at Rhinefield House in the New Forest on the 2nd December, for our final wedding of this year.
It was of course a wonderful day but the weather played havoc with guests arriving with gusty winds and driving rain interspersed with sunny calm period to throw a little confusion into the melting pot. We scouted suitable location early morning on arrival and had a couple of spots indoors selected which in consultation with Katie rapidly got prioritised to any formal photographs to be taken in-front of the amazing fireplace in the great hall. As this was the room for both the ceremony and the wedding breakfast it gave a tight but manageable 25 minutes to set up some lighting in this tricky location and to work through the list that the couple had provided. With this all agreed between us, the duty management of the hotel and our Toastmaster for the day Michael Judd we went back on plan and started to cover getting ready and the arrival of the guests.
Some lovely light kept breaking out into the room Katie was having her wedding hair and makeup done in, and we got some lovely relaxed images, as well as venturing outside with the guys to get groom portraits and show off a little of the wonderful location. It was soon time for the ceremony and the room looked amazing – flowers by Lynda Robson at Exclusively Weddings were wonderful as usual and with a Christmas tree and decorations it was festive as well. The registers were flexible and great to work with and this enabled some great moments before a rapid turnaround and controlled speed shooting to get the formal family photographs, allowing the hotel staff to then setup the breakfast.
A break in the weather allowed for some lovely shots in the orangary, before heading out to the back of the Rhinefield House Hotel for some informal portraits of Katie and Lee in the warm sunlight – once we had found some shelter from the wind ! After this everyone relaxed and we dropped into pure documentary wedding photography for the remainder of the day.
Coverage of the speeches and first dance followed but my selection of images today concentrate on the early part of the day. I hope you like them.
Katie gets ready, the light from the window reflecting beautifully back into her face
Lee outside the entrance of the Rhinefield House Hotel
One of Exclusively Weddings stunning floral arrangements in the great hall
Katie's father gives her hand in marriage to Lee during the lovely service in the great hall at Rhinefield House
They did - Katie and Lee are man and wife
Indoor formal photographs in-front of the large stone and wood fireplace in the great hall at Rhinefield House
Katie in a more relaxed pose outside with a typical Rhinefield backdrop
Hampshire Toastmaster Michael Judd with gavel
by Mike French
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