Charlene's Tiffany Engagement Ring...in the fridge obviously....!

Woolston Manor Wedding – Charlene and Julian

It’s always nice to meet a couple who end up being friends and this was the case with Julian and Charlene.

Originally they found me through a friend whose wedding I covered last year, (Cat and Jamie) and subsequently they asked myself and Laura to cover theirs.

Laura started off with the boys at the Blue Boar Hotel whilst I was at their home covering bridal prep with Charlene.

The good thing here was we allowed plenty of time to get the prep shots. This meant we could be creative (like the image above) and take things at a decent pace.

Charlene

It's always difficult to find somewhere to hang the dress!

Julian

The Church was the Corpus Christie in Collier Row. This is a pretty large and modern Catholic Church.

The priest was in his 90′s, lovely and at some points we thought he may fall over…but we were there ready to prop him up if need be!

Julian getting ready at the blue boar hotel

A little bit of fun was had in the downtime during bridal prep

The service was lovely and very touching. Once pronounced man and wife Julian and Charlene lit a candle and mass was held.

Their first kiss!

Woolston Manor – The Reception

Woolston Manor was the Wedding Reception Venue. On arrival we were told we couldn’t use the grounds for photography due to health and safety reasons. This is odd seeing as they show wedding photos taken at the course on their website.

We did ask three different members of staff including the wedding organiser about this….all of whom limited us to pictures on the driveway and the small garden directly next to it.

Then this changed and we could have some pictures on the nearby grass but by that time everyone had gone upstairs to the reception because we were constantly being told that another bride was 30 minutes away and the area needed to be cleared for them.

Later during the meal one of the managers kindly offered to drive us to the lake for some pictures there.

Personally I wasn’t happy with the mixed messages we received leading up to this and it reflected badly on the venue. I put this down to poor communication amongst staff rather than a bad policy.

If you’re a golf course that doesn’t allow use of the grounds for photos then it shouldn’t be advertised on their website.

Woolston Manor Golf Club was the reception venue

Despite this though, Woolston Manor turned out to be great for photos as you can see above.

After a bit of running around....

As the evening reception advanced into the night there was a lovely dance with Julian and his Mum and Charlene with her Dad, followed by some street dancers which caught me totally off guard and had to think quickly to get the shots needed!

A lovely day with a wonderful couple who we now call our friends!

Julian and Charlene's first dance upstairs in Woolston Manor Golf Club