A summer wedding at Norwood Park
What a wedding season it has been this year! I am excited to share with you a wedding that I shot last week (August 2024) at Norwood Park. It was a tricky day across the board with many wedding photographers feeling the pressure of the torrential down pours. I saw many instagram stories of other photographers sharing their experience on this almost wash out of a day.
When I arrived at the bride's Nanna’s house for the pre-ceremony preparations, the bridal party assured me that the rain would stop and the sun would shine because they had buried sausages in the garden to ward off the bad weather. Naturally, I had to look this up, and I discovered that it’s indeed a real wedding superstition. Embracing any little thing that could help with the weather, I took a moment to acknowledge the sausage offering to the weather gods and silently hoped they would grant us better weather.
Now, I’m not here to debate whether the sausage loving weather gods exist or not but I can confirm, that the rain did in-fact stop and the sun did shine.
Pre-ceremony
Our morning started in a quaint Nottinghamshire village which was just a few minutes drive from the church. Stephanie was joined by her 4 friends, children, mother and nanna while she enjoyed a lovely and relaxed morning getting ready.
Jade from The Glamour Lounge did an incredible job doing the makeup for the bridesmaids whilst bridesmaid Jodie, who is also a make-up artist (@jt_makeup_) did the brides make-up. Stephanie bought her wedding dress from the most wonderful 3 story bridal boutique in the heart of Doncaster called Holmes and Co Bridal. Stephanie wore Posie by Enzoani with a cape. Alterations were made by Hajra Kemari at Petite Versailles in Newark.
I was joined by videographer Tom from Marvellous Videography who’s birthday it was. Stephanie presented Tom with a mini Collin the caterpillar cake with a candle. How sweet!
Although the plan was to get out into the lovingly tendered to garden for photos, the constant down pour meant that it just was not possible. The sausages did not seem to be helping at this point.
The bride’s dad is the proud owner of a small fleet of lorry’s which would be Stephanies mode of transport to the ceremony. Just as Stephanie was about to leave, the rain stopped.
Ceremony
The ceremony was held at St Oswalds church which is just moments from where the preparations were. I arrived to greet the groom and groomsman and a few final guests which were handed personalised newspapers to show the order of service. The bride then soon arrived in her father’s truck and headed up to the church with her bridal party. The rain had also managed to hold off too…(surely the sausages haven’t worked, have they?)
It was a beautiful service held by Reverent Liz followed by confetti! The bride has actually collected and dried out the petals for her confetti, such a lovely personal touch.
Cocktail Hour
Everyone flooded their way into Norwood Park to enjoy cocktail hour and just when we thought the rain had disappeared it re-appeared in full force as we were doing the group shots outside. I managed to finish them off inside but then called time on the original photography timeline and decided to revisit bridal party and wedding portraits until after the wedding breakfast and just let the bride and groom enjoy mingling with friends and family. I was putting a lot of faith into sausages at this point (and BBC weather app) that holding off would make way for better weather. Every wedding is different and every couple is different and I think it’s really important to be able to be flexible and adapt even if that means turning to your timeline on it’s head to get better results.
Wedding Breakfast
Before the guests are invited into the wedding breakfast, I always love to take a moment with the couple to wander around the beautifully set room. It’s a great opportunity for them to soak in the details and appreciate the hard work that has gone into creating such a magical atmosphere. As they take in the twinkling lights and stunning centrepieces, it is also a moment for them to take a breath and have moment to themselves.
The couples then make their way outside while the guests head into the main gallery. Here, everyone eagerly scans the table plan to find their names and claim their seats. The air is buzzing with excitement as the guests settle in.
Finally, the moment arrives for the new Mr. & Mr. Sharp to be officially announced, and the room fills with applause and cheers! The speeches that follow are nothing short of memorable, with heartfelt words shared by the bride’s father and the grooms’ best men. Their anecdotes and humorous tales invoke a beautiful blend of laughter and tears, leaving not a dry eye in the house.
After the delicious 3 course meal, Stephanie and Sam opted for a more intimate moment to cut their wedding cake. Rather than making a big spectacle of it, they decided to quietly share this cherished tradition, enjoying the sweet moment between themselves without a huge audience. It was a lovely touch that added to the warmth and intimacy of their special day.
Wedding Party
After the wedding breakfast, I popped my head outside and couldn’t believe my luck! The rain had disappeared and the sun was out. Wait what? Had the weather gods eaten their sausages and were gracing us with this beautiful weather? So we headed outside and were able to get the bridal party groups and even a champagne spray!
Couples Portraits
On our final consultation Stephanie mentioned something about couples portraits at some ‘ruins’ at Norwood Park and I said I would look in to it because I wasn’t aware of any. I asked around my photography friends and they were not aware of any ruins at Norwood Park. I then rang Norwood and they said, do you think she meant the “temple’? Well, it turns out that’s exactly what Stephanie meant. What I find amusing is that from the back of the house you can quite clearly see a white columned building on the hill to the right. How had I not noticed this before? The Norwood Park team recommended that we take the golf buggy to the temple but when they went to get it, it wasn’t working. So off we headed off with Tom the videographer in my car up to the temple. The views you get of Norwood from up there are great so I was really pleased we made the trip! Sam & Stephanie were very honest with me and said they definitely weren’t ones for taking photos or been in the lime light, so having been to Norwood before I had done all the planning before hand so that I could just lead then through the route quickly and efficiently so that they could get back to their guests. That said, we hopped back in the car and down the lane, I saw the most stunning golden light pouring out the entrance to a field behind the temple. they happily agreed to head into the field to grab a few gold hour shots and I’m so glad that we did.
Little ones
On our return from the couples portraits, Sam & Stephanie saw all the children playing in the gazebo and headed over to spend a little bit of quality time with their children and nieces and nephews which was a really lovely moment to capture.
Bride Squad
On my questionnaires, I always as my couples for a VIP list. It’s a short list of people who are really important to the bride and groom and I use this to help me who to focus on outside of the obvious bridal party and immediate family. Stephanie had 2 groups of friends that she mentioned that were really special to her. What started out as groups shots descended in to the the most belly laughing chaos with a human pyramid and a-leg-and-a-wing and I am so glad that it did! Now that’s the kind of fun photos you want with your best friends on your wedding day.
Dancefloor
And finally we finish with the first dance and dancefloor. Sam and Stephanie did their first dance sung by the incredible Mark Elliot on guitar, cheered on by all of their friends and family. Mark then ramped up the tempo and they welcomed everyone onto the dance floor.
This stunning wedding at Norwood Park will certainly be one to remember! While many of my photographer friends faced gloomy weather on their wedding days, we experienced quite the turnaround. Could it be that burying sausages on your wedding morning really works as a charm against bad weather, or was this just a lucky coincidence?