Mount Edgecumbe - Emily & Tom

Having known Emily for many years now, I was absolutely delighted when she asked me to photograph her wedding. Both being the outdoorsy type, I knew that this wedding was going to be just my cup of tea, but actually, it ended up being so much more and one of the greatest wedding adventures that I have been on to date! It is a great example of how to do your wedding your way, and how to incorporate so many aspects of the day that reflect you both as a couple but also what you are passionate about and live for!

This wedding was a journey, metaphorically and figuratively! We started off in the fort-like stone walls of The Royal William Yard where Team Bride had hired an Airbnb for their preparations. It was such a stunning setting, overlooking the harbour and the apartment was spacious enough for the whole tribe, plus a few others who enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and then calmly got themselves ready for the day ahead.

A coach arrived to take the tribe to St Matthews in Mutley for their ceremony and I remember along the way, Emily sat next to her dad and saying that she just couldn’t wait to see Tom as she was so excited to marry him! Adorable!

The church service was also very personal, a friend of the couple conducted the service and friends in a band played the songs for the congregation to sing along to. Photos of the couple played on a slideshow thought out the ceremony which shed even more light into their love of outdoors and the adventures they had had together already. 

The next part of the great wedding quest was for all of the guests to hop back onto the coach and hitch a lift to the Cremyll ferry, over the Tamar into Cornwall and to the reception site at Mount Edgecumbe where a drinks reception was waiting for the wedding party. This was such a novelty, and such a brave decision to plan for on your wedding day, as just imagine if we had not had the glorious sunshine that we did have on that day. However, the stars aligned, we did have sunshine (and heaps of it) and the boat ride was such fun, very whimsical and such a great opportunity for some beautiful wedding photos. As the guests departed the ferry on the Cornish side of the river, I kept the couple back to sit at the stern of the boat for some photos just the two of them, and that stunning setting that they had chosen to incorporate on their wedding day. 

Mount Edgecombe is just the bees knees when it comes to choices for locations for couple shots. The couple were keen on getting some photos of the two of them as well as some photos with the bridesmaids and groomsmen and so I had planned a route that we could amble around with the two of them, followed by soe iconic spaces for photos with the larger group. I always plan this before a wedding. I have it written down what areas I want to use and what shots and prompts I want to give the couple in each space to maximise the breadth of images in your gallery. Before a wedding I will always ask if there are any particularly important areas of your venue that you want photos taken in. If you do, great! If you don’t, that’s also fine! It is my job to find the best spots and plan how these shots will turn out!

The speeches and wedding breakfast in the orangery was magnificent. If you haven’t been in there before, think modern Bridgerton. The high ceilings and floor length windows that look out over the pristinely manicured gardens are like something out of a film. 

At this part in the day, it felt as though the couple had crammed a LOT in. I could tell that social batteries were fast draining and at the same time, I had had my eye on the sun, knowing that we may be in for a spectacular sunset. I broached the idea of steal the couple away for some sunset photos and they jumped at the chance. We headed up the top of the estate to catch the last of the sunset with the hope of walking down to The Folly for some photos there too. This wedding that has been filled to the brim with adventure, was just about to up the stakes in the game of crazy things that happen at a wedding. 

As we were walking along the fields, me happily snapping away into the golden light and Emily and Tom just being so darn cute, cuddling and walking wrapped up in each other, I spotted something out of the corner of my eye. A deer caught in the fence by it’s back leg. Being an outright animal lover, I went into panic mode and started to hatch a plan before taking a rain check, realising where I was and what I was doing and maybe thinking I’d come back later with my other half to try and help once I had finished working. Now, if I hadn’t already had the best day with this couple, they were about to surprise me once more as Tom rolled up his sleeves and approached the deer to help free it! I quicky threw my cameras down and ran to help him. This was a wild deer. A frightened, wild deer, who was also clearly in a lot of pain and had been there for some time. As it struggled to get away from us, its leg became more tightly trapped. There was no other way to help it than for me to literally pick the deer up and hold its leg while Tom loosened the noose of wire that had twisted around it’s leg. There was, at the end of a very long shift, bracing myself to hold the weight of a fully grown, wild and super heavy deer; not what I expected to be doing that evening!

The deer was released and after a few very wobbly and uncertain steps, hobbled off into the thicket to try and find the rest of the herd. Tom, Emily and I left the scene a little shell shocked and for my own part, a little grubby! Thankfully my shift was coming to an end and we manged to swing by The Folly for some photos that just completed their gallery beautifully!

So, if you’re ever in two minds as to whether a wedding in a variety of locations is possible, take it from me, that it absolutely is! However, you must always expect the unexpected if you’re planning a wedding adventure like these guys did!