It’s difficult to tell you just how popular Dodford Manor is, and as wedding photographer in Northamptonshire when you’ve photographed weddings at the venue, you quickly come to terms with why. Firstly, it’s incredibly adaptable, I photographed four weddings there this year, each one completely different. Despite being a barn conversion it takes on different persona’s so easily that each wedding sings with it’s own uniqueness. Secondly, with the changing of the seasons the view from the hills that overlook the barn are constantly in flux. Whether it’s the changing of leaves from lush green to warm auburn or clear spring skies to angry autumnal clouds, there is always something new to discover.
When you meet a couple called “The amazing Team Fosh” you know their wedding is going to be cool, and it didn’t disappoint. You need to be cool to pull of Josh’s outfit, and he absolutely owned it. A mohair suit is a classic match for vintage chic, mix in some pastel colours and you’ve got a killer look. Here’s Josh to tell us a little more about his outfit: After months and months of trawling Instagram and Pinterest for the look I wanted it was relatively easy and cost effective to sort. Bear in mind we had 6 gentlemen in completely different shapes and sizes, wearing a miss matched jacket to trouser combination, we found that Next actually did an extensive range and if they didn’t have sizes in store, we were able to order most of them online. The only issue we found was with my waistcoat. Online was showing out of stock in my size, everywhere but the Sheffield shop, some 120 Miles away. In a spell of desperation, I ended up paying a guy id never met to go in to store and post it down, for a fee. Having been in the same situation before, he kindly accommodated and made a pretty penny in the process. The shirts were tailor made to size by Charles Tywritt.
Fiona wore Ophelia by Belle & Bunty, the length of the dress was perfect and fell so elegantly, her bridal portraits above are amongst my favourite images taken this year. Dress: Ophelia by Belle & Bunty. Accessories: Wasn’t keen on accessories. Just my usual earrings and I kept my nose ring in (Not sure that went down too well..) Flower crown made by our florist and the bridesmaids and flower girl had matching. Shoes: Flats from John Lewis. I’m nearly 5’9 heels just aren’t necessary! Plus I’m all about feeling comfortable. My dress wasn’t restricting and was made of silk so you can imagine how comfy I was on the day!
I absolutely hated dress shopping after the first day. I did the usual pinterest board of dresses and was quite particular with what I wanted. I think I went to 8 different shops and even convinced Josh to drive me to Wimbledon (not close by as we live near Bedford) to try on a dress that is only stocked in this particular store. Poor Josh had to wait around the corner (he found a pub so don’t feel too sorry for him.) While I tried on the dress… Which I didn’t buy!
I ended up on a recommendation from my aunty to try ‘Fairy tale weddings’ in Towcester. I fell in love with the Belle & Bunty gown and then had the task of convincing Josh it was worth the price…
We also had Greg (my brother) make a stencil so that we could add the hashtag onto some of the wedding props we had. It was also on the number plate for the wedding car. The crates were found on Ebay and weathered in my parents garden for 18 months to look rustic. The idea is that this hashtag will grow hopefully as our family grows and we can find our pics on Instagram and Facebook easily through this.
As you can see the table plan was a big hit with Josh. He is a huge fan of a pint or two and is very particular with what he likes. He had fun drinking his favourite lagers and pale ales to keep the bottles for the table plan!
My best friend and also one of my bridesmaids asked her dad to make the bar that the bottles sat on and it worked a treat. Not to mention how good it looked too.
How did the proposal happen?
Josh was very sly and booked a day off work with my manager. I woke up on the Friday morning to get ready for work to be told I wasn’t going! He took me to a place in The Cotswolds (Painswick) and we stayed in a boutique hotel. After a wonder around in the woods he made me clamber to the top of a beacon where he took lots of silly pics of me (standard practice for us!) and the amazing views of Wales in the distance.
It was on the walk down that he had slowed and propped himself on one knee (whilst I wasn’t looking!)
Planning was easy to begin with and harder towards the end. I imagine everyone finds this. We found the venue within a week of being engaged, the date was set and we went from there. We had about 18 months to plan. We sorted things very early on and we were confident on what we both envisioned the day to be like. We had a meeting with Liam (our photographer) which set our expectations for the day as he is pretty clued up with weddings ;-) Met with the florist and had a lesson on what the flowers I liked were actually called! Brought excessive amounts of vases and bunting and the rest is history!
As we are quite jovial with one another we found it difficult to find a good reading. We ended up re-writing one that I found on a wedding site through google and asked Leigh (bridesmaid) to read this for us. She is funny so put a good spin on it for us. We both really like motown music so it was easy to pick our songs. I had to listen to Luther Vandross – Here and Now about 50 times to ensure I wouldn’t get teary on the day, walking down the aisle! (so did my Dad.)
My best memory was seeing Josh as I walked up the aisle. Still gets me! I didn’t notice anyone else in the room and thought I would be terrified to do ‘the walk.’
All flowers were provided by ‘Sweet Rose Florist’ based in Wixams which isn’t too far from where we live. We found Lisa at a wedding fayre in Milton Keynes and after talking to her we arranged to meet for a consultation on what flowers we’d like. We had lots of gyp, flower crowns were all gypsophelia and the flower girl wand was bound with gyp also. Bridesmaids had eucalyptus and astilbe. My bouquet was eucalyptus, juliet roses, astilbe, sage green succulents and gyp all tied with hessian. The juliet roses were dotted about to add the peach tone. Eucalyptus was spread on the top table with small vases of gyp and Juliet roses. On the tables were vases filled with long stem white hydrangeas.
Where did you head off to for your honeymoon? We stayed in Dubai for 4 days at The Atlantis and then on to Mauritius for 10 days at The Long Beach Resort. Both were absolutely amazing and I definitely had the blues after coming home. I would definitely recommend Mauritius for any honeymooners. They made us feel very special and couldn’t do enough to accommodate us.
This day was an absolute blast and Fi & Josh still stay in touch via instagram. To see more examples of wedding photography northampton or to see examples of other weddings at Dodford just click the links!